When the Heart Falls

by Kimberly Lewis

  Should of kept my mouth shut, he thought to himself.

  Having her away from him, even just two feet away, left him with the overwhelming feeling of loneliness. If only she knew what it did to him when she curled up next to him. The whole right side of his body felt like it was on fire and tingled with electricity. If he had his way, she would have stayed there forever.

  He looked over to where Misty sat and wondered what was going through her mind. Surely she was traumatized by the evening’s events. What kind of a man treats a woman like that, anyway? He was thankful that the bartender was a good buddy of his and saw Vance manhandling Misty out of the bar. Dylan only wished he had got to him sooner, before he actually got her out into the parking lot. God knows what he would have done to her if he hadn’t shown up at all. Just thinking of the whole situation now left a bad taste in his mouth and his muscles tensing with rage.

  “Thank you,” she said quietly.

  He looked in her direction once more and saw the outline of her face staring out the windshield. Even though the night was black he could see a hint of her face from the dashboard lights. Her cheeks were tear stained and her face was expressionless. He longed to reach out and gently wipe her cheek, but held himself back.

  “You don’t have to thank me, Misty.”

  “I want to. If you hadn’t come to my rescue…well…I.” She stopped and took in a ragged breath.

  “Let’s not dwell on what could have happened. You’re safe and that’s all that matters. Ok?” he said, trying to shed some light on the dreadful situation.

  She nodded her head and leaned it against the passenger window. “I just can’t believe what a jerk he was. First he doesn’t want to dance or have fun at all. All he wanted to do was just sit there and drink. Then, he had nerve enough to haul me out of that bar like I was a misbehaving child or something. I’m so embarrassed and mad right now. And the bad part is I don’t know which one to be more of, embarrassed or mad.”

  “I think you have a right to be both,” he told her.

  “I just don’t understand how I let all this happen,” she said shaking her head, trying to make sense of everything.

  “What do you mean?” he asked curiously.

  “I mean, I feel like I let myself get carried away with him. I had just left Brad and then Vance shows up at my family’s ranch. I guess I was just being a silly girl with a crush. You know, he told me that the only reason he was spending all that time with me is because he was trying to get me to sleep with him.” She chuckled nervously. “I mean, really, I’m not going to give it up that easy. We had only been out on a few dates. I’m not some cheap one night stand.”

  “He really told you that?” Dylan asked in disbelief. What an arrogant jerk, he thought. If his blood wasn’t boiling with anger before it surely was now.

  “Yes, he really did. I couldn’t believe it. I swear, sometimes I think all you men do is think about sex!” she blurted out.

  “Whoa, whoa, whoa, not all men are alike, Misty,” Dylan quickly corrected her.

  “Oh really, well all the men on my track record are like that. Look at my soon to be ex-husband. He was getting it on the side God knows how many times and with how many women. And then Vance, that’s all he wanted me for. So in my book all men are pigs; except for my dad. It seems like he’s really the only man I can trust,” she explained.

  Dylan pulled the truck onto the dirt lane and headed towards Misty’s driveway. He sat there quietly for a few minutes taking in what she had just said. His voice took on a tranquil tone as he told her, “Not all men are pigs, Misty. I would hope you would think a little more of me than that. I would think that you would put me in the trust category as well.”

  “I do trust you, Dylan, and I’m sorry that it came out the way it did. I just meant that all men who I might potentially date are pigs. You’re my friend. Actually, I would consider you my best friend these days. So that automatically puts you in the circle of trust,” she quickly explained but instantly regretted saying it.

  She had just told Dylan that she never had any intentions of having any feelings for him other than those of friendship. A statement that wasn’t all together true. Deep down she knew that what she felt for him was more than friendship; no matter how hard she tried to tell herself it wasn’t. A part of her knew that she and Dylan belonged together, and the other part was too scared to take that leap. Twice in such a short amount of time she had been burned, and burned bad. She would need time to recover, to heal the wounds inflicted upon her heart by two careless men.

  Dylan parked his truck in the driveway and turned the ignition off. He sighed and turned to look at Misty. The look on his face made her want to cry. She could tell that her statement had taken a toll on him. She wanted to take the words back, but she knew she couldn’t.

  “Misty, you’ve been through a lot tonight. And I’m not trying to add to the stress, but I think you and I both know that I think of you more than just a friend,” Dylan almost whispered.

  She nodded, bowed her head and stared at her hands in her lap.

  “Hey,” he said and reached out with his right hand to gently lift her chin. “It’s ok. You don’t have to feel bad for just wanting to be friends. You’ve got a lot going on in your life right now without all of this nonsense. I’d rather be your friend than nothing at all,” he said and smiled.

  “Dylan…I. Oh why does this have to be so hard to explain?” she said, a little frustrated that she couldn’t find the right words to tell him exactly how she felt.

  “Whatever you need to say, Mis, just go ahead and say it,” he encouraged.

  “Dylan, I do care for you as a friend. But I know that there is a part of me that wants more than that. I would want nothing more than for you and me to be together. But I just don’t think that now is the right time.”

  Dylan looked down towards her hands and tenderly took hers in his. When he looked in her eyes again, she could see that his were filled with sadness but still looked hopeful at the same time. “And when do you think the right time will be?” he asked, his voice tender and sweet.

  “I don’t know,” she whispered. “It’s going to take some time before I’m ready to let myself fall in love again, Dylan.”

  He sat there in silence for a moment, gently swiping his thumb back and forth across the back of her hand. “Take as much time as you need. I’ve waited this long for just the opportunity to get close to you. I’m not going to give up that easily. When you’re ready again, know that I’ll be here waiting for you.”

  “What are you doing you idiot, kiss him!” a voice shouted in her head.

  She wanted to. She wanted to slide across the bench seat, wrap her arms around him and never let go. She wanted to feel the warmth of his body. Feel his lips pressed to hers. Feel his hands run through her hair. But she didn’t move. She sat there, her hand still in his, and smiled. It was the faintest action, but it spoke a thousand words. Dylan returned the smile, and tenderly pressed his lips against her hand.

  “Come on, I’ll walk you to your door,” he said and escorted Misty to the house.

  ***

  Misty tossed and turned all night long. Whenever she closed her eyes she kept seeing Vance’s raging eyes and feeling his tight grip on her wrists. But unlike the outcome of what actually happened in real life, her dream took on a different ending. Every move she made felt like it was in slow motion. When she opened her mouth to yell at him or to scream for help, nothing came out. She was defenseless in this horrible nightmare. She relived the events from the night over and over again until finally she decided to just get up and forget trying to sleep.

  She crept down the stairs to the kitchen and raided the pantry. She found a box of cookies and decided they would make a good middle of the night snack. With those in hand she went to the cabinet and grabbed a large glass for milk. When she had her milk poured she took that and her box of cookies to the den, tip toeing and trying to avoid the squeaky parts of the floor. She s
et her milk and cookies on the coffee table and felt around for the remote for the TV. The room lit up as the TV came to life. She quickly pressed the down button for the volume and hoped that she didn’t wake anyone up.

  Misty grabbed the afghan off the back of the sofa and adjusted the throw pillows to her comfort. She pulled the coffee table closer to her so her milk and cookies were within arm’s reach. She grabbed a cookie and proceeded to flip through the channels on the TV. Late night TV was awful. After flipping through the endless channels of infomercials, reality shows, and bad cop shows she decided to just put in a movie. She crept over to the bookcase that housed her parent’s collection of DVDs. After scanning through the ridiculous amount of John Wayne movies her father had, she finally came across a romantic comedy that was stuck in the mix. She popped it into the DVD player, returned to the sofa, covered herself with the afghan, and nestled her head against the throw pillows.

  About three quarters of the way through the movie she heard footsteps coming down the stairs. Jack stopped at the foot of the staircase and glanced into the den. He ran his hands over his eyes to wipe the sleep from them and then squinted in Misty’s direction.

  “Mis? What are you doing?” he asked groggily.

  “I couldn’t sleep. I didn’t wake you up did I?”

  “No you didn’t. I woke up and couldn’t fall back asleep so I decided to go ahead and get up,” he told her as he ran his hand over his scruffy jaw. “What are you watching?” he asked her and walked over to sit next to her on the sofa.

  “Steel Magnolias,” she told him.

  “Oh, that’s one of them girly movies your Mom likes isn’t it?” he replied with a groan.

  “Yup.” She chuckled.

  “So, you gonna tell me why you couldn’t sleep?” he asked as he tried to read her facial expression.

  “I just had a bad night, that’s all,” she replied and kept her eyes on the TV. She knew if she looked at him that she would break down and she was pretty tired of crying for one day.

  “That’s all? You want to tell me about it?” he pried.

  Misty sighed and pushed the pause button on the remote. She didn’t want to have this conversation with her father because quite frankly she was a little scared to. She wasn’t sure how her father would react when he found out how Vance had treated her at the bar. But it had to come out sooner or later. She took a deep breath, let it out, and began recounting the events to her father.

  When she got to the part about Vance grabbing her and shoving her out into the parking lot she watched as Jack’s face turned three different shades of red and the vein in his neck popped out from underneath his skin.

  “He did what?” he roared.

  “Shh! Take it easy, Dad, nothing happened after that. Dylan was there and took care of it,” she quickly explained.

  “Is Vance dead?” Jack asked as his jaw tightened and un-tightened.

  “Dad,” Misty said, dragging the word out into two syllables.

  “Well, if Dylan didn’t kill him than I sure as hell am,” Jack told her heatedly.

  “Dad, don’t be foolish. I made a bad decision, and now I’m done with him.”

  “I’m still mad, Mis. Nobody treats my daughter like that and gets away with it. I’m gonna have a little word with him when he shows up for work.”

  “What are you gonna say to him?” she asked nervously. She had seen Vance when he was angry and didn’t want him getting into it with her father the way he had with Dylan. Although Jack wasn’t as young as he pretended to be, Misty knew that if it came down to it he would be able to take care of himself in a fight. But still, she didn’t want it to come down to that.

  “I’m gonna tell him to keep his hands off you and to stay away from you from now on. And then I’m gonna fire his ass and tell him to keep off my property,” Jack said through clenched teeth.

  “Calm down, Dad. You’re going to give yourself a heart attack or something,” she said, wishing she hadn’t told him the story at all.

  “I’ll be fine once I get to say what I have to say to that piece of shit,” he took a deep breath and sighed. “I guess I’m gonna go make a pot of coffee. Your mother should be getting up soon. You planning on telling her what happened?”

  Misty shrugged and said, “Hadn’t planned on telling either one of you. My life’s been such a mess here lately and I didn’t want you guys worrying about one more thing.”

  Jack leaned over and wrapped an arm around her shoulder. He gave her a gentle hug and kissed her forehead. He pulled back and looked her in the eyes. “Don’t ever be scared to tell me or your mother anything, ever. We love you and we’re here for you no matter what.” He smiled and patted her shoulder, then stood up from the couch and walked toward the kitchen.

  She was just about to push the play button on the remote when Jack turned in her direction and asked, “Hey Mis, is Dylan still planning on coming over tomorrow to go horseback riding with you?”

  “I think so. Why do you ask?” she asked a little confused.

  “Good to know. Just wanted to personally thank him for what he did. He’s a good kid. Always polite, hard worker, and knows how to treat a lady. Now he’s the type of guy you should be with,” Jack said, pointing a finger in her direction and then turned to walk into the kitchen.

  She sat there for a moment and absorbed the words he said. And when she was sure he was out of ear shot, she took a deep breath and sighed. “I know.”

  CHAPTER 13

  “Vance!” Trent yelled as he stormed through the back door. “Vance, where the hell are you?”

  He bounded up the stairs, stomping his foot on each one as he climbed them. He quickly made his way down the hallway and stopped at Vance’s bedroom door.

  “Boy, are you in there?” he yelled as he turned the knob only to find it locked.

  Trent pounded on the door yelling for Vance to open it immediately. When Vance didn’t respond, Trent took a step back, lifted his foot, and kicked the door in. It swung back and forth on the hinges as Trent entered the room. A young blonde woman screamed at Trent’s forceful entry and quickly pulled the covers up around her naked body. Vance leaned over the side of the bed and grabbed his jeans from the floor.

  “You,” Trent said, pointing at the blonde. “Get out.”

  She quickly got out of the bed, keeping the sheet wrapped around her and collected her articles of clothing from the floor. She ran out of the room as Vance was pulling his jeans up over his hips, fastening them but leaving the belt undone.

  “What the hell was all that about, Pop?” Vance asked heatedly.

  “What happened at the Donovan ranch?” Trent asked as he took a step toward Vance. His face and neck were so red from being furious with Vance that it almost took on a shade of purple.

  “I got fired,” Vance stated frankly.

  “Why?” Trent asked through clenched teeth.

  “I think you know why,” Vance told him as he ran his hand through his hair and stretched.

  “Boy, I asked you why! Now tell me!”

  “Okay, okay. Things didn’t go as well with the daughter as I would have liked them to. I didn’t get my way, got mad and roughed her up a little bit. Her Daddy didn’t take to kindly to that so he fired me. No big deal,” Vance explained.

  “No big deal?” Trent mocked. “It’s a very big deal. I needed you and Hank both to take care of things around there and now I have to rely on Hank alone. This puts a big dent in my plans to take over you selfish son of a bitch!” Trent yelled and backhanded Vance’s face.

  Vance looked at his father with a shocked expression. His face turned to anger as he took a step toward Trent and shoved him backward. “You better watch how you treat me, old man!” Vance warned. “I’m way younger than you and in better shape. I have no problem with kicking your ass!”

  “You watch your tone, boy, or I’ll cut you out of my will so fast your head will spin,” Trent threatened. “Get dressed and get downstairs. Hank will be here in a
n hour and we’re going to come up with a new plan now that you’ve gone and messed up the first one.” Trent turned and walked out of the bedroom, slamming the door behind him. Vance let out an angry huff and slammed his fist down on the mattress. Nobody was going to get away with treating him like that; not even his own father.

  “Self-centered bastard has another thing coming,” Vance mumbled under his breath and stomped off to the shower to wash the smell of that blonde’s perfume from his skin.

  ***

  “Yes, can I speak to Mr. Bruce Cox please?” Misty said into the cordless phone as she paced the living room floor.

  “One moment please,” the lady’s voice on the other end said.

  Misty waited in silence and fiddled with a few of her mother’s knick knacks on a shelf as she waited for her lawyer to answer her call.

  “Bruce Cox speaking,” a gruff voice answered.

  “Mr. Cox, this is Misty Prescott. I’m returning your phone call from Friday.”

  “Ah yes, Mrs. Prescott. I was calling to let you know that I’ve completed your divorce papers,” he told her.

  “Oh, thank you very much sir.” A huge grin spread across her face. One step closer to being done with Brad for forever, she thought. “What’s the next step from here?” she asked.

  “Well, we’ll need to set up a court date where you and Mr. Prescott can come and sign the papers. Once you’ve done that the judge will declare your divorce final and then you two can be on your separate ways,” he explained.

  “I see,” she said. “And when do you think the court date will be?”

  “Well, seeing as you have a pretty cut and dry divorce I would say the soonest we could get the two of you in would be the first week of July,” he said.