Getting There...

Swinging her bag onto her shoulder, she grabbed her keys and booked it to catch the train.

Maggie left her car at Jack’s last night.  They had been celebrating a friend’s birthday.  The party was still in full swing when she scrambled to catch the last train to get her home.  She knew she had been in no condition to get behind the wheel and thankfully, still had a clear enough head to know staying the night would have been just as reckless.

It was early when she got back to Jack’s.  She quietly got behind the wheel, not really wanting to see exactly who had made the choice to stay last night.

Maggie was meeting her girlfriends for a weekend getaway.  It had been a whole year since they had all escaped for a weekend together.  It had been too long for her, but she knew she was a good part of the reason why.

A quick stop for her share of the food and the drive south sent the familiar terrain whipping by.

Maggie would have much preferred to daydream about where she might take her life next to pass the miles she still had to go.  Instead, she heard herself telling her friends that she was too busy to get away for a weekend with them all last year.  She knew her disappearance would either be the topic of conversation this weekend or a horribly huge elephant left to lumber around the room.

The smooth pavement transitioned to crunchy gravel which gave way to sand.  She cut her engine and climbed out of the jeep at her old beach house.  Leaving everything, but her camera, she walked around the house, sighing when she saw the peeling paint.  Painting would certainly be in her future.

Maggie was out on the beach, barefoot and snapping frame after frame of the sea lions bobbing through the waves when Cassie came up behind her.

Cass wrapped her arm around Maggie’s shoulder, not saying a word.

Maggie didn’t dare risk looking at her friend’s face, afraid of what she would see.

So sorry, Cass.

You’re here now, Mags.  I don’t care about the rest.  We’ve missed you.  We don’t work without you.

Still…..but yea, lesson learned.

Maggie couldn’t believe how easy Cassie was being on her.  She knew it was a gift, one worth taking.

Angela and Galit are our Guest Hosts at The Red Dress Club this week and are prompting us to "write a short fiction or non-fiction piece inspired by any or all of the photo below. Word limit: 400 words"

I have a little fiction & a new character to share with you, Maggie.  Cassie is the woman in my last two Red Writing Hood pieces, first in R.S.V.P. and then in Kick Ass Shoes.  I finally named her!  What do you think?

Photo Credit