The World That Was Mine (Part I & II)

Part II: VIII

"Happy to be home?" Logan asked softly, tugging at my hand so I would look up at him. I tore my eyes away from the row of familiar stores and gave my full attention to his smiling face. All I did was give him a small smile and look away before he could see doubt in my eyes. 

"I'm excited to be here. Much better weather than Vermont, huh Iz?" Tyler teased, jogging up beside us from where he'd lagged behind earlier. 

I nodded this time, happily agreeing that Georgia weather was most definitely 10 times better than any I'd seen in Maryland or Vermont in the last few months. 65 degrees and sunny was much more my speed than the single digit temperatures we'd been seeing since the middle of November. If there was anything to miss about Brinley, it was the feeling of sunshine in December. 

"I don't like the cold." I signed, almost relieved to have something else to discuss other than Brinley itself, and the 'home' I was returning to. 

Tyler laughed, seeming to share the sentiment as he visibly relaxed at my words. "Yeah, I think you mentioned that a time or two. You lasted, what, a half hour yesterday?" 

I'd decided only 30 minutes into my skiing lesson with Jace that I had seen enough snow for the rest of my life yesterday afternoon. Jace, and Liam who'd been tasked with teaching me for the day, had tried their best to get me to enjoy their favorite winter pass time, but in the end, they'd given up rather quickly and settled for taking me back to the lodge to drink hot chocolate and watch a Christmas movie on TV. Kasey had joined us later in the day, and agreed with me wholeheartedly that a movie and a hot drink was better than wet socks and a faceful of snow. We'd spent most of the day there while the rest of our family, sans Jace who'd stayed back to watch the movie with us, skied for most of the day. 

After that we'd all met up and went to a nice dinner before going home to exchange the christmas gifts we'd gotten for each other. I'd picked out little trickents I'd found at an arts festival with Logan a few weeks earlier to give to each of my siblings, and though it was small and incomparable to what I'd gotten from each of them, all of them including Emma had gushed about how much they'd loved them. Since I hadn't known Kasey was coming, I didn't have one for her, but I'd chosen to sketch a picture of her instead to make up for it. She'd done her own share of gushing over that too, even after I insisted it wasn't that wonderful. 

"Not even," Logan taunted, bumping my hip gently. I shook my head in slight amusement and stepped to the side so he couldn't do it again. "She only lasted as long as it took for the hot chocolate to be made inside." I looked up at him with furrowed eyebrows and a small smile but he just stuck his tongue out at me like a child. 

"That's okay, Iz, don't worry you wouldn't be the only person in our house who doesn't like the snow," Tyler gently touched the back of my head to make me look at him, and I complied without a fuss. "Henry hates the snow. He wouldn't even try skiing for the first bunch of years we went to the cabin." 

"Yeah, me and Jace always tried to drag him outside, but he would make such a ruckus, that Ty would just stay back with him so we wouldn't have to hear it." Logan laughed. 

Tyler shook his head. "That kid's been a handful since the day he was born, I tell you." 

"But we love him." 

"And he's lucky that we do. Otherwise he'd be out on his ass." Tyler grumbled, suddenly much more serious than he had been a moment ago. 

I frowned slightly, not quite understanding his words, but he didn't seem to notice me. 

"Here it is," Tyler said when he gestured towards the hotel we'd stayed at the last time we'd been in Brinley. It too was exactly the same as the last time I'd seen it. And yet, it might as well have been another planet. "You guys ready to go inside? I don't know about you two, but I'm dead on my feet, and I say we go inside and take a nap to fuel up for the rest of the day."