Chapter 1: Apparently, You Can Go Home Again

Carter adjusted the rear-view mirror, though he hadn’t needed to. It was more of a habit than anything. He exhaled through his nose, taking in the sight of the old apartment building in front of him. After ten years abroad, ten years of moving through foreign streets, renting furnished apartments that never quite felt like home.

This, of all places, was where he had landed again. The stucco facade had faded a little, the wrought-iron gates rusted at the edges, but otherwise, it was exactly as he had left it. He turned off the ignition and sat in silence for a moment. He wasn’t sure what he had expected to feel, but the overwhelming emotion was neither nostalgia nor relief, it was apprehension. Was he going back into his old apartment like nothing had changed?

He stepped out of the car and slung his duffle bag over his shoulder, making his way up to the office. The sign on the door still read “Manager: Hank Sweeney,” though it was a little more sun-bleached than before. He knocked twice and waited.

A voice from inside called, “One second!”

A moment later, the door swung open, and there stood Hank, older, of course, but still the same broad-shouldered, thick-armed man Carter remembered. The years had softened him a little, though. His once-dark hair was now gray, and the deep lines around his eyes were more pronounced. “Well, I’ll be damned,” Hank said, squinting at him. “Carter Hayes.” Carter smiled, and for the first time since he arrived back in town, it felt real. “Hey, Hank.” Hank pulled him into a firm handshake that turned into a half-hug, clapping him on the back. “Didn’t think I’d see you around these parts again. What brings you back?” “Got tired of living out of a suitcase,” Carter admitted. “Figured it was time to come home.”

Hank nodded approvingly. “Well, you picked a good time. Got a few vacancies. Actually...” He smirked, shaking his head. “You’re not gonna believe this, but your old place is vacant right now.”

Carter raised an eyebrow. “No kidding?”

“Not kidding.” Hank stepped back and gestured for Carter to come inside. “Don’t even have to do maintenance or repairs. The last tenant left it in darn good shape.”

Carter glanced around the office as he stepped inside. The place was still crammed with paperwork, and folders stacked precariously on an old desk. The same dusty ceiling fan creaked overhead.

He almost asked about Hank’s kid, but before he could, Hank was already rummaging through a drawer, pulling out a set of keys.

“Here you go. Same unit, same rent control. Don’t say I never did anything for you.” Carter took the keys with a grateful nod. “Appreciate it.”

Just then, the office door swung open again, and someone stepped inside. Carter turned, expecting to see one of the maintenance guys or another tenant, but instead, he found himself staring at a woman.

She was tall, and lean, with wavy chestnut-brown hair falling past her shoulders. She wore a fitted blue tank top and jeans, her posture relaxed, and confident.

For a second, Carter hesitated. There was something familiar about her. And then she spoke.

“Dad, I need to borrow the—” She stopped mid-sentence, her eyes landing on Carter. Her brows lifted slightly in recognition. “Oh.”

Hank glanced between them. “You remember Carter, don’t you?”

There was a beat of silence before she smiled. “Yeah. Of course.”

Carter’s brain scrambled, trying to place her. There was no way ... And then it hit him. His stomach dropped.

The last time he had seen Hank’s son, the kid had been a lanky teenager, always hanging around the complex, kicking a soccer ball against the wall, and helping his dad with repairs. A boy named Danny.

Carter blinked. Danny wasn’t Danny anymore.

She extended a hand toward him, and Carter, after a half-second delay, shook it. “It’s Danielle now,” she said, as if reading his mind. “But most people just call me Dani.”

Carter nodded, his grip firm but careful. His mouth was dry, and his mind raced to catch up. Dani’s expression remained unreadable, but her eyes held a quiet curiosity, studying him as much as he was studying her.

“Welcome back,” she said.

And just like that, everything about coming home suddenly felt different.

Carter spent the next few days bringing his belongings back from storage. He felt strange putting things back in place just as they were before he left ten years prior. During this time he continually noticed Dani coming and going.

He was still trying to reconcile the lanky eighteen-year-old boy with this new, quite feminine twenty-eight-year-old woman. The concept of transgender was not foreign to him at all, he just never thought he’d meet someone he knew who transitioned.

The day Carter finished, and stepped back to congratulate himself for rebuilding his past apartment, he snapped a picture with his phone to compare to his older photos later on. Grabbed a beer and sat outside near the pool to relax.

He waved at Hank, leaving, and watched Steve the handyman coming and going, changing light bulbs. But then Dani came out. She was wearing a scandalously small bikini and Carter cheeked on his beer.

Dani smiled at him as she stood on the edge of the pool, ready to jump in. “You okay Carter?” she asked. “Or is it something you saw?” Her smile was almost predatory as she fell backward into the water with a large splash.

When she surfaced, Carter was getting up and heading to his apartment. “Hey!” she called. “Don’t go, please...” The pleading in her tone made Carter stop and sit back down. “I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to tease you.”

“It’s okay,” Carter declared, “It’s just odd, you know?” He looked up a her and a puzzled expression crossed her face. “When I left you were a lanky kid who signed up for his summer soccer club.”

“Yeah...” Dani agreed. “And the whole team told me I played like a girl,” She stretched, and that emphasized all of the feminine curves and bumps along her body. “That was when I did a lot of soul searching and felt that maybe, I...”