Deception by Design

by Tara Wentz

  Bob and the crew were busy building another car for Kellen. She’d told them emphatically that she wanted to race again and was more than ready. It made Joshlyn nervous, but she wasn’t about to ask Kellen to stop doing something she loved. Plus, this was the first major accident Kellen had ever had and at that, it was a planned accident. Kellen needed to be doing the things she loved.

  Kellen had Joshlyn over one night for dinner specifically so they could each get rid of the things in their lives that they felt either held them back or were no longer needed.

  Kellen thought back to the night and how rewarding it felt.

  “You have everything you need?” Joshlyn asked.

  “Yep, let’s go out to the fire pit. It should be good and ready by now.”

  They went out the sliding door and waited for Chigger to follow them. They both sat in a chair and Chigger lay down between Kellen’s feet.

  Joshlyn wanted to go first so she opened the tattered brown box. She pulled all the old newspaper articles out and held them in her hand. “Are you sure you don’t want to read any of these?”

  “I’m positive, Josh. What you told me was more than enough. I don’t want all the gritty details. I’m just happy it’s all over for you.”

  “Good enough for me.” She tossed all the articles in the fire and watched them burn to ashes and disappear. The next thing she pulled from the box were some pictures. She’s already shown them to Kellen. There were a couple pictures of her mom, her sisters, and some of the people she thought were here friends. She tossed those into the fire as well. The only ones she kept were the ones of her friend, Lori, who stood by her. The final thing to go into the flames was the brown box itself. She was more than happy to see it go because for almost three years it alone was the most constant reminder of everything she’d lost.

  When Joshlyn was finished, Kellen took the stack of stuff she brought out and held it in one hand. She had a bunch of pictures of Jeff, Jeff and Anne, and a few of Jeff and Kellen. He represented a part of her life that she was choosing to let go. She tossed the pictures into the fire and then unfolded the articles about Peetie’s death. They too landed in the fire on top of the pictures. The last thing to go were several recent articles about the wreck at the track, the shooting of Jeff by an FBI agent, and articles about Billy and everything he confessed.

  Joshlyn and Kellen both sat stoically watching the fire consume the items until there was nothing left but ashes.

  “Hey, did you call your mom before we left?”

  Kellen opened her eyes and smiled. “Yep, I told her how long we’d be gone and that maybe when we got back she could come over for dinner one night.” Anne knew that Kellen needed to take things slow but was happy that Kellen at least wanted her in her life. Despite all that had happened, Kellen understood that it wasn’t really Anne’s fault that she wasn’t around. Life was too short to hold a grudge about something that couldn’t be helped. Bottom line is that she wanted her mother in her life and wanted to get to know her. “I meant to ask if you had decided to give Lori a call or not.”

  “I think I will, but after we get back. I know this will be hard on her and I really don’t want anything any more emotional than you and I right now.”

  “I completely understand,” Kellen said with a wink. “How much longer till we get there anyhow?”

  “We are almost there, you big baby!”

  Kellen laughed. “Hey, my butt is just getting numb.” She scratched at her left wrist and glanced at it again. The cast had finally come off and the skin still felt really dry. She was constantly rubbing lotion into it. The muscle hadn’t lost much tone, but it still looked a little punier than her right. Her stitches had also been removed awhile back and she had a nice little pink scar. The hair through her eyebrow hadn’t grown back and at this point, it probably wouldn’t, but that was ok. It made her look distinctive…at least that’s what Joshlyn told her. Thankfully, it wasn’t a large area that was missing, just a small line through the middle.

  Kellen sat up in her seat when Joshlyn turned off onto a gravel road. They drove quite a ways on the gravel road until they pulled into a wooded area. At the cross section in the road, Joshlyn made a left and pulled up to a cabin.

  “Hang on, I’ll be right back.”

  Joshlyn hopped out and Kellen looked all around. There were trees among trees and more trees. She could see a road that led further on down, but past that all you could see were more trees. “Where do you think we are, huh, Chigger?” Chigger whined, but his tail wagged back and forth, making his whole body shake. Kellen laughed and scratched him under the chin as Joshlyn came back out and got back into the SUV.

  “All right, we are down there, last cabin on the right.”

  “Uh, Josh, all I see down there are trees.”

  Joshlyn grinned. “Just wait, you’ll see.”

  They drove down through the trees and the further back they got Kellen could see cabins. All the cabins had trees enclosing them so you couldn’t see the cabin next to you. They pulled all the way to the end and turned into a drive. The drive went through the trees and down a little bit. Kellen could see a lake out behind the cabin and trees lining the lake all around.

  “C’mon, we’ll come back for the bags in a bit. I want to show you something before it gets much darker.”

  Kellen stepped out of the truck, opened the passenger door to let Chigger out, and walked to the front where Joshlyn took her hand. They walked down the cobbled stones and onto the front porch of the cabin. Once there, they followed the wrap-around porch to the back where a small deck with a grill and built in deck seating came into view. The best part, though, was the ramp that led from the deck down to a big dock that jetted out into the water and overlooked the lake.

  “This is absolutely gorgeous, Josh.”

  Joshlyn pulled her down the ramp and onto the dock. “Have a seat.” Joshlyn sat down with her legs hanging over the edge.

  Kellen sat down beside her and wrapped an arm over her shoulders. Joshlyn leaned into her shoulder and wrapped her arm around Kellen’s waist. Chigger plopped down behind them and sniffed the air before laying his head down and sighing.

  They sat there quietly while the sun set over the lake. The frogs were croaking and the crickets were chirping. The water looked like glass it was so still. A bird took flight from a tree and Kellen turned to look at Joshlyn. She leaned in and kissed her with more emotion than she’d ever felt in her entire life. Desire was one thing, but this…this was different.

  “Like a moth to a flame, like a song without a name, I’ve never been the same since I met you,” Kellen quoted softly.

  “Eric Clapton?”

  “Mmhmm…but it’s true. You turned my world upside down, Josh.”

  “And you turned my world right side up. I love you, Kellen.”

  “And I love you, honey.”

  About the Author

  Tara lives in Missouri with her partner of 16 years. She has been in the medical field for 25 years and enjoys it immensely. When not working or writing, Tara likes to spend her time reading, dabbling with photography, watching sports on TV (Go Royals!!!) or catching up with her favorite shows (Chicago Fire, Chicago PD and Stalker.) Her first novel, Traffic Stop, was a GCLS Debut Author finalist.

  Feel free to contact Tara any time via Facebook

  https://www.facebook.com/tara.wentz.54

  or email- twentz67@yahoo.com