Just A Small Town Girl (4 page)

I put your picture away, sat down and cried today

I can't look at you, while I'm lying next to her
.”

He smiled in my direction and I knew it was almost my turn to sing. I swallowed a giant breath of air, unsure what exactly would come out when I opened my mouth again. I squeezed my eyes shut, saying a silent wish for my voice to be good, or at least decent and tried my best.

“
I called you last night in the hotel

Everyone knows but they won’t tell

But their half-hearted smiles tell me

Something just ain't right
,” I opened my eyes and found a pair of pleased brown eyes were fixed on me. The realization made me bold and I went on with my eyes open.

“
I been waiting on you for a long time

Fueling up on heartaches and cheap wine

I ain't heard from you in three damn nights
,” I turned to face him, mimicking his actions and sang the next lines to him, stepping forward until I was looking directly up into his eyes.

“
I put your picture away

I wonder where you been

I can't look at you while I'm lying next to him

I put your picture away

I wonder where you been

I can't look at you while I'm lying next to him
,” I took a step back and swayed a little to the instrumental break while he watched, his eyes inspiring me to be daring.

“
I saw you yesterday with an old friend
,” I stopped my gentle sway and looked at him.

“
It was the same old same ‘how have you been
,’” he took a step toward me and wrapped a warm hand around my arm before the next line.

“
Since you been gone my worlds been dark and grey
,” we sang together and I found my hand on his chest as I sang.

“
You reminded me of brighter days
,” he leaned into the words like he meant them and I shivered involuntarily.

“
I hoped you were coming home to stay
,” I looked into his eyes while I sang my line, “
I was headed to church
.”

“
I was off to drink you away
,” he practically screamed the words and I felt them in my soul.

We held on to each other as if the song was really about us, me and this stranger, as we finished singing, holding eye contact the entire time. “
I thought about you for a long time

Can't seem to get you off my mind

I can't understand why we're living life this way
,” he swayed me to the beat of the short break and I had to remind myself that this was karaoke, very convincing and theatrical karaoke.

“
I found your picture today

I swear I'll change my ways

I just called to say I want you to come back home

I found your picture today

I swear I'll change my ways

I just called to say I want you to come back home

I just called to say, I love you come back home
.”

When the music ended my newfound inner strength and confidence seemed to go with it.

“Ladies and gentlemen Piper,” he stepped away from me, putting a comfortable distance between our bodies, and gestured toward me. The crowd clapped and a few cheered. I gave a small smile to them, then directed one at the stranger I’d just shared the most intimate five minutes and one second of my life with and jumped from the stage, thrusting my microphone at the bald guy I’d seen on stage before.

“Leaving so soon?” he asked, but I ignored him, the anger from Persephone signing me up to sing when I specifically told her I didn’t want to seeping back into my skin and fueling my quick march back to my apartment.

I folded my pillow over my head, covering my ears. The cotton only muffled the sounds of Riley wailing across the hall. Somehow I knew it was him, whether it was because he was the only baby living in my building or because I knew his cry, my sleep deprived mind couldn’t decide. I threw my pillow across the room in frustration, listening for the thud as it hit the far wall and slid to the floor. The red numbers on my alarm clock told me I had to be awake for work in five hours and Riley’s cries told me he didn’t plan on stopping any time soon. I wondered if his parents would be upset if I knocked on their door, offering to calm their child. It could be considered rude for me to barge into their home in the middle of the night, claiming to know more about Riley than his own parents, but I was pretty sure I knew what he needed and could remedy the situation quickly. After ten more minutes of screaming, I decided I didn’t care whether or not they were offended. I would help calm Riley in defense of my sleep if for no other reason.

Before I could change my mind, I threw back my comforter and marched across the hall, my bare feet slapping the hard wood hallway floor in the three steps between my door and the one directly across the corridor. I knocked three times, hoping the sound of my knuckles on the wood could be heard over Riley’s screaming. I waited for a response and leaned toward the door when none came, tilting my ear toward the wooden frame to better hear any activity inside. I couldn’t tell if the sounds of Riley’s hiccupping sobs were getting closer or not, but I was given an answer when the door swung open, startling me.

I took a step away from the door in surprise before my mind registered the sight before me. I’d expected an exhausted mother to open the door, tears staining her cheeks and bags forming below each of her eyes. Instead, I was greeted by the dark haired stranger with mesmerizing eyes holding a writhing and screaming Riley close to his bare chest. A chest decorated with two black lines of script printed across the left well-defined pec. My eyes  focused on the defined muscles of his abdomen before tracing a path up to his face where my eyes met the bags I’d expected to find on a woman and matching look of desperate helplessness. He looked just as startled to see me as I was to see him and we might have stood like that forever if not for Riley’s squeals turning into choking sobs.

“Let me,” I reached my arms out, my fingers grazing the stranger’s chest as I tugged Riley from his arms and pulled him into my own. I carried him back to my kitchen and shoved a frozen apple slice into his mouth, almost instantly shutting him up.

“How did you do that?” he asked, standing close behind me, wonder and low level hero worship evident in his eyes.
“He’s cutting a tooth,” I shrugged, handing a happy Riley back to my neighbor, “the cold soothes his gums.”

He nodded, walking to my living room and collapsing onto my couch. I leaned against the counter in my kitchen for a minute, watching him watch Riley. I wasn’t sure exactly how Riley and this man fit together or why he hadn’t just taken his quiet baby back to his apartment so I could get back to bed. 

“I just feel like I’m so out of my league,” he mumbled, closing his eyes and resting his head on the back of my couch.

I wasn’t sure if he was talking to me or thinking aloud, but the defeat in his voice pulled at my heart, prompting me to walk across the room, and sit next to him on the couch.

“I never know what to do,” he sighed, obviously needing to verbalize his fears of inadequacy, “sometimes he needs something and I have no idea what it is, but someone else can tell me exactly what it is. I just don’t have the intuition to solve his problems sometimes and I thought that kind of stuff was supposed to come naturally,” he puffed out a breath, his heaving chest pushing a content Riley up and letting him drop down for a few deep breaths before he spoke again, “I’m the world’s worst father.”

The sadness and defeat in his voice overpowered my surprise at hearing Riley was his son and my hand instinctively sought his. My fingers curled around his digits in what, I hoped, was a reassuring gesture. The pads of his long fingers were calloused like he played an instrument, but his large hands were gentle as he squeezed my hand slightly in response to my fingers clasping his. I looked up to find his deep brown eyes staring into mine, the gold flecks glittering as he took in my face and seeming to almost smolder as he took in the short shorts and slim fitting tank top I’d been sleeping in before darting back up to stare into my eyes.

“I’m Piper,” I almost whispered.

“I know,” he smiled slightly as he spoke, “Rose told me all about you.”

I blushed, turning my face away from him and tugging on my fingers a little, trying to put space between him and my body’s reaction to his warm presence and smooth voice. Instead of releasing my hand, he entangled our fingers, raising my hand to his lips and softly brushing his lips against my knuckles. I got the feeling his holding my hand wasn’t an act of affection, rather a way of seeking comfort and human contact in an otherwise cold world. Still, I couldn’t help the way my stomach tumbled at the contact of his lips on my skin.

It was strange to hold a stranger’s hand, but somehow the feel of his palm pressed flat against mine felt comfortable.

“All good things, I swear,” he murmured as he lowered our hands, smiling that half-smile again.

“I don’t even know your name,” I meant for it to sound like an admonishment, but it came out a breathy whisper.

The half-smile gave way to a full grin, all boyish charm. “I’m Fisher,” he seemed deeply pleased to introduce himself, “Sorry, in a small town we all just tend to forget everyone doesn’t automatically know our names.”

We laughed together for a few seconds; his warm chocolaty laughter was at his joke while mine was at memories of my own small town I was almost beginning to miss.

“So you’ve been watching my little monster?” he patted his free hand on Riley’s now gently slumbering back.

“Yeah, he’s a sweetheart,” I smiled, running my own free hand over the wisps of Riley’s dark hair, “I had no idea he was your son, how old are you anyway?”

“I’m twenty-one,” he murmured, loosening his grip on my hand and clenching his jaw, a physical sign of the tension I didn’t understand the source of rolling through the room.

All I could do was nod at the revelation. I knew he was young, but I’d never imagined he was just a few years older than me.

“Why aren’t you and your wife usually home at night to watch Riley?” I knew it wasn’t the most polite question, but I wanted to know and it seemed like as good a time as any considering the weird tension already in the room.

He dropped my hand completely, running his hand through his shaggy hair before answering, “I don’t have a wife,” the words were bitten out and served as sufficient reprimand for me. I knew I shouldn’t have assumed he was married, but that was how things tended to work where I came from. Young people just didn’t have babies and not live together, get married, and eventually fall into forced marital bliss.

“And I can’t be home with my son because I work during the day and at night, but I trust you and Rose to take great care of him while I can’t.”

The last part was bitten out and I instantly felt guilty, even before he stood and made his way to my front door.

“Thanks for the apple slice Piper,” he murmured before opening the door and silently making his way across the hall with the sleeping baby.

I hadn’t seen Fisher in a few weeks, but that wasn’t really a surprise. I’d only seen him a few times before we were formally introduced and he was always rushing one place or another. What did surprise me was watching Riley in the afternoons no longer was a staple of my day. At first I’d just thought Rose was watching him, but she told me he’d been spending time with his father when I dropped by for a visit one afternoon. I’d watched him a handful of times in the three weeks following my meeting Fisher, but I couldn’t help missing the little guy and babysitting had given me something to do with my evenings.

With no baby to watch in the afternoon, I began to spend more time with Persephone and her friends again. I’d grudgingly forgiven her for the karaoke debacle even though she never apologized, so we’d hang around the pizzeria Rick worked at swiping free slices sometimes or we’d go out to karaoke where I always watched and never participated. Puck was always present, holding my hand and pressing heated kisses to my lips, but never asking me on a date and never expecting commitment. Seph’s friend Bailey also joined us most nights. She was a sweet brunette who wore a trademark pair of cowboy boots nearly every day and spoke with a drawl nobody understood the origin of.

That afternoon Bailey and Seph stood in my living room planning my outfit for our night out. The day before Seph had argued very loudly with Rick in a bar before declaring the following evening would be a girls’ night and instantly roping Bailey and I into her plans for Thursday night, never mind the fact that I had work on Friday morning.

“I think this one will make her look sweet,” Bailey pouted at Seph’s dismissal of a white lace tank top she’d picked out for me, “and with the shorts and boots you brought she’ll look sexy too. Kind of like an ‘angel with an edge’ kind of thing.”

“I’m going all devil here,” she turned to wink at me before digging back into the pile of our combined clothes on my couch, “or at least all sexy.”

“Don’t mind me guys, it’s not like I can dress myself or anything,” I harrumphed and collapsed on the only free corner of the couch, crossing my arms across my chest.

“Stop pouting and try this on,” Seph threw a few scraps of clothing at me and commenced digging for herself.

When I returned from my bedroom wearing the outfit she’d picked for me both she and Bailey were fully dressed. Bailey wore a pair of cute denim cutoffs that showed off her long legs and a simple pink fitted midriff shirt. The low neckline and bare midriff were sexy, but still modest enough to make her look like she wasn’t trying too hard. Seph, on the other hand, wore a white sleeveless button down shirt  tied just below her breasts, framing her hot pink pushup bra perfectly and exposing her stomach from the bottom of her bra to the low waistline of her own, much shorter than Bailey’s, cutoff shorts. Her belly button glittered with a stone and a pair of red boots finished the look, compared to Seph I felt innocent in my short jean skirt I suspected Seph had cut to make a little shorter and little white vest that ended just above my belly button. I knew my breasts were more on display than I was used to, but I thought I looked like a good blend of sexy and cute.

“I was hoping for a little more skin and I expected it to look hotter,” Seph murmured, circling around me to assess her handiwork.

“It’s practically backless!” I exclaimed, turning my back to her to show off the gap between the halter at my neck and the band of fabric spanning my back several inches below it. I didn’t even know what to say about the ‘hotness’ of my outfit, my scale was probably a little off considering the fact that this was the sexiest outfit I’d ever worn.

“Whatever,” Seph got bored with picking my outfit apart and threw an off-white pair of cowboy boots at me, “just put these on so we can go.”

“I think you look cute Piper,” Bailey whispered to me as I locked my front door, not that I really worried anyone would rob me, “She just gets like this when she’s scared someone might get more attention from the guys than her and I guarantee you she’s scared with you dressed like that tonight.”

“Thanks Bailey,” I hugged her briefly before we jogged down the hall to catch up with Seph.

“Are you sure it’s the best idea to be here tonight?” Bailey’s voice carried a note of concern I didn’t really understand.

“Why wouldn’t it be a good idea to be here Bailey?” Seph put her truck in park and turned to face Bailey in the passenger seat. If her tone hadn’t been clear in indicating the conversation was over the icy glare she threw at Bailey first, then at me for good measure assured us that the topic was closed.

Still unable to understand the issue with us being at the three long railroad cars lined up side to side and converted into a bar, I opened my door and hopped out into the dusty lot. We were just inside the Dunesville city line, but I felt like I was in a posh city where converted firehouses and lofts made from old schoolhouses were the status quo. Bailey and Seph had obviously been to this bar before. They continued across the lot to the metallic double doors without noticing the almost comical mix of old and new before them.

The outside of the structure looked like a train except for the glowing alcohol signs in the windows, large sign reading ‘Conductor’s,’ and lack of tracks below it. The metallic surface glowed orange in the last rays of sunlight as I finally gathered my thoughts and passed through the doors. The interior was styled to look like a saloon with a bar at one end of the long main room and a mid-sized stage on the other. Tables lined either side of the expanse between the two, allowing space in the center for a large dance floor. I was scanning the crowded tables for my friends when I noticed a familiar face in the mob of people seeming to take up every space.

Fisher sat across the dance floor at a table with three other men. They were in the middle of laughing at something when our eyes met. His smile grew as he took in the sight of me standing there. I could feel his eyes raking over my body, pausing on the parts he liked. When he was finished his eyes shifted back to my face and he lifted one hand in a small wave. I didn’t know if that was an invitation to join him or not. I’d taken one step in his direction when a hand wrapped around my arm.

“There you are honey!” Bailey smiled at me, “we’ve been looking for you.”

She led me to a table where Seph sat, glaring at someone. I followed her line of vision to see it was Fisher she was glaring at. His smile had fallen from his face, but he held her gaze. His eyes were angry and accusatory while hers were pure melted hatred.

“So you know Fisher?” I asked, trying to understand the weird staring match going on in front of me.

“You mean Travis?” she corrected, sneering around the name.

“Travis?”

“His name is Travis Fisher. His guy buddies have been calling him Fisher for years, but his name is Travis,” she enunciated every word, making it clear to anyone trying to read her lips that we were talking about the man across the bar.

“He calls himself Fisher because Travis was his father’s name and-” Bailey began to explain, but was cut off by Seph.

“Travis used to be a perfectly fine name in his opinion,” Seph said this in the same voice from earlier in the truck, the discussion was over.

A guy a few years older than us wandered over to our table then, prompting Seph to break eye contact and charm him into buying us all a round of drinks.

An hour later, I was feeling the effects of the multiple drinks and shots my dance partners had bought me. I’d never been a huge drinker even at the weekly parties in high school and all the times Seph had taken me out, but Seph’s encouragement and the continuous flow of free liquor despite my being under the legal age to drink prompted me to overindulge.  The alcohol flowing through my veins mixed with the normal teenage rebellion I’d suppressed for too many years and I found myself enjoying rubbing against men I barely knew.

I watched Bailey bat her eyes at men and instantly pull them under her spell, convincing them to dance or drink or do whatever else she wanted while still maintaining a certain degree of purity and innocence. Seph, on the other hand, shamelessly used her body to get what she wanted. Rubbing against men while she danced, letting their hands travel across her body, and occasionally offering them a kiss in exchange for whatever she wanted. I found myself being offered drinks without really trying to get them, laughing and dancing with several men.

I was leaning against the bar, taking a break from dancing and drinking for the moment when a deep, chocolaty voice whispered “Taking a break?” in my ear.

I turned to look into Fisher’s dark eyes, glimmering mischievously.

“No,” I shook my head, biting my lip to stop a full Fisher induced smile from spreading across my lips. Feeling bold, I rose to my tiptoes and wrapped my right arm around his neck, pulling his head down so his ear was level with my mouth, “Just waiting for you to ask me to dance.”

Without speaking, he placed his own hand on top of mine on the back of his neck, using my fingers clasped in his to lead me out to the dance floor. We moved our bodies to the beat of the song blasting around the bar, his body supporting my drunken form as his hands rested on my hips. Being in Fisher’s arms sent a zing of warmth through my body, starting at the twelve spots where each of his fingers and his palms rested on my hips, travelling at the standard two-hundred miles per hour my nerve-cells could transmit them and coursing through my veins until I was convinced the electricity he forced into my system was keeping me alive. Being surrounded by him somehow felt right, it cut through the drunken fog blurring my head and sent realization to my brain.

I liked Fisher. I
really
really
really
liked Fisher. I liked him more than I’d liked Sam and he’d been my husband. The thought sent a shiver of fear through my body.

I was ready to be a wild girl. I was ready to dance and drink with Seph and Bailey. I was not ready to develop deep feelings for the single dad living across the hall from me and the idea that I might be made me still completely in the middle of the dance floor.

“Everything o-“

“Fish, thirty seconds man,” a bald guy I recognized from sitting at the table with Fisher earlier and the karaoke incident slapped him on the back and smiled down at me. Did Dunesville just breed their boys to be extremely tall or were the two standing before me freaks of nature?

“I’m Kyle,” the bald guy took my hand in his and smiled, “And you’re Piper?”

I only managed to half nod yes when our small group was joined by a man barely taller than me, effectively dashing my Dunesville giants theory.

“This must be Piper,” the short man shook his long blond hair out of his eyes before leaning forward and offering me a half hug, “I’m Dustin,” he said, squeezing me around my middle.

“You guys know who I am?” I eyed the three friends.

They shared a look before Kyle shrugged, “Small town,” he proclaimed before turning to Fisher, “We have to go on now Fish.” He pointed at his bare wrist to emphasize his point while walking backwards toward the stage, miraculously managing not to knock into any of the dancing bodies on his way.

“Sure,” Fisher looked at me, a ‘what can you do’ look plastered across his face, “Thanks for the dance Piper,” he touched my cheek, his fingers leaving a trail of warmth, before following his friends to the stage where he strapped a guitar to his chest and immediately announced “We’re Fisherman’s Warf and we’re
so
glad it’s almost Friday!”

The way he dragged out the word “so” made a slow tickle wind its way up my spine. Before I could put too much thought into that physiological occurrence, Kyle smacked the drumsticks together three times and they launched into an upbeat song.

I backed away from the stage, toward the bar, in awe of their surprising talent and was met there by Bailey.

“They’re good right?” she said conversationally while sucking on the hot pink straw sticking out of her fruity smelling drink, “They’ve been playing together for a few years. Honestly, I was just surprised the band didn’t break up when…”

“When Riley came along?” I asked.

“Yeah,” Bailey’s eyes were drawn to a spot in the sea of girls dancing and cheering in front of the stage where Seph ground her hips against a man with long black hair, not-so-discreetly glancing up at the band every so often.

“I feel like I might be done dancing with guys for now,” Bailey placed her empty cup on the bar, “let’s go out there and put a little more girl into this girls’ night.” She pulled me to the dance floor and we danced, melding with the crowd for the fast songs and the slow ones, enjoying a few testosterone free moments.

A booming knock made me jump, dropping the knife I was cutting tomatoes with, and made Riley begin screaming in the living room. I whispered a few thankful words I hadn’t nicked my finger as I scooped up the baby and calmed him while making my way to the front door.

That afternoon, Fisher surprised me by leaving Riley himself and coming in to talk. We’d discussed his music and the band for nearly an hour before he realized he was late for his set and raced from my apartment. The thought of his guilty smile as he ran through my front door made the corners of my mouth tilt up in a smile of my own.

The smile slowly slid from my lips when I opened my front door and was greeted by a very stern faced Puck.