Chapter 5 #2
Tate was a self-starter, friendly, polite to everyone, and worked circles around every other employee there.
He’d heard the stories about the boy having second sight, and while he didn’t believe in it, as far as he was concerned, it didn’t impact his work.
Andy considered hiring Tate Bandy to be one of the best decisions he’d made.
* * *
It was nearing quitting time at Sparks Grocery, and Tate had faced out all the shelves and restocked the checkout lanes with bags. The store was empty of customers, and Tate knew his boss was in his office, working on the night deposit he always took to the bank.
He jogged back to the employee break room to get his things and was on his way up the hall when the shelves in his line of sight disappeared and he saw Briar, in the park, hurt and crying. Then just as quickly as the vision had appeared, it was gone.
Panicked, he hurried back to the boss’s office.
“Mr. Sparks, I need to leave now, is that okay?”
Andy looked up at the frantic expression on Tate’s face and frowned. “Yes, sure, but is everything okay?”
“No. Briar needs me. She’s hurt,” he said, and bolted.
Andy assumed Tate had gotten a phone call about it and went back to counting out the deposit.
Tate shot out the door and began running toward the park in the center of town. The sun was already below the treetops, and the long shadows were stretching out farther and farther across the grass as the sun kept sinking.
His heart was pounding now. He knew she was suffering, he just didn’t know why. Every step he took felt like he was walking in mud, although in reality, he was flying.
Then he saw her, head down, shaking from the sobs wracking her body.
* * *
Briar heard the sound of someone running toward her and, even before she looked up, knew it was Tate.
Seconds later he was on his knees beside her. “Briar, honey…what happened?”
“Oh…I was mad and crying and not paying attention to where I was going and stepped off into a hole and turned my ankle. I can’t put any weight on it to get myself up, and I accidentally left my phone at home.”
He rocked back on his heels, saw the swelling on her ankle and the size of the purple bruise that was already spreading, and gently felt for broken bones, but felt nothing obvious except swelling.
He wanted to wring her parents’ necks, but he wasn’t about to give them the satisfaction of knowing they got under his skin.
“You had a fight with your parents about me again, didn’t you?”
A fresh set of tears rolled as she nodded.
He leaned forward, kissed her forehead, then began picking the grass out of her hair and brushing the tears from her cheek.
“Don’t cry, darlin’. I’ll get you home and you can get some ice on that.”
“How are you going to do that?” she asked.
“I’m going to carry you,” he said, then stood, slid his arms beneath her, and scooped her up. “Put your arm around my neck and just relax. I’ve got you.”
“I’m too heavy to carry that far. Just call Dad. He can come with his car.”
“You are mine to carry,” he said softly, and took off walking.
She looked up at him then, at the strong set to his jaw and the fierce look in his eyes as he pulled her closer.
“Everything is changing. Life is beginning to feel scary. You have a job, and our time together is growing shorter by the day. Just the thought of it is brutal to consider,” Briar said.
Tate sighed. “You couldn’t lose me if you tried.
Whatever happens after we graduate is not going to break this bond.
You’ve been mine to care for since I first laid eyes on you.
Don’t ask me why. I just knew that you were.
And the older we get, the more you mean to me.
You are my forever girl. Don’t forget…I love you, Briar.
I want to be with you forever. Have babies with you. Grow old with you.”
Briar’s heart skipped a beat. “I love you too, Tate. Big love. The wanting to make love with you kind of love, and I’m not ashamed to say it. I won’t let Mama get under my skin ever again. Other people’s words can’t change us.”
He glanced down at her as he was walking. “I dream of making love to you. But I will not let what I want deter our future. We are not going to be that couple, raising babies while we’re still in our teens. That’s not who we are or where we’re going.”
Briar snorted. “My mother has been convinced we’ve been having sex for years. She actually put me on birth control when I turned thirteen. She’s afraid of having a grandchild with unnatural tendencies, as she puts it.”
Tate was surprised about the birth control, but knowing her parents would hate any child they might have together in the years to come put a knot in his belly.
“It’s okay, honey. I can’t pull you into my crazy world until I know what I do won’t put you in danger and I can take care of us financially.
I will not let who I am ruin you or your life.
You’re so smart. And you’ve always talked about a career.
So, while we’re making that happen apart, I will never be far away.
And I will always know where you are, and if you need me. Do you understand?”
Briar’s heart hurt just thinking about it, but she understood the choices he was making.
“I get what you mean. You see what your mother has gone through, and you fear that for me, but I will be so lost when we go in different directions.”
“You will never be lost to me, and look…we’re almost to your house. Your dad is sitting on the front porch, and from the way he just shot up from his chair, he has clearly seen us. Brace yourself.”
“This is my punishment,” she muttered. “Trapped inside that house until I can walk again, with them fighting each other and yelling at me.”
Tate sighed. “We’ll talk every night. It will be okay. You’ll see.”
She leaned her head against his shoulder, weary from the emotion and the pain as her father came down the sidewalk on the run.
“Briar, sweetheart! What happened?” Roger cried.
“I turned my ankle in the park. Tate was on his way home from work and saw me sitting on the grass. I couldn’t get up.”
“Lead the way, sir,” Tate said. “I’ll get her in the house for you.”
“You’ve been crying. Why didn’t you call me?” Roger said as they started back up the sidewalk toward the house.
“I accidentally left my phone in my room, and I was already crying when I left the house, and you know why. The tears now are because I hurt. Thankfully, I am always on Tate’s radar, or I would still be sitting there.”
Roger blinked. “What do you mean by—?”
Tate interrupted. “She means…I was at work, getting ready to clock out, when I had a vision of her in the park. I saw her sitting on the ground, crying. I knew she was hurt, and yes, she is always on my radar.”
Roger didn’t want to hear this. He didn’t want to believe that this boy could see into their lives. Into anyone’s lives.
They were halfway up the steps when Mariah opened the front door, swaying slightly from too much wine.
“What on earth is going on?” she cried.
“Briar hurt her ankle,” Roger said.
“Did he do it?” Mariah shrieked, pointing at Tate.
Tate looked her straight in the face. “No, ma’am. You’re the one handy with fists.” Then he turned his back on her. “Mr. Lowe, where do you want me to take Briar?”
Mariah went from red-faced and angry to ashen, and the look on Tate’s face had startled her enough that she backed up out of the way.
“Take me to my room, please,” Briar said. “It’s up the stairs and the last door on the right.”
“I’ll get an ice pack,” Roger said, as he pushed past Mariah and hurried into the kitchen.
Tate shifted Briar in his arms again to get a firmer grip, and then started up the stairs, well aware that the footsteps behind him belonged to the woman who nearly killed his mother.
Briar was already dreading the moment when Tate would be gone, and the swinging motion of her rapidly swelling ankle was excruciating. Despite her resolve to be stoic, fresh tears began to fall.
“It hurts so much,” she whispered.
Tate grimaced. “I’m so sorry, honey. We’re almost there,” he said, and two steps later, they reached the second floor.
He’d never been inside this house because he’d never been welcome, but he knew where her bedroom window was and hurried to the last room at the end of the hall.
The door was ajar. Her cell phone was lying at the foot of the bed where she’d left it, and when Tate stopped at the bed and eased her down, she groaned with relief.
“Oh my God…thank you,” she said.
“Just let me get your shoes off before that ankle swells any further,” he said, and slipped the shoes off her feet, grabbed an extra pillow from the other side of the bed, and slid it under her foot lengthwise to elevate the leg.
“You need to leave. We’ve got this,” Mariah said, and reached toward Tate, intent on grabbing his arm and pulling him back, when he suddenly turned to face her.
“Do not ever put your hand on me. Understood?”
He hadn’t even pretended to hit her, but she felt the blows of his words like gut punches.
Her stomach knotted. She wanted to defend herself.
This was her house. That was her daughter on the bed, but Tate Bandy wasn’t a little boy anymore, standing in the park accusing her of assaulting his mother.
He was towering over her, and the history between them was forever etched in their life paths.
Briar reached for Tate’s hand and clasped it, and the moment she did, his rage faded.
Mariah backed up, an unwelcome presence in her own home.
The stress of the moment and the amount of wine she’d already consumed was making her head spin.
She staggered over to a chair and sat down just as Roger came running into the room with an ice pack and a bottle of over-the-counter painkillers.
Mariah watched Roger carefully wrapping the ice pack around Briar’s ankle and Tate sliding his arm beneath her daughter’s back to elevate her head long enough for her to swallow the pills.