Chapter 15
It was a week or two later when I ran into Henry's little sister at the creek.
Bailey was her name, and I knew a lot about her, but she had no idea.
I had met her briefly, but she had no clue I was getting to know Henry.
I wanted to make friends with her, so when I saw her from a distance one afternoon, I approached her.
She was alone and sitting under a tree, and I headed that way.
"Hey, Bailey," I said, going up to her.
"Hey, yeah, I didn't know if you'd remember meeting me," she said, smiling and half-glancing my way.
"Yeah, of course," I said.
I had talked to Henry a lot lately, and felt like I knew her well.
"I'm excited about the movie," she said. "I keep wanting to watch you guys rehearse and film, but I never know if it's okay. All my friends want to come out here, too. They all want to be in it."
"Oh, it's fine if you watch. I know Alex wouldn't mind that with your parents owning the place.
As far as your friends being in it…" I trailed off, smiling at her and feeling unable to read her feelings.
"No, seriously, they probably can. I know he's going to need extras for some upcoming scenes.
He needs dancers for a couple of things.
I know with you being a cheerleader, your friends are probably… "
"Yeah, they'd be good at it. I've already talked to Alex about bringing a few people for those scenes."
"Oh, well, good."
There was a pause.
"If I'm even friends with any of them by then."
"Oh, no," I said.
She propped her head against the tree, not looking at me. "High school sucks so bad."
"I know. I remember it like it was yesterday. I'm glad it wasn't. I flew under the radar mostly."
There were several long seconds of silence followed by a long weary sigh. "I wish that were true for me," she said.
She rubbed her face, and it was at that moment, I realized she was close to crying, or maybe she had been crying.
She was emotional. I almost apologized for intruding on her alone time, but instead, I just sat there next to her.
She seemed okay with my presence. I reached out and grabbed a small stick that had fallen, and I absentmindedly started making light lines in the dirt.
"Is it anything specific, or do you just not care for high school in general?"
"No, it's specific. I used to love it. It's specific, the thing that happened to me, and it's recent. My life sucks right now."
She just stared out, looking at the mountain range in the distance. I thought she would elaborate, but she didn't. I felt like she wanted to, though.
"Do you want to talk about it?" I asked.
She sighed and hesitated, but then went right into telling me about it.
"I basically got humiliated in front of the whole school.
It was two days ago, and everyone knows.
I have, I had this boyfriend, and he was, we were…
hey, I don't know if you ever see my brother around here, or my parents, but please don't…
especially my brother… just please don't tell anyone what I'm telling you right now.
" She paused and turned to stare at me with eyes that I could now see were tear-soaked. "Promise?"
"Yeah," I said, having no idea what she was about to say or if I could keep that promise.
"My boyfriend cheated on me. Oh, my gosh, I can't even believe I'm saying that out loud."
She sighed and sank her face into her arm. I was sitting next to her, and I just reached over and put my hand on her back. She didn't shy away, so I left it there, touching her for a moment.
"Pretty much everyone knew about it but me. Of course, it was my best friend that it happened with, and they were sneaking around for months before I found out. I caught them at my brother's house."
"What?" I said.
"Yes. My brother, Henry. You've met him, I'm sure. He lives in Butte. He has a house there."
"Yeah, I know," I said.
She looked a little confused for a second and it seemed like she was about to ask how I knew, but she didn't. She had no idea I was close to her brother. I don't even think she saw me at Donna's funeral that night.
"Henry's got an extra key that I use. Me and my friends go over there.
We hang out over there all the time because he's always here with his horses.
Anyway, they'd both been to my brother's with me before.
Lots of times. They'd seen the extra key.
My friend, Jaxon, sent me a picture of their cars in his driveway.
I didn't even know what I was looking at when I first saw it.
It was two days ago, my mom's birthday, and I had been on the phone with Aiden about it.
He knew I was gone. He knew my brother was gone. "
She paused and sighed, and I rubbed her back, not saying anything.
"It took me a minute to put together what was happening, and when I did, I drove straight to Butte. My mom thinks I went to be with my friend, Lexie. She's got a bad home life, so I just told my mom she had an emergency with her family, and she bought it."
"So, you drove over there when your friend sent that picture?"
"Yes," she said.
She said it in such a way that I did not have to ask what she found when she got there.
"It was your best friend?"
"Yes, and they're just together now. Even today, she just posted this…
they're on a double date with people who used to be my…
it's just unbelievable how betrayed I've been by everyone.
It's like she came in and took my life, and everyone's okay with it.
" She took a hitching breath. "I don't even know what to do. "
"Two days. It's still so fresh. It'll start to sting less and less."
"I hope it starts soon because right now my life is the worst. I've had to avoid my family at a time when I need them."
"Why have you had to avoid them?"
"Henry would… I don't even want to think about what my brother would do to Aiden if he found out what he was doing in his house. It would not be good. He can not find out. Do you know which one Henry is? You've met my brother, right?" she asked, looking straight at me with a look of concern.
"Henry, yes, I know, and you don't have to worry, Bailey."
I wanted to tell her that I loved Henry and I knew she could trust him enough to tell him.
I wanted to tell her that I had the instinct to tell him everything and never keep anything from him.
But she had no clue I even knew what he looked like.
And what's more was that she sincerely hoped I would not communicate any of this to him.
I had the urge to tell Henry everything, and this was going to be a difficult one. I would have to pray about it.
"I'm supposed to go on vacation with Emily—the girl who—anyway, my parents are going to know something's up when I cancel that, but there is just no way I'm going.
I will absolutely—" She trailed off and was quiet for several long seconds.
"I will not go on a trip with her, obviously.
It's just, over. That leaves me with like zero friends, and all those people are going to the same college as me.
It feels like it won't get better, so I'm glad you think it will. I'm sorry for telling you all this."
"No, don't be sorry," I said, still touching her back.
"You'll tell your family what's going on with you, eventually, though.
Things will change, like you said, about the trip and everything.
And you won't be with that guy anymore, so you'll have to tell them.
It'll be okay. Good riddance to the guy, honestly.
I know it doesn't feel like that right now, but you're better off without him.
And, your family, they'll understand and help you through it.
Plus, you have summer coming with all this filming commotion going on at your house. "
I knew she wasn't in the mood for a lecture, and I hadn't meant to say all that when I started speaking.
Bailey and I sat under that tree and talked for almost an hour longer.
She was curious about my role, and she asked me all sorts of questions about it.
It seemed like she was content with making light conversation, like she was just relieved to have told someone about what happened, and then she could go on and think of other things.
I felt like a friend to her in that moment, which made me torn as to what to say to Henry.
I was confronted with that choice within a couple of hours.
Henry texted me saying that he was in the barn.
We both knew what time we would meet up, so I had been waiting for his text.
We had agreed to 5pm because he would be wrapping up his day, and I would be about to start shooting.
We were filming a scene that had nothing to do with horses, so Henry wouldn't be with us.
We knew this was our little window of time to connect today.
I sent a text back to him that said I would be right over, and five minutes later, I walked into the barn.
"Hello?" I said casually, assuming Josh or Henry's dad might be there also.
"Hey, I'm in the supply stall!" I heard his voice call out, and I headed across the barn. I passed a few horses, including Cottonball and Sunday. Both of them were at their door, so I touched their faces on my way past.
I anticipated Henry would be doing some kind of work in the stall, but what I got when I opened the door was Henry's hand on my arm, pulling me inside, taking me into his arms. He moved and turned me, and before I knew what was happening, my back was gloriously against the wall, and he was pinning me there, looking at me like a hungry beast.
I could not help but giggle, and he leaned in and kissed my neck when I did.
One, two, three soft kisses on my neck and up my jaw.
And then I wasn't laughing anymore. I was holding onto the back of his head, gently gripping his hair, encouraging him.
Henry kissed my jaw and then the side of my mouth, and then I turned, and our mouths met for a few glorious seconds before he pulled back and stared at me.
"You smell so good," I said, holding onto him. "Like soap."
"That wasn't the case twenty minutes ago," he admitted. "I had a long day, so I had to stop at Mom's to shower." He was tough and rugged, and he nudged his big body against mine, causing me the utmost delight. "I haven't seen you all day," he said, shifting to get closer to me.
"I know. I missed you," I said, embracing him. I felt such relief to see him and such love and affection for him that there was just no way I would be able to hide things from him. Not everything, at least. I prayed that I would know the right things to mention to him and not betray Bailey's trust.
"I made friends with your sister today."
His face was gloriously pressed against my neck, and he pulled back far enough to focus on my face when I said that. "Bailey? How? Where?"
"I saw her earlier today."
He pulled back, still holding onto me but no longer looking like he was about to ravish me. I missed the passion, but it felt good for me to get it off my chest. I knew I had to tell Henry some of it at least.
"She didn't want me to tell you anything, so you have to promise not to mention it," I said.
"Mention what?" Henry asked, his voice deep and his expression suddenly concerned, focused, and unwavering.
"Just trust me. She's okay. It's boy trouble, and she told me about it, but she has no idea I'm close to you, and she specifically asked me not to mention it to her family."
"What kind of trouble is she in?"
"It's just that she and her boyfriend broke up, that's all. You don't need to worry or do anything. In fact, it would be wonderful for me if you did nothing. I wasn't even sure about telling you. She begged me not to. So, please."
"It's just that she and that Aiden guy broke up?" he said with a shrug and a serious expression.
I nodded.
"I didn't like that guy, anyway."
"Yeah, I know. It doesn't seem like he's a good guy."
"What did he do? Did he do something to her?" Henry was protective, and while it was attractive and manly from my standpoint, I did not want him to tell her anything.
I stared at him with as much sincerity as I could gather.
"He was cheating, but Henry, listen. We made friends, and she has no idea me and you even know each other.
She would be sad if she knew I was telling you any of this.
I just wanted you to be aware that she was going through some stuff.
She's got all sorts of feelings with that, but she's fine.
She'll tell you guys about them breaking up.
It's just still so fresh. She's figuring it all out.
But she cares what you think. She loves you and doesn't want to disappoint you. "
"How would she? I didn't like that guy in the first place. I want to crush him for doing that to her, but I'm glad they broke up. I hate that he did that, but think the result is good."
"Yeah," I agreed. "Just please pretend like you're hearing it for the first time when she tells you."