Welcome Home

The train rocked back and forth slightly as it roared toward Chicago. Samantha was happy be returning home after such a long trip abroad. She’d done so much in her travels that she couldn’t possibly expect this city to comprehend it all. How could Chicago compare to the great cities of the world and all the things she’d done? She did sky diving in Mexico and zip lining in Costa Rica. She skied in Switzerland and saw the Pyramids in Egypt. She’d ridden a camel and then an elephant in India. She even got a small tattoo in Amsterdam. She drank wine under the Eiffel Tower in Paris and sun bathed along the Rivera.

Samantha felt very proud of herself for doing more in two years than her mother had done in her entire life. Her mother got married to the man she dated since she was 19 years old and seemed incapable of being without him. Samantha had raised the bar and expanded her mind to heights she never thought possible and was practically wallowing in self love. Her blog site was filled with pictures of her adventures and of all the new friends she made all over the world. She couldn’t wait to start downloading the remaining 1200 pictures she took to her laptop so she could share those with her family and friends. She smiled to herself as the train moved closer to the city of her birth.

She was looking vaguely at the other passengers on the train when she heard a familiar sound. It was a cough; a very familiar cough. She turned to look behind her and gasped. She quickly turned forward in her seat. It was Brian. God Damn Brian Kapple. It was her ex-boyfriend of three years ago on the same damn train after so much time. What the hell were the odds?

“Sam”, questioned a nearby voice.

Samantha looked up. She’d long ago given up the childish moniker ‘Sam’ and preferred Samantha now.

“Yes”, she asked as she looked up into Brian’s face.

“It’s me. It’s Brian. How the heck are you”, he asked enthusiastically as he swayed back and forth over Samantha’s seat.

“Brian! Oh, wow! What are you doing here”, asked Samantha.

“I’m just headed into work. My wife and I live in the suburbs now so this is the best way for me to take. But what are you doing? What’s with the luggage?”

Samantha cringed inside. She was suddenly right back at that night, three years ago when she asked Brian what his plans were about their relationship. They’d been dating for six years and she didn’t know where it was going. He told her he just wasn’t ready to get married, but loved her. She broke it off that night and started planning a life better than the one her mother had as a simple woman married to an emotionless robot of a man. She’d show them all.

“I’m just getting back from traveling. I got back from South America yesterday and I’ve been making my way back here to Chicago. I’ve been all over the world”, said Samantha.

“That’s great. That’s really great. I’m happy for you. I always thought you should travel’, said Brian.

“Yeah. It was pretty great”, said Samantha.

Brian looked at her. His eyes were a beautiful smoky blue and Samantha suddenly found herself wishing he would scoop her up from her seat and kiss her like he did that New Years Eve after Carrie’s party. They kissed in the cab, in the hallway to Samantha’s apartment, in the kitchen, the living room, had sex on the dining room table and then fell asleep on the floor holding each other. She remembered gazing into his eyes that night and feeling complete.

“I have a son now too”, said Brian.

“A son”, said Samantha.

“Yeah, he’ll be a year old in just a few weeks. His name is Brandon”, said Brian.

“Wow, a son that’ll be a year old. That’s…amazing”, said Samantha.

Brian smiled his classic, charming smile and took his phone out and showed Samantha a picture of his beautiful wife holding their beautiful blonde son.

“Wow. That’s just… Wow. He’s just adorable”, said Samantha.

“Yeah. I’m pretty lucky I guess”, said Brian as he put his phone away.

Brian looked back over to his train seat and cocked his head toward it.

“I have to get back to my seat. I have a little work to finish before we pull into the station. But it was so great to see you Sam. I’ll look you up on Facebook or something. See you.”

Brian reached down and gave Samantha an awkward hug and moved back to his seat. Samantha sat back and felt tears welling up in her eyes. She started to wonder if all her adventures really meant anything. She was now behind in the relationship/family starting category and realized that all she really wanted wasn’t to travel alone, but to travel with someone.

The conductor announced they were 5 minutes from the station and Samantha wiped her eyes.