Salvaged: A Love Story

by Stefne Miller

  “Go for it.”

  “I want you to know that no matter what the reasons were behind that kiss tonight, I’ve never felt like that before.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, I’ve kissed a few girls … ”

  I raised my eyebrows at him.

  “Okay, more than a few, but that’s beside the point. What I mean is that I’ve never felt the way I felt when I kissed you. With you it was like my whole heart was involved. It’s the most amazing kiss I’ve ever had.”

  I yanked my hands out of his and covered my face in embarrassment. “Get out! You’re so full of it.”

  “No, I’m not, I’m totally serious. I had to walk away or I could have been there doing that all night, I swear. I’ve never felt like that before.”

  By the temperature of my cheeks, I knew that I was turning crimson. “Well, unfortunately, if I tell you it was great for me, it won’t matter because I don’t have anything to compare it to.”

  “But was it?” His voice sounded hopeful again.

  “Yes.”

  “Do you wanna do it again?”

  “Oh yes.”

  He laughed. “Let’s hope that the rest of the summer flies by or your dad decides to move back early.”

  “I’ll keep my fingers crossed.”

  chapter 22

  Cooper and I made our way through the buffet and then took a seat at a table. I’d begged Gramps to join us, but he refused. I was stuck having a one-on-one lunch with Cooper Truman, and I wasn’t looking forward to an hour-long conversation. I planned on staying as far away as possible from any personal discussions, so I made sure to start the conversation.

  “So, Coop, tell me all about how you got into Cornell and your school plans. I’m very curious seeing as how we’re sort of on the same path.”

  He smiled at me. “No small talk? You get straight to the point.”

  “Sorry, I don’t know anyone else that’s close to my age and is doing what I want to do. We can have small talk if you would prefer.”

  “No, I want to talk about whatever you want to talk about.”

  “Thanks.” He seemed genuine, but I was cautious. “So school?”

  “Well, I’ve been planning on being a veterinarian for years, so all of my schooling has been in preparation to get in and out of undergrad as soon as possible. I attended UCO in Edmond the summer before and during my senior year of high school.”

  “Really? Did you CLEP out of school classes or what?” I was intrigued and cut into my chicken fried steak while I listened.

  “Yes. I went all AP during high school and then CLEPed out of every class I could—I think about thirty hours. As I said, during the summer and at nights, I took college courses at UCO. Cornell will let you transfer up to sixty hours, so I cut two years off my undergrad while I was still here and started up there as a junior.”

  “So this fall you’re already going to be a senior?”

  “Yes, and you can apply for Cornell vet school in the spring of your sophomore year, so that’s what I did. I got accepted to early admissions into the DVM program. I’ll actually start vet school this year.”

  “So you’ll finish three years earlier than most?”

  “That’s the plan.”

  “That’s amazing. How would I do it if I wanted to?”

  “Cornell, or any vet school, wants you to focus on science and chemistry, so I took every science class in high school and my year at UCO but then tested out of English composition, English lit, economics, Spanish, and stuff like that.”

  My curiosity was growing. “How did you prepare for the tests?”

  “Have you gone AP through school?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then you shouldn’t have any problem. But they have study guides just in case you need them.”

  “Great, thanks for the information. You could be saving me a lot of time. Not as much as you of course, but some anyway.”

  “I can take you up to UCO one day if you’d like, that way you can get all the information you need. It’s so close by. It only took me about twenty minutes to get to class every day.”

  I noticed he hadn’t touched his food.

  “That sounds great. I would appreciate that.” My mind was spinning with all the new possibilities that lay ahead of me.

  He folded his arms onto the table and stared at me. “Where do you want to go to school?”

  “You eat, Cooper. I’ll talk if you eat. We can’t have you passing out during the middle of a surgery or anything.”

  “Deal.” He cut open his potato and smothered it in butter and sour cream.

  “I was thinking I would go to UCO for my undergrad and then try to get into OSU for vet school. My Gramps knows a lot of people up there, so hopefully I won’t have much trouble. Plus, I’ve always done very well in school.”

  “You never considered Cornell? I would think that would be your first choice seeing as how your dad teaches there and you lived there for so long.”

  “You think I would go for which, undergrad or vet school?”

  “Both.”

  Actually, I hadn’t thought about it at all. “Well, my dad’s moving back here at the end of the summer, so he won’t be there anymore.”

  Cooper took a bite of his potato and then placed his fork onto his plate. His manners were impeccable.

  “Plus, I don’t fit in with that type.”

  “What type is that?”

  “The English riding type,” I teased.

  “Oh yes, that type—don’t you hate them?” I found Cooper’s sense of humor surprising.

  “I’m not cut out for that kind of life. I’m more your plain, lower-income type. I don’t think I would fit in.”

  “You’d be surprised, Attie; not everybody up there is highbrow. I don’t think I am. My parents are the ones with the money, not me.”

  “Are you being humble, Coop?”

  “Not so much humble as honest.” He blushed and looked down at his baked potato. “I try not to get into all that stuff. I go to class, go home, study, and repeat it all the next day.”

  “Sounds exciting, or not.”

  “You can live through anything if you know it isn’t going to last forever.” He looked back up at me. “Would you not agree?”

  “Yes, I guess I would.”

  Fidgeting a bit, he grabbed his soda and took a sip. “I didn’t want to bring it up, but … ” He shrugged.

  “Go ahead, you can ask.”

  “How are you doing? I know you’ve been through a lot over the last year.”

  “Oh, I just try to make it day by day. Not much else I can do.”

  “I can see that. Not see it physically necessarily,” he clarified quickly, “just, well, I understand what you’re saying.” He shook his head in embarrassment. “I’m not making any sense, am I? I’m not good with this type of thing.”

  “What type of thing?”

  “You know, emotions. We aren’t very emotional in my family. We don’t talk about them, and we certainly don’t show them.”

  “Then you better stay away from me because I’m one big emotional mess. That’s about all I know how to be—emotional.”

  “I’m not scared; I find it intriguing.” His eyes blazed as he looked at me.

  Uh oh, there it was, the “I-can-dazzle-everyone” look.

  I became uncomfortable and looked down at the table.

  “What do you like to do?” he asked.

  “I like to hang around my friends and have fun, not be so serious all the time. For the last year, my life has been nothing but serious. I think I needed to relax and enjoy things for a while. I mean, God spared my life
for some reason; it wouldn’t be wise not to make the most of it.”

  “I would agree with that.”

  “You know, Cooper, I don’t know much, but one thing I’m certain of is that we don’t know when our time is up down here. I would hate to think that you missed out on fun because you had to prove yourself to someone.”

  “You think that’s what I’m doing? Trying to prove myself?”

  “Honestly?” I asked.

  “Yes.”

  “Yes, I do.”

  “Interesting. You’ve known me all of a few hours and you’ve got me figured out,” he said with sarcasm.

  “I’d rather try to figure you out than myself. We’ve all got issues, I can tell you that, and I’d much rather focus on somebody else’s.”

  “Sure, you can focus on me anytime.”

  We continued talking as Cooper finished his baked potato. It struck me how different he was than what I thought he would be. I’d definitely judged him wrongly, and so had Riley.

  “Well, do you think we should head back to the clinic to check on Gramps?”

  “Sure,” he agreed and then reached for his wallet. “Thanks for coming with me to lunch today. I enjoyed it.”

  “No, Coop, thank you. I learned a lot, and you gave me some stuff to look into.”

  He grabbed the check and laid down some cash.

  “What’s my part?” I asked.

  “I’ve got it, Attie. I’m the one that invited you to lunch, remember?”

  “No way, you’re not going to pay for my lunch. You gave me a freakin’ college counseling session. I should buy your lunch.”

  “No, ma’am, I enjoyed myself.” He grabbed the bill before I could reach it with my hand. “Honestly, I had a great time.”

  “Let’s just split the bill and call it even then,” I insisted.

  “All right, if we must.”

  I tried to lighten the mood again. “You can go spend your parents’ money on someone else.”

  He wasn’t pleased about the fact that I was paying for my own meal, but there was no way that I was going to let him think this was a date—not after everything that Riley said.

  We made our way out of the restaurant and toward his car.

  “When do you leave for school?”

  “Mid-August.”

  “Are you looking forward to it?

  “Not as much as I’m looking forward to the rest of this summer.” He winked at me as he opened my car door, but I again pretended not to notice.

  “Can I be honest with you?” I asked as he buckled himself in.

  “Sure.”

  “I’m very surprised that this is your car.”

  He laughed out loud and then turned to face me. “I’ve got to hear this. Why are you surprised?”

  I could feel my cheeks blush. “I’m sorry, sometimes I speak before I think. It tends to get me in trouble.”

  “Nothing to be sorry about, Attie. I think it’s charming.” His bright white teeth were glaring at me. “So tell me, why are you so surprised?”

  “It’s an older car. It’s falling apart actually. I figured you’d drive some expensive sports car or something.”

  He smirked. “Like I said, it’s my parents’ money, not mine. I had to work in the stables to earn the money to buy this car.”

  “Really?” It surprised me that Cooper had to work for anything.

  “Oh yes! A little ironic, don’t you think?”

  “What?”

  “The fact that I had to shovel a bunch of crap to get enough money to buy a piece of crap car.” He laughed again and then turned to start the engine.

  “Why yes, it is a bit ironic now that you mention it.”

  “They did get me a nicer car when I went off to school. I leave it up there and drive this one when I’m home.”

  “What’s the other one?”

  He shook his head, and I could see his face turning red.

  “What is it, Coop? You’ve got to tell me.”

  “A Hummer,” he mumbled.

  “A Hummer? Good grief!”

  “It’s all for show. The car wasn’t so much for me as it was for everyone else to see me in it. It was all their idea. I would have been more than happy to take this clunker up there with me.”

  “Well, I guess you’ve got to play the game, right? But if I had to play along, I’d take a Hummer; they seem kind of cool. Even I couldn’t get hurt in one of those things.”

  “I’ll remember that during Christmas break,” he said, looking over at me. “I’ll bring it home and make sure you get to take it out for a spin.”

  I worried that he would think that I wanted to spend more time with him. “Oh, don’t worry about it. I was saying it would be fun; that’s all.”

  “No, Attie, it’s a date. I would love to let someone take a ride that would appreciate and enjoy it. For everyone up at school, it’s just another car. There isn’t anything special about it.”

  “I’ll look forward to it then.”

  Part of me did look forward to it, but the other part of me felt guilty for the fact that Cooper wanted to spend more time with me.

  Cooper Truman was a nice boy. I enjoyed his company and was thankful to be his friend. I just wasn’t sure what Riley would think about it.

  chapter 23

  “What do you want to be when you grow up?”

  “When I grow up?” Riley asked, laughing. “What are we, five?”

  My head rested on one of the arm rails of the porch swing as my legs were draped across Riley’s. “You know what I mean. What are your plans?”

  He let out a deep sigh. “I don’t know for sure. I’ve tossed around some ideas, but I haven’t made my mind up yet.”

  “So there isn’t something that you’ve always wanted to be?”

  “No,” he said as he reached for a blackberry sitting in a bowl on my stomach. “Not realistically anyway.”

  “What do you mean ‘realistically’?”

  “The only two things I enjoy are drawing and football, but I’m not good enough at either one to make a living doing it, so … ”

  “So?”

  “I’m waiting until something clicks in me, something that says, ‘That’s what I wanna do for the next fifty years of my life.’”

  I watched as his foot pushed off the ground causing the swing to sway. “Are you a good student; I mean, do you want to go to college?”

  “Yeah, I’m a good student, not straight As or anything, but I do pretty well.”

  “And college?”

  “I wanna go, but I don’t wanna go far away. I think I’d be content living right here and going to UCO.”

  “That would probably make your mom happy.”

  “No doubt.”

  I took in a deep breath and closed my eyes.

  “You know, I wish I were more like you, Charlie. I wish that I always knew what I wanted to be, but I never have.”

  “I think you should be a police officer or an attorney or a doctor or something,” I offered.

  “Why do you think that?”

  “You like to protect people, take care of them.”

  “No, I don’t,” he replied.

  My eyes flew open. “Riley! Yes, you do. Look at how patient you are with me; not everyone could do that. Even my dad, who I believe is a great guy, couldn’t deal with my issues. You have a heart of gold.”

  “Nah, I just have a heart of gold for you,” he teased. “When I got in all that trouble a few years ago, I thought of doing something in criminal justice, something to help kids that are in trouble.”

  “You got in trouble?”

  He act
ed surprised. “You didn’t know that?”

  “I heard you punched Cooper.”

  “That isn’t the half of it. I was a mess, an absolute nightmare to my parents.” He looked down at me with a guilty face. “Oh, sorry I said I was a nightmare.”

  “I didn’t even notice. You’re being paranoid.”

  He smiled down at me and then continued. “I lost total control my sophomore year. I hung out with the wrong kids and got into a lot of trouble. I even spent a night in jail.”

  I bolted upright and sat cross-legged facing him.

  “You were in the pokey?”

  He chuckled. “Yes, Charlie, I was in the ‘pokey.’ I got drunk one night and stole some Cheetos from a gas station.”

  “Good grief, Cheetos? Seriously, Riley?”

  “I know, ludicrous isn’t it?” He rolled his eyes. “Anyway, the kid behind the counter knew who I was and called the cops. Yada, yada, yada, my dad wouldn’t come bail me out, so I spent the night with a bunch of drunks in the holding tank.”

  “Ew, what was that like?”

  “Everything you can imagine. It sure taught me a lesson. I even ended up having to do community service. I felt like a total heel.”

  “What was your community service?”

  “Picking up trash. I had to wear one of those stupid orange vests and everything.”

  I gave him a small pat on the shoulder. “Wow, that’s embarrassing.”

  “No, what embarrassed me was Mom showing up to take pictures.”

  “She didn’t?” I started laughing at him.

  “Oh yes, she said she wanted to document my life of crime. I’ll have to show you the pictures sometime.”

  “That sounds like something she would do.” I lay back down and put my legs back over Riley’s. “I can’t wait to see the photos. Maybe you can sketch one and put it on my wall.”

  “No, thank you.” He shook his head and laughed. “What can I say? Mom lives to humiliate me.”

  “So what did your parents do? Did they freak?”

  “Mom was a blubbering mess for several days, and my dad sat me down and gave me a stern talking to.”

  “What did he say?”