Bringing You Back

by Katherine May

Bringing You

  Back

  Katherine May

  Copyright © 2016 Katherine May

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.

  This book is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book was written for all of those who survived young love.

  “If you live to be 100, then I hope to live to 100 minus 1 day, so I’ll never have to live a day without you.”

  Winnie the Pooh

  Chapter One

 

  “Jessa, did you hear me? He’s here, he’s back in town.”

  I’d heard her. I’d heard her loud and clear, but what she didn’t understand was that at that exact moment my world started to spin. Like, really spin. I remember hearing that sometimes the room around you started to blur when you heard information that you weren’t expecting, but for me it was more like vertigo. Not that I’d ever experienced that stuff, but if I had, it would be just like what was happening to me at that exact moment.

  “Jess, are you okay? Jessa!” I knew I was freaking my best friend, Kami, out, but what did she expect me to say? Lane was coming back. No, not coming back, he was back.

  Finally gaining control of myself, I looked at her. “I heard you. I’m just shocked, I guess.” Shocked was an understatement.

  Walking over and calmly placing her delicate hand on my shoulder, I put on my best façade and smiled brightly at her. “Really, I’m okay. I mean, it’s only been what, four years? How much different can he be?” The laugh that left my lips wasn’t mine. It was a fake Jessa that had taken over my body. She was trying to protect my heart that had finally been healed, put back as one. Lane Rhyer. It’s not like I hadn’t tried to talk to him since he’d moved, but I had a feeling he blamed me for what had happened. How could it have been my fault? I almost hated him back for riding me of his life. We were both going through something hard, and we should have done it together.

  Growing up on a farm in the middle of Kansas wasn’t always sunshine and rainbows, and having someone my age that was only a mile down the road was more of a blessing than I could have ever known. Sure our dads were the best of friends, but that didn’t automatically mean that we would hit it off. But we did. That was, until his dad rooted him up from my life because of something terrible and I lost him. He was my best friend for ten years, and then poof. He was a memory.

  “Shit, Kami. I really don’t want to see him.” I buried my face in my hands and finally

  realized that I could sit on her couch that was only a few inches behind me.

  Kami actually laughed at me and plopped down right next to my stiff body. “You’re being dramatic. I’m sure it’ll be fine. I mean, maybe he’ll be excited to see you. You two were pretty close at one point, right?”

  “Something like that.” I’d told Kami about Lane. Shit, we lived in a small country town, so she’d heard all the gossip. She only moved to our small town about two years ago, so she’d never met my ex-best friend. She’d only heard stories from our past, and really I only told her a few. For some reason it hurt to talk about him, like I’d actually mourned his death. But now he was back, and I had no idea what to expect. My Dad had to have known he was coming back, and that made me angry that he couldn’t have at least given me a warning.

  “Come on, it will be fine. Tomorrow is the first day of our senior year. It’s going to be awesome, and even if Lane has changed and turned into some huge ass jerk, you still have me. And Brady.” Her smile was actually a little contagious and I knew she was right. I wasn’t going to let Lane ruin my last year of high school, even if he hated my guts.

  “You’re right, I don’t know why I’m acting so dramatic about this. I’ve got a hot boyfriend and a great group of friends. Lane probably won’t even talk to me, not after how he left.”

  Kami looked at me with a little more pity and I hated that I made her feel the need to. “I know you told me that your dads had a huge argument, but you’ve never actually told me what happened.”

  Leaning back on the couch and sighing, I didn’t really want to open that can of worms. I felt like my life was finally going in a positive direction, and all the bullshit that happened over four years ago was finally being forgotten. But nope, the can exploded. “Can we talk about it another time? I don’t feel like hashing it all out right now. Besides, I better get home and see if my dad heard that Lane is back.”

  Kami stood up and pulled me with her. “I understand. Call me if you need anything. Okay?”

  “Okay,” I whispered and leaned over to kiss my best friend on her cheek. What would I do without this chick?

  Kami pretended to swoon and rubbed the spot on her cheek where I had just had my lips and gushed how Jessa Stevens had just kissed her. “I’m never washing this face again.”

  “You’re dumb,” I said laughing and walked over to her front door. It was so nice having a friend that lived in town. Somewhere I could go and hang out in between practices, meetings, or events. “But, I love you.”

  “Love you, you dirty little B.” Even if she was a little crazy, I loved her too.

  Walking over to my Chevy truck, I opened the driver’s door and jumped inside. I remember when there was a time that I was glad Lane had been held back in first grade, because that meant that we would always be in school together. But now I would give anything for him to be in college. Anywhere but in my hometown. For some reason I had a deep feeling in my gut that my world was about to be turned upside down. Little did I know how right I was.

  Chapter Two

  My parents started their farm before I was even a thought. Inheriting farm ground as a teenager wasn’t exactly my dad’s life plan, but he accepted the challenge and has been a farmer ever since. We mainly grew corn and wheat, but he was the busiest, hardest working guy I’d ever known.

  Living fifteen miles out of a small mid-western Kansas town wasn’t really that bad. I loved having all of the open space and wild country to explore. The worst part about the drive was that I always, every day, had to drive by the place where I’d spent countless hours as a kid. Lane’s house was now abandoned. The last tenant left about a year ago and it’s been vacant ever since. It looks so different now, almost like a ghost had moved in.

  Thinking about Lane was consuming my mind, and I realized that I finally had almost gotten completely over him. Sure he not only broke my heart, but he broke his mother’s as well. Watching her live without her son was just as painful as losing my best friend. So why now? Why move back our senior year after all this time? I needed answers and I was damn sure going to get them.

  When I finally pulled into my long driveway, I could see my house in the distant. Nothing looked different. There weren’t any extra cars around, and the only light on was in the living room. Maybe Kami had heard wrong. Maybe it wasn’t Lane that was back in town. It could have been an easy telephone mix-up. I mean, maybe someone downtown said, “Hey did you know that Cane is moving back?” Then, the guy next to him was having problems with his hearing aid that day and thought he said Lane. Shit, I was dreaming now. Of course Lane Rhyer was back in town. Kami said everyone was talking about it. Everyone except me. People are stupid, they knew it would be hard for me to have him back.
I guess they were just sparing my feelings.

  “Shit, well here we go.” I tried to muster all the will power I could find when I finally made it to the front door. I was going to walk right in and demand to know what the hell was going on. No matter what my Dad and Janice said, I was getting the truth.

  Hearing the front door slam shut behind me, I knew that my presence was known. “Jessa, come in to the living room. We need to talk.”

  Yeah, no shit. “I would say so,” was all I could think to say back. Now, sassing my dad was never allowed. He grew up with the olden day rules that kids were respectful to their elders. My backside wasn’t a stranger to his leather belt.

  “Just get in here.” Oops, now he was pissed at me.

  “Yes, sir.” I shouted back and for some strange reason I stopped at a large mirror that was hanging in the middle of the hallway that led right into the living room. My long, wavy, golden blonde hair looked like a tangled mess. Running my fingers through it barely helped, but I did have to say my make-up still looked good, even after one hell of a volleyball practice.

  “Jessa, now please.”

  “Hold your horses, I’m coming,” I whispered more to myself, because that definitely wouldn’t have been acceptable.

  I wish that someone would have warned me, or that my dad would have actually learned how to text so he could have told me what I was about to walk in to. Janice could have at least said something, but no. When I turned that corner into our small living room, it felt like all of the air had been shoved out of my body from the inside out. Like I was vomiting my lungs out.

  Lane wasn’t just back in town, he was sitting on my couch, in my home.

  “Hey, sis. Look who’s back in town.” I knew all of the color had drained from face, but I couldn’t help it. The fifteen-year-old boy that I had last seen was gone, and it his place was the most drop dead gorgeous nineteen-year-old that I’d ever laid eyes on. And he just happened to be my step-brother.

  Chapter Three

  “Well, aren’t you going to say hello?” Lane was mocking me, and he was being an ass, but I didn’t know what else to do.

  “Hello?” was all I said and the most beautiful sound left his lips. God, I missed that laugh. “Lane, what are you doing here?”

  I could tell that my dad didn’t know what to say or do, and Janice had the same exact look plastered across her face. “Why, mom didn’t tell you?” Lane looked over at Janice and winked in her direction.

  “No, actually no one told me.” I crossed my arms across my chest and gave my dad a knowing look. A look that only a teenage daughter could create. “Dad, can you please tell me what’s going on?”

  My dad’s a big guy, always has been, and the only other man that matched his size was Lane’s dad. So when my dad stood and Lane followed his movements, it took me by surprise when Lane was just an inch or two away from matching his height. Everyone in school made fun of him for his small size back in middle school, but no one would be laughing now.

  “Jessa, sweetheart, come and sit down. We need to tell you something.”

  “I would say so,” was all I grumbled when my dad reached out and grabbed my arm, directing me to a chair that was right next to the couch. “As you can see, Lane is back in town. Janice and I didn’t find out until yesterday that this was happening, and we both thought he wouldn’t be here until next week. We thought we’d have time to discuss this with you.”

  Flicking my gaze between my dad, Janice, and Lane made me even more confused. After all this time, all this time spent hating the three of us, why now? “Why?” I asked in a much tougher voice than I had tried for. I was proud of myself.

  “I’d thought you’d be excited to see me,” Lane grinned while sitting back down on the couch, prompting one of his large legs on the other.

  “Lane, be nice.” Janice’s voice was also stern, but it had a hint of desperation in it. I couldn’t imagine what she was thinking, seeing her son for the first time in four years. Remember how I mentioned that our dads were best friends? They were, and everyone knew it. That’s why when Lane and I walked in one day to find his mother and my father on the back porch, we didn’t know what the hell to do.

  “God, I think I’m blind!” I screamed when we both finally realized what the hell was going on and bee-lined it out the back door. “What was that?” I shrieked and almost ran into one of our huge oak trees before Lane caught up with me and grabbed my arm.

  “Jesus, Jessa, calm down. You’re going to hurt yourself. Take your hand off your eyes.”

  When I finally met his gaze, I knew what this meant. “Why aren’t you freaking out? You saw that, right?”

  His hand was now covering his face. Finally, he slowing moved it down to his chin and then he looked up at the sky. “Yes, I saw your dad banging my mom.”

  “Lane, look at me.”

  And he did. He looked at me with anger, confusion, and most of all resentment. “Did you know about this?”

  “What? Are you kidding? Of course not. Did you?”

  “What’s my dad going to say? He’s going to be broken. Your dad has always been a piece of shit. I can’t believe he’s doing this to us. To my family.”

  I’d never heard Lane talk like that before. He’d never said anything mean or hurtful to me, and honestly that hurt me more than what we’d both just witnessed. We needed to be there for each other, not the opposite. “Lane, how can you say that? My dad has always treated you like a son.”

  Lane laughed, but not in a, ‘I just told you the best joke,’ kind of way. He laughed in a sick, evil way. “Son? Well, looks like I may just be that. Fuck this, Jessa. I can’t believe what we just saw.”

  And on that cue, out ran my dad and Lane’s mom, fully clothed and coming our way.

  “Nice? Right Mom, I’ll be nice.” Lane laughed again and finally made eye-contact with me. My best friend was gone, and in his place was a young man filled with hate.

  “Lane, you will be nice. You’re in our town now and you know I demand respect.”

  Lane just rolled his eyes and half-ass saluted my dad. “Right, Dad. This has been fun but I’m going to head out and see what some old friends are up to. It was sure swell reconnecting.”

  No one made a move, except Lane, and he was out the door before the rest of us even had a clue about what was going on.

  After the front door slammed shut, I heard my pick-up roar to life. That got me to move. “He’s taking my truck?” I squealed and ran as fast as I could, to hopefully stop him.

  “Lane!” I screamed, running after my prized possession. My truck that I’d saved up for and worked my ass off for three longs summers. “I swear to God if you hurt her, I’ll kill you!” Was all I got out before my tail lights bounced over the horizon.

  A few seconds later I felt a hand on my shoulder. “I’m so sorry, sweetie. I really had no idea he was coming back today.”

  “I’m just confused and supper pissed that he took my truck. If he wrecks her, well he better run and hide.”

  My dad’s chuckle made me sigh and I knew that it was time to learn some things about Lane that probably wouldn’t be all that wonderful to hear. “Tell me everything, dad. Why is he back?”

  “Come into the kitchen, Jessa dear. We’ll tell you everything we know.”

  ***

  An hour later and I’d learned more about Lane Rhyer than I probably knew the whole ten years we were best friends. “Why didn’t you tell me any of this before?” I finally said after hearing how Lane’s life was basically spiraling out of control.

  “Jessa, I knew that if I told you about Lane that you would go running to help him. I didn’t want to lose you too. You staying here in Rockford was the best place for you. Your dad and I both agreed.”

  Janice and my dad knew they had messed up when they had their affair.
Hurting Lane’s dad was hard for them, but losing Lane all together was earth shattering. Janice had no idea that her actions would result in losing her child. But after losing my mother when I was six to breast cancer, it was selfishly nice to have a woman around. Even if it took me a good year to get over the fact that their affair caused me to lose my Lane.

  “I get that, but it sounds like he was really in some deep shit,” I barely got my sentence out before my dad’s hand smacked me in the back of my head.

  “Language, Jessa.”

  “Alright, geez,” I laughed and playfully shoved his shoulder with mine.

  Janice smiled at me and handed me my tea that she’d just refilled. “When his father died, I tried to go the service but Lane had written me a letter that said if I showed up he would leave. I didn’t want to do that to him, so I secretly went by myself and hid in the background. I had no idea that Dan’s heart was that bad. Lane must have been a mess, and I wasn’t there for him.” Janice’s silent tears tugged at my heart, and my dad and I just stood there, not knowing what to say or do.

  “Janice, you tried contacting both of them. You did everything, you even staked out in their front lawn. You couldn’t live that way forever. They made their choice, just like you made yours.”

  “Why are you so wise, child?” Janice said and we all let out a quick laugh, before remembering why we were gathered in the kitchen.

  “What are we going to do? He lost the most important man in his life only a few weeks ago. He’s been a mess in school for the past few years and he hates us.” I looked between my dad and Janice, hoping they at least had some kind of plan.

  “We’ll figure it out, but right now you need to head up to bed. You have a big day tomorrow.” My dad’s smile really didn’t do much to lift my spirits, but of course I didn’t argue.