Intro by Carla Ann

’We survived…’ that was all Tiffany’s dad could say about the last few days. He wished that they had just stayed home for Thanksgiving or had gone to Mandy’s parents. His brother had been completely out of control. He looked down into the sink and rinsed his razor one more time before opening the door up.

”I’m done honey,” he told his wife.

She turned around and the two shared an embrace that made him feel better. ‘Through all of this at least I have a wife and daughter that love me dearly…’ he thought. “Joe, will you wake up Tiffany please?”

”Sure,” he responded. This wasn’t the easiest thing to do in the morning, but it was always fun to watch his daughter wake up. She was always so cute with her hair all over the place and the grumpy expression that was inevitable… He smiled as he moved to the other side of the room where she lay sleeping.

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Viewing Note: This story should be viewed with the Edwardian Script ITC font installed on your Windows platform in the c:/Windows/Fonts directory. Microsoft Word installs this font automatically.

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The Legal Stuff: Dreaming of Cheers  © 2010 By Tiffany Shar
 
This is a work of fiction. Names, Characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author's imagination or are used fictitiously, and any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, businesses, companies, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

Copyright  © 2010 By Tiffany Shar. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, scanned, or distributed in any printed or electronic form without permission.
 
 
Preface

Like the first two books I posted here, I will be posting a full copy here on BigCloset. I am uploading three chapters per week to the site. The full version should be completely posted by July. For those that cannot wait however, I have an e-book version of the full book available from Lulu.com as of today. You may find it at My Store. My assumption is that the majority of my readers would be more interested in this edition of the book rather than a hardback or paperback. If you enjoy this work perhaps you will consider supporting me by purchasing it ($5.95 for the eBook).

Thanks again, and I hope you enjoy reading Dreaming of Cheers!

 

Chapter 19:

 

“TIFFANY IT’S TIME to wake up,” My dad said to me the next morning. I grumbled and moaned while trying to roll over and go back to sleep. I hated when he said that line.

“Come on Tiffany, let’s get going,” Mom said to me as well.

“Don’t wanna!” I told them grumpily as I forced myself to sit up. My hair was still wet from last night, and I could feel it was a royal mess.

“Come on, let’s get going. Do you want to take a shower? Or just wait until you get home?” Mom asked me.

“My hair’s already,” I stopped and pulled a hair out of my mouth and continued, “wet enough!” I told her sleepily.

Both my parents started laughing at me. I gave my dad a stare that would have blown up an armored fortress and he amazingly enough stopped laughing. I rolled out of bed sleepily and found a set of grey sweatpants in my bag with a little pink heart appliqué, and a pink sweatshirt that matched. I had grumbled a bit when Mom had bought the set for me one day. Not that they weren’t really comfy, but they definitely fit into that seven—year-old’s clothes look. I didn’t care today though… Comfy trumped looking my age today!

I padded to the bathroom and threw them on. My appearance in the mirror was fairly frightening, but I didn’t really care. It had been a long week and I was ready to just be lazy for a day. We were going to be in the car all day anyway. The most I was able to get myself to do was wash my face real quick, brush my teeth, and then I came out of the bathroom to see my mom already repacking my stuff in the suitcase. She handed me a hair brush which I took, but quickly turned around and said, “Please…?”

“Alright.” She said resignedly. As she ran the brush through my hair she said, “You know if it wasn’t for the fact that I never got to do this for you when you were little I would probably gripe a lot about this…”

“Thank you,” I told her simply while both smiling and frowning on the inside. ‘So much lost time…’ I thought. ‘At least I can be me now.’

Once my hair was brushed into a reasonable form I felt her start pulling the ends into pigtails. “Mommy is there anything else you do with my hair?” I asked nicely.

“You were the one that handed me the brush sweetie,” she told me.

I sighed. I needed to start growing soon! I just decided to give Mom a hug. A year ago I would have done anything to be where I was now, the least I could do was tell her I did appreciate it. “Thank you Mommy for everything,” I told her.

“You’re welcome sweetie. Now let’s get going before it gets too late. It’s going to be a long drive back home.”

“Yes ma’am,” I told her and gathered up my remaining stuff thrown around the room. I grabbed Emily before heading down to the car. I caught several smiles from people as we walked down and thought about how I must have looked to them. The little girl carrying her stuffed tiger… It did make me smile though. Even if I was little, I was still a girl!

Dad had already loaded most of the car up, so I just had to pretty much hop in and put my seatbelt on. “We’re going to get breakfast in Colorado Springs sweetie,” he told me as he climbed in the car and closed it.

“How long is that?”

“About an hour-and-a-half or so.”

“Okay, Goodnight,” I told him and my mom. The pillow in the car was quickly leaned up against the window and I went back to sleep.

 

THE TRIP SEEMED to take forever to get home. It hadn’t seemed nearly as bad to get there, and in all honesty it hadn’t been. About three hours from home we began hitting a snow storm that made my dad slow down to a crawl. What should have taken three hours ended up taking us six! And, unfortunately, as we drove into my hometown there wasn’t a single skiff of snow to be seen. How unfair!

The worst part of the drive had just been the sheer boredom that had allowed me to think about everything that had happened in the past three days, and everything that was coming up. I had done my best not to think about the last three days, well at least the bad parts, just because I hated how I was tearing my dad apart from his brother. What Uncle Allen had said the night before… Well, I can’t think of something much more horrible for him to have said to him. Just like that he’d said he was disowning him, and didn’t care about him. How could someone do that?

And it was entirely my fault. I knew it. It made me feel awful to think about it.

Then there was the return to school on Monday. For some reason I just had a sick feeling in my stomach about it. It was probably just the nerves of a girl who didn’t want to stop being on vacation, but somehow it felt like something else. All of the notes that had been popping up the last couple weeks came back to me and made me worried.

We didn’t make it home until after eight that night, and so after we unloaded the car and got dinner it was already past nine. On a normal night I would have fought my parents to stay awake another hour or two, but not that night. That night I went to bed and did my best to fall back asleep.

 

SUNDAY MORNING I was woken up by the sunlight and the smell of sausage cooking. I hated the fact that school would be starting back up the next day, but at least we were getting close to Christmas Break. “Morning Tiffany,” my mom told me as I more or less sleepwalked into the kitchen. I was still in my pajamas, and just grunted. The last week had been long and tiring. I sat down at the table and wordlessly used a fork to grab two pieces and munched on them slowly. There was a stack of ads on the table and I began looking through them to see if there was anything I wanted.

“What do you think of this?” I asked mom pointing towards a sweater in the catalog.

“Cute,” mom told me. She didn’t say anything else though. I moved through the ads and eventually landed on our comic section. Garfield and Snoopy were two of my favorite ones. I looked through the others too though, also amused by The Far Side. The nice thing about my parents that morning was that they didn’t push conversation on me too much.

“Are you going to take a shower, Tiffany?” Mom asked.

I thought about it and ran a hand through my hair, “I need to,” I told her.

“Why don’t you go ahead and get in there then and then we’ll see about getting you ready to go over to Amy’s house.”

I suddenly woke up some more. “Okay!” I told her while moving out of my chair. I went to my room first and grabbed a training bra and a pair of panties to go under my jeans and sweatshirt. The shower felt great! I should have taken one the night before but didn’t really think about it. I took the time to blow dry my hair since it was below freezing outside. A lot of people might think that New Mexico is always warm… but that’s just not the case… especially, when you live as close to the mountains as I did.

An hour later and I appeared out of the bathroom dressed, hair looking reasonably decent, and somewhat awake. I was glad that the last week was over and I was going to be able to spend some time hanging out with Amy. Since I was staying overnight at her house I had to get my clothes together for Monday, as well as gather up my practice shorts and top for dance practice after school. Hopefully I was going to be able to actually make it to gymnastics that night too. ‘It’s nice to be able to get back into a routine,’ I thought to myself as I finished putting my clothes into my small cheerleading duffle bag. I also went ahead and put Emily on top of my bags so she wouldn’t get orphaned for the night.

“Tiffany? Why don’t you call over there and make sure they’re home before we go over?” Mom said to me loudly from another room.

“Okay,” I said back to her.

I called her number on the living room phone but no one picked up. “They’re not home,” I said dejectedly to Mom as she walked in.

She looked up at the clock, “It’s eleven, they may have gone out for lunch. I’m sure they’ll be back in a bit.”

I frowned at her, but there was nothing she could do. I had a key to their house but it felt rude to just go over there. I ended up having to wait about an hour before calling again and having Melanie pick up. “Hello?”

“Hi! This is Tiffany,” I said perking up.

“Hey Tiffany, are you coming over now?” She asked.

“If it’s alright?” I asked politely.

“Of course sweetie. Come on over.”

“Okay see you in a bit,” I told her as I hung up.

“They’re back!” I said loudly.

“Okay Tiff, let’s go,” she told me. I gave Dad a quick hug before heading out.

As we pulled into the Hancock’s driveway I was feeling both excited and relieved. I felt safe with my parents, but after the last week I felt kind of awkward around Dad. Everything that had happened between him and Uncle Allen was all because of me. He had never once complained or given me any reason to think he didn’t still love me… but I was causing so much trouble. To be able to spend time with Amy and her parents instead was going to be a huge relief.

Mom came up to their door with me, carrying my backpack for me, and to speak with Melanie for a few minutes. I hadn’t even gotten a chance to press the doorbell when Amy opened the door. “Tiff!” she said to me smiling brightly. She gave me a hug as I walked in. Her parents were just inside the door smiling and I gave them both a hug too before running upstairs to drop my stuff off in my room.

“So how was the trip home?” Amy asked me after I sat stuff down.

“Boring… We got stuck in a snowstorm and had to practically crawl home at a couple points.” I told her.

“That means there’ll be snow up at the ski resort though!”

“Are we still going this weekend?” I asked suddenly excited. I’d half forgotten about that trip.

“Of course!” She told me.

“Cool!”

The two of us ended up migrating downstairs at her moms’ request. Melanie started asking about details from our trip to Denver, but I didn’t say much. “I guess it was alright,” I told her hoping to not go into too many details. Mom had left already, I wasn’t sure how much she had told her.

“What happened?” She asked me.

“What didn’t happen?” I asked quietly. I did my best to keep the tears restrained as I told her some of the basics of the stuff that had happened. From Uncle Allen calling me names, Caleb sticking up for me, my dad and Allen getting into it, and then the final parting blow to Dad and myself.

“Tiffany that’s awful,” she told me as she came over and sat next to me opposite Amy on the couch. She gave me a big hug. “I’m really sorry that you had to go through that sweetie,” she told me and I found myself letting the tears loose at that point.

I don’t know how long I cried, but it wasn’t a short while. ‘I’m such a cry baby!’ I yelled at myself as I tried to gain control of my eyes. For their part Melanie and Amy just hugged me and showed me how much they cared. I was finally able to sniffle, “Thanks… sorry about that,” I told them.

“Tiffany, it’s okay to cry,” her mom told me. She added, “If you didn’t cry about this I would be really worried about you.” She handed me a tissue when she felt like it would do some good and I wiped my face up. “Did you find anything good when you all went shopping?” She asked me trying to find a topic that might cheer me up.

I nodded and sniffled a bit, regaining control, “Quite a few things actually. And I finally found a store I can shop for normal looking clothes!”

She knew about my issues there and said, “What store?”

That led to a short conversation on everything I’d found, and eventually what they had found on their shopping trips too. After the shopping stories ended we all just sat for a moment until Amy said, “Tiffany, why don’t we practice the routines for a bit?” She suggested.

“Okay… if I can even remember them. It’s been like almost two weeks since our last practice!” I told her.

She nodded and we went upstairs to her playroom where we cleared everything out of the way and set up her portable Boom Box. We spent some time stretching out a bit before getting right to it. I was rusty… but she was too… and so I was glad that she suggested doing this. We worked out the dance moves for the better part of two hours before calling it quits for the day. “Well hopefully we’ll be better than everyone else tomorrow,” Amy told me.

“I hope so. I can’t afford to not be one of the best — they’ll just say I shouldn’t be on the squad,” I told her somewhat unhappily. Uncle Allen’s comments had burst through any buildup of self-esteem I’d had going.

“Tiffany, you’ll always be one of the best — don’t worry about it!”

“Thanks Amy.” I told her with a smile.

“What now?” She asked.

“Shower and change into pajamas?” I suggested even though it was only like four in the afternoon.

“Sure,” she told me and the two of us went off to our own bathrooms.

As I took my shower I thought, ‘I can’t believe I have my own bathroom here… I don’t even have my own bathroom at home.’ I day dreamed a bit about what it would be like to just live over at Amy’s house all of the time… ‘Mom and Dad would miss me too much though,’ I thought. Not that I wouldn’t miss them too, but I still thought it would probably be more than Mom could take at least.

When I opened my bathroom door Amy was sitting on my bed and brushing her hair out. “Okay, what now?” She asked as I walked out.

“Umm… I don’t know.”

She looked thoughtful as I found a hair brush of my own on the bathroom counter and began brushing my hair. “Well you were the one that suggested pajamas already, what were you thinking of doing after that?”

I shrugged, “I just wanted to be comfy.”

She nodded. “Barbies?” she suggested.

“Okay,” I said smiling.

The two of us went down the hall to her playroom and started getting dolls off the shelf and pulling a dollhouse to the middle of the room. It was fun… but I really felt like something wasn’t quite the same that day. ‘Does this mean I’m outgrowing Barbies already?’ I asked myself before shaking the thought off. We’d been playing for a bit when Amy’s mom came in the room.

“You two about ready for dinner?” she asked.

“Sure,” Amy and I said together. I wondered if she had been thinking similar thoughts. Not that the two of us hadn’t been having a good time, but I think she felt something different too.

“What’s for dinner?” Amy asked.

“Stroganoff.”

“Sounds good,” I said to her.

“Great, why don’t you both wash your hands and then come downstairs and set the table.” She smiled at both of us and gave me a gentle squeeze on my shoulder.

Amy and I just walked to her bathroom since it was closer than me walking down the hall. Downstairs Melanie gave us each a hearty serving of beef stroganoff on our plates. It was a really good meal and I made sure to thank her. After dinner Amy and I helped her clean off the dishes and put them into the dishwasher. “Thank you girls,” she told us with a smile when we were finished.

“Why don’t you two watch a movie with us?” Amy’s dad asked from the edge of the kitchen where he was staying safely out of the way.

I looked at Amy for a second and said, “Okay,” for both of us.

“What are we going to watch?” Amy asked.

“Didn’t you guys go rent some movies yesterday? Just pick one of those,” he told us.

“Oh that’s right… I forgot about them for some reason.” Amy said and the two of us headed to the living room.

She had rented a few chick flicks that she and her mom had already watched. The only thing they hadn’t watched yet was Casper, so the two of us ended up picking that one. Neither of us had seen it in the theaters, but had heard it was good. “Works for me,” was my response to her.

Her parents disappeared upstairs for a few minutes before her mom came in with a couple big bowls of popcorn for us all to share. Amy and I sat down on the long couch in the living room in front of the TV. As her parents came to sit down her mom ended up sitting next to me, with her dad on the other side of her. Amy started the movie and the four of us just quietly munched on popcorn and drank the hot apple cider Melanie had brought in shortly after the start of the movie.

There was something about the movie that I just related to… I got goosebumps when Casper brought Kat the dress out of the old chest, I loved that part. There was a part of me that just related to it… It wasn’t like it was a boy getting a dress, but somehow it resonated with me. About half-way through the movie I felt Melanie’s arm go around me, and she began stroking through my hair. I noticed that Amy’s dad was doing the same to her.

If anyone walked in at that moment they would assume that I was the other daughter. ‘Probably the little sister,’ I thought to myself. For once though I wasn’t annoyed with that thought. I would have taken to being Amy’s little sister in a heartbeat, and I realized that I really must have in a way already. I felt safe here, maybe even safer than at home for some reason…

When the movie ended the two of us got prodded to go upstairs and go to bed since it was a school night. Amy and I said good night to each other and then I went to my own bedroom to get ready for bed. I went through my usual routine of washing my face and such before walking back into my room. I was surprised to find Melanie standing there.

“Are you doing alright, Tiffany?” she asked me.

“Better now,” I told her. I hesitated before walking over to her and giving her a big hug, “Thank you so much for everything… You’ve been so nice to me this last year…”

“Tiffany, it’s nothing. We love having you around here with Amy. We were never able to have another kid after Amy, so you’ve kind of been like an extra daughter for us,” she said with a smile. We separated from our embrace and she motioned for me to go ahead and climb into bed. “Anytime you need anything Tiffany you only have to ask. We both love you dearly.”

And for the first time I spoke words that were so overdue, “I love you too.”

She smiled at me as she tucked me into bed and gave me a kiss on the forehead before turning the light off and closing the door. I slept better that night than I had in a while.