Loving Charley (19 page)

I laugh as I watch Joe try
to eat. “It won’t be that bad, I promise.”

“I just don’t know when I’d
be able to do that.”

“When the situation arises,
you will know. Does she have a clue?”

“Nope. I mean, I know she
feels the same way, and she mentions me when we talk about after
college. This dad thing has me messed up. We don’t do that up
North.”

“Welcome to the South,
where the tea is sweet, and the girls are sweeter,” I say in a
thicker Southern accent.

He shakes his head as he
takes another bite. Once we finish, we make our way back to campus.
I’m glad that things went well this weekend. Joe informs me that he
is coming to the hearing with Piper. I tell him he doesn’t have to,
but he insists, and says that she is picking him up on the way home
late Wednesday night. I’m thankful for the support, but I’m not
sure how I feel about it.

As I make my way upstairs,
I’m so excited for Piper. Honestly, I have no idea how I’m going to
keep my mouth shut about this, but I have to! When I arrive back to
Kluft, everyone is watching a movie in Tori’s room, so I join them.
After it’s over, we sit and talk about plain old stuff, and that’s
when Tori tells me that they are all coming Thursday.

“Um, y’all, I appreciate
it, but I think I’d be better off with just the bare minimum. I
don’t want to sound rude, but it’s gonna be hard enough with the
people that have to be there. Plus, Joe said he and Piper are
coming.”

“Oh, so they can come, but
we can’t?” Tori smarts back.

I’m a little speechless.
“It’s just that I know my parents are going to be in a tizzy, and I
don’t want Mama to have to worry about anything.”

“Charley! Did you think we
were coming home with you?” Caroline exclaims.

“Well, yeah… isn’t that what you were
plannin’?”

“No, we are leaving early
Thursday. We have better manners than that. We just want to be
there to support you and Cash,” Caroline continues.

“Oh, well then, I’d love
for y’all to be there, but I don’t know how much I will actually
get to talk to you.”

“We know, and that’s okay,”
Tori says. “We love you, and we want to be there for
you.”

I nod in agreement and am
embraced in a group hug. We watch a little more TV before heading
back to our rooms. I’m on the edge of my seat waiting on Cash Money
to call. When the clock approaches eleven, he texts and says he
will call me around midnight, and that’s not soon
enough.

Doing anything to pass the
time for the next hour, I go ahead and start to pack my clothes for
my trip home. I stare at the closet. What does someone wear for
court? Never in a million years did I picture myself walking into a
courtroom, let alone testifying. After what feels like an hour, I
finally begin to rummage through the closet. Starting with the
essentials, I take a few everyday clothes, pajamas, and decide on
two outfits for court. The first one is a pair of black dress pants
paired with a baby blue blouse, and the other is an A-line back
dress with the right accessories to match.

Glancing at my watch, I
realize it has been all of twenty minutes.
Ugh!
What to do now? I pop in a
movie and try to relax until I hear from him. Finally, a few
minutes after midnight, my phone begins to blare “Crash My Party,”
and boy, do I wish he was crashing my party right now.

“Hey!” I say a little too
excited.

“Hey, Char-coal,” he says
with enthusiasm, but I can hear the tiredness in his
voice.

“How was it?”

“Good. We made a lot of
money today, but I’m worn out. That traveling will kill ya,” he
says with a yawn.

“It probably didn’t help that you
didn’t get much sleep last night.”

“True, but it was totally worth
it.”

“Agree. Hey, Cash
Money?”

“Yeah.”

“I love you.”

“I love you, too. I don’t
want to bring it up, but what happened with Piper and
Joe?”

“It went well, but
ohmygawsh, you’re never gonna guess what happened when Joe and I
went to eat supper… he’s got a freakin’ diamond for
her!”

“He’s what?! They haven’t
even been dating a month,” Cash says with jealousy in his
voice.

“I know, but you know as
well as I do that you just know. When I told him he had to ask her
daddy, he about died! I told him that it was the Southern thing to
do.”

“Yeah, when’s he gonna do
that?”

“I don’t know, but I told
him that he would know when the time was right.”

Cash doesn’t really
respond. Instead, he talks about what he has planned for the next
couple of days and asks when I will be home Wednesday. I inform him
that I will be home by supper Wednesday at the latest, and he
promises to meet me as soon as I hit the gravel. We exchange
goodbyes and disconnect.

That night I toss and
turn. I think about Cash and me, what this week will bring, and try
to imagine what it will be like to face Dylan. Needless to say, I
finally fall asleep as I see the sun beginning to rise.
Just great.

At eight forty-five, I pull
myself from my slumber and manage to get to class with a few
minutes to spare. There’s nothing like going to class in pajamas
and a ball cap. I follow my normal routine to a tee, and by two,
I’m ready to crash. I let Georgia know I’m going to take a nap, but
I need her to make sure I make it to the café on time.

At exactly five, Georgia
knocks on my door and then comes on in. “Hey, Char, it’s time to
eat.” I mumble a response. “Char, come on.”

Tossing back my covers, I
take a second to look at myself in the mirror.
Ohmygawsh!
“Did I look this bad this
mornin’?” I ask her. She just smiles. “Crap! Why didn’t someone
tell me? I mean, at least by noon anyways!”

“Char, I’m sure you didn’t sleep well.
It’s no big deal. We all look like crap from time to time.” She
laughs. “Now let’s go. I’m starving, and everyone’s waiting on
us.”

“Give me just a sec, okay?”
I say still half asleep.

“Sure. I’ll be in the
hall,” she says as she exits.

Looking in the mirror, I
rub my hands over my eyes and yawn trying to wake up. I brush my
hair into a ponytail and add a little blush and lip-gloss. Looking
at my attire, I decide I might need something besides pajamas.
Grabbing a pair of semi-clean jeans from the floor and a long-
sleeved T-shirt, I change quickly and then slide on my Ariats and
walk out the door.

“Girl! If only I could do that!”
Georgia exclaims.

“Do what?”

“Throw something on and still look
hot.”

“Whatever. I just didn’t
think pajamas were appropriate supper attire,” I say as we walk to
meet the rest of the Kluft girls and eat.

Tuesday and Wednesday are
typical school days except for the fact that I’m on the countdown
to facing my nightmare. I meet the Kluft girls on Wednesday for
lunch. We eat and laugh, but don’t talk about tomorrow. Afterward,
we all go our separate ways to finish our classes.

At two, I make my way back
to the dorm to pack the last few items before I leave for Grassy
Pond. When I get to the top step, I sense that something is off,
but in a good way. Turning to look down the hallway, I notice that
it has been decorated from end to end with random shit, and my door
looks plum gaudy. That’s when I hear music playing, and I see
Caroline appear from her room. She is dressed in something that
came from the thrift store or her grandma’s closet, and she’s
singing “Don’t Drop That Thun Thun” while dancing a little too
crazy. I laugh as Georgia appears along with all the other Kluft
girls. By the time the song ends, I’m in tears from laughing so
hard.

“Y’all are too much!” I
say.

“Hey, it’s like this. We
had to see a smile on that face of yours before you left,” Anna
states.

“Mission accomplished,” I
reply. “I love y’all!” We meet for a group hug.

“We love you too, Char!
Now, go home to your Cash Money, and we’ll see you in the morning
when you take that SOB down!” Tori says firmly.
Nothing like her keeping it real.

Georgia helps me finish
getting the last minute items together, and I text Piper, Tessa,
and Cash to let them know I’m leaving. As I walk down the hallway,
my eyes begin to fill with tears.
Stop
it!
Everyone walks me to the stoop, and I
tell them bye.

Getting into the Honda, I
crank up the radio and try to push aside my sadness. This is the
beginning of my forever. I just have to face my past head-on to
accomplish it.

Chapter 25

The drive to Grassy Pond isn’t too exciting. I
spend the majority of the time singing country music to the top of
my lungs. When “Famous” by Kelleigh Bannen comes through the
speakers, I sing a little louder. That song holds so much home and
meaning to what I did over break with Dylan. No, he didn’t cheat on
me, but what he did was way worse… and now he’s famous in our small
town. I hope no one ever forgets what he did to me.

When the song ends, I
glance to my right and see a middle-aged gentleman looking my
direction. I smile and burst out laughing. I know I looked like an
idiot, but I don’t care. Not to mention, it’s probably better he
couldn’t hear my singing.

As the exit for Grassy Pond
approaches, I turn on my blinker as the excitement of being home
starts to rise. Within twenty minutes, I’ve hit every stoplight in
town and can see the farm quickly approaching. Turning onto the
gravel, I try my best to slow down, but I really just want to floor
it.

When the house comes into
sight, I can see every vehicle is in its place along with my
favorite F250. A smile grows on my face, as I park my car and am
greeted by my family and the ones I love the most on the front
porch. Emerging from my car, I try to walk calmly to the porch, but
that goes to hell quickly, and I sprint toward them all. Tessa and
Mama take off toward me while Dad and Cash remain on the
porch.
Why in the hell isn’t he
running?
Within seconds, Mama and Tessa
are embracing me and not letting go.

“What’s wrong with y’all?”
I question. “Everything’s okay, right?”

“Yeah, Char, it is. I think
Mama’s just a little emotional in general; she’s been baking up a
damn storm.”

“Tessa! You watch that
mouth,” Mama states mid-tear.

Tessa shrugs her shoulders,
and we make our way to the porch. I’m dying to be in Cash’s arms,
but something tells me that Dad is the one I need to hug first.
Smiling at Cash, I give Dad a hug, and they tell me that supper
will be ready shortly before they return inside the house. Tessa
turns and gives me a wink like she arranged this entire alone time.
She’s a mess, but I love her.

“So…” I say as I place my
hands into my back pockets, turning my head to the side and looking
into Cash’s eyes.

“So…” he says as he takes a
step closer, sliding his arm around my waist to my back and pulling
me close to him. As every nerve in my body comes to attention, I
start to giggle, which catches him off guard. “What’s so
funny?”

“This,” I say as I point
between us. “I mean, it just feels like we’re doing this for the
first time.”

“Don’t you realize we are?
This is the first time I’ve welcomed the girl of my dreams home,
and the entire world knows. There’s no hiding, crazy plans, or
anything. It’s just my Char-coal and me.”

Placing my arms around his
neck, I look deeper into his eyes. “The girl of your dreams, huh?”
I ask as I brush my lips against his.

“Actually, you’re not a
dream. You’re my reality and always have been, which is better than
a dream.”

“You steal my heart more and more each
day, Cash Porter Montgomery.”

“And you do the same,
Charley Ann Rice.” He wastes no time covering his lips with
mine.

Forgetting the world is
spinning around us, we are brought back to my front porch in Grassy
Pond when we hear a throat being cleared. Cutting my eyes, I see my
dad, and for some reason, I’m not surprised. I honestly think this
is just a game for him.

“Aight, you two, supper’s
ready,” Dad announces.

“Yes, sir,” we answer in
unison. Cash weaves my fingers in his and guides me to the kitchen
for supper with my family.

We spend the next hour
stuffing our stomachs until they are about to pop. Tessa wasn’t
kidding; Mama cooked a feast. After supper, we sit and talk about
school, the farm, and my plans for the rest of the semester. Tessa
excuses herself to meet Dustin. Cash and I offer to do the dishes,
but Mama quickly tells us to get out of here, so that’s exactly
what we do.

As we walk outside, the
crisp country air tickles my face, and I stop to breathe it
in.

“Char-coal, are you okay?”
he asks.

“I’m fine. Just enjoying
the moment.” We stand there and appreciate the freedom within the
moment, and at the ideal time, Cash takes me by the hand and leads
me to his truck. I don’t ask questions, but I’m safe with my Cash
Money, and that’s all that matters.