by Morgan Utley
Chapter 6
Sunday morning, Peyton dug through the back of her closet and pulled out her church dresses. Part of her was regretting she had told her mom she wanted to go to church, but she knew that part of it was the nerves getting to her. Peyton and her parents were a little late for church, so, gratefully, they were able to sneak in and sit down while the meeting was going.
The meeting went fast, and she received many hugs from people she had known previously or had grown up with. A lot of people tried to ask questions about how she was doing and if she had any plans, but her mom would quickly interrupt and say things were good. People got the hint that questions weren’t welcome. Peyton appreciated the people who would talk to her and pretend as if nothing happened.
The two-block hours passed, and Peyton had never been so relieved in her life. She felt a lot better about going to church, but the number of tears she saw and the hugs she got just about put her over the edge.
“I’m proud of you, Peyton,” her mom said on the way home. “I can’t imagine that was easy for you to do, but I’m so impressed that you did it.”
“Thanks, Mom, but don’t be mad if I say I’m glad it's over. Not because of the church part because I really did miss it. But, I didn’t miss all the hugs with lingering perfume and smiles with tear-stained faces.”
“I don’t blame you.”
The rest of her day was quiet. Sundays were a time when she enjoyed reading a book and helping her mom cook dinner. Her brother and Gloria came back for Sunday dinner and kept the conversation going. Chris talked the most and was very animated the whole time. Peyton mostly sat and listened to Chris talk about their recent experience of trying a new Peruvian restaurant that resulted in them having food poisoning. Peyton had kept thinking about the next morning and was constantly looking at the clock. Every hour that passed, she knew Noah was going to be coming that much sooner.
When bedtime came around, her mother gave her a hug and said, “Get some sleep, if you can.”
Peyton knew she was teasing, but it still didn’t help. She knew she wasn’t going to get any sleep. She had been more worried about the next morning with Noah than she had been going to church. In her mind, she figured this was a good thing because she felt ready to go to church again, but she didn’t feel like she was ready to have a boy over at the house again.
As she predicted, Peyton didn’t get much sleep at all. All she did was toss and turn, and whenever she did sleep, she had nightmares about the next morning. One of her dreams had her showing up to go running in no pants. Another one was where Noah didn’t show up at all, and she was standing on the porch waiting for him to show up. The last dream had Derek show up to run with her instead, and he kept asking her, “Have you forgotten about me already?” or “I thought you loved me?” She woke up crying.
At that point, her mom came in to calm her down and let her know that everything was fine. She held Peyton for a minute to help settle her down, and once she stopped crying, she laid her back down and left the room. This was a common occurrence for Peyton when she would have bad nightmares like this. It happened more when the accident first occurred, and as time went on, the nightmares happened less and less. Regardless of how often she had them, her mom always came in to calm her down and let her know that everything was alright. There were nights when she would wake up and cry all night and wouldn’t sleep much at all. Despite this, her mom would still stay up with her and hold her to let her know that everything was okay.
Her mom was her superhero. Not a day went by that she didn’t quietly recognize how much her mom did for her. She was a hard-working woman, who always kept herself busy and had other people’s best interests at heart before her own. Her mom was always willing to help at church, she attended all of Peyton’s cross country meets, piano recitals, and her brother’s soccer games, and always made sure to make people meals when they needed it. Not only that, but she also liked to quilt in her spare time and give them to mothers who had babies or to elderly women in the winter.
Needless to say, in Peyton’s eyes, her mom truly was a superhero, and thinking about all this helped put Peyton back to sleep. Thankfully, she slept the rest of the night until her alarm went off at six o’clock without any more nightmares. She sat up in her bed and stared at the wall for a few minutes and then rolled out of bed. After using the bathroom and brushing her teeth, she walked downstairs and saw her dad sitting at the table reading his scriptures as he did every morning.
“Do you want some breakfast, Dad?” Peyton asked.
“Sure, don’t you have a date soon though?” her dad mentioned coyly.
“Not a date. We’re just going on a run. But I have time to do this, and it will keep me distracted till he comes,” Peyton clarified and started pulling out the eggs, milk and bread.
“Are you sure you want to eat, Sis? You don’t usually eat before a run. You don’t want to throw up in front of the poor guy,” her dad teased.
“I’m not going to eat yet. I just thought you might want breakfast. Plus, as I said, I’m trying to kill time,” Peyton reminded him and started cracking eggs into a bowl.
“You don’t have to make me breakfast. Don’t you have to get ready or something?” he asked.
“I’m going on a run. I’m not going to the prom, Dad,” Peyton pointed out and began whisking the eggs and milk together.
“Alright, alright. Sorry I said anything,” he said and returned to reading his scriptures.
Peyton finished making the French toast and gave it to her dad.
“Thanks, sweetheart, it looks great,” he said and started to eat his breakfast.
“Yeah, you’re welcome,” Peyton said and watched her mom walk into the kitchen.
“Peyton Eva, why are you down here? You should be getting ready!” her mom exclaimed, sounding frantic. “Your dad can take care of himself, so get upstairs and get dressed, put your hair in a cute ponytail, and cover up that nasty zit on your chin, please!”
“Mom,” Peyton said calmly in hopes it would calm her mom down, “it’s six-thirty, so I have plenty of time.”
“Honey, time goes faster than you think. Please, just go start getting ready. He could be here anytime between now and seven, and if you still look like that, well, I don’t want him to run away screaming,” her mom said sarcastically.
“You’re funny, Mom, but if it will really make you happy, then I will go,” She gave in to her mom’s pestering and started walking up the stairs to get ready.
“Thank you!” Her mom raised her hands in the air as if it were an answer to prayer.
Peyton did exactly what her mom asked. She put on the new outfit her mom had bought her the previous day, put her hair up in a cute ponytail, put a hat on to cover up the frizzy hair, and even covered up the zit on her chin. Secretly, she was grateful her mom had pointed out the zit because she hadn’t looked in the mirror all morning.
She knew her mom was excited for her and wanted everything to go as smoothly as possible. Unfortunately, she forgot that her daughter could be a total klutz and was bound to do something stupid.
Peyton walked down the stairs and saw that her mom was waiting by the staircase.
“See!” Her mom held up her phone to Peyton’s eye level, “It's six fifty-five, five minutes to spare. Imagine if I hadn’t come down the stairs, you might have still had your new friend on your chin, sticking out.”
“Heavens, Cheryl, take a breath. Do you need a minute to get ready too? You're all flustered,” her dad said in between his snickers.
“Don’t mock, not now,” she snapped back and walked to the front window to peer through the blinds. She let out an exasperated sigh and spun around to look at Peyton, “He’s not here yet, so maybe you should put on some mascara or something, honey.”
“Mom,” Peyton put her hands on her mom's shoulders and looked her in the eyes, “I’m fine. It’s going to be fine, and I look fine. For the love of Pete, I’m going on a run, and I have a hat to hide my
face. It’s all good!” she explained. Even though she was saying this to her mom, she didn’t feel fine. Her stomach was in knots, her heart was beating faster than she knew it should, and she was sweating from pure nerves. However, at this point, she wasn’t going to let her mom see any of this because she knew if her mom saw she was nervous, it would make her more nervous.
“Okay, okay. You're right. I’m good. I’m good.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath.
“You’d think she was the one going on the date,” Peyton’s dad mumbled behind her.
“Walter!” Before she could put her husband in his place, they heard a knock on the door.
“What time is it?” her mom whispered frantically.
Peyton pulled her phone out. “Seven,” she whispered back.
“Wow! Right on time! Good man!” She smiled and gave a thumbs up.
“That’s great, Mom. Why don’t you open the door?”
“Oh!” Her mom spun around and walked quickly toward the door and opened it.
In the doorway stood a tall man wearing knee-length black basketball shorts, a white shirt that accented his muscular physique, and an air of confidence that radiated off him. He didn’t seem nervous or worried at all to be at her house. To top it all off, the moment the door opened, he locked eyes with her and smiled at her in a way that made her forget to speak, let alone breathe.
“Hello, Noah! Welcome to our home. Would you like to come in?” It was moments like these when she couldn’t believe how her mom could be a complete basket case in one moment and then compose herself in the next. No one would have ever thought she had been about to unleash on her dad just seconds before. Her voice was even and calm, and her body language reflected it. She was amazing, and Peyton couldn’t help but quietly smile to herself.
“Yes, thank you,” he said in his deep, even voice. “You have a beautiful home and live on a great piece of property.”
“Why, thank you, Noah. That’s quite kind. We just completely redid the living room, and Walter works hard on the property every day, and it really shows.”
“I don’t know about that,” Peyton’s dad stood up and held his hand out to Noah. “Hi, I’m Walter, Peyton’s dad. Cheryl works just as hard. She keeps the house beautiful, and the garden is gorgeous. She truly has quite the green thumb.”
“I’ll have to check it out. Maybe Peyton will show me after our run or something,” Noah was looking directly at Peyton now. Her parents turned their heads in Peyton’s direction and awaited her reply to Noah’s suggestion.
“Um, yeah. Yeah, I could do that.” She looked down at her feet to avoid his gaze and waited for someone to say something to get the attention off her.
“Sounds great! Should we get running?” he asked with almost a hint of excitement in his voice that caused Peyton’s head to snap back up.
“Yeah, let’s hit the pavement!” She tried to sound enthusiastic, but in her mind, she thought she overplayed it. Nonetheless, Noah chuckled, along with her dad, and her mom gave her a look that she knew meant to tone it down.
“Awesome. I’ll see you later,” Peyton said as she hugged both her parents.
“Have fun!” her dad said.
“Remember to smile,” her mom whispered in her ear.
Peyton followed Noah out the door, and as she was shutting the door, she turned around and gave a sarcastic smile to her mom that caused her mom to roll her eyes and her dad to belly laugh. She quickly shut the door to hopefully avoid Noah asking a question.
“Alright, so how far do you want to go?” she asked, trying to sound as confident as possible.
“Whatever you want to do, I’ll just go where you go,” Noah said and smiled in a way that made Peyton’s heart skip a beat. He wanted to go where she wanted to.
“I was thinking maybe five miles? Is that okay?” she asked hesitantly. The last thing she wanted to do was make him uncomfortable and make him feel pressured to run farther than he was able to. Hopefully she aimed low enough.
“Yeah, that sounds just fine. So, where do you start?” Noah asked.
“I usually run down the driveway and back sometimes when I just want to get out and run without having to think of a route. But, my dad helped me make a trail that goes around the property, and if we run down the driveway and come back, the trail starts by the tree with the swing over there. Then it will follow along the edge of all the trees. Plus, this way, you’ll be able to see the entire farm.” She looked at Noah, and he was nodding his head, looking around.
“It’s very pretty here,” he stated. He didn’t seem very eager to start running, but then he looked at Peyton and said, “Should we go?”
“Yup.” There was a bit of hesitancy as to who would start running first, but then Noah held out his hand and motioned for her to lead the way. She started running, and he followed alongside with her with ease.
“I hope my little legs won’t slow you down. Your legs are much longer than mine. I’m sure the stride ratio is your one to my three.” She had been looking at his legs. In her mind, she was thinking he was about six feet tall. She also noticed that they were muscular and toned, and she became mesmerized by his muscles flexing with each step he took.
“Oh, so you're checking out my legs now, huh?” he teased. Crap, he had caught her checking him out. Of course, this made her turn about fifty shades of red, and she tried to turn her face away to hide it. Unfortunately, she heard him laugh, and she had reason to believe that he had seen her face turn the shade of a tomato.
“No, not necessarily.” She tried to retrace her steps and make it seem as if she wasn’t all goo-goo eyes.
He laughed and asked, “So, how long have you lived here?”
Bless his heart, he was letting it go. “My parents have lived here all my life.”
“Which would make you…”
“Twenty-four, and you?”
“I’m twenty-six,” Noah replied.
“Uh, cool.”
They were silent for a couple of minutes to catch their breath from talking and reached the end of the driveway. Once there, they turned around, and Noah picked up the conversation.
“So, do you work?”
“Um, here and there. My dad raises cows, pigs, and chickens for clients and will often butcher them, too, so I help him take care of the billing and the paperwork and run contracts back and forth to the attorney’s office. So basically, I do all the behind-the-scenes work.” She tried to wrap it up quickly because she felt like she had been babbling. However, when she looked up, Noah was staring at her as if he was mesmerized by her.
“Hey, that doesn’t sound too bad. At least you get to work from home, right?” Peyton was beginning to get the impression that this guy was a half-glass-full kind of person.
“Yeah, it is nice. I can stay at home and bill customers in my pajamas,” she paused as she swerved around a big rock alongside the driveway. “I definitely can’t complain.”
“I’d say. Granted, I wear scrubs most of the day, and sometimes I feel like I’m wearing pajamas, so I guess I can’t either.” He smiled his crooked smile, and she smiled back as if now they shared something special in common.
“Speaking of scrubs,” she began, “Are you excited to graduate?”
“You have no idea,” he laughed and shook his head. “It has been a crazy four years. And I’m ready to have that diploma in hand and begin practicing.”
“I can’t even imagine. Are you going to open up your own practice?” Peyton asked.
“I’m actually joining another practice in town. His name is Dr. Stocks, and he will be retiring in the next few years and will basically transfer his clients to me, which is especially nice.”
“I’ll say. I hear building up clients could be the hardest part. That’s really nice of him,” Peyton said, sounding impressed.
“Yeah, it usually doesn’t work out like that. I’ve been a patient of Dr. Stocks’s since I was a kid, and dentistry caught my interest. I always asked him quest
ions about what he was doing and why, what instruments were used for what, and I grew to love it. Eventually, I told Dr. Stocks I wanted to be a dentist, and he was fully on board from day one. He gave me a part-time job to clean the instruments and the rooms when I was in high school, and then I became one of the receptionists while I was doing my undergrad and once in a while if he needed help, I would come sub for his receptionists if someone couldn’t make it in. He’s kind of been my mentor through all of this. When he found out I got into dental school, he offered me the job once I graduated. During school, he came to me and told me that he was planning on retiring in about five years and that he wanted to give me the practice with all the clients and all the staff. I couldn’t believe it, but I think it will work out well because I know most, if not all of the patients, and all of the staff, so I think it will be a smooth transition.”
“Wow, that’s amazing, Noah. I’m happy for you. I’m sure that’s given you some peace of mind. And you know you’ll be able to pay off your student loans… someday.” She smiled, and Noah chuckled at the comment.
“You have no idea. I’ve looked at my loan amount only a couple of times and regretted it each time, so I stopped looking. I just decided it's going to be a ridiculously large number for a long time.” He laughed, and Peyton joined in. She couldn’t imagine being so far into debt. It gave her anxiety just thinking about it.
As they neared the tree swing, she slowed down and turned onto the grassy trail that her dad helped her mow frequently to keep the trail looking good.
“Hey, this is pretty nice,” Noah said, sounding impressed.
“Yeah, my daddy is amazing,” Peyton admitted and could feel herself becoming teary-eyed thinking of the conversation she had recently had with him.
“This property is beautiful, too,” he said as he looked around.
“I agree. I love coming out here to walk around, read a book, or run, of course.”
“I can see why. So, if I can’t find you, I can assume you're running around out here?” He looked at her, smiling his infamous crooked smile, and it got her heart beating faster than it should’ve been.