by Taylor Hart
“Bye,” Linda said.
She turned, running into Carey.
“Sara.”
She stopped, but didn’t turn to face him.
He hesitated, then his jaw clenched. “Uh, I still need your article before tomorrow.”
Sara didn’t budge. She got paid very little for writing her Beatrice articles, but she did it mostly for the practical experience and elective credits. She turned around slowly. “Were you ever waiting for Sue, or was that just the story you told me?”
Carey’s serious face turned to sadness. “I thought I was.” He shrugged looking a little lost. “I just thought I might have a chance with you, too.” He blinked. “I really liked you.”
Sara was stunned at the loss on his face. And, for a second, she wondered if it was all her fault.
Carey pushed his chin in the air, coughing into his fist. “I need your article by eight a.m.”
Chapter 13
Sara felt relieved as she got out of her car and walked toward her apartment. It was Friday, and she had the weekend to regroup. They’d only been back for two weeks, and she felt like she had two months’ worth of homework. She stepped into the apartment and knew, just by looking at Genova, what she was going to tell her.
“He didn’t.” Sara put her hand out, demanding to see a ring on Genova’s finger.
Genova laughed and stuck out her hand like a little girl showing off her new piece of costume jewelry. “He did!”
Sara inspected the very small diamond on her friend’s finger. “It’s beautiful.” She hugged Genova to her. “I’m so happy for you.”
“Can you believe it?” Genova pushed her hand out, gazing at it like it was four carats.
“Let me guess.” Sara cupped her mouth like she had a megaphone. “He did it over the PA in Prexis Pasture.”
Genova laughed. “No, silly. He was so sweet. When I walked in the apartment this afternoon he’d put together a pathway of roses, and he was down on his knee in front of a chocolate cake, my favorite, of course.” She put her hand to her chest dramatically. “Then he—,” her voice broke and her eyes got teary, “he told me he wanted to bake chocolate cakes for me for the rest of our lives.” Genova sobbed happily.
Sara wrapped her arms around her. “That is awesome.” She could feel her friend’s happiness radiating off of her like waves of sonar energy piercing into her soul.
Genova sniffed and pulled away. “We want a Christmas wedding.” Genova laughed and her eyes sparkled. “I can’t believe it, Sara. I feel like the luckiest girl in the world.” She stopped abruptly and her smile got even wider. “You and Jonathon can have a double wedding with us.” She clapped her hands together excitedly.
“No.” Sara shook her head back and forth quickly, resolved they would not even discuss that.
Genova frowned and all the energy seemed to drain out of her. “You’ve always said it would most likely be Christmas, why not?” She looked like she would cry.
Sara collapsed onto the couch. “Oh, it’s just . . . lately it’s been . . .” She stalled, not wanting to mention how many skype calls he’d missed. This was her friend’s day and she wanted it happy for her.
Genova wiped her face and nodded in understanding. “It’ll work out, Sara. I know you’ve been worried lately. But Jonathon and you are meant to be together. I can feel it.” She hugged herself and spun in a circle dramatically. “Just like Kevin and I are meant to be together.”
Sara smiled in agreement. “Absolutely.” She tried to smile and feel confident, but she wasn’t feeling confident about any of it.
Sara stood and hugged Genova, again. “I have to get ready to watch Rob play tonight, but I’m so excited for you guys.”
Genova hugged her then picked up her phone. “Kevin is coming back; we already called our parents, but there are so many details to work out.” She turned toward the kitchen and put the phone to her ear. “Hey, Mom . . .”
Sara’s phone buzzed in her pocket. It was her brother Mark’s number. She flipped it open. “Hello.”
“You’ve got to come. The doctor says it could be any time. Dad’s been asking for you.” His voice was rough. She could picture him pacing out in front of their house with the big rose bushes behind him.
Sara inhaled, feeling the familiar fear grip her chest. “What’s happened?” She knew the situation was bad, but she hadn’t steeled herself to face this yet.
“They put him on morphine. And you know when that happens it means the end is near.”
She didn’t know what to say.
“Are you there?”
“Yeah, I’m here.” Her mind tried to catch up with what her brother was saying. “Okay, I’ll get packed tonight and tie up as much stuff as I can, then I’ll leave tomorrow morning. I’ll see you guys Sunday afternoon.”
“Okay. Love you, sis.”
“Love you too.” Sara sat on her bed to steady herself. She had known this was coming, but she realized that she wasn’t prepared—not really. She didn’t know how long she would have to be gone. She got a notebook and started making a list of everything she needed to pack and all the professors she needed to email.
“Sara, is everything okay?” Genova stood in the doorway with her jacket on.
Blinking rapidly, she tried to contain the emotion in her voice. “Umm. My brother called, they’re gathering the family.” Sara felt like a robot. She stood and got a bag from under her bed then opened her dresser and started throwing things into the bag.
Genova sat down. “What can I do?”
“Nothing, thanks.” Sara tried to think of the best way to be efficient. She opened her laptop. “I’ll leave in the morning. I just need to get things organized.” She turned back to her dresser, thinking she might need extra clothes if she stayed longer. Her hands shook and she couldn’t get the drawer opened. “Dang it.”
“Sara,” Genova said, standing and touching her shoulder, “are you really okay?”
Sara looked into her friend’s eyes, seeing pity and sadness. She pushed her hand away. “I’ll be fine.” There was no time for this. The semester had just started, and she needed to be able to focus. How would she keep her scholarship if she couldn’t focus?
Genova sighed. “Sara, do you need to borrow some money?”
Money. That was something that she hadn’t thought about. Her checking account with two hundred dollars in it. Maybe one of her brothers could give her a loan to get her through. “I’ll be okay.” She turned to Genova, not wanting all of this to weigh on her big day. “Really,” she said, trying to sound convincing. “It’s okay.” She pasted on a big smile. “Look, go do what you had planned; we’ll talk later.”
Genova didn’t look convinced.
“Really, I have to get this stuff ready; we’ll talk later.” She couldn’t take a heart-to-heart right now, she needed to focus.
“I’ll stay and help you.” Genova took her jacket off.
“No.” Sara walked Genova to the door. “I’m fine. I’ll see you in a little bit. Have fun with Kevin.” Pushing her out, she closed the door quickly.
She turned back to her computer and sent off her Beatrice article and a note to her professors, telling them the situation.
After a couple of emails, she couldn’t type anymore because her hands were shaking so badly.
He couldn’t die.
She closed her eyes. Her father was the only parent they had. She pushed everything off of her bed and reached for the pillow. She tucked it into her face and sobbed.
Chapter 14
Beau banged the door with his fist. This was the address listed on the student directory he’d pulled up with his phone. He didn’t know why he was wasting his time coming over here. He only knew that he was unreasonably angered when Sara hadn’t shown up for Rob’s gig at the Cowboy.
He leaned against the door and banged a final time. It was a Friday night, for crying out loud; she was either ignoring him or not at home.
The door whipped open.
Sara stood there. She looked like a zombie from a horror movie. Her hair was matted and her black makeup surrounded her eyes and leaked down into the creases on her nose. Her usually bright blue eyes were bloodshot.
Beau hesitated.
“Why were you banging on my door?” She demanded.
Beau opted to lighten the mood. “You’re looking rested,” he quipped.
She moved to shut the door.
He prevented it by sticking his boot in the crack. “Rob was upset you weren’t there.”
Sara squeezed her eyes shut and shook her head fiercely as if she’d just woken from a bad dream. “Something came up.”
Beau eased in and shut the door. “Is this one of those spring canyon times?”
She looked surprised. “What?”
Beau didn’t know why he’d remembered that from their first meeting at the airport almost a year ago. “You said that your dad always said you were a desert in the summer or a canyon in the spring.” He pulled his boot out of the crack in the doorway.
Her lip started to quiver, and she rushed away.
On instinct, he followed.
The place was dark but there was a light on in the little apartment kitchen. He wondered where her roommate was. She guzzled a bottle of water, then turned to him. “You have to leave, Beau. I’m busy.” She moved to the sink and stared out the window looking … dazed.
Beau thought he saw a tear go down her cheek. He wasn’t going to leave. “You’re terrible at supporting Rob’s band.” He didn’t know what else to say.
She squared her back to him. “Just shut up, Beau.”
Beau couldn’t stop himself from going to her. He knew that he annoyed her, but something had to be wrong. “What is going on?” It came out angrier than he wanted it to. He just hated it when people cried and he didn’t know why.
“Beau—.” She reached out to steady herself on him and he caught her arm.
“Are you okay?” He pushed her back and looked into her eyes, hating that his first instinct was to wrap his arms around her.
“It’s my dad. My brother said my dad’s waiting for me so he can …” she choked off, sobbing.
Beau quickly pulled her into him, gently stroking her hair.
Sara cried into his chest.
“Shh,” he whispered into her ear. “I’m sorry.” And he was. He could feel her grief leaking out around her. It touched him. Touched a grief that he’d carried inside of him for a long time.
She clung to him like a frightened child. “I know it’s time. I just don’t want it to be.”
He pulled her closer, trying not to get lost in this moment. He shouldn’t even be here. He knew that. But, when she hadn’t showed up, he’d just felt compelled to come find her. “I know.”
Sara sniffed and pulled away. “Oh my—,” she said, looking at the clock on the stove, “I have to get ready to leave.”
Beau followed her into her room and noticed that it was a disaster. “When are you leaving?”
“In—let’s see, seven hours.” She pulled her suitcase open and went to her closet, pulling clothes off the hangers.
“I’ll give you a ride to the airport.”
Sara paused, looking him up and down. “Uh, no, too rich for my blood. I’m driving.”
She moved to the bathroom, pulling all her toiletries out of the basket next to the sink.
Beau followed her feeling like a child following his mother around the house. “You can’t drive—that’s a two day drive.”
Sara walked back into her bedroom. “It’s nine hours, but I’ll be fine.” She stuffed her little bag into her big bag and picked up her computer. “I wonder if I can get my Lit assignment done in time.”
Beau picked up her computer and put it on the bed. “I’ll drive you.”
She frowned. “What?”
Beau didn’t know why he was offering to do this. “I have a friend in Kalispell. That’s where you’re from, right?” He knew where she was from because he’d looked it up in her file. Which probably made him a stalker.
That thought was annoying, but what could he say … he liked this woman. A lot. More and more over the past couple of weeks as he ran into her everywhere and saw her in his class.
Right or wrong, he was invested in what happened to her.
“No, you’re not driving me.” She stood and walked to the front room, opening the closet and getting her coat out. “Thanks for letting me breakdown, but I’ve got to finish packing.” She stuffed more into the suitcase on the bed.
He didn’t want to leave, but he knew that there was no reason for him to stay.
“I have a lot to get done, Beau.” She grabbed a tissue off of the bedside table, blowing her nose. “I’ll see you when I get back from the funeral.” She sniffed. “I don’t know when that will be.”
“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’ll call the dean and tell him about your situation if you want me to.”
“No, I already emailed my professors.”
Her eyes were raw, and he wanted to hold her again. “Are you sure there’s nothing else I can do?”
“No. Thanks.” She turned back to her suitcase. “Wait.” Her hand flew to her mouth. “Martha and Larry. Oh shoot. I wish they had cell phones.” She opened her computer to look up the number for the Ivinson home.
“Who?”
Sara turned to him, looking him up and down. “You could do this for me.” She began nodding her head in a way that made him want to say no to whatever she was going to ask.
“What?”
“I teach dance lessons to a couple over at the Ivinson home. I usually do it on Saturday mornings. They wait for me in the little cafeteria.”
Beau squinted, trying to imagine her doing this. “O-kay.”
She frowned. “Never mind. Carey is such a jerk; he could do this if he wasn’t—.”
“What about Carey?” Beau was confused as to why she was talking about Carey.
“Oh, he used to help me teach them the dance lessons until he ditched me. But I need to let Martha and Larry know I won’t be here.” Sara turned away from him, reaching for a book on her desk and stuffing it forcefully into her suitcase.
“I’ll make sure they know the situation.” He looked on his phone and found the number for the Ivinson home.
“Okay—thanks.” She hesitated. “You could just fill in for me.”
He put his hand to his chest. “Me? No.” No, that would not do at all. “But I’ll make some calls and get them a teacher.”
Sara smiled and let her breath out. “Thank you.” Tears started coming down her face again. “Please go, Beau. I just need to finish all this stuff.”
He could see that she was overwhelmed by it all. “Okay.” He wanted to hug her, but resisted. “I’ll be in touch.”
“Thanks.” She walked him out, shutting the front door behind him.
Hours later, after little sleep and too many racing thoughts, Sara drank a power drink out of the fridge and surveyed her to do list. She loved to do lists and right now she needed one more than ever.
“Are you ready?” Genova came out of her bedroom, tightening her pink robe around her. Her dark hair fell in cascading curls around her face. “Let me go with you.”
Sara tried to smile but felt so raw with emotion, she couldn’t quite turn her lips.
“Sara.” Genova pulled her into a hug.
“I’ll be fine.” She wiped her face and summoned her energy, picking up her bag. “I don’t know how long I’ll be gone, so I don’t want you to come. I’ll call. I promise.”
“I’ll be up for the funeral.” Genova hovered over her.
“No.” Sara gave her a stern look. “You need to keep studying.” Genova was an engineering major and worked very hard to keep her grades up for her scholarship too. “Plus, there will be plenty of family things to take care of. I’ll call and whine to you, I promise.” She gave the bravest face she could muster and walked out the door.
To h
er surprise, Beau was leaning against a big, black truck.
She walked toward her car.
“Hey,” he said, moving into her path.
She stopped. “Hey, Beau, what are you doing here?”
Beau grinned at her. “You said you were leaving at six. I’m here to drive you.”
Chapter 15
“No.” She tried to move around him to her car.
“Wait.” He stepped back in front of her.
“I have to get on the road, Beau. And you’re not driving me.” This was ludicrous. She tried to get around him, again.
“Wait.” Beau moved into her path, again. “Listen, I’ve wanted to explore some business options in Kalispell. I thought I could tag along and talk with your brothers.”
Sara was confused, but she stopped trying to get around him. “What are you even talking about?”
He put a hand up. “I would hire you, for your time. All I would require is that you show me around town. And I would insist on paying your expenses. Plus—I just stopped in the Ivinson home and left a message for your dance people.” His eyes twinkled, and he looked so pleased with himself. “So we’re all set to head out.”
This whole thing was ridiculous; she wasn’t going to take Beau home with her. “No. No, I don’t think this would work.” Even though she wasn’t quite sure how she would get home on the two-hundred dollars in her checking account. She hadn’t exacted the courage to talk to her brothers about the money situation. They were already dealing with so much. She moved to her car.
“I spoke with your brother, James.”
“What?” Sara felt blindsided. She stopped and turned to face him.
“You said they might be interested in leasing land out to oil companies.” He spoke quickly. “I know this is a bad time but James agreed that I could come and discuss this with all of you.” He waved his hand. “Don’t worry, I’ll be at a hotel.” He held up his hands innocently. “I’ll pay you twenty dollars an hour.”
Her mind raced. Why was the man doing this? She moved to her car and popped the trunk, everything he said whirling inside of her.
