I step back and look at the shelves. I finally got them leveled and everything on them. Eileen comes up behind me and smiles.

“They’re perfect.” She whispers, wrapping her arms around me from behind.

I raise my hand to her arm and smile. We both got jobs in Hidden Springs that started as soon as we graduated. I’m working at the Hidden Springs Police Station while Eileen has a job at the science lab as a programmer. We found this house for sale and bought it before someone else could. It was small, but we didn’t need much room.

The doorbell rings and Eileen smiles. “Can you grab that? I need to check on dinner.” She turns and makes her way to the kitchen.

I walk over to the door and open it up. Mom and Dad stand there, smiling.

“Hey, are we on time?” Mom asks, pulling me into a hug.

“Early, actually.” I reply.

She lets me go and I let them both in, closing the door behind them. Before we head towards the kitchen Mom stops and hands me an envelope. I take it, confused.

“We received this in the mail not soon after Autumn left.” She says with a sad smile. “Keep it. You’ll know what to do with it when the time is right.”

I open it up and look inside. The key necklace my mother had given to Autumn on her sixteenth birthday. It was a necklace passed down through each generation of our family. I close it back and slip it into my pocket to put away later.

“Thanks.” I whisper, my voice husky.

Mom smiles and walks into the kitchen. I hear her and Eileen start up a conversation. They get along great. Mom was as devastated as I was when Autumn left. Eileen’s helped more than one person in this family.

“How are you doing, son?” Dad asks, looking at me.

“Good. I’m doing really well.” I say truthfully.

“I’m glad to hear that.” He smiles, looking around the house. “This is a pretty small house; it’ll be hard fitting a family in here.”

“Oh, that’s okay. There won’t be a family here anytime soon. We haven’t even talked about marriage yet.” I say, scratching the back of my head.

“Really? Hmmm,” He smiles, his eyes sparkling. “Well, it shouldn’t take her long to bring it up. Once you buy a house with a woman she’ll expect more to follow soon after.”

“Hey dad, when did you know with mom?” I ask. I knew Eileen was thinking of it. I wasn’t stupid. But I’ve managed to steer us away from that talk anytime it almost came up.

“I knew the moment we were in France for the first time, after her parent’s house burnt down. She was seventeen, and such a…strong but hurt young woman. I wanted nothing but to make her happy again.” He said. “She was my world, she was all I thought about, all I worried about. She was the first thing I woke up thinking about and the last thing I thought about before I went to sleep. Everything felt right when we were together.”

I nod, thinking of Eileen. She’s wonderful, but it’s Autumn I think about when I wake up and when I go to sleep. It’s Autumn I worry about most the time. But Autumn is gone. It’s Eileen I wake up to and go to sleep next to. It’s Eileen that gets me through the day.

“Dinner’s ready!” Eileen calls from the kitchen.

My dad smiles at me and we head to the table.