You can come home again.

Bittersweet memories overwhelmed Rori as she pulled her packed sedan up the tree-lined driveway. From the moment she’d approached the outskirts of town, the memories had rushed back. The girl who left town ten years before didn’t exist anymore, not really. And Rori was back for good. This time older, wiser and stronger. Getting out of the car, she breathed in deep as she stretched. Her screaming muscles and kinked neck were glad of the reprieve after twelve hours behind the wheel.

The sound of her name being called pulled her out of her thoughts and she turned around with a smile for her sister Kelly as she came out of the big house. Rori shoved the heap of golden curls out of her face and pushed her sunglasses up onto the top of her head to hold the hair back.

“Kelly!” she exclaimed as she rushed toward her sister.

After the hug broke, Kelly looked her up and down with a huge grin. “You look damned good, Rori. What the hell?”

“You walk or bike everywhere in Paris. Took off those last twenty damned ‘sitting on my butt getting my degree’ pounds.”

“I think Max and I should move to Paris, then. Can we leave the boys with you?”

Laughing, Kelly tucked a wayward curl behind her sister’s ear. “You look fabulous.”

Rori grinned and popped the trunk of the car. “I’d gladly take those boys from you but you know you’d want them back in a few weeks.” Grunting, she pulled bags out, hefting them to the driveway. “Come on then, help me with my suitcases.”

“Where’s the rest of your stuff?” Kelly asked, leading her into the house.

“It’s being shipped, should be here Monday or Tuesday. I knew it would take me a few days to find a place.”

Kelly spun to level a glare her way. “A place? What do you mean, a place? No way, Rori. I just got you back! You’re living here.”

“Kel, I love you, but you and Max have two kids. I’m a grown woman. I’ll get an apartment or a house. I won’t impose for any longer than I have to.”

Kelly turned back and scowled at her before leading the way upstairs to the third floor attic bedroom. “It’s not an imposition! You’ve been gone so long. Stay as long as you want.

Max adores you, the boys adore you and I adore you, too. There’s no rush, honestly. I’ve missed you so much, I want you close by.”

Sitting her suitcase down, Rori took an admiring look around the room. “This is gorgeous; you’ve done so much to this place.” She kissed Kelly’s cheek. After feeling out of place and anchorless for so long, her heart swelled and she blinked back tears at her sister’s reception. She’d missed her so very much -- missed belonging to someone. “Thanks, it’s nice to know I’m loved. But I need a quiet place to work. And someday, I might actually have sex again so my own place is a good thing. It’s not like I’ll be far away. Oakley is still a small town.”

“I want you to be here with me,” Kelly repeated, but with resignation. With a sigh she opened the closet doors and pulled out hangers. “Mom and Howard are anxious to see you, too. She’s pissed that you aren’t staying with them.”

Rori snorted as she began to unpack. Kelly began to hang things up while Rori put things into drawers. “I know; Mom gave me the lecture already over the phone last week.

And what a treat it would be to stay with her and Howard, huh? Anyway, if I stayed with her, I’d rob her of her righteous indignation. She’s determined to be offended, no matter what I do, so I may as well oblige her and make myself happy in the bargain. She was offended when I went away to college. She was offended when I went to graduate school.

She was offended when I moved to Paris. Now she’s happy that I’m moving back but offended I’m not staying with her and her new husband in a two-bedroom condo.” She shrugged. “This way she can be offended no matter what I do. Win -win for her. Anyway, if I didn’t give her something to be offended over, she’d just turn to you. I figure you and I need to take turns.”

“I’d say she means well. We both know she does. But I also know she doesn’t spend enough time thinking about the way she talks to you and how what she says affects you.

God, it still makes me so mad to think about the way she used to go on and on about your looks!” Kelly fumed. Then, with a resigned shrug she blew her hair out of her eyes and grinned. “Wait until she sees you.”

Rori had left Oakley ten years before, with braces, glasses, sporting an awful case of acne, and carrying an extra fifty pounds. Gotten away from a mother who either cooked meals laden with cream or deep fat fried. Worse, she’d also consistently picked at her daughter’s appearance. Being away from that constant assault on her self esteem and undermining of her body had been a big healing point. Emotionally, Rori began to shed her old self within weeks. Getting the braces off and a pair of contacts had been the first physical changes. Over the last years she’d shed most of the fifty pounds and the acne had gone away when the diet and stress of her life with her mother had been absent. Now she bore very little resemblance to the painfully shy girl she’d been when she left town. The biggest change though, was on the inside; she finally loved herself and it showed. She’d set goals for herself and had met them. She’d survived. She’d believed in herself and that was the best thing of all.

“She saw me two years ago when I came back for Christmas.”

Kelly laughed. “Yeah, but with the new hair color and the last twenty pounds, you look hot. Vixenish, even, with those curves. Why can’t I have curves?”

“Is vixenish even a word? Well I’m claiming it anyway. You’re so good for me.” Rori laughed. “Heck, I had to catch up with you. You’re five years older than me, have had two kids and look at you! It’s like you get more beautiful each time I see you.” Kelly had always been beautiful, both inside and out. Where Rori was tall and had been gawky and heavy, Kelly was small, like a little doll with giant blue eyes. She’d married her high school sweetheart, Max Harris, who was, of course, the quarterback to her head cheerleader. They were a really lovely couple and their sons were big, like their daddy, with his black hair and Kelly’s blue eyes.

If Kelly hadn’t been her best friend as well as her sister, Rori probably would have hated her. Instead, the two sisters, as different as they could be, had always been there for each other, always supporting and loving when needed. Without Kelly, Rori didn’t know if she’d have been able to get past her mother’s constant carping on her appearance.

Kelly hung up the last sweater and closed the closet. “Come on downstairs, the boys will be getting home from school soon and they have been talking about you nonstop since you announced you were moving back here. I’ve got today’s paper. Why don’t you look through the ads for places to live if you’re determined that way.”

Rori followed her sister downstairs, where they sat in the sunny kitchen and caught up on gossip as they drank iced tea and looked through the ads for rentals.

“Aunt Rori!” Shane and Alex burst through the door and suddenly there was a jumble of arms and legs and backpacks as the boys jumped onto Rori, hugging her.

“My goodness! Who are these handsome men, Kelly? Wait, are these my nephews?

These brawny dudes? It can’t be!”

“Aw, Aunt Rori.” Shane, who was twelve, gave her a wry smile. “Can you come to my game tonight? I’m pitching.”

“You are? That’s so cool! Of course! In fact, I’ll be at all of your games. I wouldn’t miss them. It’s one of the reasons I came back, you know? To see you and your brother grow up, to go to your games and school stuff, to scare off your girlfriends.”

“Mine too?” Alex, who was nine, asked. “Not the girlfriend part, girls are gross. I’m in the next league down from Shane. I’m shortstop this year. My games are day games.”

“Well good, that makes it easier for me to be at both your games then. Your mom can give me your schedules so I’ll be sure not to miss them. By the way,” she dug in her bag for her keys, tossing them to Shane, “presents for you in the trunk. Go to town.”

They scrambled out of the room and through the front door.

“You spoil them.” Kelly grinned at her.

“Of course I do, it pays to have good-looking men who adore me.”

“Speaking of that, Jude is still single.” Kelly shot her a sly look.

Jude Callahan, the guy who’d been the star of every one of Rori’s girlhood fantasies.

Despite his bad boy behavior, he had always been nice to Rori, even made her feel like an actual girl instead of a shy lump. He was also Max’s half-brother.

“That so?” She smiled at Kelly, not even bothering to hide her interest.

“Yep. He’s working with Max.”

“Jude Callahan is a cop?” She snorted at the irony of the town’s malcontent now in charge of keeping order.

“Yep.”

“Hmm. I can only imagine what he looks like in a uniform.” Rori raised an eyebrow at her sister, who nodded back and they both burst out laughing.

The boys came back into the house clutching their presents. “Aunt Rori, how did you know I wanted this remote control race car set?” Alex asked.

“And this mitt, Aunt Rori, it’s the coolest thing ever. Plus the Game Boys are excellent.

My old one got busted and Mom and Dad wouldn’t get me a new one.”

Kelly looked at Rori, who smiled back at her, without an ounce of guilt. “I’m glad you like it all. Your mom told me that you needed a new mitt and the guy at the toy store said that RC stuff was what nine-year-olds wanted.” She accepted the hugs and kisses they offered.

“All right boys, go and do your homework!” Kelly barely stifled a grin, her voice mock-stern. “We’ll eat dinner early so we can get to Shane’s game. Daddy will be home in half an hour. Go on.” They ran off up the stairs. “I don’t get kisses like that anymore.” She shot Rori an annoyed look that was ruined by the slight curve at the corner of her mouth.

“Kelly, don’t begrudge me the only male attention I’ve had in six months.” Rori laughed at her sister’s put-upon face and brushed her hands off. “Now, let’s get dinner started shall we? I’m going to call these people about the ads.”