Redneck Debutante

by Jenny Hammerle

  Rachael felt guilty for misjudging him earlier that week.

  Colten tucked Rachael in and went to bed in the guest room.

  *

  When Rachael woke in the morning, Colten was gone. There was a note on the kitchen table:

  Good morning My Favorite Girl,

  I’m sorry I left so early. I had to be back for my father’s company picnic at noon. I came in to wake you, but you were sleeping so soundly that I didn’t want to. I will see you soon.

  Love,

  Colten

  Rachael glanced at the clock. It was ten o’clock. She never slept this late!

  I could kick myself. I am so angry at myself!

  Rachael stormed down the hall, wanting to scream. She shut her door and stayed in her room until lunchtime.

  Aunt Margaret knocked at the door. “Did you have fun last night, dear?”

  “Yes, Aunt Margaret. You can come in if you would like.”

  Aunt Margaret opened the door and came to sit beside Rachael on the bed. “Colten left so early this morning. I never thought of him as an early riser. I was up when he left a little before six.”

  “No, he never gets up that early. His father had a company picnic today at noon he needed to attend.”

  “Poor guy must be exhausted. You two were up until really late. He couldn’t have gotten more than four hours’ sleep.”

  “No. Probably not. I’ll text him and make sure he made it back safely.”

  Rachael texted Colten, and he assured her he had made it home.

  *

  After Colten’s visit the days slowed to a crawl. One afternoon she, Maysie, and Shannah were stretching in Shannah’s pole barn, getting ready to do some Taekwondo forms.

  “So you must be excited!” Maysie commented. “Your Debutante Ball is only a few weeks away. I got my invitation in the mail yesterday. My mom and dad said I can go. It’s so cool that the proceeds of the fifty dollars per ticket go to the women’s shelter. What about you, Shannah? Are you going?”

  “Sure am. I think I’ll car pool over with you.” She winked at Maysie.

  “Great! What a surprise. Did Mom invite all of my friends from over here?” Rachael asked, eagerly anticipating her Ball.

  “Just Amber, Alex, Shannah, Travis, and me.” Maysie explained.

  “Poor Travis! He’s the only guy coming with four girls!” Shannah said sarcastically.

  “I don’t think he’ll come. I don’t think Debutante Balls are his thing.” Maysie sighed.

  “Oh, but I think he would have fun. There will be all sorts of single, not to mention beautiful, talented, and smart girls there., Rachael added.

  “Maybe you can convince him. As of last night he said he was definitely not coming.”

  “Oh, well, his loss.” Rachael was aggravated. Travis had been avoiding her for months. How long will this continue? He can’t keep it up forever, can he?

  “How about Colten. Will he be there?” Maysie asked.

  “Of course. He wouldn’t miss it. I hope he wears his new tux we bought him for the dance…though it’s black, and the ball is white tie.”

  “So tell us all about it. The dress. The food. The ambiance,” Maysie said excitedly.

  The girls chatted about Rachael’s upcoming ball and then got down to the business of Taekwondo. Afterwards they went over and jumped into Maysie’s pool. It was only early April, and the water was just beginning to warm up.

  23

  IT WAS SATURDAY MORNING, and the last weekend of spring break had finally arrived, and along with it, Rachael’s Debutante Ball. Rachael had gone to Palm Beach last week with her brother and Aunt Margaret for the Easter holiday. It had been a quiet time for her family. Even though they were getting a little too old for an Easter egg hunt, their mother still had insisted on having one. Rachael really enjoyed it. Instead of just candy, a few eggs were usually filled with a ring or a pair of earrings. Of course, for Michael there were things like toy plastic frogs and eye balls. If you got an egg intended for your sibling, you just put it back where you found it. Unless, of course, Rachael had been planning on starting a plastic eyeball collection.

  This morning Rachael was nervous. She really didn’t have any responsibility today other than getting herself dressed and arriving at her own party. Aunt Margaret was going to curl her hair in a retro style. Her mother had gone to pick up her dress, jacket, hat, and gloves earlier this week. Rachael had tried them on immediately. They were a perfect fit.

  Maysie, Shannah, Alex, and Amber had called yesterday afternoon and would be arriving this morning. They were planning on staying the night at Rachael’s house, along with Ellery and Brittany. Everyone was excited about the party and was bringing along everything to do their own hair and makeup.

  At noon all of the girls arrived. Rachael helped them unload. Ellery really hit it off with Maysie and Shannah. Brittany didn’t seem to hit it off with anyone, or maybe Maysie was still holding a grudge against her for the kiss she had shared with Jason in the fall.

  By four o’clock everyone was ready to go. They had been posing for pictures for both Rachael’s and Ellery’s moms when the doorbell chimed. When Rachael opened it, a beautiful black stretch limo waited in the driveway. Rachael turned to her mother and asked, “How?”

  “Thank Ellery’s mother. This was her gift to make your day special.”

  Rachael ran over and hugged Ellery’s mother firmly. The girls hurried happily into the limo and were on their way to Rachael’s Ball.

  Rachael had agreed earlier this week that she and Colten would meet there. She couldn’t wait to see him. It had been a little over two months since they had last seen each other.

  The limo arrived at the garden where the girls exited and made their way inside. Rachael’s parents, as well as Ellery’s mother, met them there. Once inside, Rachael was ushered up the central grand staircase to a room upstairs. Her mother touched up her makeup, and Rachael was ready to receive her guests. She went downstairs to the front door where she and her parents, along with Ellery’s parents who were her sponsors, greeted each guest as they came through the door. After about an hour the room was packed.

  But there was no sign of Colten anywhere.

  Rachael and her parents began to make their rounds through the party and mingle with the guests in the outside garden area. At one point Rachael decided to sneak upstairs and check her cell for any messages from Colten.

  When she got up to the room and took her phone from her purse on the desk, she noticed her message light was blinking. Colten had sent a text about an hour ago. She checked it and her heart sank.

  Sorry. I won’t be able to make it.

  I had a tennis tourney in Vero Bch

  today. Pls understand.

  Please understand? Is he kidding? Is he actually going to ditch me on the night of my Ball for some tennis match?

  Did he not know about this tennis tournament two days ago when we last talked? He didn’t even mention it.

  And this Ball has been planned for months.

  Rachael slid to the floor. She’d started to cry when Maysie and Ellery walked in.

  “What’s wrong?” Ellery asked.

  Rachael looked up. “Colten’s not coming. The biggest night of my teenage existence, and he’s not coming.”

  “Did he say why?”

  “That he had a tennis tournament in Vero Beach and couldn’t make it.”

  Maysie, who had been standing quietly next to Ellery, sat beside her. “Rachael, I know this is painful, but you have two ways you can handle this. You can sit up here and cry your eyes out. I know that’s what you feel like doing. Or you can get up and go down there. Your parents have gone to a lot of trouble and expense to put this Ball on for you. You have over a hundred guests here tonight just to celebrate you. You have raised over five thousand dollars for the local women’s shelter. I think those are all things to be proud of.”

  She exhaled and lifted her chin. “You’re right, Maysie. I can’t
let something as small as this allow me to miss out on my own special night. My parents and guests are waiting for me. I won’t be rude and discourteous.”

  Rachael stood and straightened her dress. Maysie grabbed her makeup bag and touched up her eye makeup. “As good as new,” Maysie announced.

  “Are we ready, ladies?” Rachael asked.

  “Ready.”

  Rachael regally walked down the grand staircase with Maysie and Ellery on either side of her. When they got to the dance floor, the band leader announced the guest of honor, Rachael Harte, would lead the first dance of the evening.

  Rachael’s heart hit the floor. She felt panicked. Without Colten here, she didn’t have a dance partner or an escort. She scanned the room and then caught a movement out of the corner of her eye in the direction of the door.

  It was Travis. Had he been standing there the entire time?

  She had never seen him look as handsome as he did tonight.

  This rugged cowboy sure does clean up nicely.

  He walked toward her and took her hand, leading her to the dance floor. As they slowly whirled around the dance floor, Rachael asked him in a whisper, “How did you know?”

  “I didn’t. But I’m sure you will tell me about it later. Right now just try to forget about it and enjoy your special night. I know I will.”

  After the dance, Rachael thanked Travis for helping her avoid what could have been a very embarrassing situation. He asked her to take him around to meet all of her other friends. As they made their rounds, Rachael thought she saw Travis differently for the first time tonight.

  Was it the tuxedo?

  The lack of the ever-present cowboy hat?

  The dark-brown spiked hair paired with the stunning green eyes?

  Even more accentuated by his tan and the white color of the tux?

  Rachael couldn’t figure out what it was, but something was different.

  In the end it turned out to be a great evening in spite of Colten’s absence. Rachael was still very angry and hurt, but she didn’t let it ruin the entire occasion.

  When Rachael and her friends arrived back at the house, everyone was abuzz about the Ball and very careful not to mention Colten’s no-show. Rachael hadn’t forgotten, though. She went to her room and dialed Colten. He said he had just returned and would be over to talk to her in a few minutes.

  Rachael went downstairs and told all of the girls he was on his way. Rachael could have been mistaken, but she got the definite feeling Brittany seemed a little uneasy with this last announcement.

  When Colten got there, he and Rachael went out to the backyard to talk in private. Colten sat in a chair next to the pool and held his head in his hands.

  “Rachael, there’s something I must tell you.”

  “Okay.”

  “I haven’t been exactly honest with you these last several months.” He paused and appeared to swallow hard. “Do you remember the first time I came to visit you at your Aunt Margaret’s house?”

  “Yes.”

  “Well, I was supposed to be breaking up with you.”

  Rachael’s throat tightened, and she found it hard to breathe.

  Colten continued. “I didn’t want to. My parents said I had to. So I went to visit you, but I couldn’t do it. Then the next visit it became even harder. I had to lie to them and say I was staying the night at TJ’s house. I got nervous about the lie and was afraid they might find out that I was really going to see you instead. Finally there was that week you came to visit me here, and we spent the afternoon at the beach. We walked on the beach and grabbed a bite to eat. The waitress at the oyster bar recognized me. Later the same afternoon my dad was in there for dinner, and she mentioned having seen us there earlier.”

  “So the call you received from your mother? She was asking if you were with me?”

  Colten nodded.

  Rachael’s temper began to rise. “And you told her yes. Then she asked about the tennis, and you told her you had taken the week off.”

  “That was the truth. I really did have a big project due at school.”

  “Okay,” Rachael said in frustration, “then you said your grades were slipping and you were grounded and couldn’t visit. Truth or lie?”

  “A mixture of both. I was on restrictions and couldn’t visit, but it had nothing to do with grades. It was because of my parents catching me in the lie of still dating you.”

  “The homecoming dance. You couldn’t come because of your hectic tennis schedule?”

  “Lie. Only because I thought my parents were suspecting something.”

  She gritted her teeth. “The bracelet…broken or taken off?”

  “I took it off when I got home and put it in a drawer. I’d told my mother that I had broken up with you. How would I have explained the bracelet?”

  “The Facebook page. You never commented on anything or posted any comments. Not even when my dad’s problems first made the news. Why?”

  “I couldn’t have my parents see we were still close.”

  Tears were flowing down her cheeks now. “The day after the Sadie Hawkins Dance you had to leave early for your father’s company picnic. Truth or lie?”

  “Truth.”

  “My Debutante Ball today. Were you in Vero Beach, or was that a lie too?”

  “You have to understand, Rachael. I couldn’t go. If I was seen there escorting you, it would have been all over town that we were still dating and that would have caused me even bigger problems with my parents! I was grounded for three months after the last time they caught me lying to them about dating you. They feel your father’s improprieties will tarnish our family’s reputation by my mere association with you.”

  “Problems with your parents! Are you kidding me?”

  Rachael was now choking back violent sobs. “I was standing in the middle of a dance floor with no one to dance with, surrounded by one hundred of our closest friends! And you are worried about saving face with your parents? My situation and family are that big of an embarrassment to you that you had to lie and date me in secret? Of all the people I expected to support me and stand up for me, it would have been you! Everyone else on this Island has stood beside us. But you can’t even defend me to your parents? Am I that unimportant to you?” Rachael was shouting. She was hurt and angry. She was devastated and let down. Disappointed.

  “Just leave,” she yelled. “Get out! You don’t want to have to lie about us anymore? About this? Well then, don’t! I’m through being your scandalous lie, and I’m through with you, Colten.”

  Rachael stormed into the house, leaving him sitting outside. She ran up to her room and locked the door. Thank goodness all of her friends had the common sense to give her the space she needed.

  Rachael sat in her room crying and reliving the events starting with Colten’s first visit last fall. She remembered the way her mother had reacted to the ring Colten had given her. Rachael mistakenly thought her mother was worried that it was a promise or engagement ring. Now she realized she had been wrong. Rachael remembered how her mother had questioned Colten about when he would visit next. Rachael had mistaken it for interest in their relationship and basic conversation at the time. Now she realized it must have been something much more. Rachael remembered the look of relief that had crossed her mother’s face when Colten said he’d be returning once each month for a visit. Her mother’s best friend, Lonnie, was very connected and influential in Palm Beach. Lonnie would have heard about Colten’s parents’ ultimatum. Therefore her mother would have heard, raced home to check on Rachael after his visit…

  Only to find that we were fine and that I was sporting a new ring. Poor Mom! She must have been worried sick for weeks. Eventually she would have dismissed it as idle gossip. How embarrassing!

  After several hours spent in hiding, Rachael emerged from her room. Her friends were all sitting around the table. She noticed Brittany was missing.

  “Where’s Brittany?”

  “She decided Colten could
use some company. I say good riddance,” Shannah stated bluntly.

  Rachael said nothing and kept her thoughts to herself. “Well, we broke up.” She sat down with a thud.

  “We heard,” Maysie confessed, looking guilty.

  “I can’t believe he lied to me all this time and then stands me up tonight in front of everyone.”

  Everyone else commiserated with her and agreed Colten was a complete and total jerk. A coward!

  “Are my parents home yet?” Rachael asked. It had been hours. She figured they had come home either some time after the fight or during it.

  “Yes. Just after you disappeared upstairs. We sort of filled them in,” Ellery volunteered.

  “Good. I don’t want to relive it anytime soon. Well, it’s back home tomorrow, ladies. I hate to be a party pooper, but I think I’m going to bed. Do you all know where the bedrooms are upstairs?”

  “Yes. Don’t worry about us.” Maysie smiled sweetly. “We have everything under control.”

  Rachael went upstairs to bed.

  *

  The next day Rachael said her good-byes to Ellery. Then she, Amber, Alex, Maysie, and Shannah hit the road. About an hour into the ride, Shannah cut her eyes at Maysie. Then Maysie cut her eyes at Alex. Then Alex at Amber.

  “Okay, you guys. What’s going on here? I see you exchanging looks.”

  “Oh, nothing. Just a little Redneck Retribution is all.” Shannah laughed.

  “Redneck Retribution?” Rachael asked.

  “Yes. It was all Maysie’s idea, though she will deny it,” Amber explained.

  “It’s nothing.” Maysie winked. “We just paid Colten’s Jeep a visit last night. We toilet-papered the whole thing really well. No one saw us, of course. And toilet paper alone won’t damage the paint.”

  “Tell the truth, Maysie,” Shannah charged. “You wanted to egg it too, but I convinced her we could actually get into trouble for that. It would dry and the toilet paper would stick to it and damage the paint. We could have gotten into big legal trouble with that one.”