Redneck Debutante

by Jenny Hammerle

  Rachael turned her face up to his and leaned in to the kiss. What started as a gentle dance of their lips quickly became heated. She felt the kiss in the pit of her stomach and all the way to the tips of her toes.

  “Colten and Rachael sitting in a tree…k-i-s-s-i-n-g,” her brother walked in singing loudly. “First comes love, then comes marriage, then…”

  Rachael hit her brother with a throw pillow from the couch.

  “Still won’t stop me from singing it!” Michael taunted as he ran from the room, pausing long enough in the archway to call out, “All the way to Fruitville tomorrow!”

  Rachael and Colten just laughed.

  “I think this move may actually be good for us,” Colten said.

  “Good for us?”

  “Yeah. If you kiss me like that every time I come to town, it’ll keep me coming back for more.” Colten laughed a deep laugh, and Rachael smacked him with the throw pillow as well. A good whacking with a throw pillow was good for any guy from time to time. That was Rachael’s personal belief on the subject anyhow.

  They talked more about the move. Colten said he’d talk with his parents to work out a schedule of when he could come see her each month. He was sure his parents wouldn’t object.

  Around midnight she walked Colten out to his Jeep and gave him one last good-bye kiss.

  “I’ll be there to visit before you know it. Call me tomorrow when you arrive in Fruitville,” he told her before he pulled out of her driveway.

  Maybe this won’t be so bad after all. Sure it’ll be a change, and I’ll miss Colten and my other friends, but it isn’t the end of the world.

  At least it was still in Florida. Sarasota was an awesome town. The beaches there—Lido and Siesta Key—were gorgeous. There was decent shopping. She’d survive this.

  Rachael fell asleep thinking about the move as more of an adventure and a vacation than anything else.

  2

  WHEN RACHAEL’S ALARM CLOCK SOUNDED AT EIGHT O’CLOCK, she crawled out of bed and headed for the bathroom. After brushing her teeth, she clipped her unruly blond hair back.

  Her mother poked her head in. “Glad to see you’re up. The movers will be here in thirty minutes. No reason for you to hang around here while they pack up all of your stuff. Why don’t you call Brittany and Ellery to see if they would like to do coffee or something?”

  “Thanks, Mom. I didn’t even call them last night. I was so busy talking to Colten, I didn’t even think about it. I’ll do that right away.”

  “Talking?” Her mother chuckled. “From what Michael said it sounded like a lot more than talking was going on.”

  “Mom!”

  “I’m just saying it seems you and Colten are getting pretty close. Maybe this move comes at the right time. Some distance might not be bad.”

  Rachael rolled her eyes. She and her mother had had the talk, as she called it at the time, a few months after she’d started dating Colten. Rachael was a good girl and had no intention of doing anything like that anytime soon. The talk really hadn’t been necessary. After all, her family was Catholic, and all Catholics were raised to believe sex is for procreation—and definitely not for teenagers who weren’t married. Even more, premarital sex always carried with it a large dose of Catholic guilt since it was a sin.

  While getting dressed Rachael pondered, So why are boys so guilt-free about having sex before marriage? Isn’t it a sin for them too?

  Of course it was. Well, she had no plans for sex anytime soon. And the talk was one conversation she never wished to revisit with her mother.

  As she walked into her father’s office downstairs, he was drinking coffee and reading the paper. “Hey Dad, could you drop me at the coffee shop on your way in this morning?”

  “Sure, honey. But I’m not going in. I’m taking the morning off to spend some time with Michael and your mother. I’d love to run you to the coffee shop, though. It’ll give us a chance to talk.”

  “I’d like that. I’m going to grab a bowl of cereal and call my friends. Can we pick them up too if they need a ride?”

  “You bet.”

  Rachael went into the kitchen. She texted Brittany and Ellery, who were both in for coffee at nine o’clock. Rachael scarfed down her breakfast without even tasting it. She was more nervous than she’d realized about telling her friends about the unexpected, unplanned, and uninvited move. She didn’t even hear her father come into the kitchen until he was standing next to her.

  “Ready to go?”

  “Yep. And Ellery and Brittany don’t need a ride. They’ll meet me there.”

  Once they were in the Porsche and heading down the driveway, her father said, “Honey, I want you to know how much I love you. I’m scared for all of us, but your mother and brother especially. Your mother has always been such a strong person that sometimes it’s difficult for her to admit she, like everyone else, needs some help. I’m asking you to do that for me. Offer her a shoulder to cry on or an ear to listen. She’ll receive a lot of support from Aunt Margaret, but please keep me informed how things are going. Okay?”

  “Of course.” Rachael’s eyes misted. She had always been her daddy’s little girl. Moving away and living without him was going to be difficult. “Dad, I love you. We all do. I’m so sorry for this whole mess and the stress it’s causing you. We’ll visit you very often.”

  “Yes. Your mom and I already worked it all out. Every few weeks or so. It shouldn’t be so bad. Don’t cry, baby girl.”

  They had pulled into the coffee shop. Rachael unbuckled her seatbelt and reached across to give her father a hug and a kiss.

  Brittany and Ellery were already sitting inside drinking iced lattes when she arrived.

  “Hey, Rachael, what’s up with the Debbie downer face? You look a little rough, chica,” Brittany said sarcastically.

  “Yeah. You are like cosmo gone bad. Way bad. What’s up with the hair?” Ellery chimed in.

  “Rough night, girls. We’re moving.”

  “Moving!” her friends exclaimed in unison.

  “Oh, don’t tell us. Let us guess…Paris? London? NYC? It’ll be sooo cool. We can visit. Road trip!” Brittany said enthusiastically.

  “Road trip?” Ellery stared at Brittany. “You have to fly to places like Paris, London, etc. Seriously,” she turned her eyes on Rachael, “we could always fly out to see you. We have lots of sky miles my dad will let us use. We need to start planning right now for a fall vacation! The ultimate girls’ getaway!”

  “Hold up, girls.” Rachael held up her hands. “It’s nowhere near that exciting. It’s right here in Florida.”

  “Miami? South Beach is a hot spot.” At Rachael’s head shake, Ellery asked, “Not Miami?”

  “No.” Do I tell them the truth or stretch it a little? At least Sarasota had good shopping, beaches, and hot guys. Hmm… In the end she decided the truth would be best. “Fruitville.”

  “What the heck?” Brittany screeched in a near hysterical tone, as if she’d just learned of the death of her pet dachshund, Pedro.

  “Let’s not freak her out, Brittany,” Ellery chided. “What nearby town do we know?”

  “Sarasota,” Rachael said hopefully.

  “See, that’s not so bad. Fruitville sounds so backwater, hickish…kind of redneck. By all means start saying Sarasota. We don’t want people to think you’ve moved to the sticks,” Ellery warned.

  “Well, I didn’t want to lie. The house is actually in Fruitville, but Sarasota is only a short drive.”

  “Is there a mall?” Brittany asked.

  “Yes. Several within driving distance,” Rachael replied.

  “Well, thank God! At least you’ll survive this,” Brittany said with exaggerated flare.

  “And you always have us,” Ellery added. “Why are you guys moving anyway? What could Fruitville offer that we don’t have in West Palm?”

  Rachael sighed. “That’s the worst part about this whole mess. My father’s company is in some sort of legal and finan
cial trouble.” That’s putting it mildly.

  Brittany never watched the news and could barely read a page of Cosmo without becoming completely distracted. And Ellery? She wouldn’t care about the gory details. Malls and boys, beaches and brand names were their biggest concerns. She didn’t want to worry them unnecessarily.

  “So that’s pretty much it.” Now it was time for the fast wrap-up. “We’ll be moving today.”

  “Today!” Brittany looked stunned.

  “Yep,” Rachael said glumly, “but my dad will still be here dealing with the legal side of things, so I can visit. My mom thinks some time away would be best.” A thought niggled. Oh well, it’s all going to come out anyhow. So she added, “Our assets have been frozen, so no money or credit cards. We’re going to live with my Aunt Margaret. But I know it’ll all work out in the end.”

  Whew. Now that’s all out in the open. Rachael breathed a sigh of relief.

  “You’re impoverished, destitute, poor, practically homeless!” Brittany’s lip quivered.

  Rachael could always count on Brittany for a real pick-me-up. Her flare for the dramatic was a bit much at times like these.

  “Let’s not get carried away,” Ellery, the more commonsense friend, chimed in. “Don’t be ridiculous, Brittany. Homeless and destitute means literally ‘without a home or resources.’ Obviously Rachael’s Aunt Margaret will never let that happen. Her father’s company will sort this mess out, and she will move back. Plain and simple. Brittany, this brings me to my second thought: Have you gone off your meds again? You’re a little OOC today.”

  Brittany shot Ellery a sour look.

  “Where will you go to school?” Ellery switched to a more pleasant topic.

  “Not sure. Maybe public.”

  “As in public school?” Ellery said the last part as if they were curse words.

  “I don’t know if there will be money for private.” Rachael paused. “It could be really fun.”

  Brittany threw up her arms. “Or catastrophic. There are real gangs and everything. Knives in the bathrooms! Guns in the halls! We need to hold a charity fundraiser to pay for your private education.”

  “Come on, Brittany. It’s not going to be so bad. I’m looking at it as an adventure. A journey. An opportunity to meet new people and all.” Rachael was truly smiling now. Who couldn’t help but be amused by a friend like Brittany? In her own weird way she actually helped Rachael see things more objectively.

  Ellery leaned forward. “What about Colten?”

  “He knows everything and is totally okay with it. He’s going to drive over every month to visit.”

  This seemed to make even Brittany feel a little better. “Maybe we can catch a ride with Colten when he goes.”

  Rachael grinned. “Sounds great to me.”

  When Ellery’s mom showed up an hour later, all three girls were in much better spirits. Still, something about Ellery’s mom’s manner of greeting and speaking to Rachael let her know the word was already beginning to spread of her family’s shocking situation. Mom’s right. It is the right time to get away…anywhere. It’s what we all need.

  She just wished her father could escape with them.

  Ellery’s mom dropped Rachael off first, and Rachael hugged Ellery and Brittany.

  Once inside her house, Rachael headed upstairs to say good-bye to her room. Her furniture was still there—bed, dresser, nightstands, and lamps. Only her personal belongings, clothing, stereo, and posters were gone. This made her feel better in a way. If her furniture was still here, she knew she would be coming back. Maybe not as soon as she would like, but someday.

  At that moment the front door chimed, and she raced down the stairs.

  When she opened the door, Colten stood on the porch, her favorite purple roses in hand along with a wrapped box.

  “Open it.” He handed her the box. Obviously he’d wrapped it himself, since it wasn’t perfectly wrapped and he had used way too much tape. Rachael smiled at the sweetness of the gesture. Inside was a picture of Colten and Rachael taken last month on his family’s yacht. Colten was tanned, gorgeous, and wearing his swim trunks. His hair hung in sun-kissed strands to his cheeks. The plain frame was painted in white. On it were little messages from Colten, written in various colors.

  “You don’t have to take the time to read them all now, but there is one I want to make sure you read before you go.” He gently flipped the frame over. On the back he had simply written:

  To my favorite girl,

  Don’t forget me. I know I won’t forget you.

  Love, Colten

  Rachael began to cry. But before she could get too upset, Colten kissed her in a way that made her forget she was ever upset. When the fog cleared from her brain, Rachael gazed into Colten’s eyes. “You know,” she murmured, “if you kiss me like that every time we say good-bye, it will always keep me coming back.”

  “That’s what I was hoping for.” He smiled.

  Just then Rachael’s mother arrived home from her errands. The moving truck had already departed sometime while Rachael had been at the coffee shop with her friends. It was now time to say good-bye. Rachael’s father kissed her mother, Michael, and Rachael.

  Rachael gave Colten one last hug and got into the passenger seat of her mother’s Benz. It all felt surreal as they pulled out the gates and Rachael took one last glance at her home on the Island. Will I be back? I certainly hope so.

  Rachael turned her iPod on, intending to tune out the world on the ride to Fruitville. But as song after song played, she only thought about Colten and where they had been when she had last heard the song. Visions of Colten and her flooded her memory: going for a stroll at the beach…a midnight swim with friends off of his dock…a doubles tennis match at the club…a slow dance shared at her last cotillion dance last year….

  She turned off her iPod. Maybe music was a bad idea.

  Rachael studied the beautiful picture frame Colten had given her. Maybe now was not the best time to read all of those little notes. She’d be a blubbering mess in seconds, and the car provided no room for escape.

  No, the picture frame is better left for another time, when I’m alone.

  Rachael had no idea where they were now, except for some back road heading west. They had exited I-95 a little while ago and had already passed Okeechobee. Now it seemed they were passing endless cattle ranches, the occasional sod farm, and some sort of vegetable farm that really smelled!

  “Oooh! What’s that stink?” Rachael asked.

  “Celery fields.” Her mom inhaled deeply, joy on her face. “Smells like home.”

  “Yuck. Let’s hope not.”

  Her mom laughed. “Kids, this is going to be an adventure for the two of you. I’d always hoped to bring you back to your roots someday so you could enjoy some of the great things I did as a child. Now it looks like you will get your chance.”

  Rachael huffed. “Stinky celery fields? If that’s enjoyment, you’re way off base here, Mom.”

  “I don’t think stinky stuff is all bad. I kind of like the smell,” Michael chimed in.

  “Yeah, you would,” Rachael snapped. A minute later, she added, “Sorry, Michael. Didn’t mean to be so grouchy.”

  “It’s okay. My friend Wyatt said you’re probably really PMSed,” Michael stated matter-of-factly.

  “What would you know about PMS?”

  “It’s an icky girl thing. You get all whacked out and crazy and stuff. I’m never getting married. Wyatt and I read about it online. His sister gets so cranky she stays in bed for days. She even takes some pills for it!” Michael seemed truly frightened by this PMS thing. “I’m glad I can’t contract that disease.”

  As the fight started to ramp up, her mother intervened. “Michael, your sister is not PMSed…or maybe she is.”

  “Mom!” Rachael squealed.

  “Anyhow,” her mother said, “No more internet research on PMS or girl things. You can get some bad info that way, Michael. If you have questions, you co
uld always ask Dad or me. We can tell you anything you want to know about girls—even PMS.”

  “No thank you,” said Michael emphatically. “You guys are ancient. That’d be like going to the library and checking an encyclopedia for current event info. Maybe I’ll just ask Rachael all of the things I want to know,” he teased.

  She crossed her arms. “Thanks a lot. Really lookin’ forward to that.”

  “Enough about PMS,” her mother chided. “Let’s talk about Aunt Margaret’s house. We haven’t visited there in quite a few years so let’s see what you remember. After all, it will be our home. I think it’s only proper we start to try to see it that way.”

  “Temporary home,” Rachael amended.

  “Yes. Temporary home. So let’s have it. What do you remember?”

  “Well, it’s in the middle of nowhere. Somewhere in the country. There’s a dairy nearby, and if I remember correctly, it really smelled.” Rachael laughed.

  “There is a dairy, but it’s five miles away. What else?”

  “The house is red brick with black shutters. One story? With a barn out back?” Michael asked more than stated.

  “Yep. And?”

  “There was a chicken coup. We had to collect eggs every morning. And an old horse…Paint was his name. He was a Paint horse.” Suddenly Rachael didn’t feel quite so down.

  “See, it’s all coming back to you both now. Paint was our old horse—Margaret’s and mine—when we were your age. We used to love to ride him bareback all around the house and down the roads to the grove. We’d pick oranges in Old Man Ted’s groves, with his permission of course, and then ride home to make fresh-squeezed orange juice. That was a long time ago, but Paint’s still around. I hope this house will hold for the two of you some of the same magic it once held for me.”

  Her mother paused. “I know this will be a big change. There are stores, shops, and malls, but none are nearby. Everything and everywhere we go will require a short drive. When we’re in town, we’ll need to make sure we don’t forget any items we really need, because driving back into town for one item isn’t a good option. Fuel is expensive and, as of right now, we’re on a budget. But there are a lot of things you can do this summer right around the house.”