He sat down next to her.
She was sobbing hard, her head in her hands.
For a moment, he considered putting a comforting hand on her shoulders, but he did not want to lead her on, or give her false hope. That was what he had been doing all along.
So, he let her cry.
Several cars rolled by on the highway, illuminating the pair as they passed.
After a while, Liz looked up at Brandon. Her face was smeared with mascara.
He patted her knee. “I’m sorry,” he said. “We can’t ever be together.”
Liz wiped her eyes. “Why not? Why do you love her so much anyway?”
Brandon looked serious. His eyes were big and his face reflective. “She was my first love. There’s always something special about your first love.”
Liz made a face. “But she hurt you so much.”
“And I hurt her too. But I know we love each other. And I have hope. I always knew that we were meant to be together.”
Liz shook her head. “That’s the stupidest thing I’ve ever heard. There’s no such thing as soul mates or destiny or fated to be together. That’s just something that the Hallmark and Hollywood businesspeople made up so they could sell more cards and movies.”
Brandon said nothing. He looked at her in the artificial thing. Even though she was normally a very beautiful girl, she looked uglier to him somehow.
Liz said, “It’s stupid to believe in all that.”
Brandon shrugged. “Then I guess I must be stupid.”
Liz looked exasperated. “I don’t believe you feel nothing for me.” She looked determined. “And there’s only one way to find out.”
Before Brandon could figure out what she meant, Liz moved in and cupped her hands on the side of his face. She then kissed him hard on the lips.
Brandon tried to wiggle out of her grasp but she held on too tight. He stopped struggling when he realized this could be the best way to get rid of Liz forever. He did not kiss her back but continued to let her kiss him. Her lips tasted like the hard liquor that she had been drinking all night.
As they kissed, Brandon thought he saw someone standing in front of them. Then, he thought he heard the sound of something clicking. Then, he thought he saw a flash.
When they separated, Brandon scanned the area in front of them, but did not see anything.
He wanted to investigate, but Liz was all in his face.
She looked at him with relentless eyes. “Well?”
He shook his head. “Nothing.” He meant it.
Liz made a face that made her look like a demon. “You can go screw yourself.” She got up and marched off.
Brandon sat there, processing what had happened. He knew that he did not enjoy the kiss.
He felt nothing for Liz. Maybe he never did.
But Liz was not the most important thing on his mind though. Something else was lingering there.
He was sure that someone had been right in front of them.
*
It was black when Brandon finally got home to his farm in Langley. He looked at the towering corn stalks that were lit by the highway streetlights, but he paid special attention to the dozen oregano plants.
As he stood in front of those plants, his thoughts drifted back to how he had bought his grandfather’s farm. It was the summer after Katie had left. He found out that his grandparents had passed, but there was something wrong in the will. Instead of being passed on, the property was up for sale. So, Brandon bought it with his own money.
The first day he inspected the farm, he found the place to be a dump. The soil was bad, weeds overran the property and the house next to it was dilapidated.
But, he persevered and managed to turn the place around. The most vivid memory was planting oregano seeds into the soil under the boiling sun.
Liz had been with him that day, standing beside him on the soil. She was in a summer dress and wearing a lady’s hat with a wide brim.
“I can’t believe you’re planting me oregano,” she said. “It’s so sweet of you.”
“Yeah,” he said, distractedly. Sweat was pouring down his face.
He grabbed another handful of seeds and planted them into the next spot. He repeated the same action until the sun was starting to sink below the horizon.
Liz sipped a glass of water. “Don’t you think you should take a break now? You’ve been at it for hours.”
“No, I’m fine,” he said, without looking at Liz. “I gotta keep going.” His skin was frying in the scorching sun.
Suddenly, he felt a sharp pain in his back. He winced, and then clutched his back.
Liz put her glass of water down on the ground. “Are you OK?”
“I’m fine,” he repeated.
Liz inspected him closely. “You know,” she began. “You don’t have to work so hard to impress me. I believe you’re serious about me.”
Brandon stopped planting and turned around.
Then, he looked at Liz with a blank expression.
A look of sudden understanding came over her face. “It’s not for me, is it?”
Slowly, he shook his head.
She sighed, and walked away without another word.
Brandon let her go. He examined his hands. They were red, sore and chapped. But he knew he had to continue.
Maybe If I keep my promise to Katie, she’ll come back to me, he thought.
His back still aching, he continued to plant, until row after row after row was filled with oregano seeds.
When he was done, the moon was hanging high in the sky. He stepped back to admire his work. Ten rows of soil were dig up so that he could plant the seeds. Illuminated by the bright moon, they looked like sleeping babies. His sleeping babies.
He felt and looked like he had just run a marathon, but he was happy with his work.
He went into the house next to the farm and collapsed onto the sofa.
He knew he had been treating Liz badly, but she was the one who kept hitting on him. He was not leading her on. She insisted on keeping him company even though she knew his heart belonged to another girl.
Katie. His heart was with Katie. He wondered what she was doing now. He wondered if she was with a new guy. He wondered if the new guy was treating her right.
Brandon got up from the couch and spotted a picture of him and Katie on the coffee table.
It was one of them standing in the street on New Year’s Eve.
He smiled as his eyes took in her image. Then, he remembered that she had abandoned him here.
Anger raged in him, possessing him like a demon. He raised the picture high in the air and smashed it onto the hardwood floor. The picture broke into dozens of little pieces.
His breathing and heart rates elevated, Brandon tried to calm himself down.
He bent down and tried to pick up the pieces. A sharp piece of glass pricked his finger, but he did not notice.
When he finally assembled the glass and frame, he looked at it again.
With one finger, he stroked the place where Katie’s face was.
He was suddenly overwhelmed by an urge to call her. He grabbed his cell phone and dialed her cell number.
The phone rang once.
Twice.
Then three times.
Then, it went to voicemail.
“You’ve reached Katie Simpson. I’m in New York chasing my dreams right now, so I can’t take your call. Please leave a message. Fashion design has been my dream since childhood, so please don’t be offended if I don’t return your call right away.”
There was a beep.
Brandon held the phone to his ear, but said nothing. He wanted to, but he did not know what to say. He felt that nothing he could say would get her to come back to him.
So he stayed on the line until there was a click and a dial tone.
He hung up.
The last part of her message resonated with him. It had been her dream since childhood.
And he had tried to stop her from go
ing.
But still, he wanted so desperately to tell Katie that he had fixed up a farm for her, but he was afraid how she would respond.
She doesn’t want a farm boy, he thought. She laughed at me when I told her my dream.
She wants someone ambitious. She won’t come back to me.
He felt a pain in his hand. He looked down at his chapped fingers. He noticed that blood was oozing out of his forefinger.
*
Chapter 13
Katie stared at Stasha, who looked shocked. Stasha tilted her head. “So Steven is coming here now?”
Katie clasped her hands. “He said he’s coming on the next flight. He’ll probably be here tonight.”
“What are you going to do?”
“I’m going to tell Steven the truth. It’s over between me and Brandon.”
Stasha held up both hands and sighed. “I have to go see family now.” She stood up, and took a long look at Katie.
Katie got up.
Stasha hugged her friend, and then pulled back. “I’m not going to tell you what to do anymore. But I know that you love Brandon more.”
Katie shrugged. “What does it matter? Love is a two-way street. I just don’t know how he really feels about me. If he loved me, he wouldn’t have hurt me with that girl.”
Stasha sighed. “I think it was a big mistake that he regrets.”
Katie shrugged again, and then saw Stasha out.
She returned to the kitchen and was unsettled by how quiet it was in the house.
She finally had some time to think. So Steven was on his way to Vancouver. And his sister Tina, who promised not to tell, had told Steven about Katie’s encounter with Brandon.
Katie was disturbed, but she had more important things on her mind. Like Brandon. After she saw him with that girl that day, she was more determined to leave for New York. But now that she saw him again, she knew that she wanted him. But it was not that easy. There was Steven. But more importantly, there were doubts about Brandon festering in her mind.
She was stirred out of her thoughts by a knock on the door. She turned her head. Another knock rang through the house.
Katie headed toward the front door in time to see a note slip through the mail slot.
Curious, she picked it up. It was an envelope with her name on the front. She ripped it open.
The ring that Brandon had given her fell out, clanging onto the hardwood floor.
She picked it up and read the accompanying note.
Katie, I can’t help but replay our stupid fight over and over in my mind. I can’t eat or sleep. I just need to see you one last time to clear the air. If you really don’t love me, just tell me one last time and I’ll let my heart die. I’ll never bother you again.
Meet me at Taylor Park tonight.
Brandon.
*
Katie felt excitement zap her body. She looked out the window. It was getting dark.
Steven was going to be here soon. She had her doubts, but the thought of seeing Brandon made her feel tingly all over.
Katie slipped the ring into her pocket, put on her jacket and hurried to Taylor Park.
Katie stood by the circling path at Taylor Park, just admiring the view. The moon was a giant disc in the sky, floating above the shiny city lights.
She huddled in her coat and wondered what Brandon had to say. She did not know how she felt about him. She knew she wanted him, but so much was tearing her away from him.
“I didn’t think you’d come.”
Katie turned around and there he was. She did a double-take. Brandon was wearing something bizarre, like a Halloween costume. He had a crown on his head. He was wearing a white vest without a shirt, and white billowing pants. His face was open but he was not smiling.
Katie’s mouth hung open. She felt her cheeks warming up.
He pointed to himself. “What do you think?”
When she realized who he was supposed to be, Katie was speechless.
He approached her and she stared at him, transfixed.
Brandon took her hand, and said, “I’ll be your prince charming. Be my princess.”
Katie could not believe what she was hearing and seeing. “What are you doing?”
Brandon squeezed her hand. “I thought about what you said. You were right.” He was silent for a while, and then continued. “I was all talk, and no action. I want to prove to you that I really love you.”
He looked her in the eyes. “I really want to be your prince. And I want you to have your fairy tale ending.”
Katie’s emotions were a maelstrom churning inside her. She was so frenzied that she had to sit down on the bench. Brandon sat beside her.
He put a hand on her face. “And that’s not all.” He took his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed a number.
“Hey Patrick,” he said. “Thanks for helping with this.”
He turned to Katie. “I have someone who wants to talk to you.”
Confused, Katie raised both eyebrows. “Who?”
He did not answer her, but gave her the phone. She put it to her ears. “Hello?”
“Hi, Katie. We’ve never met. I’m Patrick, a good friend of Brandon’s.” His voice was cheerful. “He’s talked about you so many times. So, listen, I heard from him that you want to go into fashion. I happen to work in fashion design and I know some people that could help you out.”
Katie felt like she was in a dream. Her stomach turned over.
“Hello?” Patrick asked. “Are you there?”
“Yes, I am.”
“So what do you say?”
“Yes.” Her voice was barely audible. “Yes,” she repeated, louder.
“Great. I’ll make some calls and see what I can do. We’ll be in touch.”
Katie gave the phone back to Brandon, who thanked Patrick and hung up.
She looked at him, still speechless. It was too surreal.
There was a brief silence. Somewhere in the parking lot behind them, car doors slammed and an engine started.
Katie tried to gather her thoughts. “Why did you do all this?”
“Because I wanted to show that I love you. You love fashion design and you love Disney.” He pointed to his clothes. “You were right. I was selfish and I was all talk and no action.”
For a while, they stared at the shiny traffic going by on the highway below.
Katie asked, “Why didn’t you try to contact me?”
Brandon turned around to face her. “I did try to contact you. I got your voicemail and heard how you were so happy chasing your dreams in New York. I didn’t want to be the one to get in your way again.”
Katie looked at Brandon. In his prince costume, he was a movie character that had come to life to whisk her away.
Katie understood what he was saying. “Actually, my dreams didn’t happen. You were right. It was a tough world out there.”
“Don’t give up. It’s your dream. I won’t let you give up.”
Katie smiled a sad smile. “I’ve already given up. But it’s still sweet of you to ask your fashion designer friend to help me out.”
There was another silence as they sat in the dark.
Brandon turned his body toward her. “Alright, I got a confession. I’ll admit it. I was mad at you. I thought it would be easier to just forget about you, so that I wouldn’t hurt anymore.”
She rubbed his bare shoulder with her fingers. “I know what you mean.”
“I wanted to move on,” he said, taking off his fez. “I tried forgetting you.” He looked at her with round eyes. “Then when I saw you again, I realized that I couldn’t forget you. I couldn’t move on. No other girl would do.”
Katie felt her doubts beginning to melt away, but one last issue still bothered her. “What about that girl?”
“Liz?”
“Yeah, that one you kissed in the hallway the day after we broke up.”
Brandon looked sheepish. “It was just someone I hired to make you jealous. You were suppose
d to see what you would be losing if you went away.”
Katie scrutinized him. “So you have no feelings for her?”
“None at all,” he said firmly. “We were together for a while, for all the wrong reasons, but I didn’t love her.”
“For six years, you let me believe that you got over me 24 hours after we broke up.” Katie struggled to breathe.
“And it’s something I have been regretting for the past six years.” Brandon looked sincere. “It was the worst mistake I had ever made and I’d do anything to take it back.”
He grabbed her hands. “It’s you. It’s always been you.”
“Why me?” Katie tried to move away, but his presence was too attractive.
“Because we weren’t just a high school fling. We weren’t just puppy love. What we had is real…and rare. It’s the real deal.”
She thought about what he had said and realized he was right. What they had was real. She had never been able to find it with anyone else.
At that moment, Katie felt herself give in. All her doubts were destroyed in an explosion.
Brandon pulled her into him, and she melted into his arms.
“Come away with me,” he whispered. “Leave your fiancé for me.”
Katie looked at him, surprised. “What?”
“Do you love the guy?”
She knew the answer to this. She had been suppressing it all along, but the truth was always there. “Not like how I love you. Not even close.”
“Then do it. I’ll take care of you. It was always supposed to be my job.” He was deep in thought. “No, not job,” he added. “My honor.”
Katie felt her entire body float. The idea was tempting. Steven was stable, predictable and a good provider, but he lacked an indescribable something that Brandon oozed out naturally. An X factor.
“Yes.” She felt herself getting excited. “Yes. Let’s do it!”
Brandon smiled widely. “Do you know how long I’ve been waiting for this?”
Katie pulled back slightly.
Brandon cocked his head to the side. “Is everything OK?”
She lowered her head, looking up at him. “Would you just please promise me one thing?
Just promise me no more drama. I can’t deal with all the drama.”
Brandon nodded. “No more drama.”
She grabbed Brandon’s ring out of her pocket.
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