Things Change

Author’s Note: This story is dedicated to my best Reedsy friend, Megan Sutherland. She is the sweetest (and spunkiest) person that you could talk to here on Reedsy, and she always leaves the sweetest comments on your story. October 29th was her birthday, and this story is dedicated to her as my birthday gift from me to her. Happy birthday (again), Megan! 

Megan taped the last box, then heaved the box in between her hip and her arm. Her dog, Booker (a black and white husky), looked up at his owner with an excited look in his eyes.

“Yes, Booker. It’s time for us to go. Except for this box, everything in this room is getting donated. We’re really moving on, bud,” Megan admitted. Booker got up from his lying position in the center of the room and trotted over to Megan. He rubbed his head up against her leg, trying to comfort his companion.

“No more stalling. Let’s go.” Megan clucked her tongue as she walked out of the room, persuading Booker to follow her out of the small apartment. When the door was closed behind them, Megan locked it for the last time with a sigh. The dog looked up at the owner with excitement in his eyes. Despite the fact that Megan wasn’t, Booker was ready to set off on this new adventure.

“Ruff! Ruff, ruff, ruff!” Booker jumped up onto his back legs, placing his front legs on Megan’s shoulders. She swatted him off with a semi-annoyed look on her face. But mostly, she was just nervous. Nervous of being in the car all day with a dog. Nervous of leaving her home town. Nervous of changing her entire lifestyle. “Alright, Book, I get it. We’re going now,” Meg said. She and Booker started the descent down the stairs, all the way to the ground level, then outside. They jogged over to Megan’s Jeep Cherokee, which was hitched to a NoBoundaries camper trailer. Megan opened the trunk, put the box in it, closed the trunk, let Booker into the backseat, then hopped into the driver’s seat.

“And off to the races we go. Which is a funny expression, considering our first stop is Kentucky.” Starting the car, Megan watched out of the corner of her eye Booker contemplating whether or not he could jump into the front seat. “Come on, boy.” Megan patted the seat next to her, and Booker sat right there. She pulled the car out of the parking lot, and the best friends were on their way.

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“And we see you over there on the internet, comparing all the girls who are killing it. But we figured you out! We all know now, we all got crowns. You need to calm down!” Megan sang. For the last two hours, Megan had been ‘rocking out’ to all of her favorite pop music. Booker was attempting to sleep, but that was pretty much impossible. Megan only stopped singing when her phone rang. Since her phone was connected to her car, she answered it through her car and pressed the speaker phone.

“Hello!”

“Hey, Meg! It’s Brooke. How’s the driving going?”

Oh, so it was Brooke calling. She was Megan’s best friend (they first met online). They talked daily, and today was no different.

“It’s going pretty good! I was jamming out just a minute ago, and I think I was bothering Booker. He’s glared at me like a million times,” Megan giggled. As usual, Brooke laughed along with her.

“That sounds like Book! Zeus over here has been lazy all day. Just like me, I guess. Not really, though. I’ve been semi-productive by reading that new James Patterson book you gave me. I’m on page one-hundred and twenty-three,” Brooke gushed. Megan smiled at her best friend’s enthusiasm, and absentmindedly petted Booker’s head.

“That’s good. I really did enjoy that book when I read it. Oh! I forgot to tell you. You know that I’m staying with my family in Kentucky for a month, so you can’t come visit then, but I’m going to be in Wyoming for three months so I can hunt. You can come visit me then, if you want.” Megan started to worry when there was silence on the other end of the phone. Booker lifted his head and cocked it to one side.

“Oh, whoops! I pressed the mute button by accident. I was saying that it would be amazing if I could come visit you! I’m sure that I could get my brother to give me a deal on a flight there, since he’s a flight attendant for Delta now. And I could go hunting with you!” There was clear excitement in Brooke’s voice, and Megan loved hearing Brooke be excited about just hanging out. Also, if Brooke didn’t visit her, Megan would be genuinely upset. They were practically sisters after all.

“That would be amazing! Wait, Booker’s whining. I gotta pull over. I will call you once I get to Indiana. Bye!”

“Talk to ya’ later!”

Megan hung up the call and slowly pulled the car over to the side of the road. With a sigh escaping her, Megan got out of the car with Booker and put his leash on. Booker led Megan over to a tree so he could do his thing. The owner tapped her foot as she waited for the dog to finish. Finally, Booker was ready to get back in the car, and they did just that.

Two months later…

Megan took a sip of red wine and settled into her chair. Brooke was sitting next to her, drinking an identical glass. Booker and Zeus were laying at their feet, drooling at the cheese and crackers that were setting on the arms of the chairs.

“You know, when your’e done travelling, I think Wyoming here would be a great place to settle down. Even though I know that you’ll never settle down completely,” Brooke stated. She glanced at Megan, who had a thoughtful look on her face.

“Yeah, it would be, wouldn’t it? I guess I haven’t really thought about when or how I’m going to settle down. I don’t know if I want to or not. But let’s not think about the future for now, and just think about how lucky we are to be able to be here right now.” Megan nodded,

almost to herself, with a smile. The two best friends sighed in the exact same moment, and leaned back in their chairs.

Life was good.

No, life was amazing.