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Laura

I tapped ain Yeah, he was supposed to take five of these pills a day I read the directions closely and sorted theanizer I didn’t even know they anizers forto know one really well Each day was labeled, and there were five little flip-top boxes for different times of day—before breakfast, one for each meal, mid-afternoon, and bedtime I counted out the pills and loaded the week’s worth of that ed Then I twisted open the next a that medication into its appropriate section

It was tedious, and I was impatient because I didn’t want tooutfor a couple of years and noas in kidney failure Between trips to dialysis and keeping track of his diet andto cook and clean, ree to have a home health aid come in to help out either

So just like that, when my mom called me in tears because she was so exhausted, Ia city cop, including four years as an officer in Charleston I loved the pace and the challenge ofwhen my family needed me I could be there for my mom and take some of the burden off of her I could take over soood for theain, go shopping, and meet with her book club at the library My dad could be taken care of by so, but who didn’t put up with his de crap the way my mom did If they needed a housekeeper once a week or if he needed a home health aid to help administer some of his meds and stuff, they’d dairl, and I could convince him If I couldn’t persuade hiht as squea with hiht me to be loyal and brave This was an opportunity to do those things Maybe not the way I thought I would when I started studying criuys and uphold the law Maybe theme home

My , tried to keepback to Rockford Falls She alanted me to chase my dreams and if she let me come home, that probably felt like a failure to her I had towith her whilethem both out, hat I really wanted I knew they’d hire me back in Charleston in a heartbeat The force had offered er than twelve weeks My dad needed a transplant My mom needed support and a break I couldn’t put a deadline on that kind of situation I wasn’t about to walk out on them when they still needed ned I packed up and moved home

It was total culture shock, obviously Froin my childhood room that still had a Jonas Brothers poster up on the wall I’ to lie—Nick was still fine as hell I’d maybe watched Jumanji more than once, and not even just for the Rock My favorite JoBro was in it But gone were the days of watching arita night withabout the nightlife I loved in Charleston was about as far froet Charleston had been a terrific place to be in , but friendly I’d had good times there

Instead of talking with the cri blood pressure pills into a tray Instead of deciding whether to put a pink streak back in my strawberry blond hair at led my hot pink toenails inside my cozy socks No more pedicures and strappy sandals and sexy first dates Okay, my dates were never really that sexy Mostly they were intimidated that I was a cop The truth was, I came ho in the city? Sure But I didn’t regret my choice