Chapter 11
TAYLOR
“What’s this I hear about you being with Cam Wilder?” Dad asked, a few days later.
I just sat my purse down and shut the front door behind me.
I’d been to the house a few times since the fight, getting clothes that I needed without running into my dad.
Until now.
I finished at the Feed and Seed a little while ago and had texted Cam that I was headed to my dad’s.
Cam was meeting me here to help load up the last of my stuff, which wasn’t all that much. I didn’t want any of my bedroom furniture so I only had a little bit of my clothes and things left.
Since Dad’s car wasn’t in the driveway, I thought I’d have the house to myself and didn’t wait for Cam.
Except I was wrong.
Dad came out of the kitchen with what looked like a Hot Pocket in his hand.
His hair didn’t seem to have been washed since the last time I saw him.
So was his scruff. He was officially moving into beard territory and it didn’t look that good on him.
His eyes were a mix of bloodshot and wired, like he drank too much and then dosed himself with a few cups of coffee.
“Where’s your car?” I wondered, heading to my room to get my few things. I knew I was spending the night with Cam again, but being back here, even after just one night with Cam, I wasn’t coming back. Not because Cam had told me as much, but because I didn’t want to be here.
Was I using Cam to escape this place? Definitely. But he wanted to be used. He wanted me in his house and I so wanted to be there. I loved it there. Besides the house being clean and well maintained, it just felt… good. Safe. Like a real home and it all had to do with Cam.
Grabbing a bag from my closet floor, I started stuffing the last of my clothes in, random sweaters and pants, shoes and my raincoat, then made my way into the bathroom. I tossed in my remaining toiletries, then opened the cabinet and pulled out my box of tampons.
I was due to get my period in two days, but it sometimes came early.
They were something I was sure Cam didn’t have at his house.
While we’d only had unprotected sex, I doubted I could be pregnant this close to my period.
Were we crazy for being risky? It didn’t seem it, in the moment. Nothing seemed risky with him.
For the first time in my life, I felt like I was able to hope. To go after my dreams. New ones, too. I wanted everything with Cam, including a baby.
“My car? I loaned it to someone,” he said, as I stuffed the box into my bag. He took a bite of his hand held meal. “What’s this I hear about Cam Wilder?”
It wasn’t a surprise he heard something about us because small towns had big mouths, but we hadn’t done anything in public, besides him walking me out of The Roadside.
Except, that wasn’t anything wild and crazy.
Maybe one of the Wilders mentioned it to someone and it spread. Maybe it had been Cam himself.
“What about it?” I asked, shouldering past him to head back into my room.
“What was wrong with Rod?” he asked. “He was a good guy.”
I stopped in my tracks. Rod? Seriously? “Good guy? He’s wanted by the cops for a number of crimes including attempted murder. That’s what you call a bad guy.”
He waved his hand through the air. “I’m sure it was all overblown. You should get back with him.”
I stared at him, then sputtered in disbelief. Get back together with Rod? He didn’t seem drunk but… what the hell?
“I’m with Cam now.” I wasn’t going to argue with him about Rod. Rod was dangerous, long gone and good riddance.
I grabbed my sweatshirt off the back of my desk chair and shoved it into the top of the bag. I couldn’t zip it, but it didn’t matter. I was only going across town, not on a plane. I’d gotten what I needed, at least for a little while. “You remember him, he was the guy here earlier in the week.”
Hopefully, that was enough for him to remember that Cam had him thrown up against the wall for touching me and there wouldn’t be a repeat.
“Seriously? That guy?” he sputtered. “Do you know what he’s done?”
All week, Cam had proved to me that I was most definitely his.
We’d had sex on the kitchen counter, the couch, in the shower, and a number of other places around his house.
Each time was better than the last. Cam took care of me.
Ensured I had a lunch packed for work. That I had the toothpaste I liked.
That I didn’t forget my coat, or offered me his.
Who held me while we watched TV on his big couch and while we slept.
I felt cherished, protected… safe and I hadn’t really felt that for a long time. I didn’t even realize how much I craved that until him.
“What’s he done, Dad? Taken care of me? Made sure I had food and shelter? That I wasn’t yelled at or verbally abused? The guy who doesn’t gaslight me?”
“What’s gaslight?”
I rolled my eyes and flung up my hands. “When you yell at me and I get upset and you tell me to calm down.” I sighed. “Look, I’m only here to get more of my stuff.”
“Where are you going?”
“I’m living with Cam,” I replied, cutting past him and through the living room. He followed.
“Over my dead body,” Dad snapped.
“That can be arranged,” Cam said.
Both of us froze at Cam’s voice. I hadn’t heard him come in. But there he stood in the family room, formidable and willing to kill my dad to protect me. I knew Dad was only bluffing, but by the look on Cam’s face, I wasn’t sure if he was.
“Red, go get anything else you need,” Cam told me. “Your dad and I are going to have a little chat.”
“I’m all set.” I raised the bag as proof, thankful for his presence. I wasn’t sure what they were going to chat about, but I really didn’t care.
“You killed my wife!” Dad shouted.
I froze because that was totally unexpected.
Cam’s eyes widened. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“The car accident,” Dad said, then pointed at him accusingly. “It’s your fault.”
Cam looked to me. “Your mother was killed in a car accident?” He remembered what I’d told him.
I nodded. “On the highway one night. Black ice. A tanker slid and it was a huge snarl. She died instantly.”
Cam’s eyes widened, then he ran a hand over the back of his neck.
“You were there,” Dad said, continuing to point. “She died because of you.”
I frowned. “Dad, what are you talking about? Cam was just a kid!” I flung up my hands.
“I was there,” Cam admitted.
I blinked. He was–
“What?” I screeched. I never knew this.
“See?” Dad said, waving his arms around, a potato or piece of egg or something flew off the top of the Hot Pocket.
“I remember the accident,” Cam said, looking my way. His voice was always softer when he spoke to me. “Like your dad said, it was icy.”
“You… you were really there?” I asked, even though he’d already said it.
He nodded. “Pops and I were coming back from an away football game in Barnes. He’d come to watch so I rode with him instead of the bus with the rest of the team.
We were out later because Pops and I went out to dinner on the way home.
I was sixteen. A tanker hit black ice in front of us, then the cars behind it, like ours, hit it, too.
We slid and Dad overcorrected into a ditch.
I broke my collarbone and was out for the rest of the season.
Dad’s airbag went off, too, and was fine. ”
“You walked away and had to miss a high school football season. Boohoo.” Dad paused and wiped his mouth with the hand holding the Hot Pocket. “My wife slid into the back of the tanker and died.”
Dad’s arms dropped to dangle at his sides, his dinner forgotten in his hand. His shoulders were slumped, defeated. Grieving.
“It was an awful thing to happen,” Cam admitted. “I heard someone had died, but I didn’t know who. Like you said, I was a kid with a broken collarbone disappointed in missing a football season.”
“Dad, Cam didn’t kill Mom,” I said, trying to keep my voice gentle.
“He didn’t drive that tanker but was in the accident as well.
” I’d lost Mom, too. Remembered when the sheriff came to the door to tell us.
I’d been waiting for her to tuck me in and I’d been in my pink pajamas.
I’ve hated pink ever since. “He could have died, too.” I couldn’t imagine a life without Cam in it and I was so thankful he’d lived.
Dad shook his head. Looked at Cam with such hatred. “No. He should have died instead. Get out of my house!”
“Dad!” I shouted, stunned.
He spun and turned the venom that had been festering in him my way. “Go to your room and stay the hell away from the Wilders. Or don’t come back.”
I glanced between my dad and Cam.
This was my decision point. Right here. Right now. Family or Cam? He offered me love. A safe home. A safe harbor. A job. A life. The answer was easy. I wanted a family with Cam.
I walked around Dad and Cam held his hand out for me. I took it and he pulled me into his side. “I’m not coming back,” I said, glancing over my shoulder.
The rest of my stuff wasn’t important. None of it mattered. It was time to move on. I’d wanted out of this house for so long and now was my chance. Dad didn’t really want me. He was just wrongly angry at the Wilders. But his anger was more important to him than me.
I wanted Dad well. Happy. Kind.
It wasn’t going to happen. So I chose me.
I chose Cam.