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It can’t be true.
What the fuck am I supposed to do now?
Closing the journal with shaky hands, I place it back into the box. I try and fail to process everything I just read, but I can’t.
None of it makes any sense.
I don’t want to read anymore. I don’t want to know anymore. Just what kind of secrets and lies am I wrapped up in? Senior year will be done and over before I know it, and Travis will take me away. None of this will even matter anymore.
We will run so far that none of this can touch us.
Chapter eight
Travis
Speeding down the highway, I weave in and out of traffic, trying like hell to make it back to town before Betty’s closes for the night. Three days ago, my father pulled me away again. More Brotherhood bullshit, but there was no way in hell that I was missing Spencer’s big day today.
I tried convincing my dad to just leave things be for senior year. Reminding him that I actually need to graduate. My pleas fell on deaf ears, and I was met with the same response he has to everything else, “Have you forgotten who I am? I’ll take care of it.”
He’s forcing me to step up, and I’m not ready, but I can’t tell him no, because he’ll hurt her to get to me. I can’t let him fucking hurt her. My heart aches and that stinging feeling fills my eyes, but I cannot cry. Not right now.
Right now, I need to make sure she knows how much I love her. More than anything she needs to know.
I continue racing down the back roads, until I make it to town limits. Slowing down to a reasonable speed, I finish driving the couple of blocks to Betty’s. The sun has already set, and the night sky is lit up with stars by the time I make it to the exit for Lakeview. When I pull up at the curb, Betty is at the door, flipping the open sign around to read closed.
Shit!
I fling the driver’s side door open, and jump from the car, running up to the building. I knock loudly on the glass repeatedly until Ms. Betty turns around and unlocks the door for me.
“Travis honey, I’m sorry, but I’m closed up for the night.”
“Please Ms. Betty. You don’t understand. Dina Maddox comes in here every year for a buttercream frosted cupcake for her daughter Spencer’s birthday. That day is today.” I huff out breathlessly, holding the door to the bakery open so she can’t shut it in my face.
Ms. Betty was friends with Mama Dee, and I’m hoping reminding her of that will grant me just a little bit of lenience. Spencer has lost too much, I need to do this for her. I need to give her back just a little of what she lost.
“Oh dear, of course. How could I forget? Come on in baby,” she waves me into the bakery and flicks the light back on. “I already cleaned out today’s batches, but I have some refrigerated to put out tomorrow. Let me grab you one and put it in a container for you.”
“Thank you so much Ms. Betty, you have no idea how much this is going to mean to Spencer,” I smile at her, running my hand through my hair, grateful I made it here when I did.
“Of course dear, have a seat,” she points to the stools at the counter, and I pull up one, sitting down while I wait.
Remembering the other part of the tradition, I pull the pad of bright blue post it notes from my pocket and grab one of the pens sitting in the cup by the register. One note at a time, I jot down something special about Spencer. Something I love about her. Something that makes my heart skip two beats and my breath still in my chest.
Ms. Betty comes out from the back, with a single cupcake in a clear container, a candle, and a pack of matches. “Oh Ms. Betty, thank you so much!” I exclaim.
“Oh it’s nothing. I just hope that you can make that poor girl smile.” She nods to the post it notes in front of me. “What are you doing there?”
“Something else Dina used to do for Spencer. Little reminders of how much she is loved.” I smile.
“That girl is lucky to have you.”
“Nah, it’s me that’s lucky Ms. Betty.”
“Well go on boy, get outta here and go get your girl,” she shoos at me. “I’ve gotta lock up around here anyway.”
“Yes ma’am,” I smile big and wrap my arms around the little old lady that just saved both my ass and Spencer’s big day.
Hopping to my feet, I stack the post its, candle, and matches on top of the cupcake container and walk back out to my car. Sliding back into the driver’s seat, I set everything neatly in the passenger seat before buckling up. Starting the engine, I turn around, and head back outside of town limits in the direction of our neighborhood.
