Wait for Me

by Louise, Tia

  We sway side to side several bars, and I can’t resist. “Your girl?”

  “Yeah.” His voice lowers, and the air around us seems to change. “That’s right.”

  He leans forward, pressing his lips to my brow, and I close my eyes, feeling all the emotions vibrating in my chest. He lifts his head and looks down at my face.

  “I was talking to Leon today, and he said something. It kind of stuck with me.”

  Not what I was expecting. “Leon?”

  He exhales a chuckle at the surprise in my tone. The song ends, and he takes my hand again, threading my fingers and leading me toward the door.

  Outside, the air is warm and humid, and a group of smokers is congregated a few feet away. He changes directions, walking us toward the Chevy.

  When we get there, he rotates me so my back is against the door, his arms caging me. “I couldn’t say this before… I didn’t think it was fair to say it and leave, not knowing how long I’ll be gone, what might happen—”

  “Stop.” I reach up, putting my fingers lightly against his lips, my thumb touching his cheek.

  He catches my wrist, kissing my hand briefly. “It’s so beautiful here, so much more than I expected.” Exhaling, he looks down. “I fell in love with this place, the work, the good times, even the heat. It’s a simple life, but it’s rich.”

  Listening to him, I can’t hold back anymore. I blink, and a tear falls. He scoops it away with his thumb. “I fell in love with you. I love you, Noel Aveline LaGrange.”

  My throat hurts, and I’m ready to say the words that have been burning in my chest. “I love you.”

  It seems to settle him, like he decides in that moment. “I have to leave you tomorrow, but I’m coming back… for you—if that’s something you want.”

  I turn his hand in mine, lifting it to my lips this time, kissing each knuckle.

  Promises. If we’re making promises, I’ll start with the one I made our first night together.

  “I’ll wait for you.” My voice is soft, but determined just like his. I’ve decided, too. “I’ve waited for you my whole life. I’ll wait for you as long as it takes.”

  Cupping my face, he covers my mouth with his. We seal our words with a kiss. Our lips part, and his arms move to circle me, drawing my body close against his. Our warmth flows together. Our hearts beat together. Our words are real and true.

  “You look so beautiful… your hair, this dress.” He looks down, our love glowing in his pretty eyes. “Do you mind if we call it a night?”

  Smiling, I shake my head no. “I only want to be with you.”

  We drive home, my head on his shoulder the whole way, and he takes me to my bed. We make love in a way that’s different from the other times. It’s deliberate and slow, worshipful, underscoring the words we’ve spoken with a union so elemental, so human.

  He holds me all night, and when I wake the next morning, he’s gone.

  Sawyer’s presence keeps me from falling apart the next few days—as do Taron’s constant texts and calls. We Facetime every night at the same time as when we used to sit in my room and talk, his knee against mine, watching me work on my dream.

  He looks so good, but I just want to touch his face once more. I just want to feel the warmth of his skin. It gives me strength, but even still, I’m so lonely for him it aches deep in my bones.

  The day Sawyer has to leave is almost more than I can bear.

  After losing our parents, the three of us formed a bond so tight, I thought we’d never be apart. Of course, we’d get married and have our families, but I always believed we’d be in the same place, nearby each other. We’d bonded through a trauma so intense, how could we be apart?

  He tosses his pack in the back of his Silverado and gives Leon a hug. My little brother doesn’t want to cry in front of us. He wants to be a strong man. He tells Sawyer goodbye and takes off, jogging up the hill into the grove.

  My brother understands.

  “I’ll take care of him.” I blink away the tears, giving him a brave smile.

  Sawyer looks really good going off to serve and protect our country. He’s a handsome man. He has our daddy’s dark hair, square jaw, and strong build, and our mother’s full lips and hazel eyes.

  Girls in town swoon over him, but he only ever dated Tatum Ray, Mindy’s older sister. When she left to follow her dream of becoming an actress, he put his head down and focused on the orchard.

  Now he’s leaving.

  He clears his throat and looks over his shoulder toward the groves. “I told Dutch I was leaving the place in your hands.”

  His tone is even, decided, but you could knock me over with a feather.

  “You did?” My eyes are wide.

  “I asked him to look out for you like he did for me when I first took over, but it’s your place. You’re the boss while I’m gone.” Hazel eyes meet mine, and I’m sure he sees the shock there. His brow furrows. “If that’s okay?”

  It only takes a second for me to snatch my jaw off the ground. “Yes! That’s great!”

  He nods in that quiet way of his. “I watched you this summer. You’ve got what it takes to be in charge. Leon can take over with the high school kids… You’ll have to hire somebody to work as a foreman, Digger or someone else.”

  “Sawyer!” I step forward, hugging him hard, feeling the tears leaking from the corners of my eyes. “Thank you.”

  Strong hands go from my sides to around my back, and he hugs me firmly. “I believe in you, sis. Make me proud.”

  My nose is hot, and it takes every bit of will-power I possess, but I suck it up. “I will. I promise.” I wipe my face with my hand. “Come back safe to us, okay?”

  His lips curl into a smile, and he does a short nod before climbing into his truck and driving away.

  13

  Noel

  September

  “So I should form an LLC as soon as possible?” I’m lying on my bedroom floor, leaning on my elbows over an accounting textbook, and Mindy’s beside me eating popcorn.

  “Why is this so hard for you?” She crunches loudly. “I think you have a mental block.”

  Before Sawyer left, I got him to agree my idea for a store had merit, primarily because everything sold out at the festival, and I made almost four thousand dollars—enough to cover half my first semester’s tuition.

  I officially launched Autumn’s Bounty as an online store, and I’ve already been inundated with orders. I sold out of the candles and lip balm in the first twenty-four hours, and I only have a few bottles of the lotion and sugar scrub left—not to mention the fragrance melts and taffy.

  It was good in two ways, actually. I didn’t even get out of bed after Sawyer left. I started sleeping in the foreman’s cottage, wrapped up in Taron’s sheets and crying myself to sleep… Akela stayed at my feet with her head on her paws as if she knew I was grieving.

  Leon finally brought me around—mostly because he ran out of leftovers and said he was going to starve to death if I didn’t get out of bed and start taking care of us.

  Slowly, I came back around. I stripped the sheets off the bed in the cottage and washed them… except for the pillow case, which I still keep under my pillow every night. My class schedule arrived in the mail, and I called Mindy, who came over at once to compare and rearrange.

  Then she helped me get the online store up and running.

  Now she’s making straight As in all our business classes, whereas I’m studying my ass off and still feel lost.

  “I guess I thought it would be easier.”

  My best friend sighs loudly, shoving her hair behind her shoulders. “With a single-employee S-Corp, you are responsible for everything, but the limited liability protects you from being sued if anyone’s hurt by your business.”

  “Sued.” The word makes the blood drain from my face. “Like if I make somebody sick?”

  “Or if somebody claims you made them sick. Bitches be crazy!” She cocks her head, sitting straighter in her Flo
ss like a Boss PJ pants and navy tee. “Your store is a great idea. Your cosmetics are a hit. The bigger it gets, the more vulnerable you become. How is the orchard set up? I’m sure it’s an LLC.”

  “Hell, I don’t know!” I fall onto my back, throwing up my hands. I’m in a pink flannel button-up and leggings, and I feel very ignorant. “Sawyer never told me anything about that stuff. He just let Johnny take care of it all.”

  “Well, Johnny can keep taking care of it, but you have to pass this accounting course.”

  “Why did I want to be a business major again?”

  “Because you’re a smart, independent woman, and you’re running a business now.”

  The Facetime app on my laptop starts to ring, and my whole body perks up. “Taron!”

  My bestie levels her green eyes on me. “We have to study.”

  “Whatever.” I hop up and give myself a quick look in the mirror, flicking my fingers through my hair.

  She stands, giving me an exaggerated sigh and tapping on her phone as she leaves the room.

  “You’re going to be stalking the new guy anyway.” Satisfied with my appearance, I hit the green button on my computer.

  “It’s called moving on with my life,” she yells back.

  “Moving on?” Taron’s magnetic gaze hits me, and my stomach tightens. Never…

  “Mindy’s checking out the new guy in our finance class. He’s from Dallas.” His brow furrows, and I shake my head. “Don’t worry—he’s not my type.”

  “What’s your type?” His voice drops to sexy, and my insides sizzle.

  “Hmm…” I grin, leaning my head on my hand, wishing I could snuggle my nose against his neck. “Tall… dark hair, magnetic eyes…” I run my eyes around the screen as if I really have to think about it. “Playful, but strong… Catches me if I fall…”

  “Good luck finding that guy.” That makes me laugh, and Akela trots in the room. “Hey, Akela! There’s my girl.”

  Her ears quirk back, and she sits, making a soft noise almost like a whine, like she’s still confused why he’s in that small rectangle and not here with us. I pet her head before turning back to the screen.

  “You’re early tonight! You interrupted my accounting torture session.”

  “Sorry. We finished up early, and I guess I was missing you. Check this out.” He holds the phone up, and I see a vast canopy of green trees and mountains. “Isn’t that something?”

  The guys were diverted to Mexico to assist with peacekeeping along the border. Taron says it’s pretty boring, mostly walking around and being visible. I worry someone might try to take a shot at them. The situation is so tense—at least it feels tense from where I’m sitting.

  “They keep saying we’re headed to Caracas soon, but it feels like we might be stuck here a while.” As he talks, he walks into a beige building.

  “I’m stuck in accounting. Mindy’s pretty good at explaining it to me, but there’s so many tax laws!”

  He goes into a small room and lies back on a bed, putting his arm behind his head. His bicep flexes, and I want to put my head on his chest. “Doesn’t your brother have an accountant?”

  “Yeah, but to be a proper business major, apparently I need to know all this stuff, too.”

  “How’s your business going?’

  “Good! I’m running out of everything, though. I have no idea how people are finding out about me. I haven’t had time to do much marketing at all.”

  “You said it yourself, people are looking for clean, organic products.” He holds up the small, round jar of hydrating lip masque. “I’m almost out of this.”

  “I’ll make a little care package for you.”

  I immediately start a mental list of all the things I’ll add to it. Prints of those pictures we took before the Peach Ball—I have both of them framed on my dresser. A little book of peach puns I found in a gift shop. A tennis ball with a line on it…

  “I talked to Sawyer last night.” His voice is quiet, and he immediately has my attention.

  “What do you mean?”

  He shifts position, sitting up. “We had night watch, and we were pretty much trying not to fall asleep… He asked me if we were serious.”

  “What did you say?” I don’t know why my chest feels tight.

  “What do you think I said?” Taron’s pretty eyes crinkle with his grin. “I said yes.”

  “How did he take it?”

  “Just like Sawyer. He nodded and didn’t say much. I think he’s okay with it, but I’m watching my back.”

  He’s joking, but I’m chewing my bottom lip. “I wonder why he didn’t ask me?”

  “Probably because Leon already threatened to kick my ass.”

  My jaw drops at that. “Leon? He… did what?”

  “I told you he cared about you.”

  That makes me sit back on my butt. I look to the side, thinking about my two brothers and how unexpected they are. Leon stomps around complaining about how he’s starving to death and is a general pest, but he hasn’t stopped helping me clean up after meals. He’s actually started pitching in even more since the guys left, running errands and keeping track of his schedule better.

  Sawyer left the whole orchard in my hands, and now this.

  “Well, I’ll be.”

  “Don’t say anything to him. That was between us.”

  “I won’t.”

  Loud voices fill the background, and Taron looks over his shoulder. “The guys are coming. I guess it’s too late for you to show me your tits.”

  “Taron!” My voice goes loud, but a tingle is between my thighs. “I’m sure Sawyer would not appreciate that.”

  “He doesn’t have to know everything we do.”

  “And Mindy’s here.”

  His full lips press into a line. “Sounds like a no.”

  “I miss you.”

  “I miss you, too, princess.”

  “I was never a princess.”

  “I’m still not a prince.”

  Leaning forward, I kiss the air in front of the camera. “You’re still handsome.”

  We say goodnight and sign off, and I sit for half a second before hopping up and running to the bathroom. With my back to the door, I unbutton my shirt and take a quick picture of my bare breasts and text it to him.

  My stomach is tight, and I feel like I’m being insanely bad. I get an immediate text reply. Gorgeous. Just what I needed.

  I type a quick reply. They miss your kisses.

  Now you’re just being cruel.

  “Where the heck did you go?” Mindy’s voice outside the door makes me jump. “Are you in there crying?”

  “No…” I finish with a heart emoji and a kiss.

  He replies with an eggplant, and I laugh, sending him a peach, to which he replies Dat ass.

  I love you.

  Love you back.

  I quickly delete the selfie from our text string and turn off my phone. I’ve got to get back to work, but I have an idea for bringing him a little closer.

  14

  Taron

  December

  A matchbox-sized red Chevy truck is in this month’s care package, along with a photo of Akela looking down at a burned hoecake. Another picture of Noel holding the sides of her hair out over an accounting textbook makes me laugh, and a newspaper clipping of that little red-haired girl holding an Autumn’s Bounty candle.

  A two-page, handwritten letter explains everything, how Noel hasn’t been able to make a decent hoecake since I left, which I don’t believe. How accounting finals are this week, and how the local paper did a feature on her product line—endorsed by the new Princess Peach.

  The red Chevy needs no explanation…

  I trace my finger along the swirls of her handwriting, thinking how valuable such a thing feels to me now. We text little notes to each other every day, all day, and we Facetime every night. Still, this is special. Things she forgets to tell me or saves for these monthly missives. Holding it to my nose, I take a long inh
ale of her signature scent, and my longing for her is soul-deep.

  “Dad wants to know how much longer we’ll be in Mexico.” Patton Fletcher is in his bunk across from mine scoffing at his most recent letter. “He’s not impressed by the lack of danger in our mission, says we should inquire about getting out early, since we’re clearly being used for National Guard duty.”

  “He’s busting your balls.”

  “Maybe… but not entirely.”

  “He’s worried the Nashville business community won’t find decent real estate without you.”

  Patton’s dad owns Fletcher Properties, and for years, he’s been claiming he’ll retire and give the company to his son. I’ll believe it when I see it. George S. Fletcher, Sr., is the Queen of England when it comes to his fledgling enterprise turned multi-million-dollar corporation. They’ll pry those reins out of his cold dead hands.

  “He still doesn’t understand why we’re here.” Swinging his legs off the side of the bunk, Patton walks over to the desk and wakes his laptop. “He thinks I enlisted so I could run for senate.”

  My brow quirks. I never thought of that. “Did you?”

  Black eyes cut to mine. “I have no interest in politics… other than how it affects my business.” He shifts that laser focus to the computer screen. “We came here to make a difference.”

  His words became a sort of mantra between us. I remember us sitting around at the Y after a day of shooting hoops. Patton always wanted to do more. We’d see military observances, and he was always interested. As the world became more chaotic, more obsessed with appearances and possessions, he’d talk about how the military kept it simple, grounded—serve and protect.

  It was unexpected coming from him, the kid who grew up with the silver spoon in his mouth, but I agreed with him. My home life hadn’t give me much to be proud of, and I didn’t have many prospects. Hard work and discipline didn’t scare me, and the idea of the three of us doing it together seemed like a good plan. We spent most of our time together anyway. Then we met Sawyer.