Bikes were starting to roar to life as the other residents at the resort started to head into town. Bryn was becoming more and more impatient with less than three miles keeping her from a two hundred acre biker rally. She typed out a quick text to Sara to let her know that she was good, and then sent another one to Corey to see if he was awake yet. Neither one of them answered, so Bryn started to pace back and forth across the length of the cabin, wrapped only in a bed sheet.
A shadow passed in front of the covered windows, making Bryn freeze. Voices outside the cabin were quietly discussing the major events that would be happening at One Eyed Jack’s today, the big meeting place on Main Street. Charlie walked through the door, telling his companion good-bye before closing the door. “Thanks for breakfast. We’ll see you in town, Harley.”
Bryn saw the plates of steaming food that Charlie was carrying in with him, loaded with eggs, sausage and pancakes. Neither Bryn nor Charlie had eaten supper last night, and she was so hungry, she forgot all about the rally. Charlie laughed as she yanked one of the plates out of his hands, racing over to the kitchen to grab silverware for them both.
It didn’t take long for them to clean their plates, both of them letting out contented sighs. “That was really good. Does Harley make breakfast for everyone that stays here?” Bryn asked.
Charlie grabbed the back of his neck, squeezing the muscles. He looked down at the table, pushing his napkin around on the plate, “No, just me.”
Bryn could tell that there was something more to this story, so she continued to ask questions. “How many years have you been staying here?”
“Three.”
“Did you meet Harley out here?”
“No.”
“Did you know him before you came out here?”
“Yes.”
Bryn was getting tired of his one word answers, so she changed tactics. “Okay, Charlie. Spill it. What is there to your relationship with Harley and his wife?”
Charlie started to rip apart the napkin, his eyes trained on a spot on the table as he answered, “This is considered public knowledge, so I’m not breaking any privacy laws by telling you this. Plus, you could just go ask Harley and Shelly and they would tell you. They had a daughter that lived near Amulet that was in a serious car accident when she was 32 weeks pregnant. I was the doctor on call the night it happened. I tried to save their daughter, while I had a nurse page the OB doctor to do a C-section and save the baby. The asshole didn’t get there in time. Apparently, he had press box seats at a game in Madison and couldn’t pass it up. Once I realized I couldn’t save their daughter, I started a C-section to save the baby, but it was too late. Their granddaughter died while I held her.” Charlie paused to wipe a stray tear from his cheek.
Bryn quietly asked, “Is that when you met Harley and Shelly?”
Charlie didn’t answer immediately, staring off into space as the silence continued. He looked up at her briefly before continuing, “Harley and Shelly drove out to Wisconsin right away, and I was the one that had to tell them about their daughter and granddaughter. They were both distraught and didn’t have anywhere to go, so they stayed with me for a bit. They were the ones that encouraged me to start riding. We’ve stayed friends ever since.”
Charlie continued to stare at the table, quietly sniffling. Bryn tried to comprehend all that he had just said, her mind racing to come up with a suitable reply to such a horrific story. Charlie broke the silence, “Their granddaughter is buried at the cemetery where I found you that day. I go to visit her, to remind myself of why it is important for me to give my all to my job.”
Bryn got out of her chair, pulling the chair up next to Charlie. She clutched the sheet covering her body close to her chest as she carefully grabbed Charlie’s left hand. Rubbing her thumb over his knuckles, she lifted it up to her lips, placing kisses on each finger. Bryn set it back on the table, and lifted his other hand to her lips, repeating the reverent kisses.
“Charlie, you are the most compassionate doctor I have ever met. I’m sure that these hands have saved many lives directly and indirectly. You can’t hold yourself responsible for what happened to that little girl.”
Charlie pushed back from the table, sitting forward to rest his elbows on his knees. “I came to terms with what happened that day quite a while ago, Bryn. I don’t like to talk about it. I just want you to know that I don’t do things half-assed. I’m not a doctor for the money, or for the notoriety, or for any of the other trivial bullshit. I don’t want you to be my girlfriend for 6 months and get sick of me being at work too much. I want you to go into this relationship knowing that being a doctor is a huge part of my life. But you are now too, and I will always, always come home to you, and give that part of my life my all, too.”
After the morning’s revelations, Bryn and Charlie took a shower together, washing away their sadness. Bryn quickly got dressed, and worked on combing out her wet, mangled hair. Deciding to give up, she began the process of braiding her hair, pulling it so that it wrapped over her shoulder. After she finished, she turned to find Charlie standing in the doorway of the bathroom, holding a beautiful brown beaded bracelet in his hands. He twirled it around his finger as he pulled her over to the couch, sitting them down next to each other.
“I saw this in town this morning when I met Marley to get your things. It is a natural Tiger’s eye stone bracelet. It’s supposed to help keep your life in balance. The tag even reads that it will help to ‘soften stubbornness’.” She laughed as he slipped it onto her wrist, and tightened the tie.
“It’s beautiful, Charlie. Thank you.”
They sat on the couch, Charlie nuzzling her neck as Bryn stared at the bracelet. After a few moments passed, Bryn quietly whispered, “Thank you Charlie. For being everything I needed.” Looking up into his caring face, she continued, “You gave me wings to fly.”
Charlie stood from the couch, pulling her up with him. “You already had wings, kitten. I just reminded you how to fly. Come on. Let’s get you to into town. There is a great big party waiting for us.”
Epilogue
Bryn had been gone for three days now, and Sara was starting to miss her. Within the last month, they had started working on their differences, even spending time together without yelling. It felt good to have a healthy relationship with at least one member of her family, since their mother had made her living arrangements in Florida permanent. Truth be told, Sara was actually grateful that she was on her own now, without her mother’s unyielding control. It was easier for both of the girls to work on their issues without their mother questioning every decision they made.
It was early evening on Sunday when Sara decided to head over to Bryn’s apartment with a huge laundry basket full of clothes. She had been using the Laundromat in town, but had been steadily losing her favorite pieces of clothing. The first thing to go missing was her Aero jeans, and then her Love Pink sweatshirt. Deciding that it would be cheaper to do laundry at Bryn and Corey’s apartment, it had become a Sunday ritual that the girls shared together for a month before Bryn had left for Sturgis.
Sara let herself into the apartment with her spare key, cursing when she tripped on a pair of work boots thrown near the door. She wasn’t sure how Bryn could handle living with a slob like Corey, but she seemed to like picking up after him. One Sunday, Bryn had even gone as far as doing Corey’s laundry as well as her own. Sara smiled, thinking that Bryn was really a people pleaser deep down under that tough exterior.
After starting a load of laundry, Sara decided to walk down to the lake while she waited. It was a beautiful August day, and she could walk along the boardwalk near Main Street and enjoy the sunshine. Her phone chirped in her jean shorts pocket, signaling that she had a text. It was from Darrin; he insisted on typing out his entire message instead of the cryptic shorthand Sara and Bryn used.
“You coming over tonight?”
Sara smiled when she thought about their relationship over the summer. The night of Bryn’s motor
cycle accident, she had thrown herself at Darrin, but he had rejected her. Sara was so angry with how he treated her that she didn’t speak to him for a solid month afterwards. It didn’t help that her mother had decided to stay in Florida and Sara could either rent the farm herself, or move out so that her mother could rent it to someone else. Her lack of money made her decision for her, and she moved into a trailer park that was in between Amulet and the little town of Hampton, just miles from the farm.
Darrin had showed up at her trailer one afternoon, wanting to apologize and trying to win her affections with his sweet words and even sweeter kisses. For a few weeks, they spent almost every evening and all week-end with each other before Darrin had gone up north with his buddies for a few weeks. While he was gone, she and Bryn ended up reconnecting after her outwardly strong sister had a major breakdown on the 4th of July. Sara and Darrin continued to see each other when he returned, but it was only a few nights a week instead of the daily dates they had become accustomed to. Sara was dividing up her time between Darrin and Bryn as best as she could.
Now, they were working on building a solid relationship, one built on trust, as well as love. Not that Sara was ready to admit that she loved Darrin, yet, but she had very strong feelings for him. Smiling as she walked down the boardwalk, she started humming a few bars to one of her favorite songs. It didn’t take her long to end up on the other end of town, next to the old historic train station. Sara watched as a fairly well-built man, dressed in all black and wearing a bandana around his head sat on a motorcycle with his shoulders slumped down, fiddling with a piece of paper in his hand.
Sara was sure that the person on the bike was Brett, one of the twins that had accompanied the Double M group out to Sturgis. Thinking that someone had to come back to man the shop, Sara wasn’t surprised to see him back so soon. She quickly decided that she wanted to ask Brett how well Bryn had done riding out to the rally. Of course, Bryn had told her it went well, but she wanted to hear from someone else if Bryn was handling her issues without a full-blown panic attack.
Walking up to him, Sara called out softly, “Hi, Brett. I’m Sara Lonneman, Bryn’s little sister. Can I ask how she did on the ride out to Sturgis? Did she have any problems?”
There was no way that Sara could have prepared herself for what she saw next. The man lifted his head, turning to face her in the same motion, but it was certainly not Brett Smith. Sara could feel the air rush out of her lungs when she recognized the gorgeous grey eyes and chiseled features.
“Chris,” was all she could say before he bounded over to her, sweeping her up in his arms, spinning her around.
“I found you, Sara. Oh, sweet Jesus, I finally found you, little one.”
Chris set her down on the ground as he pulled her close to his body, the familiar mix of his cologne and manly scent permeated her nose. Without giving it a second thought, Sara pulled his face down and was kissing him, with all her passion flowing into the connection between their lips.
Sara could hear tires squealing next to them, and a door slamming before she was being pulled back from a reluctant Chris. Suddenly, the crunching sound of a fist landing on bone split the evening air and Chris was flying backwards.
“What the fuck are you doing with my girl, man?” was all Sara heard before her actions started to register in her brain.
She only said one word before her peaceful world tipped on its axis, “Darrin.”
Sara, Chris and Darrin will continue their story in Book Two of the Learning to Let Go Series. Coming late February 2013!
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