Country (18 page)

“I'm kind of in the same boat,” Michael admitted. “You knocked my socks off when I met you, Sandy. And I didn't know what to do. I asked my mom for your number, and when Amanda told me she was going to Houston, I invited you for the weekend. If anything happens between us, I don't know what I'm going to do. And I need to talk to Amanda anyway. Something about that just isn't right for me.” And it was very different being with Sandy. She was younger than Amanda, and her expectations of him were entirely different from Amanda's, who wanted so much more. Sandy was easier for him, more lighthearted and more fun.

“Yeah, like me and Bobby Joe.” They looked at each other and grinned. “Maybe we should relax and have fun. We don't have to decide anything right now. Chase told me about something called ‘Carpe diem,' enjoy the day. Why don't we just have fun together and see what happens?” she said sensibly. It sounded right to both of them. He took her hand then, and they continued walking back to her hotel. They both felt better after their conversation. They had been honest with each other, although they hadn't been with the people they were dating, and felt awkward about it. He took her to her hotel then, and he went home. And when he picked her up for dinner, she blew him away again. She was wearing a short, tight, sexy red dress with her long blond hair, great figure, and high heels. She looked even better than she did on stage. She was spectacular.

“Holy shit, Sandy! You look incredible!” She smiled when he said it. It was a vast improvement over Bobby Joe's constant criticism and put-downs. They talked incessantly at dinner, and they danced afterward until three a.m. When he took her back to the hotel, Sandy said she'd never had so much fun in her life, and he felt the same way. He kissed her chastely on the cheek, and promised to call her in the morning for breakfast the next day before they left for the airport. He never took her to his apartment, or went to her room at the hotel, and she didn't ask. They had a totally wholesome, nonstressful weekend, talking and laughing, and teasing each other. It had exceeded their expectations, which created a whole new problem for them. They were both in committed relationships that weren't working, and they had to deal with them now, if they wanted to date each other. They were honorable people and didn't want to lie.

When he said goodbye to her at the airport, he looked down at her with a gentle smile.

“Thank you for coming to Atlanta, Sandy.” It had been brave of her.

“Thank you for being so nice to me.” She was wearing a pink cotton dress and flat shoes. She looked like Alice in Wonderland with her long blond hair.

“You're easy to be nice to.”

“Will you come to Nashville sometime?” she asked, as they waited for her plane. An announcement said it was starting to board, and she was sad to leave. They didn't know when they would see each other again or what would happen now.

“I will. I'll call you tonight.” And then he remembered that Amanda would be home, probably at his apartment, and it reminded him of the difficult situation he was in. He had just spent a fantastic weekend with Sandy, he liked her even more than he had hoped, and now he had to deal with Amanda if he wanted to pursue this as more than just a friend.

“Thank you for everything,” she said as she stood on tiptoe to kiss his cheek, and before he could stop himself, he had put his arms around her and kissed her on the lips. It was a long sensual kiss, and she looked startled when they stopped. “I thought we weren't going to do that,” she said softly.

“Yeah, so did I. Look, I'll come to Nashville in a couple of weeks. We've got some away games. I can come to Nashville then.” But for a minute, she felt like she was dating a married man, and she didn't like how it made her feel. He could see it in her eyes. For now at least, he was in a relationship with someone else.

“Maybe you shouldn't come to Nashville until we both work things out,” she said, and he nodded, and realized that she was right. She was young, but no fool, and she didn't want to get hurt. He didn't blame her—neither did he.

She had to go through security then, and she waved as she went through. He watched until he couldn't see the blond hair and pink dress anymore, and then he went back to his apartment and thought about her for the rest of the afternoon. He didn't know what to do about Amanda, or when. And Sandy was thinking of him as she flew home.

Michael and Sandy weren't the only ones to make confessions over the weekend. Chase didn't want to compromise the openness and honesty that he and Stephanie shared. She started her drive west the same day Sandy flew to Atlanta, and Chase called Stephanie on her cell phone in the car. She answered on speaker, and she was excited about the trip.

“How's it going?” Chase asked her. She had the radio on and a bag full of snacks and bottled water on the seat next to her.

“It's fine so far.” She smiled.

“I just want to tell you something that's probably none of my business, but I want to keep the communication clean between us. I think that's important so we know we can trust each other.”

“It sounds serious,” she said, listening to what he said as she dealt with the traffic leaving New York.

“It probably isn't, but it could be in time, depending how things work out,” he said, sounding relaxed, and he cut to the chase. “I discovered the other day that Sandy is going to Atlanta for the weekend.”

“She is?” Stephanie sounded surprised. “You should tell her to call…” she started to say, and then stopped, and understood. “Is she going to see Michael?” She hadn't expected that, and neither had he.

“Yes, she is,” he said simply.

“What did he do with Amanda?”

“I think she's away for the weekend.”

“Wow, I don't think Michael has ever done that before. He's usually such a straight shooter. He must be crazy about Sandy, to take a risk like that. I hope nobody tells Amanda,” Stephanie said. They both knew that she didn't like her, so she couldn't pretend to be sad about it. “Well, that certainly is an interesting turn of events. I wonder what he's going to do about it.”

“She's in the same boat with Bobby Joe. And he'll have a fit if he finds out,” Chase said.

“They're younger, and it's not as serious as Michael's situation with Amanda. I guess they'll just have to work it out,” Stephanie replied.

“Yes, they will. And all we can do is watch from the sidelines, and see how it shakes out.” She was as intrigued as he was now. “I just wanted to be sure you knew, so you won't feel I'm holding out on you, or hiding something.” But she didn't think that anyway, and she was grateful he had told her. It only enhanced their trust of each other.

“Thanks for telling me,” she said gratefully, and he was relieved. They both wondered how it was going to turn out. It was another one of the mysteries of life.

On her trip home, Stephanie covered seven hundred miles across four states on the first day. She drove for eleven hours, stopped for gas twice, and bought sandwiches at truck stops and didn't stop for meals. She wanted to get off to a good start. And Chase called her all along the way. He wanted to know how she was, and warned her to pull over if she got tired, and take a nap. She could hardly move she was so stiff when she got out of the car at a clean-looking motel just off the highway in South Bend, Indiana. As he had asked her to do, she called and told Chase where she was. None of her children had said that. Michael didn't think about it, and Louise was busy with the auction, texted her thanks for dinner that morning, and didn't think of her mother again all day.

“Put the chain on the door,” Chase told her, but she already had. He didn't like the idea of her staying in motels along the way, but it had been easier than looking for a decent hotel, which would probably have been worse. And she felt safe. She had noticed that there were two old ladies in the room next door, and a family with their kids in sleeping bags on the floor in the same room as their parents. She had no sense of danger when she got into bed, and Chase was satisfied. He worried about her, and had called her many times that day, even when he was busy, to check on her and give her a quick kiss. She was very touched. Bill had never been as attentive as that, even in the beginning, and in recent years not at all. He assumed she could take care of herself, and everyone else, and he wasn't wrong. But she loved the way Chase treated her, as though she were precious to him, and important in his life. She hadn't felt that from a man in years.

She fell asleep almost instantly after they hung up. And she awoke just after dawn the next morning. She showered and got back on the road and stopped at a McDonald's for breakfast. She drove through Illinois and Iowa that day and stopped at one point to walk around at a truck stop and stretch her legs. She didn't try to get as far as she had the day before and only drove for nine hours and stopped at a motel in Omaha, Nebraska, that night. The days were beginning to blur, and the only contact she had with the world was with Chase. She loved it when he called. And it gave her a thrill when she heard him on the radio when she put a country music station on. She sang along with him and could hear Sandy in the background. She missed her too, and wondered how she was.

She pushed harder again on the third day, and had a scary incident that night, when she drove on for a while after taking a nap. She stopped at a diner instead of a truck stop, and when she left, three men followed her outside. She could sense them behind her, but wasn't paying attention, until one of them grabbed her arm and yanked her toward him. He literally lifted her feet off the ground while the other two laughed, and there was no one else outside to help her. All three of them were young and looked tough and were driving eighteen-wheelers.

“Come on, baby, come see my cab,” the one who had pulled her said to her, and for an instant she was terrified, then realized that she was the only one she could depend on, and if she didn't defend herself, she was about to be raped, or worse, by all three as they formed a circle around her with an evil look in their eyes.

There were plenty of people in the diner, mostly other truckers, but no one outside. She hesitated for a long moment as she looked her main attacker in the eye, and then took a powerful swing at his nose. Blood gushed from it instantly as he screamed and clutched it with both hands, and she was sure she had broken it, just as one of the two others grabbed her long hair and pulled hard as he dragged her toward him, and with ingenuity and guts she didn't know she had, she elbowed him hard in the throat at the level of his Adam's apple, and he made a gurgling choking sound and let her go. She had frightened them by then, and the remaining uninjured one shouted at her, as he helped his friend with the broken nose. “What are you, a fucking cop?” She had used two maneuvers that she had learned at a self-defense class in college and had long since forgotten, but they came back to her at the right time. All three men jumped into their trucks and started the engines, and a moment later they drove off as two other men came out of the diner, and saw her sitting on the pavement shaking from head to foot, while she wondered if she'd have to do it again. But they were older men with big paunches, and one stooped down to help her. She felt like she was going to throw up and realized she was covered with blood from the guy with the broken nose. It was all over her jeans and white T-shirt and even on her shoes. He had bled a lot.

“Did you fall?” the man asked her. “Do you need a doctor?” All she could do was shake her head, feeling dizzy. She couldn't talk for a minute.

“I'm okay,” she managed to croak out, looking deathly pale. “Those guys came after me and grabbed me.” She indicated the three big trucks lumbering back onto the highway, and the two truckers shook their heads.

“You shouldn't be driving alone at night.” She nodded agreement and went back into the diner with their help to get a glass of water, and one of the waitresses helped her clean up in the bathroom while she told her what had happened.

“You could have been raped,” she said solemnly, and Stephanie had been certain she would have been, and they were powerfully built guys. She had taken them by surprise, and herself. She thanked the waitress, and one of the others brought her a glass of ginger ale and some cookies, and she felt better, although her hands were still shaking. She asked where the nearest motel was, and they told her to drive another forty miles to a Best Western that was in a decent area. She didn't know if she could do it, but she got back in her car a few minutes later, and started to calm down as she drove. Chase called her then, and she wasn't going to tell him, but he could hear something wrong in her voice and was frightened.

“Did you have an accident?”

“Almost,” she said cryptically, her voice still shaking.

“I told you to pull over if you got tired. What happened? And what are you doing driving at this hour?” He sounded worried sick. He wanted to be there with her, and he felt helpless.

“I thought I'd get some extra miles in tonight. I took a nap in the car this afternoon. And I stopped at a diner to get something to eat a little while ago. Three guys followed me out, and one of them grabbed me.” She told him that one had yanked her arm and lifted her off the ground, and the other had pulled her hair and wanted her to come to his cab. Then she told him what she'd done. There was shocked silence at the other end.

“You did
that
? I'd better watch myself around you.” He couldn't believe that she'd had the guts to defend herself and break one man's nose and hit the other in the throat, which was exactly what she'd been taught to do. Chase was horrified at what could have happened to her if she hadn't. She could have been kidnapped or killed and dumped by the side of the road somewhere. Then he turned serious. “Okay, the fun is over. I want you to put your GPS on and head for the nearest airport. Ditch the car. You can send someone back for it later. I want you to fly home.”

“Honest, Chase, I'm fine.” And she meant it. She had almost stopped shaking, and she was exhilarated by what she had done. She had actually taken care of herself and proven she could, with no man at hand to help her. Nothing like it had ever happened to her before.

“You may be fine, but I'm not. I'm going to be worried sick until you get home. I want you on the next plane.” It sounded appealing even to her, but she didn't want to quit now. It was kind of an endurance contest driving from New York to the West Coast, and now she wanted to finish what she'd started.

“I'm almost halfway home now. It's stupid to fly.” But it was also amazing to think that what she could have done in six hours by plane would take her six days by car, with danger, and endless hours of driving every day.

“I'm scared to death of what could happen to you. I have been since you left Nashville. Please, Stevie, be a good girl. Get on a plane tomorrow, and find a decent place to stay tonight, not some shit motel along the road.”

“They told me about a Best Western in Rawlins. I'm only a few miles from it now.” She could already see the sign for it in the distance, and she took the turnoff while talking to him. It was nicer than any place she'd stayed so far. And she could see the manager in his office. She told Chase she was going to check in, and he told her he'd call her in five minutes.

She got a clean, comfortable room, and Chase called her, as promised. He sounded completely unglued by what had happened, and as she lay on the bed and they talked, he marveled again at her courage and clear-headedness, faced with the three truckers.

“I should never have let you do this. I should have sent you with the bus.”

“I wanted to do it. I wanted to see if I could. I've always wanted to drive cross country.”

“But not alone.” She was in Wyoming by then, and it brought back memories for him of his road tours, driving through the night after a show to get to the next venue. But there were always at least half a dozen others in the van with him. It was why he had bought the bus as soon as he could afford it. Even he, as a man, had never driven cross country on his own by car. He was badly rattled about her incident, and they talked for a long time that night until she was nearly asleep. And he told her to call him the minute she woke up, or if she wanted to talk during the night.

The sun was streaming through the thin curtains when she woke up nine hours later. She felt stiff and exhausted from driving, and she had a bruise on her arm where the truck driver had grabbed her. It hadn't been a bad dream. It was real. She called Chase and woke him up, but he was happy to hear her voice.

“I want you to call me every hour, and I swear if you don't, I'm calling the state police, in every state you're crossing.”

“I'll be fine,” she promised, but she was shaken too by what had happened the night before, and she swore to him she'd be more careful about where she stopped. And she wouldn't walk out of any more diners alone. She had learned her lesson.

She didn't drive as far that day, she was still tired from the day before, and she stopped at a very respectable place for breakfast and ordered scrambled eggs, toast, and coffee. She bought sandwiches so she wouldn't have to stop for lunch. And by nightfall she was in Utah and went to a Denny's. She had talked to Chase all along the way. He was talking her home day by day, hour by hour, and keeping even closer tabs on her now. Originally, he hadn't been too concerned about the trip, but as he got closer to her, he worried more.

By the fifth day, she had made it through Utah, and to Nevada by evening. And the sixth day she pressed on after nightfall, so she'd get home that night. She pulled into her driveway at midnight, and just sat there for a minute. It felt as though she had left for the weekend in Santa Barbara months before. Her house looked quiet and dark. She got out of her car, dragged her bag up the front steps, and let herself into the house. She turned off the alarm and turned on the lights, and Chase called her just as she did. It was two in the morning for him.

“What are you doing awake? I was going to text you. I didn't want to wake you up.”

“I'm just happy to know you're home. And I don't care what you want to prove, please don't ever do anything like that again.” But she had a huge sense of accomplishment as she looked around her house. She knew now that she could take care of herself, whatever happened. She had learned important information about herself, and now felt less vulnerable than she had before. And her voice sounded strong to Chase as they talked.