Chapter Text
“Shh, shhh, shhhh.” Tim coos as he places his twelve week old daughter back in the car seat of his truck. “It’s okay sweetie. We are almost home.” The baby’s face scrunches up the way it does before she lets out a big scream. Tim places a kiss on her forehead, shuts the door and returns to the driver's seat. Just as he shut the door she started screaming again.
“Okay I’ll turn it back on for you.” He makes a few taps on his phone, turning her favorite song on. “Eye of the Tiger” began playing and immediately she calmed down. This used to be one of his favorites too but after five days listening to it non stop, he doesn’t care if he ever listens to it again.
It has been a long journey from Los Angeles to Loveland (pronounced Love-Lund) Maine. He made the trip himself. Well, just him and Amelia James. She has been a trooper, but that doesn’t mean she isn’t screaming her head off every hour making Tim stop to check her over and offer formula or a diaper change. Being a dad has been completely different than he was used to. There has been so much change just in his life over the last few months that it blows Tim’s mind.
He hears her whimpering again despite her song playing. He looks at the monitor attached to the dash. Her eyes are open surveilling her new surroundings, and if he isn’t mistaken he sees her move her hand to the beat of the song. Her eyebrows are furrowed and her lips are puckered, Tim braces himself for the large sound that comes out of a tiny body.
“I know baby, I know you’re so tired but we are almost to Grammy’s house!” His voice is higher than normal as he tries to calm her down but really he is trying to calm himself down. He continues to drive on the one lane road that leads into the small town. The leaves of various colors are falling and landing on the freshly repaved street. Memories flood Tim’s mind of his childhood growing up on these very streets.
It was him and his best friend Noah Foster. They were inseparable for years. From third grade when the Foster’s moved here till graduation. Tim went on to get his MBA in finance and eventually life happened and we drifted apart. They did everything together… They’d steal pies off the window from Mrs. Evers, hacking the teacher’s computer and giving everyone ‘A’s, to getting the same job bagging groceries at the local grocery store.
Tim smiles as he reminisces while driving down the leaf covered road. It didn’t hit him that he was home until he reached it: the railroad tracks. Across the tracks is the wholesome and tightly knit town. The town that built him. The town that taught him most of everything he knows. His family is the founding family and although the Bradford name is on almost everything in the town he doesn’t feel worthy to be back in it’s graces.
Amelia crying in the backseat brings him out of his thoughts.
“Amelia, it's okay! We are almost to Grammy’s house!” He turns her music up just a smidge louder but she keeps screaming at the top of her lungs. “I don’t understand, baby girl you’ve been changed, fed, burped, you have your favorite song and your blanket. Please stop crying. I know you have had a very long few days so has daddy. I am trying to make it so much easier for you. Everything I am doing is for you.”
He’s talking to his daughter like she is his equal and that she is protesting everything he is doing. When in reality he is saying the things he needs to hear to reassure himself to her. He is a man and admitting to himself that he is scared of this new adventure is not something men typically do or enjoy.
“Here, let's call Grammy. She’ll know what to do.” He pushes a few buttons on his screen and the phone begins ringing through the speakers. Amelia, who is inconsolably screaming in the backseat, calms when she hears the ring tone and a soft and friendly voice chimes through on the other end.
“Finally.” Tim whispers as his mother Gwen greets him on the other line.
“Hello dear!”
Amelia begins screaming again.
“Oh dear, she is upset. Have you changed her?”
“Yes.”
“Fed her?”
“Yep, I’ve done all the things.”
“Oh dear, well how far out are you, son?”
“I'm at the railroad tracks.”
“Well hurry up! I’ll open the gates for you! I can’t wait to see my grand baby!”
Bradford Hollow wasn’t that far across the tracks but right now it felt like he had one hundred more miles to go.
Tim drives across the tracks and he can’t shake the feeling that he crossed some sort of energy barrier that lifted his spirits and lightened his load. He has a feeling of optimism that he didn’t have before.
The moment he crossed the tracks he was immediately taken back to the last time he went across them. He was nineteen and thought he knew it all and was invincible. He had the girl and she had a ring on her finger. They were getting the heck out of here and getting married. She wasn’t someone that his mom approved of. He felt that she was trying to ‘ruin’ his life by not letting him marry her. Turns out he should have listened to her. Hindsight is always twenty twenty and a mother always knows. He sighs at that realization. Even though he has this amazing little girl now it was a rough road to get here. Tim became so entranced in thought that he didn't notice that she had stopped crying. He turned the music down and he could hear tiny tiny baby snores from the back seat. He reveled in the few moments of peace however fleeting they were.
This isn’t how it was supposed to be. I was supposed to come back with my wife and daughter. We were supposed to be a family here. Negative thoughts permeate his mind. He was afraid this would happen coming here. He shakes his head to rid himself of those thoughts and feelings which works because he feels lighter again. Immediately he turns his turn signal on and takes a drive through the small town.
The town is full of autumn colors, store windows are painted with fall themes, and clichè sayings to entice you to come in. The trees have changed and are vibrant colors of red, yellow, and orange- making it feel like home. Leaves litter the sidewalk and road. Most of the roads in Loveland are brick. It was something his great grandfather wanted to do to add that little bit of charisma and character. Some of the bricks had been replaced over the years but for the most part, the original bricks are still there.
He slows down and rolls his windows down taking in all the sights and smells. Couples walking hand in hand on the sidewalk pushing strollers. Everything reminds him of the things he doesn't have. However, there are things he has that not everyone does. He is a successful financial analyst who owns his own company so he can choose his hours. He doesn’t have to punch a time clock, or be sequestered to a cubicle with no windows. He hasn’t set foot in the office since Amelia was born three months ago. He has been a full time dad since and that has been the hardest job he has ever done. He’s doing it alone. He tried to do it all but it wasn’t working out, so he reached out to his mommy and she told him to come home. He had everything packed up within two weeks and he was on the road.
He drove by the local library- the exterior hadn’t changed much in twenty years. Still that same old beige brick. Although it has definitely seen better days, it still feels like home. Los Angeles never felt like this to Tim. There was so much hustle and bustle, all the hurry up and wait that went on. Here time just stood still.
Maybe that is what I need? To just stand still. Soak in all life has to offer and all this place has to offer.
He chuckles when he passes by the police station. Boy didn’t he and Noah spend their fair share of time there. One time in particular Sheriff Grey arrested them both one night. Nothing stayed on their records of course, but they had been caught red handed switching up the townspeople’s dogs. That was a night. Noah always was the trouble maker and he roped him and Lucy into it.
It was a Friday night and the plan was Lucy would knock on their door and distract the homeowner while Noah and Tim unhooked the dog from their yard and smuggled it into another neighbor's yard. They did this most of the night-until they were caught by Smitty, the town’s quirky deputy. Looking back it was not a good idea and so easy to be caught—which they were.
Noah’s parents came down to the station to bail him out. His momma was in her night robe and slippers! She swatted him with her slipper all the way out of the building. Tim’s parents, on the other hand, wanted to teach Tim a lesson and made him sit in a jail cell all weekend. Lucy of course got off easy because she was a girl, and younger than Noah.
Lucy was Noah’s adopted sister, she always stared at Tim with sparkles in her eyes. It creeped Tim out at the time because she was significantly younger than him. He looked at her as a stick in the mud when she was around-which was all the time. Tim and Noah attempted to lose her several times or concoct these absurd plans and tell her she couldn’t play too, however that just made her want to do it even more, to prove a point she could be one of the guys too. With a roll of their eyes they would let her join in on the shenanigans. Annoying little sisters. Tim would know he has one too but she prefers to play with girls her own age than to play with boys and for that, Tim was eternally thankful.
Tim was so lost in his memories he didn't realize he was parked in the middle of the road in front of the police station at the one stop light in the town. It just so happened to be green and there was a soft honk from behind him. Tim throws his hand out the window to wave an apology then continues his drive down memory lane.
Some storefronts had gone out of business and others were new, adding some new life to the town. Tim makes a mental note to visit some of them while he is here. Amelia starts fussing in her car seat just as Tim is drawn to this particular store front. It has a couple tables on the sidewalk with umbrellas currently folded down since it is a nice sunny day. It has two huge windows with a coffee cup painted on it. On the inside it has little dining areas nestled in those windows- adding to its curb appeal.
The banner above the door reads “The Elegant Espresso.” Amelia is full on wailing at this point forcing Tim to stop at the coffee shop. He parallel parks then gets the baby out of the truck and walks in. The aroma of coffee infiltrates his nose causing his mouth to salivate. He gently sways the car seat desperately hoping she calms down which she doesn’t. Tim finds the nearest table, sits her seat down and unbuckles the infant, raises her to his chest and begins bouncing her. That usually does the trick and it does. He gets in line behind three people ahead of him. Tim looks around and sees a couple others sitting at tables. Some just sipping on coffee, others with computers in front of them feverishly typing away.
He is bouncing and patting Amelia completely lost in her world that he doesn’t notice that it is his turn at the counter.
“What can I get for you sir?” A soft voice speaks, bringing him out of his thoughts. Tim automatically smiles then his eyes find hers.
“Hi.” Tim smiles. Completely flabbergasted at the sight in front of him. She’s all grown up now, I knew she would be it has been almost twenty years.
“Hi, Tim.”
Her eyes sparkle; if possible, even more now than they did then. But this time it doesn’t annoy him.