AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Before I was able to shake it away, another memory assaulted me. One I hadn’t thought about since it happened.
Charles was having a party at the lake. I was late since I was just getting back into town after a dance competition. Since Charles wasn’t able to leave while the party was in full swing, Millie picked me up.
“Girl, you kicked ass. First place. I bet Juilliard is pleased since you just accepted the scholarship.”
“They are. The head instructor was at the competition. She said she looked forward to instructing me this fall and I had beautiful lines.”
Millie danced in her seat. “I’m so proud of you! We’re going to have so much fun living together during college. Except I’ll be getting fat while I’m sitting at a desk studying.”
“I’ll drag you out for runs.”
“Deal!”
Millie was headed to nursing school near Juilliard. Healing people was Millie’s passion. Selfless to the core. It was beyond lucky we both got into our first school of choice and they were so close. Charles was attending school about an hour away which was good. We wouldn’t be far apart. We chatted about our new place we were renting. Mom was making curtains to spruce it up. The whole apartment was about the size of two medium-sized bedrooms. It was perfect.
The car pulled up. Charles stood on the front porch with Rachel Graves watching him. She was never too far away from whatever we were doing. Always present. I hardly knew her.
“There’s my beautiful girl.” Charles walked to me. I could tell he had been drinking. “Want something to celebrate?”
He gave me a kiss. Hard liquor was the dominant smell and taste. “Just you.”
“Good answer.” Turning to the crowd on the porch, he announced, “Isn’t my girl the most beautiful girl ever?” Charles was drunker than I thought. Nuzzling my ear, he said, “You’ll be forever mine, London.”
Forever turned out to be not long at all.
I shook my head to clear all the negativity from it as we left town. Millie and I rode our bikes all through here growing up. Charles and I were Homecoming Queen and King in the parade. In our senior class, we’d been voted most likely to succeed. Looking back, I thought we were happy. I still couldn’t see any warnings that there was something wrong with us.
Nothing made sense.
The city gave way to our dirt road. We lived on a small farm just outside of town. Dad made furniture and boarded horses. He’d grown up in Montana on a horse ranch with his parents who had passed when I was a child. I don’t remember much of them since I was five when they died in a car accident.
The truck shifted to park and I looked at our white farmhouse with the silver tin roof. The memories were filled with love. The swing blew in the wind on the wraparound porch. Mom would tell me stories under the night sky out here while fireflies danced about.
Charles—I refused to think of him right now and any memories of him here.
The barn became my sole focus. “Is Sparkles in her stall?”
“She’s waiting for you. Last weekend she practiced all her tricks for you.” My father gave me a warm look as I bounded out of the truck and made a beeline for the redwood barn. In the first stall stood my majestic black Quarter Horse. She was a gift from Mom and Dad for my tenth birthday.
Sparkles stopped eating and looked at me. I closed the gap. “Hey, girl. I’m back.” Tossing her head, Sparkles whinnied. I touched her jaw and leaned my face against hers, the familiar soft fur a soothing balm. “I know I’ve been gone. I’m so sorry. I’m sorry for everything.” Tears rolled down my face. Sparkles nuzzled me. “I know, girl. I know. I missed you too.”
“Well, isn’t this a sight for sore eyes.”
I whipped around at the familiar voice of my best friend, Millie Craig. She was five feet, four inches of blonde hair, blue-eyed sass. Millie was the only friend who hadn’t abandoned me. When Charles left me, so did the majority of my friends. No one wanted to cross paths with the Graves’.
Because of nursing school in New York, Millie was only able to see me when she came home which was for a couple of weeks in the summer. We wrote letters to each other every week to stay in touch.
Millie walked up to me and engulfed me in a hug. “It’s good to have you back, London. It’s so good. I missed you.”
“Missed you too—so much. What are you doing here?” I pulled back. Millie worked in New York City at a local hospital.
She wagged her eyebrows. “In three days you are looking at the newest nurse at Northwest Medical in Winfield.”
Excitement bubbled through me. My best friend was here. Close to me. “What? Are you serious?” Winfield was only about fifteen minutes from Guin and a smaller hospital. Millie had graduated early and then worked her way up at an exponential pace. “You loved New York City. Why didn’t you tell me?”
“I didn’t want to jinx anything. With Momma being sick, it was time.” Recently Dorothy Craig was diagnosed with stage-two breast cancer. The chemo treatments were intense.
I gave my friend another hug. “Let me know if you guys need anything. I’m here for you.”
