WHO: Cassia Holt WHEN: Evening of March 22 WHERE: Her home SUMMARY: Cassia's mother drops some stuff off, reuniting her with her father's jacket. WARNINGS: None
It was dark outside when Cassia finally trudged home from Camp Sylvester. She was used to large downfalls of snow thanks to her years spent living even further north than Virginia, so she had no trouble driving her old truck across town to help with some of the clean up of trails and general removal of snow. It had been a long day, though, and she was glad to finally be back in the comforts of her home.
After she toed off her boots at the front door, then shrugged out of her heavy jacket and hung it, as well as her scarf and gloves, up on the hooks waiting for her winter clothes, Cassia made her way into the kitchen. Her eye was immediately drawn toward a pile of packages on the counter, a small piece of paper with her mother's familiar handwriting balanced on the top. Her eyes scanned the writing, lifting the short note as she read: I finally unpacked the rest of my boxes and found a few things that you might want. I brought some leftover casserole and cookies as well. Love, Mom
Curious, Cassia set the paper aside and started to investigate. The first tin housed the cookies, as promises -- oatmeal chocolate chip, her favorite. She took one of the cookies before closing the cover, taking a generous bite as she turned her attention to the other parcels. One held several horticulture books and a notebook filled with her father's notes regarding the once teaming garden that had been their backyard. Her heart swelled at the sight as she opened the notebook at random, her fingers tracing over the pencil.
Next, she reached into a plastic bag. Her fingers found leather, worn and pliable. As she pulled it from the bag, it took mere seconds for Cassia to place the jacket. She had seen her father wear it time and again, as they went for fall hikes or when they would go fishing so early in the morning that it would be too cold to go without some sort of jacket. She remembered watching her father as he repaired it after it tore on the farm. She could recall countless times she would wake up in the pick up truck, his jacket draped over her as a blanket. Though it had long since lost his scent, it still had the comforting smell of leather that she associated with him as much as the orange soap he used that would cling to him.
Setting the cookie aside, Cassia held the jacket out in front of her. It wasn't hard to imagine her mother leaving it hanging in her bedroom closet, one of the few pieces of clothing that she hadn't had the heart to donate or give to family members, and occasionally slipping it off the hanger so she could wear it herself. Knowing that her mother had kept it all these years and was now giving it to Cassia to keep meant more to her than she could have put into words.
Slowly, she slipped the jacket on. It fit her better than she would have imagined, though she supposed it shouldn't have been a surprise. Cassia had always taken after her father in looks; he might have been taller than her, even at her current age, but they both had a lean frame.
Cassia drew in a long breath, then let it release slowly. She wouldn't have been able to put into words how she felt at that moment if she had been asked to, though she had never been very good at words anyway. Ever since she had moved back to Dunhaven, she'd felt as though her life had been put on pause. In Madison, she'd had a good job that she enjoyed more than she could have said. She had friendships. She'd let herself heal. When she had come back to Dunhaven, she'd told herself that she would continue to heal, but in a lot of ways she feared she had simply slid back into her old habits. Though she'd never pretend to have the capacity to be truly social, her life had become work, coming home, and occasionally spending time with her family. She needed more than that.
Picking up the cookie again, she took a bite before navigating through the house, to the living room where her laptop was sitting on the coffee table. Maybe updating her resume wasn't the most exciting turn when it came to this epiphany, but it was a start.