There I was twelve years later, standing outside Denise and Weston's house on the beautiful and scenic Magnolia Avenue. Ringing that doorbell was one of the hardest things I'd ever done. It was my first time going to Denise's beautiful home and she wouldn't be there to greet me. How ironic was that? Squaring my shoulders, I pressed the doorbell and hoped I could be strong and not fall apart.
Weston opened the door and gathered me into his arms in a warm hug. I took comfort in his arms. They made me feel closer to Denise, whom I missed then more than ever.
"Weston, I am so sorry I wasn't here for Denise. Why didn't she tell me she was sick? She had to know I wouldn't have let her go through this alone."
Inviting me in, he led me to his living room and offered me a seat on the plush sofa. He took the matching chair across from me.
"Alyssa, those were Denise's wishes. When she found out she had breast cancer a year ago, she did everything she could do to fight it. She didn't want people treating her differently. She wouldn't have wanted you to uproot your life for her. She wanted you to remember her for who she was and not the diseased shell of a body she had become."
"Weston, you know she was more than a friend to me. She was like a sister to me. I shouldn't have stayed away so long and I will feel guilty until my dying day."
Taking my hands into his, he said, "Alyssa you knew Denise about as well as I did, and you know she wouldn't want you to feel that way."
"I know. You are so right. I just need a minute to wrap my head around the fact that she is gone. How are the girls holding up? Where are they?"
"They are with their grandmother. She picked them up this morning wanting to get them out of the house for a while. It's hard on Alisha and Alexis. Hell, it's hard on me. That woman was my soul mate… the love of my life. If it wasn't for my girls, I don't know what I would do. I have to go on for them." Weston changed the subject and caught me up on a lot that had been going on since I moved away. Since I was there, I realized how much I missed calling that place home. It was so much different than the hustle and bustle of New York. "Alyssa, why aren't you married yet? I was sure you would have been married and had a kid or two by now," he said.