Waylaid

by Ruth J. Hartman

  “Are you sure?”

  “When she broke it off—”

  Her eyes opened wide.“She broke up with you? What’s wrong with her?”

  Her question warmed my heart. “Yeah she broke it off. At first I was hurt. Then mad. I thought I would miss her, especially after all the time we dated, but then…”

  “Then what?”

  “Then I met you. And everything changed.”

  “In a good way, I hope.”

  “It’s all good with you, Addy.”

  She bit her lower lip. “Thanks.”

  I tapped her chin with my finger. “So what about you?”

  “What about me?”

  “How many boyfriends?”

  She glanced away, suddenly very interested in a leaf floating by on the water’s surface.

  “Addy? You started this question and answer thing.”

  “Okay. But don’t get mad.”

  I widened my eyes. “Good grief How many are we talking? Is there like a fleet of them?” Maybe I shouldn’t have asked, after all.

  She smacked me. “No. Not a fleet. Let’s just say I… well I—”

  “How many, Addy?” Jealousy stirred in my gut, ready to spring into action.

  “You never gave me a number, Graham.”

  “All right. You want to know? There was Darlene, of course. And Carol, for about a month. Tina for a couple of dates and… let’s see, Melody for a few weeks.”

  “That’s it?”

  I blinked. “Isn’t that enough?”

  “As far as I’m concerned, any other girl who has kissed your lips besides me is one too many.”

  “So, now that I’ve told you how many, I’m waiting…” I tickled her.

  “Hey!” She laughed.

  “I’m going to tickle you until you tell me.” I wanted to know, but then, I didn’t want to know…

  “Gah! Fine… Jud, Josh, Brad, Jeremy, Matt, Mike and Terry.”

  I opened my mouth to say something, closed it again and finally said, “That sounds like a lot.”

  She shrugged. “I didn’t date any one of them longer than a couple of months.”

  “Not that I’m complaining about that, but why?” I tried very hard not to picture Addy with any of those other guys. It wasn’t working very well.

  “None of them seemed right. I mean, we didn’t mesh well. We’d date for a while, I’d think they were cute, nice, whatever, but after several dates I would get bored. They were all so immature. So, since I knew the relationship wasn’t going anywhere, I broke it off. Does that make me sound mean?”

  I tilted my head. Having had it not work out with Darlene after such a long time had left me feeling like I had wasted those two years on her. “I don’t think so. How much worse would it be to date someone for a long time when you knew it wasn’t right?”

  “That’s how I see it. Kendra on the other hand thinks I’m awful.”

  I leaned my forehead against hers. “Do we really care what Kendra thinks?”

  She chuckled. “I love her, but no. Not about that.”

  “Good. All right, now that we have all that talking out of the way, how about more kissing?”

  Addy lowered her gaze to my lips and gave a slow, seductive smile. “Works for me.”

  Chapter Thirteen

  Addy

  When I was with Graham, he was all I could think about. His laugh, the way I felt safe when he held me. And his kisses. Those, hot, body-melting kisses that left me wilted in his arms.

  When I was alone, though, thoughts of college intruded. Living away from my parents. Classes. New friends. Learning new things. That itch to go to school still hadn’t left me. Being a vet was something I’d always had my heart set on. But now that I’d met Graham, had my heart’s desire changed?

  I felt like I was two different people. One wanted to run away to something different. And the other only wanted to stay with Graham and never leave. But I couldn’t have both. There was no way.

  “Ready to go, Addy?” My mom stood by the door, purse in hand. Today we were going to buy some things for my dorm room at college.

  “Yep.” I put on my sandals and grabbed my purse, too. “Where should we start?”

  She walked out onto the porch and waited while I closed the front door. “How about Housegoods, Unlimited? I’ve heard positive things about their bedroom lines.”

  “Sounds good.”

  When we reached the car, I automatically went to the passenger side. I knew my mom would rather drive than not. It felt weird, though, since I drove myself everywhere now. Well, except when I went somewhere with Graham.

  We’d driven about a mile when I was startled out of my thoughts by her voice.

  “Addy, I’ve been meaning to talk to you about something.”

  Uh-oh. That was never good. “Like what?”

  Mom glanced at me and then back to the road. “Graham.”

  I slid down further in my seat. I so did not want to have a conversation about a guy I was seeing. It wasn’t like I was fifteen or anything. I was an adult. Ready to leave for college. But since I was trapped in the car with my mother, the talk would take place, there wasn’t much I could do about it. “Okay…”

  “First of all, I want you to know that your dad and I really like him, even though we didn’t get to talk to him for very long.”

  I let out a breath. “That’s good.”

  “He seems mature and sweet. It’s obvious he cares about you.”

  I gazed out the window as we passed two small children trying to give a very large dog a bath on their driveway. “He does.”

  “Have you thought about what it’s going to be like?”

  It? My face heated. What was she asking? Surely she wasn’t asking about… sex? No, anything but that. “Uh… not sure what you mean.”

  “When you go away to college, where does that leave Graham?”

  I let out a huge sigh, thankful that at least for the moment we were discussing something safe. I shrugged.

  “I’m sure you’ll miss him, right?”

  I looked at her. “Yes.”

  “It’s not going to be easy, Addy. You’ll be meeting lots of new people at school. Lots of new boys.”

  I ran my fingers along the seatbelt across my waist. “I know.”

  “You’re a very pretty girl, honey. I’m just warning you to not get too involved with Graham if you think there’s a chance you would…”

  “Would what?”

  “It would be very easy to be up there at school, away from here. Away from Graham, and… meet someone else. Forget about him.”

  No! I knew that wouldn’t happen. I’d never met anyone like him. When I was with him, we connected. Completed each other. Something about him drew me in, made me never want to leave. “Mom, I really… care about Graham. There’s not going to be anyone I’ll meet who will take his place.”

  “So, it’s serious between you two?”

  I nodded. “It’s heading that way.”

  She held up her hand. “I’m not going to ask anything personal, since you are eighteen and you’ll be leaving home in a matter of weeks. From here on out, you’ll be making all of your own decisions when you’re living up there. We’re trusting you to make smart choices.”

  I swallowed and gave a nod.

  “But just be careful.”

  Did she mean, if Graham and I… “Um…”

  “Yes, be careful if things get… physical. Since we had the talk several years ago, no need to go into that.”

  “Yeah, the talk was brutal.”

  She rolled her eyes, “For me, too. But what I really meant was, you need to guard your heart. If you get in too deep emotionally and then discover when you get to college that he wasn’t what you thought he was, it will be very painful for you.”

  “Mom, there’s no doubt in my mind. I…” My mouth went dry. Was I really having this conversation with my mother? “I knew almost from the first day I met him that… that he was different
. When we’re together, I feel… I’m not sure how to explain it… like I’m whole.”

  My mom pulled the car into the shopping center parking lot and shut off the engine. When she looked at me, there was moisture in her eyes. “I understand.”

  “You do?”

  “Of course.” She reached over and tugged on a lock of my hair. “It’s how I felt about your dad the first time I met him.”

  “Really? My goofy dad?”

  “Yes, your silly, goofy dad. He’s my other half. I can’t imagine my life without him. Is that how Graham makes you feel?”

  My other half… “Yeah. That’s it exactly.”

  My mom leaned over and hugged me. “Congratulations, Addy. You are officially in love.”

  I hugged her tight before leaning back against my seat. “I am.” I hadn’t said the words and neither had Graham, but it was there between us just waiting to be given a voice.

  “So with all of that, my main concern is how being at school, away from him is going to affect you. And believe it or not, it will be worse for him.”

  “Why do you say that?”

  “Because you will be in a new place, meeting interesting people, pursuing your dreams of being a vet, but Graham will stay here. He’ll be doing all the same things he does every day, but you won’t be here. He won’t have anything new and exciting to focus on. You’re both going to feel like there’s a void in your lives, but I’m afraid he’s going to feel it worse. Do you understand what I mean?”

  “I think so. Does it make it wrong for me to still want to go to college? To study to be a vet?”

  She rubbed my hand. “Oh no, of course not. You’ve wanted this ever since you were a tiny girl dragging home every stray cat in town.”

  I giggled. “That’s true.”

  “You need to do what’s right for you, honey. If you didn’t go to college, I’m afraid you might regret it later.”

  “I really, really want to go. I can’t wait. Except…”

  “Your heart wants you to stay here. With Graham.”

  “Yeah. So what do I do?”

  “You go to college, study hard and make new friends, but do everything you can to stay in close touch with Graham. Don’t let him feel like you’re forgetting him. When I was away from your dad at college, we didn’t even have cell phones. At least you can call, text, and email, right?”

  I rolled my eyes. “Good grief mom, you must have lived in the Stone Age.”

  She chuckled. “You may be right. With all you kids have now, sometimes it seems that way.” She pointed toward the store. “Now, how about we go find some really cute stuff for your dorm room?”

  “Let’s do it.”

  We got out of the car and walked to the store entrance. The sun was warm on my face and shoulders, and a slight breeze brushed my hair across my face, as if even the weather knew I was getting ready to start something new and exciting.

  As soon as we walked into the bedroom section, I nearly swooned. I found a comforter, pillow cases, and sheets all in pretty shades of pink. A lavender lamp would be cute beside my bed. A throw-rug, one I could envision sitting next to my bed, was a lush shade of deep purple. I only hoped my new roommate liked my color choices. If she was into orange and bright yellow, our room would look psychedelic.

  “Oh Addy,” called my mom from several aisles away. “You have to see this!”

  I hurried over to her, pushing my shopping cart that was already half-full. “What did you find?”

  “Look at this.” It was a desk set with a pencil holder, mouse pad, and carrying case for a laptop. They were all in shades of purple.

  “Oh, there are cute kittens on the mouse pad!” I pointed. “It’s perfect.”

  “Don’t you mean puurrfect?”

  I elbowed her. “Ha ha.”

  “It really is cute.”

  “Will the case fit my new laptop? Thanks again for my graduation present, by the way.”

  “You’re welcome.” Mom lifted up the case and flipped it over. “Yes, see here? Yours is listed as one that it would work for.”

  “Awesome.”

  “Should I put the set in the cart?”

  “I love it, but I don’t want you to spend too much money, Mom. I know the laptop wasn’t cheap.”

  She wrapped her arm around my shoulders. “Honey, you only go away to college for the first time once. I want make sure you have everything you need, okay?”

  “Yep. Thanks.” I hugged her and then sighed when she reached down to place the set next to my other items in the cart. “Do you think that’s everything?”

  She shook her head. “Not even close.”

  “Mom!”

  “It’s fine, really.

  “Oh, Anthony said he has an old microwave and small dorm fridge I can have from when he was in college.”

  “Perfect. We’ll get those from your brother the day we take you up to Purdue. Are you getting excited?”

  “I really am. I just wish…” My heart actually ached whenever I thought about leaving Graham. Why couldn’t I have it both ways?

  Mom rubbed my shoulder. “I know. It will work out, but it will take some effort on your part.”

  “Thanks, Mom.”

  The muffled ring of my phone from inside my purse interrupted the moment. By the time I had found the phone which had, of course, snaked its way to the bottom, it had rung three times. “Hello?”

  “Addy? It’s Amber.”

  “Oh, hi! So nice to finally hear your voice. Oh, hold on a minute.” I placed my hand over the phone. “Mom, it’s my new roommate, Amber. Do you mind if—”

  “Go ahead. I’ll just be browsing over there for a while.”

  I watched her walk away and shook my head. Who knew we could have such a great, meaningful talk about Graham? “Okay, Amber, I’m back.”

  “I can’t wait to meet you, Addy.”

  “Same here.”

  “I’m nervous, though. Are you?”

  “Yeah, a little.”

  “Thanks for emailing me your cell phone number. I thought it might be nice to talk a little before the big day.”

  “No problem. By the way, I’m out buying stuff for our room. I’m really hoping you don’t hate pink and purple.”

  “They’re my favorite colors!”

  “We’re gonna get along great.” I giggled.

  Amber sighed into the phone. “I’m looking forward to college and everything, but I’m really bummed about leaving my boyfriend, Harmon. That’s the only bad thing.”

  “Oh Amber, do you and I ever have a lot to talk about.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  Graham

  When I picked Addy up at her house for the softball picnic, she seemed a little down. I waited until we got into my truck to ask. If whatever was bothering her was really deep, I didn’t want to have the conversation at her house, so I waited until we were pulling away before I reached for her hand. “You okay?”

  “I went shopping with my mom yesterday.”

  “Was it that bad?”

  A slight smile crossed her lips. “We were shopping for stuff for my dorm room.”

  Ah. College. “So… you didn’t like that?”

  “That’s just it, Graham. I had a blast. And I got to talk to my new roommate, Amber, on the phone, too.”

  Time to make a joke about it. “So you went shopping, had a blast, and talked to your roommate. Not seeing anything bad about it, but maybe that’s ’cause I’m a guy and we’re dense.”

  “Yes, I mean no. You’re not dense.”

  It warmed my heart when she laughed. “So, wanna tell me what went wrong?”

  “Nothing went wrong. But shopping for all of that made me think of going away, which made me think of leaving you.”

  “Oh.” I think of that every moment of every day.

  “Yeah. It hurts my heart.”

  I squeezed her hand. I figured if I tried to say anything, I might do something embarrassing like get choked up or worse,
cry. But since big manly men don’t do that, I kept quiet until the feeling passed.

  She squeezed my hand back. “When we were driving to the mall, my mom mentioned you.”

  “Me? She did?”

  “Yep.”

  “What did… what did she say?” Please let it have been good. Addy and I have enough against us right now with her leaving.

  “She said she and my dad really liked meeting you. That you acted mature and that you care… about me.”

  “I think I like your parents more all the time.”

  Addy took my hand in both of hers and rubbed her thumb across my palm. A sudden flash of desire sparked through me. How did that happen with a simple touch to a hand?

  I pulled my hand from hers and instead put my arm around her shoulders. “Honey, you keep touching me like that and we won’t even make it to the picnic.”

  She widened her eyes. “Oh. Sorry.” Then she grinned. “Well, not sorry exactly…”

  “What am I going to do with you, hmm?” I pulled her tight against me. I knew what I wanted to do right then.

  “Don’t know. But if you’re thinking of pitching me out the window give me a little notice so I can brace myself.”

  “Addy, there is no way on this earth that I’m pitching you anywhere. Ever. Got it?”

  She turned and her large brown eyes filled with moisture. “Yeah. Same here.”

  “Oh, come on, with my size you couldn’t toss me anywhere anyway.”

  She chuckled. “Well there is that.”

  We drove across town to the softball diamonds. A bunch of picnic tables were set off to the side. Most of my teammates were already there with their wives or girlfriends. I helped Addy down from the truck, trying to ignore the whistles from my teammates. “Sorry about that.”

  Addy shrugged. “It’s okay.”

  I took her hand and we walked across the small grassy field.

  “Hey, glad you could make it.” My coach, Lennie, slapped me on the back. “Hi, Addy.”

  She smiled. “Hi.”

  “So.” Lennie clapped his hands one time. “I think everyone is here now who said they were coming. Ready to eat?”

  The guys all cheered and hopped up from the benches where they sat with their spouses. The only thing was, they didn’t wait for their girls to join them, just hurried to the food table like pigs to the trough. Honestly, didn’t they care how that would make their wives feel?