Fighting Fate

by Hope, Amity

He quickly climbed the slope leading out of the ditch. Sarah grabbed her backpack, threw her door open and scrambled after him.

  “Thanks,” she said as she slumped down in the passenger seat.

  “No problem.” He glanced over at her and frowned. “I thought you said you weren’t hurt.”

  “I’m not.”

  He twisted the rearview mirror her direction and then ran his thumb across her cheek, right over the scrape from the tree branch. His touch made her shiver, probably because his fingers were so chilled.

  “Oh that. That’s nothing,” she said, grimacing at the sight of her own blood. Gross.dthlood. G She pulled off her gloves before she hastily dug through her backpack for her package of tissues. “Just a scrape from a branch.”

  He shrugged and then put the rearview mirror back into the proper position.

  “Where to?” he asked as he started the car.

  “I live on Maple Street,” she said. “Is that too far out of your way?”

  “It’s fine.” He pulled back onto the road and they rode in silence for several long, uncomfortable minutes.

  “What are you doing out here?” Sarah finally asked. “You don’t live down this way, do you?” Cassie had never mentioned it.

  “No. I was just dropping Darren off at a hunting shack. It’s…it’s that way,” he said vaguely as he motioned back the way he’d come.

  “What is he hunting this time of year?” Sarah asked with a frown.

  Cole raised his eyebrows at her but remained silent.

  Oh, right, Sarah thought. Hunting is probably the last thing they use the shack for. She fought back a shudder of unease as she tried not to think about the myriad of questionable activities that could be taking place there.

  Cole reached for a knob on the dashboard. “Are you warm enough? The heater in here sucks.”

  “I’m fine,” she said. “Thanks for stopping. I’m sorry about your clothes. I mean, I’m sorry you got drenched. Are you going somewhere important?” As if that was any of her business, she realized.

  “I’m heading in to work. It’s not a big deal. Sometimes Darren lives out of his car. I think there’s a change of clothes in the backseat somewhere,” he said.

  “Where do you work?” she asked.

  He flicked a glance her way. “Keeler’s Lumberyard. Actually, Darren was supposed to work tonight. They’re doing inventory after hours. I’m covering for him. That’s the only reason he lets me drive his car.”

  Sarah was quiet again after that. She didn’t want to seem nosy by asking too many questions. Yet making small talk with boys wasn’t exactly something she had a lot of experience with.

  “So what were you doing out this way?” Cole finally asked, breaking the silence.

  “My friend Cassie lives down the road. We stayed after school because we volunteer in the Tutoring Center. I had just dropped her off when the deer ran out,” Sarah explained.

  “The Tutoring Center, huh?” Cole asked with a smirk. “You one of those brainy girls?”

  Sarah blinked at him, unsure of how to answer. If she said yes, would that sound conceited? If she said no, would that imply that she thought of herself as stupid? Wait, by ‘brainy’ did he mean…nerdy?! If that’s what he meant, that was just plain mean.

  “Or maybe you aren’t,” he decided. “Not if it takes you that long to answer a simple question.”

  “I’m not a nerd.” Oh god…had she said that out loud? Please. No.

  When he burst out laughing, she knew she had. “Whatever you say, Sarah.”

  He was still chuckling as he glanced over at her. When his eyes slid over her body, the action took her by surprise. Suddenly she thought he was wrong. The heater in the car worked plenty well. Perhaps too well, even.

  “Right or left?” he asked.

  “Hmm?” Sarah wondered.

  “We’re at Maple Street. Do I turn right or left?” Cole slowly asked.

  “Left,” she muttered. She hadn’t been paying attention. She had been too flustered over the look he’d given her to think about anything else. She hadn’t realized that they were almost to her house.

  “Are you sure about that?” he asked.

  She glanced at him, not liking one bit how his eyes glittered with humor. He didn’t wait for an answer as he took a left. Obviously, he’d been teasing. She decided then that he’d probably gone from thinking she was brainy to thinking she was an imbecile.

  “It’s that one. The gray one,” Sarah said as she pointed. She was already taking off her seatbelt and preparing to launch herself out of the car. First the accident, then riding with Cole. She had never, in all of her life, been so relieved to get home.

  *****

  Her parents had taken the news of her accident far better than she had thought they would. Of course, they had repeatedly let her know how grateful they were that she was okay. That was followed by a lengthy sermon regarding the purpose of her cell phone. She endured the lecture without complaint because she knew they were right. From here on out, she would do a better job of keeping track of it. She didn’t want to find herself in a circumstance similar to yesterday’s. Not ever again.

  Having to accept a ride from Cole? That was a situation she never would’ve imagined herself in.

  Cole.

  After she had dashed into her house, she realized that she’d been too flustered to properly thank him. That was unfortunate because hunting him down at school was not an option. She figured he wouldn’t be too thrilled if she approached him.

  Not that she would.

  She had spotted him once that morning. He’d been in front of her, halfway down the hallway. Toy hallwa her surprise, a swatch of hot pink had flashed into view as other students darted around him. The splash of color was hanging out of his back pocket. She tried not to think about what that hot pink could be.

  She had other more important things to think about.

  Such as the regrettable paper that was in her hands.

  She was frowning as she stood in front of her locker, right before lunch. Her frustrated gaze swept over the assignment. She was mentally chastising herself over it when it was plucked from her grip.

  “A C-? You?” he asked, nearly choking on the laugh that accompanied his words. “Didn’t you say you were a tutor?”

  She looked offended when she said, “I tutor English. Not American History.” She glanced around to see if anyone had overheard Cole blurt out her embarrassing grade. She reached toward him, easily plucking the paper out of his hands this time.

  “Oh, touchy about that, huh?” he asked with a cocky grin. “Maybe the tutor needs a bit of tutoring.”

  “Why? Are you offering?”

  He shrugged. “Sure.”

  She rolled her eyes at him because she couldn’t think of a retort. She turned away so she could tackle her locker combination, and so she could hide her nervousness. Over her shoulder she said, “Did you need something?”

  She had no idea why he had approached her. She’d been unprepared and now her hands were trembling slightly.

  “No, but I thought you might.”

  She turned around to face him again. He pulled a pair of hot pink gloves out of his back pocket.

  She reached for them, realizing she had obviously dropped them during her hasty exit. “Thanks.”

  “You’re welcome.”

  And as long as he was standing there she said, “And thanks for the ride yesterday too.”

  “No problem. Were your parents pissed?”

  She glanced around, cringing. She didn’t want to get into trouble because he was using inappropriate language in the hallway. She scowled at him and he grinned.

  “No, they weren’t mad.”

  “That’s cool,” Cole said.

  She nodded, unable to think of anything to say. Until yesterday, she’d never really paid much attention to Cole. She knew who he was by sight, of course. But she hadn’t realized that his eyes were such a deep blue. Orlemeep blu that when he sm
iled, his eyes took on a sparkle. She really hadn’t realized that standing so close to him would cause an unprecedented fluttering in her stomach.

  Nor had she realized it would render her speechless.

  She continued to stand there, staring, feeling more mortified by the second. With great effort, she pulled her eyes off of him. She dared a glance around, wondering if anyone was watching as she made a complete fool of herself. She grimaced because people were milling about everywhere.

  “Well then, Miss Chatty, I’ll see you around,” he said. She simply nodded. He walked a few steps before he turned around. To her embarrassment, she was still staring after him. He didn’t seem to mind. “Hey,” he said, “I wasn’t joking about the tutoring. I bet there’s a whole lot I could teach a girl like you.”

  She felt her eyes widen and she didn’t have to look in a mirror to know that her cheeks had turned crimson. If she had any doubt, Cole’s laugh confirmed it. He was still chuckling when he turned around and walked away.

  When Sarah turned back to her locker, she realized Cassie had been standing right behind her. She had no idea how long her friend had been there.

  Cassie’s eyebrows were perched near her hairline. “What in the world was that about?” she demanded.

  Sarah shook her head as she glanced over her shoulder. Cole had disappeared into the crowd. “I have no idea.”

  Chapter Five

  “Mission accomplished,” Gretchen said with a little squeal into the phone.

  “I take it that means Cole showed up at Lucky’s,” Liz said.

  “He did. Like I’ve told you, its fate,” Gretchen sighed.

  “Just don’t let Sarah find out that you knew he would be there,” Liz warned. “I don’t think she would feel quite the way you do.”

  “First of all, I had no way of knowing he would be at the hardware store. As for yesterday, I didn’t know he would be there, either,” Gretchen reasoned. “Just because he and that Alex guy have been there the past two Tuesdays for happy hour didn’t mean that they would be there yesterday. I mean, they could’ve decided they were tired of hot wings. Or they could’ve given up drinking. Or one of them could’ve had a family emergency. I mean, a million little things could’ve stopped them from being there yesterday.

  “I’m telling you Liz, it’s meant to be. The same day I ran across that old picture of Sarah and Cole, I saw him at Lucky’s Tavern. It was a sign.” Gretchen was sitting outside of the bakery. She had a few minutes before her shift started.

  She couldn’t believe how things had worked out so far. She was sure it was more than simple luck that had caused them to run into Cole twice. It was serendipity. Her initial plan had been to get Sarah out as much as possible. She had hoped that eventually, the two of them would meet up again. Never in her wildest imaginings did she think that they would come face to face within the first few days of her sister’s arrival.

  True, she had a hunch he would be at the bar. A few weeks ago, her friend Naomi had invited her to come along for the Tuesday hot wing special. That was when she’d first seen Cole. And yes, maybe out of curiosity she’d been stopping by Lucky’s periodically, only to find that he seemed to prefer Tuesdays. But she hadn’t known for sure he would be there.

  After running into Cole yesterday, Sarah had insisted that she needed to get home to get back to work. Gretchen was sure that Sarah was simply in shock and needed a day or two to adjust to the fact that Cole had landed back in her life. So she’d taken her home and Sarah had insisted on starting her first project.

  Gretchen now knew that scraping off old wallpaper was a messy, tedious task. There was nothing enjoyable about it. Sarah had kept at it long after Gretchen thought they should be done for the day.

  She knew her sister well enough to know that Sarah had a reason for throwing herself into projects. It was so that she didn’t have to deal with reality.

  As far as Gretchen was concerned, Sarah had been doing far too much of that for far too long. She needed to stop avoiding her past. It was the only way she was going to be able to truly get on with her life. That was exactly what Gretchen intended to help her do.

  “I don’t know if it was a sign or just the fact that you live in a small town,” Liz said with a laugh.

  “It was a sign,” Gretchen stubbornly told her sister’s best friend. “She zerous. “Shoed right in on him the other day at the hardware store. She tried to act like it was no big deal but you should’ve seen the look on her face.”

  “She was happy to see him?” Liz asked skeptically.

  “Well…not exactly,” Gretchen admitted. “She was surprised. Just like she was surprised yesterday. They both were.”

  “Was he happy to see her?” Liz asked.

  “Of course he was,” Gretchen said.

  “I don’t mean to rain on this matchmaking parade of yours but are you sure this is a good idea? In all the years I’ve known Sarah, she’s never mentioned this Cole guy,” Liz pointed out.

  Gretchen wasn’t shocked by this. Liz and Sarah had been working at the same school in Crawford for the last three years. Liz was a few years older but they had quickly become friends.

  Gretchen could count on one hand the number of times she and Liz had met. However, the amount of time they spent chatting on the phone was endless. It had started when they decided to work together to throw Sarah her bridal shower nearly two years ago. They had met for the first time at the shower.

  It wasn’t too much later that tragedy struck and they were meeting again.

  This time, for the funeral.

  It was then that they vowed to keep in touch. So they had. As always, their mutual concern for Sarah was at the center of their conversations. It was Liz who let Gretchen know just how miserable Sarah was in Crawford. It was also Liz who, even though she knew she would miss her friend like crazy, suggested to Gretchen that Sarah needed a major change.

  After Liz had filled Gretchen in on the details of just how miserable Sarah’s life had been, she had fully agreed. Sarah always kept up a stoic front when she was around her sister. Not once had she mentioned the harassing she had endured after Aaron’s death. Just the thought of it made Gretchen livid.

  It was Liz who had carefully put the idea into Sarah’s head that she should move back to Laurel. Gretchen was completely on board with the idea. Cole Montgomery, however, had not been part of the initial plan.

  It was only when Sarah had asked Gretchen to look for some paperwork regarding the farmhouse that she had run across a box of keepsakes Sarah had kept under her bed. Sarah was a bit like her grandmother in that way. She didn’t like to get rid of anything. That particular box held photos of her and Cole. Gretchen had quickly flipped through them, feeling certain Sarah wouldn’t mind.

  If she hadn’t just looked at the photos of him, she never would’ve recognized him. In the photos with Sarah, his hair was unruly. He’d sported the messy but sexy look and he’d worn it well. Now, his hair was close cropped. Respectable. His cheekbones were a little more defd.all of him was more defined.

  Photo after photo showed Sarah looking at Cole with nothing but adoration.

  The only other person she had ever seen her sister look at that way was Aaron. But now Aaron was gone. Forever. And Sarah, Gretchen and Liz feared, was having a hard time letting go. Not that she thought Cole would replace Aaron. It was just that she was sure Cole still held his own place in her sister’s heart.

  It was Gretchen’s mission to make sure that someday soon, he would own her heart completely.

  No matter what had happened between them all those years ago, Gretchen knew one thing was certain. Her sister had been completely, wholly in love with Cole. When Gretchen spotted Cole the very same afternoon that she’d leafed through those photos, her mind had begun to spin a web of possibilities. After that, she’d started spotting him all over town.

  “By the time you and Sarah met, she was with Aaron,” Gretchen easily explained. “She had no reason to bring up Cole. He
disappeared from Laurel when he graduated. Then Sarah left the following year when she graduated. They haven’t seen each other for a long time.”

  Gretchen didn’t feel the need to bring up the way he had left. How he seemed to have simply vanished, leaving her sister broken-hearted.

  “”Remind me why you think this is a good idea,” Liz said with a sigh.

  “Because Cole was her first love. And you never forget your first love. And okay, maybe she wasn’t exactly excited to see him. But she did show some emotion. And we both know that’s got to count for something,” Gretchen pressed. For far too long now, Sarah seemed to be just…existing. Maybe seeing Cole hadn’t exactly brought a smile to her face but it had at least ignited some emotion.

  “Gretchen,” Liz said patiently, “you can’t make two people fall in love.”

  “I’m not going to make them do anything. I’m just going to remind them—”

  “Hold on,” Liz interrupted, “how do you even know this guy will be interested?”

  Gretchen tapped her fingers against the steering wheel. “Until yesterday, I really had no idea if he would be or not. I was just hoping for the best. But after they talked for a few minutes, he couldn’t keep his eyes off of her.”

  Liz sighed. “I don’t know about this.”

  “Liz,” Gretchen began, “she finally took off her ring.”

  Gretchen was met by a moment of silence. She knew that this, more than anything else she may hav0"> she mae said, would grab Liz’s attention. No need to tell her that she’d taken off the ring so that her rubber gloves would fit. That wasn’t important. What was important was that Sarah had not put the ring back on.

  “Okay,” Liz finally said. “I miss her like crazy already but I think she needs this change. She was miserable here. Aaron’s family—”

  “They’re horrible,” Gretchen finished for her. “Or at least Brynn is.”

  “You’ve never told Sarah that I told you about the things Brynn did, have you?”

  “No. You know how stubborn she is,” Gretchen said with a sigh. “She values her privacy and she hates that people worry about her. It’s clear that she didn’t want to worry me or our parents with it. But I’m glad you told me.”