HE REALLY DOES CARE FOR YOU; IT’S ALWAYS BEEN THAT WAY WITH YOU TWO. AND I’M HAPPY THAT I GET TO BE WITH YOU GUYS AS YOU FIGURE OUT YOUR FUTURE TOGETHER.
MY BEST FRIEND MAY ACT TOUGH AND STRONG, BUT DEEP DOWN HE’S AS SOFT AS A TEDDY BEAR, AND I KNOW YOU’RE THE PERFECT GIRL FOR HIM. YOU ALWAYS HAVE BEEN REALLY. I THINK HE HAS BEEN IN LOVE WITH YOU FROM THE START.
I MISS HOW THINGS USED TO BE, AND I MISS DEL. I DIDN’T REALIZE IT UNTIL THE MOMENT SHE BROKE UP WITH ME, THAT I LOVED HER. I WANT TO WIN HER BACK, BUT I NEED TO FIX ME FIRST AND BECOME A MAN WORTHY OF HER.
THANK YOU FOR BEING ONE OF MY BEST FRIENDS, FOR ALWAYS TRYING TO HELP ME… BUT I NEED TO DO THIS ON MY OWN. I DON’T WANT TO DRAG YOU DOWN ANYMORE. I KNOW I ASKED YOU TO BE WITH ME, BUT RIGHT NOW, I THINK I JUST NEED YOU TO PRAY FOR ME. PRAY GOD GIVES ME STRENGTH AND WILLPOWER THAT I SORELY LACK.
I LOVE YOU, (IF YOU’RE READING THIS BECK, IN A COMPLETELY PLATONIC WAY. SO DON’T GET ALL HULK ON ME)
ASH
I sat there staring at the paper for several minutes, before Elizabeth came back into the room.
She sat back down in the recliner, “he had written three of them, one for you, one for Beck and then one for Delilah. I think he was going to try and handle things on his own. And this was his way of asking y’all to not give up on him. I gave Delilah hers a few months after he died, but I don’t know whether she read it or not. But, I think that you should give Beck his letter.”
She reached over to the coffee table and grabbed another envelope, and handed it to me.
“I’ll give it to him, thanks for letting me come visit. I better get going, I still need to pack, but I promise not to be a stranger any longer,” I said as I stood up and started towards the back door.
She followed me to the kitchen, and I turned around and gave her a kiss on her cheek and a hug. I rushed out of the house, before I lost my composure. As soon as I walked into my room, I sat down on my bed and pulled the letter out, reading it over and over again. Memorizing the way his handwriting looked. I folded the letter back up, and put it back in the envelope. Then walked over to my closet and pulled out a box that I kept for mementos and stuck the letter in there.
I put the box back in my closet, just as there was a knock on my door. I yelled for whoever was there to come in.
Beck walked in with a bouquet of flowers.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were spending time with your parents tonight?” I asked.
“Well that’s what I wanted you to think, because I wanted to surprise you,” he answered.
He was dressed in a nice pair of light jeans, and a white t-shirt. His normally messy hair was styled.
“Surprise me with what?” I asked him.
“Our date, the one we never got to go on,” he answered, walking into my room and handing me the bouquet. He gave me a kiss on my cheek, and went to the door, “grab your shoes and a sweater, it’s a little chilly.”
“Okay,” I told him as I walked towards my closet. Looking through, I finally spotted a coral cardigan that I loved.
I quickly put it on and I walked into the living room where Beck was talking with my dad. I smiled at how comfortable they were with each other, even after all this time.
Beck noticed me, and stood up. He wrapped his arm around me, and whispered, “You look beautiful,” in my ear.
I gave him a smile, and we said goodbye to my parents.
He held my hand the entire drive to the lake, and when we got there he parked his truck next to a trail opening.
“Stay here,” he told me as he got out of the truck. I watched him disappear down the trail, and a few minutes later he came back and opened my door.
“Everything’s ready… come on,” he said, as he grabbed my hand and helped me out of the truck.
We walked down the little trail, and when it opened up, I saw a yellow and white quilt that was lying down on the ground. There was a picnic basket in the center of the blanket, and a cooler just off to the side of it.
I stopped to take in the scene before me. Beck continued to walk towards the blanket, and I quickly caught up to him and hugged him from behind.
“This is beautiful,” I told him.
As we got to the blanket, I took my shoes off and sat down. Beck sat down next to me, and opened the basket.
He took out a container of some sort of pasta, and then a container of a salad, and then finally some bread.
“Is this your mom’s chicken tetrazzini?” I asked him when he opened the lid to a casserole dish.
“I know this is one of your favorites, so I asked her to make it.”
He laid out two plates on the blanket and started dishing out food on it.
He handed me one of the plates, and after he prayed and blessed the food, we began to eat.
“Everything tonight is how I had it for the date we missed. I don’t know why, but it felt like we needed a do over on that night. I know nothing could ever change that night and everything that happened afterwards, but I think this is our second chance. Well everything is the same, except for this,” he stammered out, he looked so nervous.
He pulled a gorgeous calla lily from the bag he had carried all the food in. As he held it out to me, I noticed something was tied to the stem. He moved it closer to me, and when the sun hit the object, it glimmered.
My heart rate picked up, as I watched him kneel down. Surely, he wouldn’t ask me that question. I mean I knew how I felt about him. Beck was who God wanted me with, we completed each other. So I knew that eventually we’d take this step. But were we ready for it now?
“We both know how unpredictable life is. The first time I saw you, even though we were only seven I felt like my life was about to change. The first time I realized that I liked you was when I gave you that t-shirt freshman year. The moment I knew that I loved you, was when I thought I lost you to Parker,” he paused to collect his thoughts. “When we were apart I always had this feeling that something was missing. I never knew what it was until I saw you again, looking at you from across the room… I finally felt whole again. You’re it for me; I know that God made you just for me. I don’t want to waste any time with you. Calla Olivia Jensen, will you be my wife?”
I looked down at him, lost in all the memories he had mentioned. We were young, but when you already knew the one you’re supposed to be with, why wait?
He stared at me looking nervous. I was fully aware that I hadn’t answered him yet, but I wanted to make sure to get my words right.
I dropped down to my knees so that we were eye level. I reached my hand out, and ran it across his cheek. He leaned into my hand, and closed his eyes.
“Beckham Spencer Westin, I love you so much. There’s nothing more that I want than to be your wife,” I told him.
He grabbed my left hand, and rubbed my wrist. I watched as his thumb made the circular pattern that he’d always done.
“So is that a yes?” I looked back up at him and he was smiling. He knew my answer already.
“It’s a yes,” I told him, then jumped into his arms. He leaned down and kissed me like never before. This one lasted a little longer than the other ones we’d had. It was full of love, promises, and hope.
We broke apart, and he slipped the ring off of the flower. He held it up so I could look at it.
It was white gold, and had a very antique look to it. It was a square diamond in the center, with a bunch of round diamonds surrounding it. It was beautiful, and exactly what I would have picked out.
“Beck, it’s gorgeous!” I exclaimed not taking my eyes off of it.
“I may have had a little help, Ma insisted on coming with me,” he admitted.
My eyes started watering at the thought of his mom helping pick out my ring.
“Oh thank goodness that’s over,” he exclaimed, and then he gave me another kiss on my lips.
I feigned being offended and giggled. “You weren’t actually nervous, were you?” Laughing harder at the relieved look he had.
“Yes. I don’t normally go around asking girls to marry me you know?” He answered.
We laid on the blanket and talked for a couple of hours, for the first time in over a year, I allowed myself to feel hopeful for the future.
When we got back to my house, Beck told me to wait in the truck. As he was walking over to my door, I pulled his letter from my purse. I set it on his seat without him noticing. He walked me to my door, and kissed my cheek and we agreed to leave the next morning at eight to head back to Alabama.
After washing my face, and changing into my pajamas, I picked up my phone. I debated for a few minutes whether to call him or not and finally decided not to. I had to stop looking in the past, and focus on the future that I was being granted.
Chapter Fourteen
Calla
IT HAD been a month since Beck and I got engaged, things were slowly getting into a comfortable routine. I found out the day after he proposed that he had asked my parents’ permission to ask me, so when we got home from break, they were up waiting to congratulate us.
Liza, of course, freaked out when she saw my ring, she immediately went out and bought every bridal magazine she could find. I think she was glad to have the distraction.
Finn had to move back home, there was some family emergency, and even though they were trying to make things work between them… the distance was straining them. I think she was relieved to have something to keep her busy, and since I’m not a very girly-girl I welcomed the help. I asked her to be a bridesmaid, and she agreed.
I still occasionally called Asher’s phone, hearing his familiar voice was comforting to me. I knew he was gone, but just hearing his voice helped me feel him with me. But I did stop leaving messages I knew he would never return.
Beck asked me to meet up with him tonight at Zombie’s so that he could help me study for a Chem test I had coming up.
I walked in about fifteen minutes early and found a table in the back corner of the shop. As I pulled out my books, and laptop, I noticed Sam walk in.
He spotted me right away, and I saw him excuse himself from the group he was with and walked towards me.
“Hey Calla, how are you doing?” He asked. Things had been slowly getting better with him, I think it helped that I went by and talked to his mom.
“Hey, Sam. Doing good. Just getting ready to study for a test I have in the morning,” I answered.
He stood up and gave me a hug, and when I stepped away he noticed my ring.
“Calla, what is that?” He asked.
With things still a little tense between Beck and him, I didn’t know how to tell him.
“I’m getting married,” I answered quickly, not beating around the bush about it.
He just stared at me as if I had grown another head.
I noticed that Beck arrived, and after a few seconds of looking for me, he saw me and started walking to the table.
When he reached us, he leaned over and gave me a kiss on the cheek before facing Sam.
I waited impatiently to see what Sam was going to do. As far as I knew, they hadn’t seen each other much since the fight they had at the beginning of the school year.
Beck stuck his hand out for Sam to shake, and after a few seconds, Sam grabbed it. Then, he pulled Beck into a hug. The awkwardness was there, but it was a step in the right direction. Asher would have been glad to see his brother making the effort to fix the relationship with Beck.
“I’m glad I ran into you, I've been meaning to apologize to you. I'd blamed you for Ash dying, and never gave you the chance to defend yourself,” Sam said to Beck. “Calla just told me the good news. Congratulations, things are starting to fall back in place aren’t they?”
“It’s all in the past, this is how Ash would want it to be, you know?” Beck replied.
“Hey Sam, why don’t you join us?” I offered. Sam nodded and pulled up a chair to the table.
“How’s baseball this year?” Beck asked Sam.
Sam sighed… he looked a little stressed.
“It’s okay; we need a better catcher though. Coach Ramsey has been asking about you. Do you think you would ever want to play again?” Sam asked Beck.
Sam was also a pitcher, just like Asher was. He was the one that taught Ash all of the different pitches. Then one day Ash became the teacher, he was a better pitcher than Sam. It never bothered Sam, he was proud of his little brother and supported him.
“I don’t know, man. Sometimes I think that maybe I’m ready to get back to playing. It just feels wrong playing without him. But maybe we could practice a little together.” Beck answered. I reached over and grabbed his hand, he held onto it tightly.
We were all trying to get used to Ash not being around anymore, and some days hit us harder than others. It was Beck’s day to struggle with it.
We made small talk for a little longer, and then Sam got up and met back up with his friends that he'd came here with.
Beck’s mood seemed to lighten up a little after he left.
He picked up a straw wrapper, and rolled it in a ball. He threw it at me, hitting me in the eye.
“Oww,” I said as I rubbed my eye.
“Ha-ha, I’m so sorry. I was trying to hit your cheek. Are you okay?” He asked me still laughing.
“I guess we know why you were the catcher and not the pitcher, huh?” I teased him.
His smile dropped for a second, but then came back even bigger than it had been.
“Very funny. Should we get to studying?” He asked me still laughing.
I laid my head down on the table, “Ugh, don’t even remind me please. I don’t even know why I'm taking Chem… it’s not like I’m going to use it ever.”
We studied for a couple of hours, and I got to a point where I thought I’d at least be able to pass. He was so cute, trying to explain things to me. He tried to dumb things down for me, but I could tell he was reaching a limit. We decided to call it a night and head back to campus and grab some dinner.
As we walked outside, Beck grabbed my hand to stop me.
"Hey, can we go talk for a second?" He asked me. I nodded and he led us to a park bench to sit on.
"Okay, I have a favor to ask you," he paused for a moment.
"Okay?" I asked him nervously. I had no clue what could be wrong.
We were finally doing well, and it seemed like we were starting to move past what happened and heal from Ash.
"I was wondering if you’d go with me to Minnesota.” He asked and I immediately let out the breath that I had been holding. “I want you to meet everyone up there.”
“Beck, I’d love to. But there’s no way I could afford a ticket right now,” I answered him. I felt disappointed about not being able to go. He was always talking about his time up there, and I knew it would mean a lot to him if I was able to be there with him.
“Well future wife, your future husband has a plan,” he replied. He had a funny smirk on his face, and I got a little scared.
“Oh goodness, every time you get that look I always end up in trouble,” I told him.
“What would you say to a road trip?” He asked me. “We can leave Friday, that would give us a few days to get ready for it. Then it’ll only take a day and a half to get there. We’d have to take some classes off, but I think it could work. We could ask our professors for our assignments for the time we’d miss.”
“Are you serious?”
He nodded his head. “Yeah, of course. You can meet my aunt and uncle and everyone else.” He had gotten over my poor attitude and only excitement was present on his face. I guess he liked the idea of me going and meeting everyone that seemed to play a huge role in his life.
“I’d love to go with you.”
We were interrupted by the sound of my phone ringing, I pulled it out of my purse and saw Parker’s name flashing on the screen. I answered it and turned it on speakerphone.
“Parker,” Beck answered before I could say hello.
“Oh hey Beck, Calla the
re?” He asked.
I smacked Beck on the arm. “I’m here, you’re on speakerphone.”
“So… what's new?" Parker asked.
I looked at Beck and he looked like he wanted to tell him our news, I shook my head at him to get him to not say anything. I wanted to tell Parker in person, and not over the phone.
"Nothing, you're the one calling. What's new with you," Beck answered dryly.
I smacked his arm again, and took the phone off speakerphone, and stood up and walked a few feet away from Beck. "Hey, it's just me now. We were just planning out a trip."
"Where are you guys going?” He asked sounding a little too interested.
“We’re going to drive up to Minnesota to visit with his family there,” I answered him.
“That sounds like so much fun,” he replied. “You know… my dad has like a million flyer miles, and I know he wouldn’t mind if we used them.”
"We? Parker, I don't think it would be a good idea if you came," I admitted to him.
"Come on, we're friends... Beck needs to get used to that, and besides I need to get out of the south," he replied.
"What did I tell you about robbing banks,” I joked. “Let me feel it out, no promises..." I looked over to Beck who was glaring at me. His eyes were slits, and his mouth was in a hard line… he was giving me one of those looks. That look that said I better not agree to whatever Parker was saying.
We said goodbye, and I sat back down next to Beck.
I looked over at him and gave him one of my sweetest smiles.
"Please tell me you're not actually going to ask me if he could come with us," he asked, looking irritated.
"Come on, he has his dad’s free miles. We could spend more time there, and not be stuck in a car most of the time driving. Plus, he's important to me, and I really need you guys to be friends," I replied.
I gave him my best pouty face, and laid my head down on his shoulder.
"Fine, but I'll pay for my ticket," he finally responded after a minute of considering it.
"Yay, thank you!" I gave him a big hug. “Give him a chance, for me?”
What's Left of Us (The Us Series Book 1) Page 16