Chapter 31

The girls were sleeping in the guest room, and I was in my bedroom alone. I couldn't sleep, and I was nervous that I had two girls sleeping over at my house.

Fran and Rebecca...

I couldn’t sleep, so I went to my window, opened it, climbed out onto the roof, and made my way to the top of the house. I stared at the stars and the moon. I remembered that night when Fran took me up to the mountain nearby, and we ate her homemade bread buns. I remember how I felt back then. It filled me with warmth.

I didn’t feel any different now. I still looked at Fran and felt warmth and love. Realizing that gave me some comfort. I still liked Fran, and I still wanted to learn more about her. Admittedly, after all these years of living as neighbors, I still didn’t feel like I knew her well. I knew what she liked, what made her laugh, but it also felt like there were things about her I didn’t know. I guess I’ll never be truly in her mind, but I can’t help the feeling that I’ve only seen a certain part of her.

As if my thoughts summoned her, she appeared and floated onto the roof gracefully. She looked a little confused. "Oh, you're out here? You okay?"

Staring at her made my heart flutter, like it always did. "I just couldn’t sleep, so I wanted to feel the wind on my face. Staring at the moon alone and feeling sorry for yourself feels good sometimes," I said. It was something I did on occasion when the moon was full and bright.

She smiled and sat next to me. "Mind if I join you? Honestly, I probably need a good self-reflection moment... Gotta take them when you find them."

She was oddly relaxed in a way I hadn’t seen her before, almost longingly looking at something in the distance. Fran didn’t often stray from her happy and energetic personality; this was something I hadn’t seen her do before.

We sat in silence for a couple of minutes. I just sat there, letting my heart feel the emptiness. I wasn’t really sad, but I just needed to feel a more melancholic feeling right now.

Fran broke the silence. "Steven, have I ever told you about my mom?"

It was a weird question. "Well, I know your mom. I've known her since we met."

Fran widened her eyes in slight surprise. "Oh, have I not told you? Sheri isn’t my birth mother."

Huh?

She scratched her head and looked a bit embarrassed. "Sorry, I should’ve told you sooner. But it's kind of hard to talk about or even think about..."

I stayed silent. I had no idea. They even looked similar. Fran stared down again for a minute, trying to gather her thoughts. "She passed away when I was young, a couple of years before you and I met. I barely remember her, so Sheri is basically my mom, haha. I call her that too. I don’t mind, and Sheri is pretty amazing, so it feels natural." She smiled softly while talking.

"You still miss your mom?" I asked.

She looked at the moon. "Yeah... I don’t have a lot of memories of her, but I still feel connected to her, which is nice."

She looked at me. "She’s the reason I try to be so happy all the time."