Everything had come crashing down around her and she could only blame herself.  Her mother and sister were at odds with each other and she hadn’t spoken to her mother in two weeks.

And Randy, her fiance...her breath hitched at thought.  The man she’d agreed to marry was outside her door begging to come in.  No matter that she’d tried to use him.

She turned up the sound on the stereo, hoping to drown out everything, the pounding, the voices and the heartbreak.  The last song they’d listened to was next up in the queue and it did nothing to quiet her feelings of despair.

I am ready for love
Why are you hiding from me
I’d quickly give my freedom
To be held in your captivity
I am ready for love
All of the joy and the pain
And all the time that it takes
Just to stay in your good grace
Lately I been thinking that maybe you’re not ready for me
Maybe you think I need to learn maturity
They say watch what you ask for
Because you might receive
But if you ask me tomorrow
I’ll say the same thing
I am ready for love
Would you please lend me your ear
I promise I won’t complain
I just need you to acknowledge I am here

If only she could undo everything.

What lead to this point

Samantha smirked at her sister from across the room.  She could tell Dana wanted to be rescued from Uncle Boogie’s  wife.  No one in the family liked her and the woman didn’t have sense to stay away and stop running her mouth.  They tolerated her because Uncle Boogie was, well, Uncle Boogie, and they loved him.

She’d just turned around when the sound of glass shattering against the hard tile of the floor forced her back around.  Dana was staring at Aunt Felicia, heedless of the glass she’d just dropped.  When she remained immobile, Samantha made her way across the room, bumping into people until she was beside Dana.
“Dana, you okay?”

Dana shook her head, mute.

“What happened,  Aunt Felicia?” 

She wasn’t looking in Felicia’s direction so didn’t see the momentary look of shame on her face.

“I don’t know. We were standing here talking and...”

“You lying bitch”.  Samantha was shocked by the venom she heard seeping from Dana.

“Dana, what’s going on?”

Their mother joined the circle, her instinct telling her that one of her children was embroiled in something.  She looked to her sister-in-law, her face hard.

“Felicia, what’s going on?”

“Go ahead, Aunt Felicia.   Say it again.”

Felicia took a step back and grimaced as three sets of eyes landed on her.

“Why I was just saying Dana has beautiful eyes.”

“And whose eyes did you say I have, Aunt Felicia?”

Dana didn’t give her a chance to respond as she continued her attack.  “You said I must have my father’s eyes, right?”

Sam looked at her sister and then at her Aunt.  “Daddy’s eyes were brown.  Dana has his nose, but I have his eyes”.

Felicia looked away from the trio.  “I don’t know...”

“You were quite clear a few minutes ago, weren’t you?”  Dana turned to look at her sister and mother.  “Apparently I don't have Daddy’s nose either, because according to Aunt Felicia, I do indeed have my father’s eyes.  Aunt Felicia seems to believe that another man is responsible for my eyes.”

The sisters’ heads snapped around at the sharp crack of a palm against a cheek. 

“You miserable cunt.”

Sam wasn’t sure which surprised her more, her mother calling her Aunt a cunt or the physical violence.

*****

Sam yawned behind her hand at the diner, waiting for Dana to show up.

She’d spent a long night listening to her sister rage and her mother apologize over something that was never intended to come to light.

Her sister did have her father’s eyes.  A father different than the one who’d raised her as his own.  A father who’d left their mother pregnant to pursue a music career. 

She pressed search and clicked through to the image results for Cole Richards.

Her sister did have his eyes.

The bell over the front door rang and she looked up to see Dana entering, big dark sunglasses hiding those eyes.