Chapter 13
***WALKER***
Pulling the car up to the curb, Walker looked up at the two-story brick house but didn’t get out of the car.
Instead, he sat, waiting for Maddie, as she’d asked, even though his curiosity was eating him alive.
He desperately wanted to know who or what was behind the closed door, but knew he also needed to respect Maddie’s privacy until she was ready to share that part of her life with him.
She’d been a little distant and distracted the last few days, like she had something important on her mind, but when he’d asked her, she’d acted like nothing was wrong.
It bothered him that she wouldn’t confide in him; all he wanted to do was help, even just be there to listen if that’s all he could do.
He’d never been in a lot of relationships, but he was pretty sure that’s what people did when they were dating.
Lost in his thoughts, he jumped when Maddie opened the door and got in, filling the car with a burst of cold air. “Hey, sorry to keep you waiting,” she said, flashing him a big smile. “Sometimes it’s so hard to get out of the house.”
“No problem, got everything?” he asked, putting the car into gear. “We’ve got just enough time to get there.”
“I’m good,” she said, buckling her seat belt. “Let’s hit the road.”
He’d been so pleased when she’d agreed to ride to the game with him; two hours in the car with Maddie sounded like pure heaven.
But she was already staring out the window, her brows furrowed in unhappiness.
After pulling away from the curb, he headed out of town, letting the silence between them stretch out, but as they crossed the city limits, he decided it was time to try and get her to talk about what was bothering her.
“You’ve been quiet the last few days,” he said, stealing a quick glance over at her. “I’m here if you want to talk about it.”
“How do you know something is wrong?” she asked, looking over at him. “I thought I was doing a good job of hiding it.”
“Not from me, I can feel it, Maddie,” he said, shrugging his shoulders. “I wish you would talk to me. I’ll just listen if that’s all you want, but you can trust me. I’d like to be here for you.”
Maddie studied him for a second, then looked out the window again, and he thought that was going to be the end of it.
“My parents and I had a falling out after freshman year,” she finally said.
“They disowned me and cut me off, they tried to take the trust fund that pays for my tuition and expenses away, and that was just the beginning of it,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper.
“We haven’t spoken since then, but my mother sent me a letter the other day.
She wants to make up, but something doesn’t feel right. I can’t stop thinking about it.”
“Oh, Maddie, I’m sorry, I thought you and your parents were really tight,” he said, reaching over and taking her hand. “That must be really hard. What are you going to do?”
“Nothing, well, except obsess over it for a while,” she said, shrugging her shoulders. “I don’t want to make up with them. I thought I was over it, but I guess it still hurts. I’ll be okay, I just need some time.”
“Well, I’m here for you if you want to talk about it some more,” he said, giving her hand a squeeze before grabbing the wheel again. “Your parents seemed like nice people.”
“They were until I did something they didn’t like.
Everything changed then; it was all about what people would think,” she said, her eyes filling with tears.
“They cared more about people gossiping about us than what I was going through. In the end, they managed to spread our business all over town; everyone was talking about it. There’s no way I’ll ever show my face there again and my mother didn’t even apologize, just tried to smooth it over like it was all my fault. ”
“I don’t know what you did, and I’m not going to ask even though I really want to know,” he said, stealing another glance over at her.
“But I do know this, parents are supposed to love us no matter how stupid we are. We all make mistakes, they’re supposed to be there to help us clean them up, not make them worse. ”
“Yeah, well, someone should have explained that to my parents,” she said, shaking her head. “They missed that lesson.”
She fell silent, and he didn’t push it. He had his own secret, a secret that could destroy everything between them, and he knew that the time was coming when he’d have to tell her.
There was no doubt in his mind that they were bonded; all the signs were there, but he just wasn’t sure when it had happened or why it had happened so soon.
But Maddie needed to know the truth about him before they could go forward; he just wasn’t sure how to break it to her, how to tell her that there was a creature that lived inside him.
Stealing a glance over at her, he tried to imagine how that conversation would go and just couldn’t picture it, couldn’t imagine her not thinking that he’d lost his mind.
He considered setting something up so he could shift in front of her, show her what he was instead of telling her, but in his mind that didn’t work out any better.
Letting out a sigh of his own, he pushed it out of his mind.
They’d get there eventually; he just had to figure out the right way to tell her.
He knew it would come to him eventually, just not that night, but that was okay, it was too soon anyway.
They pulled into the parking lot of the opposing team right behind the team bus and that was the last he thought about it as they got ready for the game.
It was hours later before they got back into the car to make the drive back home, but he was riding a high from doing the play-by-play again, and the entire problem was firmly pushed to the back of his mind.
But it wouldn’t be long before he was wishing he’d had that conversation with Maddie much sooner.
***Maddie***
It made Maddie happy to see Walker so excited about something and she didn’t blame him.
He’d been really good that night, keeping the crowd involved and giving the players the credit they deserved like an old pro.
He held her hand as they walked back to his car, talking about it the whole way like a kid with a new toy, telling her all about the game like she hadn’t just been there.
When they finally got into the car, he fell silent for a few minutes, catching his breath and getting settled for the drive home. “All set?” he asked, turning to face her. “I’m sorry if I’ve been talking your ear off, I’m just excited.”
“It’s okay, you’re fine, I don’t mind listening,” she said, fastening her seatbelt. “I’m glad you’ve finally found something that feels right to you. I think you need to have a long talk with Professor Jefferies about a journalism degree or something.”
“Yeah, I’m not sure what my next move is,” he said, still smiling. “But I bet he’ll know. I’ll stop by his office tomorrow.”
They’d only driven a few blocks when Walker’s stomach began to growl loudly. “I’m starving, I think I’d better get something to eat before we leave town,” he said. “Do you mind?”
“No, I’m a little hungry too,” she said. “I’m not in any hurry to get home, my…roommate isn’t expecting me until late.”
“There’s a burger place on the way out of town, let’s swing by there and grab something,” he said. “We can eat in the car on the way, then you won’t be too late.”
“No, let’s go inside, we’ll enjoy it more,” she said. “And there’s no way Thomas can show up and ruin it, he’s safely on the bus back home with the rest of the team.”
“Good point,” he said, “then it’s settled, burgers before we go home.”
An hour later they got back in the car, both stuffed and groaning. “That was one of the best burgers I’ve ever had,” Walker said, starting up the car. “I’m glad we decided to stop here.”
“And it was nice of them to give us a few to take home,” she said, holding up the bag. “They could have just thrown them away.”
“It helps that we were their last customers of the night,” he said, pulling onto the highway. “Now that we have our stomachs full, next stop Elmwood Junction.”
“I had fun tonight, Walker,” she said, reaching out and taking his hand. “I’m glad we rode together to the game.”
“Me too,” he said, squeezing her hand. “It’s easy being with you Maddie, that hasn’t changed. It always has been that way.”
“I feel the same way,” she said, looking over at him, wondering if this was the time to tell him, and opened her mouth, then changed her mind. He was driving; it might distract him. “Sometimes it feels like those three years never happened, like we were never separated.”
“I wish they hadn’t happened,” he said, stealing a glance over at her. “I wish I’d handled everything better, things could have been…different.”
“Walker, we can’t change the past, we can only move forward,” she said. “We both made mistakes back then, but we were just kids, we didn’t understand what real life is all about. I can move forward if you can.”
“I’d like that,” he said, flashing her a big grin. “I’m getting used to having you around again, and this time I promise I won’t get scared and run off like last time.”
“I’m glad, I don’t ever want to feel that way again,” she said, but deep down, she was worried about his reaction when he found out he was a father, if he would run like he had before.
They lapsed into a comfortable silence as the miles flew by, the night even darker than normal because of the dense layer of clouds blocking out the moon and stars.
She didn’t give it much thought when a few flakes of snow fell on the windshield, she was warm and safe with Walker, a bit drowsy from her full stomach and a busy day.
They were halfway home, a tricky stretch of road that wound its way down into a canyon and back out again when flashing lights up ahead broke the darkness of the night.
“I wonder what’s going on,” Walker said, slowing down as they approached an officer standing in the road with a huge flare in his hand, waving it back and forth to get them to stop.
“Evening folks, the road up ahead is closed, a whole truckload of chickens tipped over on a curve, and now we’ve got birds running everywhere,” the officer informed them.
“It’s going to be hours before we can get it cleaned up.
You can take the detour on the old road or wait it out in town.
Sorry for the inconvenience, but those birds are freaked out and impossible to catch. ”
“I think we’d better take the detour, we need to get home tonight,” Walker said, then looked over at her to double check and she nodded her head. “Which way is the detour?”
“Just take this road behind me,” the officer said, pointing behind him at a two-lane road. “It’s going to take you a little longer than the main road, so be patient, and the weather is threatening to dump on us, too. Watch for ice on the road.”
“Yes, sir, we’ll be careful,” Walker said. “Thanks for all your help.”
Walker had to back up a few thousand feet to make the turn onto the old road, but a few minutes later, they were back on the way.
This time, the night was even darker as they sped through the forest. They’d only been driving for a few minutes when snow began to fall, fat, fluffy flakes that melted as soon as they hit the windshield.
For a while, she enjoyed the sight as it covered the trees with a blanket of white.
But it wasn’t long before the snow stopped melting when it hit the road, and it too was soon covered in a layer of the fluffy stuff.
When it began to snow even harder and the wind started to blow, Walker slowed down with a muttered curse, his hands gripping the wheel a little tighter. “This could get a little ugly before we make it home,” he said. “I’m going to take it nice and slow, so get comfortable.”
“We’re not in any hurry, everyone is asleep back home,” she said, giving him a big smile. “We have all night to make it there.”
“I hope it doesn’t take that long,” Walker said, stealing a glance over at her, a grin on his face. “Unless you’re planning a little stop for…”
Before he could finish his sentence, a car came flying around the corner in the wrong lane, going way too fast for the weather.
When the driver saw their headlights, they tried to swerve back into the correct lane, but the car’s rear tires didn’t respond, and the car began to slide across the road.
Everything seemed to happen all at once.
She screamed, Walker let out a curse as he tried to stop the car without sending them off the road, and the other car kept sliding until it went plunging into a deep gully, landing with a crunch loud enough to echo through the trees.