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Chapter Twelve
The weeks and months after his father died were spent in a blur for Josh. He seemed to take one day at a time, and studying for finals and wrapping up the semester before graduation was always a rushed time. He spent a lot of time on the Internet, and he even went and visited the nearest community college, where he researched what it would take to get enough credits to get into law enforcement.
It was going to be easier than he’d expected, and he went ahead and signed up for some online classes for the coming summer months that he could get behind him. He felt a sense of peace that he’d made the decision, and he went ahead told the people who mattered, Hannah and his family.
His family was proud of him, and Hannah was excited, because it meant he’d make his home here and even though it was way too soon to talk about it, he knew that Hannah had marriage in mind. That knowledge gave him an added sense of contentment, and Josh realized that things were looking up for his future.
Hannah had told him that her brother was still having a hard time dealing with the death of his wife, and Josh knew that Hannah believed it was the loss of his unborn child that was making her brother so embittered. Josh felt continued guilt over that, even though he knew it hadn’t been his fault.
Hannah began spending more and more time with her parents on the weekends, because her grandmother had taken a turn for the worse when the breast cancer she’d been fighting came back with a vengeance. Her parents went to Shreveport every weekend; Hannah went with them every other weekend, and the weekends she stayed at the ranch, Katie had begun staying with her so she wouldn’t have to be alone. Katie and Hannah were becoming extremely close, and even though he felt for Hannah about her grandmother, Josh was more than pleased that the two girls in his life had bonded, because it seemed to him that the circle was closing, in a good way.
When Hannah was away, Josh spent the weekends putting in long hours at the feed store, and working on a new crop rotation system that would better benefit the type of soil found on their farm. His uncle never really went the extra mile with long term planning, but the other man was thrilled when Josh approached him with his idea. If they implemented the system now, Josh knew that by the time he was working full time on the force, the farm would be in much better shape and he wouldn’t have to work as many hours to make it productive. That is, if Mother Nature was on their side and they received the rain they needed.
If Josh could work only one full-time job in the years to come, it would make his life with Hannah so much easier. He didn’t mind taking care of the farm and he’d do his part, but if he could establish a more automated system now, the effort would be worth it in the future.
Prom was held at the high school in late April. By tradition, the sophomores and juniors decorated the gymnasium for the event. Hannah and Ava were doubly excited, because not only did they get to see everything as it was being organized and decorated, but they both knew they were going to get to attend, as well.
The event went smoothly, and there were tons of pictures taken with Josh, Ethan, Ty and their dates. Ty brought Kayla, and the six of them sat at a table and that was cool.
Josh and Hannah were taking a break from dancing, and Josh was focused on the dance floor, watching Ethan with Ava. It was pretty damn obvious to him that the two of them had been having sex for some time, no matter what Hannah thought. Josh didn’t know why Ava was keeping it from Hannah, but he knew without a doubt, that Hannah believed that it wasn’t happening.
Josh didn’t care one way or the other as long as they were careful. He still didn’t intend to do anything more with Hannah until she turned seventeen, and he ticked the months off as they went by. Six more to go. He could make it, by the skin of his teeth, maybe, but together they could make it.
****
Commencement was held the first week of June, and he and Katie graduated together. With the same last name, they sat together in the front row with the top five percent of the class. Josh was only mildly disappointed that he’d ending up ranking third in his class. He’d been ranked at second for the last two years, although being either the valedictorian or salutatorian had never been a real goal for him. When his father had died and he’d learned his mother hadn’t abandoned him after all, Josh had lost focus for a few weeks and his GPA had slipped, only minutely, but it had been enough to place him in the third slot.
As he sat and waited for the ceremony to begin, he mostly felt relief. He’d never wanted to stand in front of the school, hell, the entire town, and give a speech. What the hell would he have said up there? Everyone knew his story already. Anyway, it was all good, because now he and Katie could sit together on the front row, with their academic colors draped around their necks. Josh sat back and enjoyed the raucousness going on behind him that he couldn’t actually see without turning around, but he could hear it going on and it made him almost bust out laughing a time or two. Of course, he’d come up with a class of fairly good kids, and he knew that they would give their attention and respect to the podium when it was warranted.
Ty and Ethan were sitting in alphabetical order behind them, as well as Kayla and Mandy and everybody else.
As Josh glanced around, his eyes found Jesse Whitaker in the stands, up near the top. A rush of anger ran through Josh’s bloodstream and threatened to ruin his day. The guy should have been graduating with them, he was damn sure old enough, but evidently, he’d failed a few classes and he didn’t have enough credits. The way Josh saw it, that was good and bad, but mostly bad. He was glad that his class wouldn’t be forever tarnished with the likes of Jesse Whitaker as part of it. But the bad part was, the dude would be in high school for another year. Another year, preying on the girls there.
Hannah.
Within mere seconds, Josh’s protective streak rose within him and his eyes slid down to make sure Hannah was exactly where she’d been two minutes before, the last time he’d checked.
She sat on the end of a row, next to Ava and the Andersons who’d come to see Ty graduate. Hell, practically the entire town was here. His aunt and uncle had camped out for hours so they could have a front row view. It was a big event; the small population of the town always took pride in their graduates. He and Hannah had been texting earlier, but now she sat gazing around her at all the fanfare. The graduates sat facing the stage and podium, the band sat behind the stage, as did the small school orchestra.
Even though it had been hotly prohibited, a blow up beach ball came bouncing up behind them and almost hit Katie on the head. She looked startled a moment, but recovered quickly and tapped it hard enough to send it sailing back behind them. Josh was watching Hannah and he could clearly see the smile that broke out on her face when the ball was volleyed from one graduate to the next. She sat up straighter and leaned forward, her face animated. God, she was so beautiful. Her hair was shiny, her shoulders smooth in the sleeveless shirt she was wearing. Her complexion was gorgeous, her delicate profile exquisite as she turned with a smile and … and faced that Steven kid who always seemed to be around.
Shit.
Almost everyone had found seats, and Josh had a clear view when the younger boy spied Hannah and stopped to talk to her. He dropped down on his haunches beside her, and put his hand on the back of her stadium seat.
Josh gritted his teeth and continued to watch. The boy spoke to Hannah for a couple of agony-inducing seconds and at one point, Hannah pointed to Josh, and the younger kid’s gaze followed.
A couple of other younger guys jogged down the steps to join Steven, and now there were three dudes crowding around Hannah.
Great, just fucking great.
As they talked to each other and looked around for three empty seats together, Steven’s hand never left the back of Hannah’s chair, even though his attention left hers momentarily as he looked to where one of his friends was pointing.
Two seconds later, Josh’s cell phone vibrated and he glanced down at it. Calm your ass down, okay?
Amusem
ent hit him and it mixed with the jealousy he was feeling. He keyed in a response, barely taking his eyes from the stands. Dude’s got his hand on your chair.
On my chair, not on me.
Best not be on you.
Really? You think I’d let him touch me?
I think you know better.
I know better?!!?
Yeah.
Josh received no answer and he felt his muscles clench as each of the boys enveloped Hannah in a bear hug before turning around and running back up the steps. After they’d left, she looked directly at him and smirked. His phone vibrated. Did you live through it?
With the other guys away from Hannah, he was mostly relaxed again as he keyed in his answer. Barely. And you’re going to get a spanking.
Josh swore to God, he heard Hannah’s laughter two seconds later through the cacophony that surrounded him.
Her text came quickly. Bring it on, big boy.
The first speaker walked to the podium. Later, princess.
An hour later, Josh had his diploma in his hand.
****
Josh worked his ass off all summer long. He worked full time at the feed-store, worked every spare daylight hour on the farm, and stayed up late at night on the computer, wiping out a couple of online classes during the mini-summer session. And somehow, he managed to fit Hannah into his life, as well. It helped that she had her own car, and for once he was glad of it. She came to town at least a couple of times during the week and picked him up during his lunch hour. They either went to the diner for burgers, or to the city park for sandwiches. He also made damn sure that he kept at least one night out of every weekend open for her. Looking back on the long summer that was almost over, he wasn’t really sure how he’d accomplished so much, but he had, and he felt a glowing since of satisfaction that he wasn’t sitting around on his ass, but was moving toward his future goal: Hannah. She was the most important thing in his head, and that made it easy to do the things he had to do.
Every day became more of a challenge for him, a challenge not to let the intimacy go any further. He’d gone from counting the months to counting the weeks to Hannah’s seventeenth birthday in late October, when she would legally be at the age of consent, but in August, something happened that fucked with his brain beyond all comprehension.
He was working full time at the feed store, and the doors opened at seven in the morning. When Josh pulled up at a quarter ‘til, Ethan was waiting for him in the parking lot.
Josh pocketed his keys and walked to where Ethan was standing in the early morning light, with his arms crossed over his chest. He didn’t have a clue why his friend would be waiting for him at practically the crack of dawn, and Josh frowned in confusion. “What’s up?”
