CHAPTER 9 #2
“Okay,” I chirp, “you go and take care of your cattle. Check the rest of the ones who were in that pasture and check on the rest of the herd. Who knows if they put the nails in other fields.”
I turn to hop out, but Kendrick snags my wrist, and I freeze. When I look back over my shoulder, his brown eyes are fixed on me. The way he’s looking at me is intense.
“Thank you, Baby,” he breathes the words softly, but they’re still loud in the space between us.
With a bright smile, I promise, “I’ll be here, Kendrick. You have a lot to take care of and I’m not going to hold you back from doing what you need to do.”
“You could never hold me back, Eliza,” he rumbles.
Without warning, I swoop in and give him a quick kiss. As much as I want more, I’m not going to start something neither of us have time to finish right now.
There’s a promise for more later in our kiss and the lopsided grin on my man’s face makes the tingling feeling throughout my body strengthen. “See you later.”
I slip out of the truck before he can stop me again. A woman only has so much willpower to stop herself from climbing on her man’s lap and begging for a ride. I’m just about at my breaking point and I’m not going to apologize for it.
Even though it’s not easy to do, I stop myself from skipping down the sidewalk. I’m planning on calling Arden because she needs to be updated on everything Kendrick in my life. I’ve been keeping the whole thing from her, but there’s no slowing down this runaway train and I’ve accepted it.
After basically gliding into the house, I immediately freeze when I find my parents sitting in the living room. They’re on the couch and clutching each other like the world is ending. Since I’m pretty sure it’s not, I’m immediately on edge.
“Hello,” I greet them while hoping I don’t sound as worried as I feel. “Is everything okay?”
They share a glance before my dad’s angry voice cuts through the quiet tension, “No, everything is not okay.”
He leans forward and I think he might stand up and come my way before Mom’s fingers grip his arm tightly. As he looks me over, disgust is written all over his face. It’s so obvious that I shrink back from him.
“Tell us it’s not true, Eliza,” my mom pleads with me.
“Tell you what isn’t true?” My voice is high and teetering on the edge of panic, but I try and hold it steady.
“Are you seeing that Watts boy?” My dad barks out the question, and I jump at how loud his voice is.
“They’re just rumors,” Mom insists while turning toward Dad. When she looks back at me, she’s begging me with her eyes. “Tell him what everyone is saying isn’t true. Because you wouldn’t spend time with a womanizer.”
I bristle at the implication in my mom’s words. Without realizing it, I go on the defensive. “How can you say that? You don’t even know him. He’s not a womanizer.”
Mom gasps and dad makes a sound in the back of his throat I’ve never heard him make before. He starts to stand up, but mom pulls him back down.
“You will not see that boy anymore,” Dad demands. “He’s not the kind of boy you should be spending time with. Once you get over this whole year off thing, you’ll be going places. Where will he be? Still here or off somewhere chasing skirt?”
‘You don’t know him,” I insist, but my voice is a lot weaker than I would like it to be.
This time when Dad goes to stand up, Mom isn’t quick enough to stop him. He’s standing in front of me and gripping my chin before I know what is happening. His hold on me doesn’t hurt, but I still go still because I’m unsure of what he’s doing.
He turns my head to the side and stares at my neck. “Look at this. You let him mark you,” he’s seething and I wish I could put some distance between us.
My Dad has never raised his hand to me or Mom, but I’ve never seen him angry like this before.
“The town is talking about how you’re just the next girl in a long line who have been taken in by him. They think it’s because you’ve gotten a taste of freedom but have no direction, since you didn’t go off to college,” Mom is practically wailing, and I barely stop myself from wincing.
“If you’re insisting on acting like a harlot,” Dad grinds out through his clenched jaw, “you won’t be doing it while living under my roof.”
I freeze and my eyes widen. Then mom is there and clinging to dad with tears in her eyes. Did he really just tell me I can’t have my home, and Kendrick?
There’s no way I heard him correctly. Just no way.
“Tell your father you won’t see this boy anymore,” Mom insists.
After staring at her for a moment, I take a deep breath and pull my chin out of my dad’s grasp. I look between my parents, and a thought hits me out of nowhere. My parents are just people. They’re flawed.
And this is something they’re very wrong about.
“I’m not giving him up,” my words are firm, but quiet.
I don’t think I’ve ever said anything I believe down to the marrow before these words. I’m not giving him up. I never will.
“Then you’re not living here,” Dad’s words are cold.
When I look at him, I can see by the look in his eyes that he’s not going to budge on this. Tears well up in my eyes, not because I’m scared or unsure, but because I did not think this would go down like this.
“Ted,” Mom whines, “we can’t kick her out.” She looks at me and reaches for me, but I step away. “You should be with a nice guy like Cody.”
“Cody?” I ask the question absently, having no idea what or who she’s talking about.
“Yes,” she nods eagerly as if I can hardly contain my excitement at her suggestion which is not at all what is happening here. “Cody Hilton,” she says his name with so much hope, “the son of Paster Hilton.”
My face scrunches up without me thinking about it. Cody is a nice guy, I guess. Even though we were in the same graduating class, we were never friends. That has to tell you something right there. It’s not like Seneca Falls is a metropolis.
“She should have gone off to college, Dena,” Dad barks and pulls me out of my thoughts of Cody and why mom would make such a wild suggestion.
The disappointment is clear in his voice, and it kills something inside of me.
“We’ve indulged her little year off plan, even though it’s the worst choice she’s ever made, but now she’s out running around with that boy and making us look bad. I won’t stand for it.”
While fear was rattling around in my chest before, with his words a sense of calm washes over me. My voice is steady, “Making you look bad?”
“Yes,” he hisses. “You’re acting like a harlot with that boy, and I won’t stand for it.”
I nod once and then take another step back from him.
“I’ve spent my entire life trying to make you happy and proud.
I’ve never pushed back against your expectations.
I just swallowed them down. Even when they felt like glass.
” Mom blinks at me a few times, clearly surprised, but Dad is unmoved.
“For the first time I’m making choices for myself, but it’s not good enough for you, is it? ”
“No, you should be in college,” Dad barks.
I hold my hands up, unwilling and unable to keep talking about this. I don’t want to cry in front of them and if I don’t walk away right now, I won’t be able to keep my tears at bay. I turn away from them and head toward the stairs.
“Don’t worry, I’ll be out in less than an hour,” I throw my words over my shoulder at them, but I don’t turn around.
I can’t because a tear slips free and slides down over my cheek. Then the tears are impossible to stop.
How did everything go so wrong?