A Song for Julia

Logan Airport.
    “Yes, Mom,” he said. “We’re all set. And if I didn’t, Julia would have three backup copies of everything anyway.”
    I grinned and slapped him on the shoulder. “Knock it off, Crank.”
    He looked back at me, eyebrows raised. “You know it’s true, babe.”
    “Call me babe again, and you’ll find yourself walking to Las Vegas.”
    Jack laughed. “I knew there was a reason I loved you.” Then he put his hands on my shoulders and looked me in the eye. Jack looked good. He’d had a tough road recovering from the heart attack. He was lucky to be alive at all, but when he’d collapsed during the run, they’d quickly gotten him medical attention. Now, he looked almost back to normal, though the Boston Police had given him an early retirement. He spent his days puttering around the house, running Sean back and forth to school, and making Margot’s life difficult. And I could tell he loved every minute of it. Surviving the heart attack, getting his wife back: he was like a man reborn, always grinning, eyes bright. He and Margot had been talking about taking a tour of Europe that summer during the month Sean would be on tour with us.
    I smiled back at him. “You’re family, you know that?”
    We embraced. “Always. Whatever happens in life, you’ve always got a home with us, you hear?”
    My eyes pricked with tears. Home was a good word. “Love you, Jack.”
    “All right. No tears. You start crying, next thing you know, I will. And no one’s allowed to see an old man cry, you hear?”
    I winked at him. “I may not see it, but I know.”
    “Smartass,” he grumbled.
    We parted, and I clasped hands with Margot. I leaned close and whispered, “Thank you. For everything.”
    Finally, Sean. He looked a little awkward, as always. His eyes slid off me as he said, “Have a good flight. Make sure you don’t use your computer until you get to altitude. Electronics interfere with the instruments.”
    I smiled and pulled him into a hug. He was stiff, but after a second he gradually put his arms around me. “I’ll miss you,” I said. “You’ve been a good friend.”
    “I’ll miss you,” he said, pulling away. His eyes drifted off to the security gate. “I’ve got the tour schedule. I’ll join you at the eighteenth city.”
    I nodded. “We’ll see you in August. And Sean?”
    “Yes, Julia?”
    “Take care of your mom and dad, okay?”
    He nodded, his face expressionless, eyes drifting off to the side. “I will.”
    Crank hugged his mom and dad. “Don’t get in too much trouble with the ladies, Sean.”
    Sean, as always, took the suggestion literally. He responded, “I most likely won’t.”
    I took a breath, looked at Crank and then my watch. “We’ve got to go, we’re going to miss our flight if we don’t hurry.”
    “All right.”
    I reached out, and we laced our fingers together, and walked away from our family, getting into the security line.
    We had a three-month tour ahead of us, opening for Allen Roark. I’d graduated three weeks before, said my final goodbyes to Adriana and Linden, and a much more tearful one with Jemi, who promised to keep in touch. She was going home to Sierra Leone, but said she’d be back. At the end of the summer, we were planning to stop off in San Francisco, to spend three days with my sisters … and my parents … before driving back east with Sean and Carrie. Thirty-six cities in three months. Ironically, that was far more travel than I’d ever done with my parents.
    But I was okay with it. My home would be traveling with me.
    “You ready for this?” I asked.
    He winked at me and gave me that sideways smile that always made my knees want to melt into the ground.
    “Yeah,” he said. “Let’s do it.”

    THE END

Thank you

    Thank you for taking the time to read A Song for Julia.

    This book is part of a group of planned novels focusing on the Thompson sisters, the first being Just Remember to Breathe. They can be read in any order.

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