Chapter2

I smiled at him. If I'd ever lost my dad, I could only depend on Mr ken. He was like a brother to my dad and a second father to me. "Thank you." I smiled. "No problem, son. I bet the girls won't recognise you." he turned to my dad. "Let's go in, Paul. Christina's made breakfast. Even if you've already eaten, you would have to eat again." "Hahaha, I know Ken." "Good. The boys will take care of your bags." he said, calling over some employees. *** We went into the house. Once inside, I noticed it was exactly as I remembered it. They hadn't changed a thing. We went straight into the little dining room where the table was already set with delicious food like bacon, eggs, toasts, milk and orange juice. There was coffee too for the adults. Six dishes had been prepared, meaning they had already planned we'd be joining them. "Christina dear, they're here," Uncle ken called. I saw it preferable to call them uncle and aunt. They were literally family. Aunt Christina came into the dining room from the kitchen. She still had her apron on but that wasn't what caught my attention. She'd dyed her hair blonde. She was a brunette by nature. "Paul! Welcome!" she said with a bright smile as she hugged him. "Thank you, Christina. I see you've gone blonde. Gotta admit you're prettier as a blonde." "Hahaha, thank you. Next time you'll be seeing me, I'll be a redhead!" she laughed. I had to admit she was prettier in blonde. She then turned to me with a less smiley face. Scary, I thought. "I can see Sherry is all grown up now." I hated when she called me that. She shuffled my hair playfully and I forced a smile. "So honey, can we sit down?" Uncle Ken asked her. "Of course! Let me go keep this apron before joining y'all," she went towards the staircase case and called. "Heather! Sawyer! Uncle Paul's here! And breakfast is ready!" Then she left for the kitchen. "Okay, momny!" I heard two girls reply. I got nervous all of a sudden. I wanted to see Heather. She was one of my closest friends back when I was six. She was a shy girl by then and I wondered if she still was. And I also wondered if we'd still be good friends. "They've grown as much as you," my dad's voice woke me up from thoughts. "They'll probably be surprised to see how tall you've grown too. Especially Heather." "Um, yeah. I guess." Aunt Christina soon joined us at the table. "Heather?!" she screamed again. We heard them running down the stairs. I gulped. *** The first down was Heather. I recognised her. Her pretty face hadn't changed much but she'd grown taller. Not taller than me though.  "Uncle Paul!" she screamed happily and ran over to hug him. She hadn't noticed me. "Ooh, my pretty little Heather! How are you??" "I'm fine, uncle Pauly," she giggled. "I can see that," my dad laughed. "And where is my other princess? Sawyer?" Sawyer too appeared at the bottom of the stairs. She was different from what I expected. She had nothing to do with the baby I'd known. It was like her face had changed. She was pretty too. But not as much as Heather. Sawyer had a more serious face. The kind of kid who hardly smiled.  "Uncle Pauly!" she too called happily as she ran to hug him too. "My pretty Sawyer! You're almost as tall as Heather! Wow! You grow fast." They both giggled. "I'll be ten next week uncle Paul! You'll buy me a present right??" Heather asked. "Really??" "Yeah, she will be ten! Uncle Paul I turned eight last month! You owe me a present too!" Sawyer added. Guess I missed out on their ages but they were right. I was turning twelve at the end of the year. "Girls, stop disturbing uncle Paul and sit down for breakfast," Aunt Christina said. "Oh, okay," Heather said softly and obediently went to her seat. Sawyer on the other hand rolled her eyes first before going to her seat. "Sawyer, what did I tell you about rolling your eyes at your mother," Uncle Ken said strictly. "Sorry, mommy," she apologised. My dad chuckled. "This one's gonna be as tough as you, Christina," he said. "I'm afraid that might be true," she replied and they all laughed. Heather still hadn't noticed me. Like seriously? "Who's this?" Sawyer asked courageously pointing at me. And that was when Heather looked up from her plate and noticed me. "You can't remember him, Sawyer. You were too little. It's my son, Sheridan." "Sheridan??" Heather asked surprised in her low voice. "You didn't recognise him?" her dad asked amused. "N– no I didn't," she smiled shyly at me. "Hi," I smiled back. "Hey." "Hello," Sawyer cut in troublesomely for being left out. Everyone laughed. "Hello," I replied with an amused smile. She didn't smile back though, she gave me a little smirk. Almost not visible. She was probably a tough kid. She didn't seem to appreciate me. "Okay, now let's eat," Aunt Christina said. We said the Lord's prayer and began to eat. * After breakfast, aunt Christina sent the girls to go clean their room while dad and uncle Ken went out. I decided to go sit on the grass outside and watch the cows from the front of the house. I stayed there for like 20 minutes, watching cows until I heard: "PST! Pssssst!" I turned and looked up. It was Heather on the little balcony of her room. She smiled shyly. I smiled back. "You've changed," she said in a low voice. I stood up and went to stand below the balcony so I could hear her better. She couldn't speak loud because her mother would surely scold her for not arranging her room. "You haven't changed much," I replied in a loud whisper.