Classes started the following Monday. It was a bit hard to get out of bed by eight in the morning after sleeping in all summer, but I somehow managed to get up and make it to class on time. Shalee was still fast asleep when I left. Her classes didn’t start until the afternoon. In one sense I envied her because she had the luxury of sleeping in, but on the other hand my classes were over by eleven every day, which meant I had the whole rest of the day for myself.

The first day of classes was basically just an intro into the class. However, by Thursday I had plenty of homework to fill my afternoon with. The professors certainly weren’t shy about handing out assignments right away. As I was walking back to campus, I tried to decide what I was going to study first and what I would have for lunch, but when I reached my dorm building, I found a pleasant surprise waiting for me in the lobby.

“Emmy?!” I exclaimed as I rushed over to my sister, who was holding my youngest niece, Tibby, on her hip. Lula was standing beside Emmy, looking around as all of the people passed by, but when she saw me coming toward her, she ran over and wrapped her arms around my waist.

“Hey, Lulu, what are you doing here?” I asked, stooping down to give her a hug.

“Mommy wanted to surprise you,” Lula replied with a grin. “Did we?”

“Oh, you bet,” I nodded as I looked up at Emmy who wore an amused smile. “What are you doing here?” I asked her.

“Well, this isn’t so much a surprise as it is me asking for a tiny favor, which will come with a reward,” Emmy said, looking somewhat embarrassed.

I rolled my eyes. “What’s the favor and what’s the reward?” I asked.

“I have a meeting at noon, but the sitter got sick and I couldn’t find anyone to watch the girls, so I had to bring them with me,” Emmy explained. “I was hoping you could come with me and keep an eye on them while I go in for the meeting. It shouldn’t last but thirty minutes. Then I thought we could all go out for lunch afterward,” she said hopefully.

I smiled and shrugged. “Sure, why not?” I replied as I stood up straight. “When have I ever passed on a free lunch?”

“That’s kind of what I was counting on,” Emmy smiled as I reached out for Tibby, who came to me without any hesitation.

“So, where’s the meeting at?” I asked, making a silly face at my blonde headed niece, which caused her to laugh.

“Downtown, so we should probably get going,” Emmy said.

“Okay,” I agreed.

“Do you need to tell your roommate where you’re going or …”

“Nah, Shalee has classes until two, I think,” I replied.

“Oh, okay,” Emmy agreed as she took Lula’s hand and we headed outside to find Emmy’s car.

We talked about how my classes were going and Lula kept telling me all about her kindergarten class as we drove downtown. It was so nice to see Emmy again. Though it had only been a week since the last time I saw her and I’d talked to her since, seeing her in the flesh was a comfort to me.

Drea always said I was a creature of familiarity. I couldn’t really disagree. While I didn’t consider myself particularly shy, I couldn’t deny that I wasn’t exactly striving to break the rules or try new things. I liked to blend in with the crowd. I liked to do my own thing under the radar.

It was also nice to see Lula and Tibby again. While I was used to seeing Emmy throughout the week back at home, I saw Lula and Tibby a lot less. My visits with them usually happened on weekends. Over the summer I had gone and spent a couple of weeks with Emmy and Harris and watched the girls. It was something I’d done every summer since Lula was born, except the first summer during which we were all at the cabin together.

While Emmy had her meeting, I sat in the lobby and watched Tibby and Lula. I held Tibby for a while, but at sixteen months old, she wanted to walk around on her own and try to get into everything in her sight, so Lula, who had taken on the role of my little helper, and I tried our best to keep up with her and keep her from destroying the lobby. Luckily, the receptionist didn’t seem to mind because every time I’d apologize for Tibby trying to get into something or somewhere she wasn’t supposed to be, the woman would smile kindly and say, “It’s okay.”

Tibby looked just like Lula had at that age. It was uncanny how much they looked alike. They both had the same pale blonde hair and brilliant blue eyes. Like me, they were naturally pale. And they both had the most radiant smiles that could capture anyone’s heart. It was no wonder everyone in our family spoiled them rotten. And though I was a bit biased, I couldn’t help but think that they were the two cutest children on the face of the planet. It couldn’t hurt that they’d both won the cutest baby contest the local fair in their age groups either.

Finally after running around the room for a while, Tibby seemed to wear herself out. She crawled into my lap and fell asleep. Lula seemed to be relieved that her babysitting duties were over and she crawled up beside me on the couch and rested her head on my shoulder while we waited for Emmy’s meeting to end.

As it turned out the meeting was longer than Emmy expected and by the time she came to get us, Lula was fast asleep as well and I wasn’t too far behind. Instead of waking her though, Emmy picked her up and carried her out to the car. From there we drove to Applebee’s for lunch with the girls still fast asleep. The quietness gave Emmy and I chance to talk without any interruptions.

“So why couldn’t Harris watch the girls?” I asked curiously as I fiddled with the radio until I found a station that would come in.

“He had to meet with some suppliers,” Emmy replied, rolling her eyes. “Besides, I knew he wouldn’t have been able to handle both girls and a meeting. I was just taking a chance with catching you though.”

“I guess it was your lucky day,” I commented. “So, how’s Harris doing anyway?”

“Oh, alright. His dad is out of town. That’s why he’s handling the meeting,” Emmy explained.

Harris worked with his dad at his tattoo parlor. Harris was an incredible artist, and he seemed to pick up on the tattooing from his dad. His parents were divorced, so he only saw his dad on the weekends growing up, but that seemed to give him plenty enough time to learn the trade. After high school, Harris went to work as an apprentice for his father. He and Emmy were already living together by then, though they weren’t married yet.

Then at Emmy and Harris’ wedding Harris’ dad gave him co-ownership of the tattoo parlor. Harris was ecstatic while Emmy had her reservations. She wasn’t particularly fond of the idea of her husband being a tattoo artist for a living. I think she was mostly afraid he was going to turn into a tattooed punk and leave her to be the responsible one in the relationship.

However, they came a compromise as far as the tattoos went. Harris only got tattoos in places that wouldn’t be noticeable unless he was wearing shorts or a tank top. And while he considered his job a fun one, he always took it very seriously and always made sure that the bills were taken care of.

Luckily, he also was able to make his own schedule and while Emmy was still in college, he took care of Lula and only worked in the evenings. When Tibby was born, Emmy went on maternity leave to take care of her. Harris went to working full time and starting dealing with more of the business aspects of the job, so when Emmy decided to go back to work, they found a babysitter to take care of the girls so that they could both work during the day and be home with the girls in the evening.

I really envied Emmy’s relationship with Harris. They loved each other so much. Anyone could tell by the way they looked at each other. Most of Emmy’s friends thought that it wouldn’t last because they were so young when they married, and after adding a baby into the equation, they were sure it was doomed to be a disaster. But Emmy and Harris had been married for almost six years and they appeared to be more in love with each other than ever.

I had always liked Harris though. He was kind of like that cool kid in school that was friends with everyone. I had had a small crush on him when I was younger. Drea had as well. Emmy used to tease us about it, but Harris was always so nice to us. After I got over my crush, I came to think of him as a surrogate older brother. Dad always seemed to like him as well. He didn’t really approve of Harris’ ambition to be a tattoo artist, but Harris was well rounded. He was smart, funny, and a hard worker. And he and dad went fishing together a few times, which seemed to seal their bond.

I think that dad came to think of Harris as the son he never had. And I suppose after living with three girls for so long, he was willing to take any bit of male companionship he could get, so aside from fishing, they always watched football together. Dad even helped Harris rebuild the old piece of junk car Harris bought the summer he turned sixteen.

Emmy and Harris became friends their freshman year of high school, and I think it was safe to say that two years later when they started dating, Harris was already considered part of the family. And I think we all knew that they would end up married someday. I was just glad that he was such a great guy. He was great father and a good husband, and he stuck with our family and was really the anchor Emmy needed when we were all trying to cope with mom’s cancer and ultimately her death.

When we reached Applebee’s, Emmy had to wake Lula up, and I carried Tibby, who was still sleeping into the restaurant, but she woke up as we were being seated. After all of the orders were made and Lula was distracted with coloring and Tibby had one of her toys to play with, Emmy started to ask more about Shalee.

“So, you get along with her? No problems?”

“Nope, no problems. Things are going great,” I replied. “And, Danny – that’s her boyfriend – is nice too. He hangs around the dorms a lot.”

“Does that bother you?” she asked.

“No, it’s fine,” I shrugged. “We usually all go to eat dinner together, which is nice because I feel kind of stupid when I have to go get lunch or breakfast by myself.”

“Haven’t you made any other friends yet?” Emmy asked.

I shrugged. “Not really. There’s a few people I’ve talked to that are in a few of my classes, but we haven’t really planned to hang out or anything.”

“Why don’t you ask them to hang out then?” Emmy asked.

I shrugged again.

“Jude, if you want to make friends, then you have to put forth a little effort,” she said.

“You think I’m not trying?” I asked, glaring at her. “It’s not exactly easy for me, you know? Besides, did I not go to a barbeque with Shalee and Danny last weekend? I’m pretty sure that was me putting forth a little effort.”

“Well, what about the people at the barbeque? Are they in college?” she asked.

I nearly snorted. I had somehow forgot to mention that I had been to a barbeque at Taylor Hanson’s home. I couldn’t help but smile thinking about it.

“What’s so funny?” Emmy asked, looking confused.

“Nothing,” I rolled my eyes. “Shalee’s brother, Trey, is in college, but he’s a junior and he lives in the campus apartments,” I replied. “As for the rest of them, none of them are in college.”

“Oh,” Emmy shrugged. “But you had a good time hanging out with them, right?”

I smiled. “Yeah,” I said. I was still trying to decide if I wanted to tell her about Taylor or not. I didn’t think she’d freak out or anything, but after thinking back, I had realized that Taylor had been her favorite of the three during her short stint as a fan. I found it amusing, mostly because Emmy was about sixteen while Taylor was fourteen, if I’d added correctly. This amused me namely because Emmy had always said she’d only date older guys. Well, Taylor certainly wasn’t older than her and she’d had a crush on him, and then she wound up marrying Harris, who was three months younger than her.

Luckily, our food came, so I didn’t have to decide whether or not to tell Emmy about Taylor. She cut up Tibby’s food while Lula dug into her chicken strips. I poured the dressing on top of my crispy chicken salad and took a bite. Emmy dug into her own salad and we were all quiet for a while as we ate.

“So,” Emmy began as she cut up some more of Tibby’s food. “Have you told anyone about what happened? I mean, the att-”

I looked up her and the expression of my face was enough to shut her up. “Why would I tell anyone?” I demanded.

“Well, I thought you might have told Shalee since you and her are friends,” Emmy shrugged.

“Friend or not, that’s no one’s business but mine,” I replied icily.

Emmy sighed. “Jude, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean to upset you,” she said. “I was just wondering … I mean, it might help if you talk about it.”

I rolled my eyes. She was trying to parent me again and she didn’t even realize she was doing it.

“Have you been to the school counselor?” Emmy asked. “Dr. Wisely thought it might be a good idea for you to talk to her.”

“I do not need to see a shrink,” I said, growing angry. “I only went to see Dr. Wisely because dad made me.”

Emmy looked pained. Deep down I knew she was just trying to help, but I didn’t want her help. I didn’t want to talk about it. I just wanted to be left alone.

“Jude, please don’t be mad at me,” she said, frowning. “I’m sorry I even brought it up. It was stupid of it. Can we just forget I said anything?”

I glanced up at her, and I could see the pleading look in her eyes. I shrugged. “Yeah, it’s fine,” I replied.

We were both quiet for a moment before we both started to speak, but Lula beat us both. “Look at my picture!” she smiled.

She handed me the paper she had colored and I looked at it before turning it around for Emmy to see.

“It’s beautiful. You’re so talented,” she smiled. Her words sent shivers down my spine. She sounded just like our mom. Her words were even the same. I wondered if she even realized that she had used the same phrase our mother had used with us numerous times.

“You know you should be eating though, don’t you?” Emmy added.

“I am,” Lula said, picking up a chicken strip and taking a large bite out of it. I sat Lula’s picture down beside me and watched her for a moment before turning back to Emmy.

“What were you going to say?” I asked curiously.

Emmy thought a moment, apparently losing her train of thought due to Lula’s interruption. “I was just going to say that Fleur says that dad’s going crazy without you at home.”

I rolled my eyes. “Probably freaking out because he can’t watch over me every second of the day,” I sighed. “He actually lectured me about taking a walk around campus the other day when he called. How does he think I get to class?”

Emmy laughed lightly. “I think dad’s just overprotective because you’re his baby. I was always way more independent than you were. Of course I had mom around to keep dad in line, but he just worries. I don’t think he means to be so annoying or sound so ridiculous.”

“I know,” I smiled. “I just wish he would back off a little. I know he worries, but I have to have my space to move. What’s he going to do when I transfer to New York or Chicago in a few years?”

“He’ll probably either go out of his mind or pick up and follow you there,” Emmy grinned.

“That’s not even funny,” I replied, trying to suppress a laugh.

Emmy shrugged. “He just doesn’t want to see you grow up.”

“Well, that’s too bad,” I sighed. “I have to grow up sometime. That's life... grab it by the balls.”

“Jude,” Emmy said, scoldingly as she eyed Lula for a moment to make sure she hadn’t heard my words.

“Sorry,” I cringed. I always seemed to manage to slip up and say the bad stuff in front of my young, still impressionable nieces.

Emmy rolled her eyes and sighed. “Oh well, that’s not as bad as some of the stuff they’ve heard Harris say. It was fun trying to teach Tibby not to the say the F word.”

I smiled as our waitress came and started to take our empty plates and give us the bill. After Emmy paid, we headed back out to the car. Emmy drove me back to the dorms and after a quick goodbye to her, Tibby, and Lula, I grabbed my bag and slung it over my shoulder before hurrying into my building.