by D. L. Roan
Other than answering his phone at dinner, he didn’t understand why they were making such a big deal of it. This was all supposed to be good news. He waved goodbye again as his mom drove away, kicking at the gravel beneath his boots before he turned back towards the house.
Truthfully, when he submitted that video of their performance, he hadn’t expected a response. Now that they had a shot, the thought of failing scared the living daylights out of him.
A short, sharp whistle split the calm night air and Connor’s head whipped up to see their dad, Matt, waving him over to the stock barn. Connor took a deep breath and picked up his pace. He caught his brother’s shadow on the porch out of the corner of his eye. Carson hopped over the railing and a few seconds later met him at the barn door. Despite their different ways of handling things, they walked in together, presenting a united front, as they did with everything else, and joined all three of their fathers inside.
Matt closed the door behind them. Grey had his jean-clad hip perched on the edge of a work table in the center of the long aisle that ran the length of the barn, his arms crossed over his broad chest.
Mason was tossing a few handfuls of hay into the stalls where they kept their personal horses, joining Grey and Matt when Connor and Carson walked farther into the room.
A different kind of dread stirred in Connor’s gut. This suddenly seemed more serious than taking one phone call at the dinner table. “Look, I’m sorry,” he said and held up his hands. “I know I broke Mom’s no phone call rule, but—”
“Damn right you did, but we’re way past that issue.” Connor cringed when he heard the growl in Grey’s voice. “At what point did you decide to give some stranger on the internet, who none of us have ever met, your phone number?”
“It was part of the contact requirements on the application!” Conner said. “I had to give them a way to contact me. Is that what all this is about? Is that why you’re so upset? Because I didn’t submit the right phone number for God’s sake?”
“It’s not like he tweeted it out to the world, Dads,” Carson added.
“And telling us about this wasn’t an option?” Mason asked, crossing his arms over his chest as he leaned against the table beside Grey.
“We’re upset because you didn’t use the brain that we and God gave you to talk to us about this first!” Grey shouted over Mason’s question. “This guy—this whole thing—could be nothing but some huge scam or con artist, or goddamn pervert stalking two up-and-coming teens with more dreams than wits!”
“Oh, come on!” Carson whipped around, throwing his arms up in disbelief. “We’re a little too old for the ‘stranger danger’ talk. Don’t ya think?”
“Coulda fooled me,” Matt grumbled.
“Everyone knows The Big Break is legit,” Connor argued. “They wouldn’t be so big if they weren’t.”
“That doesn’t mean that everyone who will have access to your phone number is legit,” Grey scolded. “And I don’t care if this Fletcher guy is the personal assistant to the damn Pope. You are seventeen years old, and until you are eighteen, we have first and final say over who has direct access to you. Is that clear?”
Connor and Carson nodded, but quickly amended their silent responses. “Yes, sir.”
Connor was floored. He honestly hadn’t given a single thought about who would have his phone number or how his parents would react. “I didn’t think about all that,” he said with a subtle shrug. “I really didn’t expect them to call anyway. I just...”
“What do you mean you didn’t expect them to call?” Mason asked. Connor had to admit he felt a bit deflated when he glanced up and saw the disappointed looks on their dads’ faces. This wasn’t working out at all like he thought it would.
“I didn’t think they’d call.” He shrugged again. “It was a stupid video I pieced together from Charlotte’s and Mom’s cellphones.” Matt let out another grumble and Connor felt more of his excitement drain away. “You’re right. It’s probably a scam,” he said when the reality of the situation hit him. “Why would anyone from a show that big call us from some crappy video submission? They have thousands of people—people ten times better than us—begging for a chance.”
“Bullshit!” Carson spat. “That’s bullshit and you know it, Con! We deserve a spot on that show as much as anyone!”
“I agree,” Grey said. Their heads whipped up to see all three of their dads scowling at them, only this time it was determination instead of disappointment that he saw in their eyes.
“You do?” Connor asked.
“You bet your asses we do,” Matt answered with conviction. He and Grey pushed away from the table. Matt clamped a hand over his shoulder and Grey did the same to Carson’s. Mason stood behind them and completed the circle around him and Car.
“You two have more heart and more talent than anyone I’ve seen on that stage,” Grey said, the sincerity in his eyes and his voice only adding to Connor’s confusion.
“But, I...,” Carson stammered. “I thought you didn’t want us to audition.”
“We don’t want you to audition,” Mason said from behind them. Connor looked over his shoulder at their dad in time to see his lips part into a big toothy grin. “We want you to kick some ass and win the whole damn thing.”
Both Connor and Carson let out a long, relieved breath as their dads clapped them on their backs, nothing but pure pride beaming in their matching smiles as they were pulled into one congratulatory hug after another.
“I’m still a little confused. You’re not mad?” Connor asked when Grey released him. “You’re going to let us audition?”
Grey nodded, pulling him and Carson into another proud embrace. “I’m not angry with you, boys. We want to be there with you every step of the way.” Grey stepped back and studied them both.
His hands, hands that had always been as strong as a rock, cupped the backs of his and Carson’s necks with a steady grip as he continued. “We want you to chase your dreams, and catch every single one, but we also need for you to let us help you. There are people in this world, in show business especially, who will try to take advantage of you. You have to trust us to protect you and help you make the right choices. At least until you guys have had a little practice at making these kinds of decisions and you’re able to know for certain what’s right and wrong for your futures.”
Connor nodded, choking back the painful lump that had sprung to the back of his throat. The amount of pride he saw in Grey’s eyes literally took his breath away. He knew their dads loved them, but this was different. Their confidence made him feel fucking invincible.
“I trust you,” he said, and meant every word.
“I trust you, too, Dad,” Carson added. Grey gave Carson the same gratifying acknowledgement. Carson reached out and pulled Grey into another hug. “All of you. I trust all of you.” Carson let go and reached for Connor. “We’re going to kick some serious ass on that stage, bro. You wait and see.”
“Yeah, well, we’d best be tightening up on those last three chords you keep screwing up or we’re going to blow this whole deal.”
Carson let him go, drawing back to deliver a playful punch to his gut. “Then let’s get to practicing,” he said. “I’ll play that song ‘til my fingers bleed if I have to. I want to run some changes by you too. Something I was thinking about after the show last week.”
“Whoa,” Matt said as they started for the barn door, throwing his arms around their shoulders and turning them back towards the middle of the aisle. Back towards Grey, who was standing with a wicked smirk on his face that made Connor more than a little nervous.
“We’re not quite done yet, fellas,” Grey said as he pulled Dani’s lime green cell phone from his back pocket and laid it on the table.
“Oh, shit,” Carson said. Matt immediately followed the curse with a swat to the side of his head.
Their dads were usually cool about the occasional curse, but lately their mom had been cracking down on them because D
ani had used an F-bomb at school. It was one more way the little brat was making their lives miserable.
“I think we need to have a little talk about the birds and bees,” Grey said, crossing his arms back over his chest, hiking his hip onto the table once again.
“Good luck with this one, boys,” Matt chuckled, giving them one final slap on the shoulder before he turned to leave them with Grey.
“Where the hell do you think you’re going?” Grey called out to Matt before he could make his escape.
Matt turned around, but kept walking backwards towards the door with a rueful grin on his face. “Someone has to clean that mess up in the kitchen before Gabby gets back, and put Cory to bed,” he said, throwing a thumb over his shoulder. “I’m volunteering,” he shrugged, turning and high-tailing it out the barn door.
“Coward,” Grey mumbled under his breath as Mason began to back-step towards the other end of the barn. Grey glanced over his shoulder and jumped into action. “Oh no you don’t!” He rounded the table and pulled Mason back by his shirt.
“Dads, really.” Carson backed away. “We had this talk like six years ago. We don’t need to do it again. We understand how it all works.”
“Not this one,” Grey promised. “It’s time we talk about...” He paused, cleared his throat, pulled at the collar of his shirt, glanced at Mason who gave him a casual shrug. “We need to talk about...dating the same girl,” he finally said.
Connor and Carson both cringed. Dating? They didn’t have to guess that Grey wasn’t referring to going to the movies. He could forget it. There was no way they were going to talk about that with Grey!
“We got this, dad,” Connor hurried to assure him. “I’m sure we can figure it out.”
“I’ll either have this chat with you, or I’ll have it with Charlotte’s dad. The choice is yours.”
“Us!” He and Carson both shouted. “Jeeze!” Connor felt the blood drain from his face. Holy hell! What was it going to take to get out of this?
“Just get it over with already,” Carson said, flopping down onto a bale of hay at the edge of the ceiling-high stack they kept stocked beside the last two stalls.
Connor dropped onto the bale next to him as their dads began what was probably the most embarrassing conversation of their lives. This is going to suuuuuck. Surely their dads knew that all of this stuff was on the internet.
Five minutes in, Connor struggled to contain the urge to run. Beside him, Carson’s legs began to bounce with nervous energy. He glanced over to see his twin’s vacant stare as, he too, struggled to tune it all out.
Eventually, all their words melded together into one long, mind-numbing hum, dulling the painful experience to barely tolerable levels. Connor had almost convinced himself that he would survive their dads’ lesson until he heard the words anal lubricant.
“Okay! We got it.” He jumped to his feet.
“Slow-stretch-lube-repeat,” Carson said and followed Connor’s lead as they backed their way towards the door. “Roger that.”
“Lots of lube,” Grey clarified.
“Yeah, lots. We got it.” Oh my God! Connor gave a mocking salute. “Can we go now? We uh...we have a lot of chores to do tomorrow.”
Carson stretched his arms above his head and let out an exaggerated yawn. “Oh tons! Yeah, we’d better get some sleep, Con. Matt wants us to ride out early to help him fix one of the stock chutes.”
Connor heard the powerful rumble of Carson’s truck fire up as they reached the barn door, the obnoxiously loud air horn piercing the air. He looked at his brother, wondering who was driving his truck, and Carson shrugged.
Repeatedly, the blaring horn sounded in an urgent rhythm, spurring them all to scramble through the door like cattle, spilling out of the barn into the yard beside their house.
“What the hell?” Carson yelled and sprinted towards the driveway.
Tires spun, gravel flew and scattered over the driveway as the truck turned around and backed over the embankment towards the barn, the new mufflers Carson and their Papa Jake had installed a few days earlier growling with the sudden burst of power. Wondering who the hell would have the balls to steal his brother’s truck, Connor saw the tinted window come down, revealing Matt in the driver’s seat. Matt searched out Grey in the darkness with a frantic urgency Connor would never forget.
“Gabby and the girls have been in an accident down at seventy-six and Old Deerfield Road,” he shouted in a clipped, hurried tone, the truck gears shifting into drive as he spoke. “Daniel’s okay, but the paramedics are just seeing to Dani and Gabby now. Cade is calling Mom to come get Cory and Jonah, then he’ll meet us there!”
Connor froze. His family moved around him, some running toward the house, others moving towards the other vehicles that lined the driveway. The trepidation he’d been feeling in his gut all day swarmed around him like a haunting ghost, taunting his worst fears to the surface.
Charlotte.
Chapter Six
Ford’s hand was so cold. Breezy’s thumb played over the scrapes and bruises still visible from his fight with their pa. She held his palm to her cheek and covered it with both her hands. The constant rhythmic beeps and chirps coming from the different machines surrounding his bed in the small curtained room provided an odd, unexpected comfort. It meant she still had time; time to find the courage and the words to say goodbye.
Ford. She reached out and fingered the end of one of his dark brown curls that stuck out from the bandages the doctors had wrapped around his head and one side of his face. Other than that, he looked so normal, as if he were only sleeping. The nurses had covered the rest of his body with layers of blankets, all but his left hand, so she couldn’t see if he was hurt anywhere else. She didn’t want to see.
The policemen had told her he’d been wearing his seatbelt, but the impact with the oncoming car had crushed him inside, severing his spine. Only the machines were keeping him alive, and the hospital would turn them off soon. She wasn’t sure how much time she had, how much time they would give her with him.
A feeling of hopelessness and uncertainty swamped her. There had to be more tests they could do, but who did she ask? What did she ask for? They didn’t have a regular doctor or insurance. She couldn’t believe there was nothing left to do but let him die.
“What did you do, Ford?” The doctors had checked to see if he’d been drinking, but she assured them he hadn’t. Ford would never drink and drive, not after what he’d been through with Pa.
Had he fallen asleep? He’d been working two jobs for so long, trying his best to pay the rent, but it never seemed to be enough. She didn’t know where he’d been staying since Pa came home from the hospital. Maybe he’d been sleeping in his truck, or the couch in his manager’s office at the grocery store? She didn’t know, but there was no other explanation for why he’d simply crossed over into the wrong lane, directly into the path of Mrs. McLendon’s car.
Tears burned her eyes, blurring the image of her brother’s sleeping face. The idea of her brother dying was unconscionable. The possibility that he’d hurt one of the McLendons made the crushing weight of Ford’s impending death unbearable.
She covered her sob with one hand as she cradled Ford’s hand against her face with the other. She’d recognized the crushed remains of Mrs. McLendon’s car on the way to the hospital, but the meaning behind the image hadn’t fully registered. Was Mrs. McLendon dead too? Another tidal wave of uncertainty battered her aching heart. How could this have happened?
The sound of a shrill alarm filled the room and Breezy started, panic racing through her veins. Her hand tightened around Ford’s, her heart squeezing inside her chest. She blinked away fresh tears and searched her brother’s face, feeling her world crumble around her. Nothing. There was no movement, no fight, no...life, only a piercing beep announcing the end.
“No!” He couldn’t die! Not yet! She hadn’t said goodbye. “Ford, wait!” Fear turned to anger when she couldn’t force the words from her m
outh. “Dammit!” Her hands shook as she fisted them in the sheets beside his head and hovered above him. “You can’t die! You hear me! I won’t let you die!”
“Miss Youngblood.”
“You can’t leave me with him, Ford! You can’t—”
“Breezy.”
“No!” she said, shoving at the hands that pulled her away. “He can’t! He promised!”
“Breezy, he’s gone.”
“No!” She twisted and shoved against the strong arms that banded around her. “No! He ca—can’t die!”
She looked up through her tears to see Connor and Carson’s grandpa, Daniel, looking back at her, his eyes glistening with his own unshed tears and enough of the truth to make it impossible to deny.
Her heart broke; the pain in her chest was so acute it stole her breath. She collapsed into Daniel’s arms, her sobs robbing her of the ability to say the words she’d wanted her brother to hear. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry. I should have done more to help you. You’re all I have, Ford. You can’t leave me now!
~*~*~*~*~*~
Connor stood in the corner, his arms crossed over his stomach to quell the ache and tension that had gripped him. Adrenaline had burned through his veins like a wildfire, propelling him through the chaos that ensued after they reached the scene of the accident. The blessed numbness was melting away now, leaving him feeling tired and completely empty.
Carson paced the brightly lit waiting room. Back and forth, the sound of his boots scuffing along the floor was beginning to grind on Connor’s last nerve.
“Car, please,” he begged his brother. “Sit down, man.”
Carson’s eyes, red and swollen, narrowed to slits and focused on Connor. “I hate them.”
“We don’t know what happened,” he reminded Carson again.
The heap of scrap tangled around their mom’s car wasn’t clearly identifiable at first, but the pieces of the puzzle quickly clicked into place when Tom Grunion and his son, Dirk, pulled up to the accident scene.
