Running Home (16 page)

Walker called his mom a short while later and I went outside to give them some privacy, knowing that if I stayed inside the thin farm walls would spill their conversation. As I walked out into the fields I couldn’t help but smile as the clean air rushed into my lungs. I was in paradise. Sure, it was full of crops, fields, dirt, animals, but more important it had fresh air. I never took a deep breath in LA; maybe that was the reason I could never settle. Being able to breathe freely now let my body relax; for once my mind wasn’t going on hyper speed. I was able to slow down and enjoy the beauty around me; something that I failed to see while growing up.

I took a seat under the large elm tree behind the
old barn. The tire swing Walker’s grandfather put up years ago for us still hung on the same sturdy branch. The rope had frayed over the years and the tire’s hard casing had weathered and cracked, but watching it blow in the slight breeze was comforting for my soul. I can’t believe I over looked all the things that made me happy about living in this town; there were so many amazing memories I shared right here on this farm that I was ashamed I ever left.

“So
, I need to head into town to pick up Waylon. Want to join me?” Walker asked, as he stood in the doorway of the old barn. I racked my brain to figure out who Waylon was, and then I started to panic. What if he had a son? Oh my gosh, I couldn’t believe I thought he never moved on with his life. I reminded myself to take small shallow breaths; it was okay if he moved on. I left him and this town; it wasn’t the opposite.

“So
, are you coming?” He asked again.

“Yeah,” I called out, gradually lifting my body off the root of the large tree.

Whoever Waylon was, I wanted to meet him. If I was going to come back to this town, be a member of society again, I had to deal with the fact that Walker moved on. I plastered a smile on my face as I walked over to where Walker was standing. Even if it hurt on the inside, I was going to pretend like it didn’t on the outside.

“You Don’t Know Her Like I Do” Brantley Gilbert

Walker

It was hard to describe the feeling I felt as I watched Carmen stand there in the sunshine. My heart broke and healed itself all in a matter of seconds. It had been almost six years since I’d seen her face in person, and the years before that all I had were pictures and my memories of us together. She shattered my heart the day she left; a large part of my life never healed when she walked out. I almost thought it would have been easier to think she was dead, then to realize she was out somewhere in the world, not hurting the way I did. Not knowing if she was okay was never an easy thing; it devastated me throughout the time we spent apart. The only solitude I got from the hurt was when Sadie came into my life, and hell, that didn’t end so well. Now we sat here, in my truck, and driving into our old town seemed right. Like the past could be erased, demolished, and forgotten. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy to get her to adjust to this lifestyle again, and I was terrified that the town wouldn’t be as accepting as I was. I needed this to work, for everyone that had a part in Carmen’s life. I didn’t want to live this life without her anymore.

“This
is driving me completely batty…….. who is Waylon?” Carmen asked, her voice quivering with a hint of sorrow and pain.

“My dog. Who did you think he was?” I questioned Carmen with a light laugh. She didn’t t
hink something else did she? A weight was instantly lifted from her body, and she settled back into the Bronco as we headed to the café. I didn’t even think to mention who Waylon was back at the farm, and I can’t even image who she thought he could possibly be. I shook my head as I pulled behind the café. The said subject was basking in the sunshine on the small deck that Dad and I had done for Mom, for Mother’s Day last year.

“Waylon?” Carmen asked with a smile.

“Yup.” I hurried out of truck and wandered over to the mutt, who was still lounging in the sun. The only sign that he was happy to see me was his tail thumping on the deck behind him. I didn’t have any food with me, so getting him up to say hello wasn’t going to be an option. I heard the door close behind me and Waylon’s head actually lifted off the cedar deck. He quickly scampered to his feet and trotted over to where Carmen was standing by the Bronco. I stared in disbelief as he willingly wiggled his way over to Carmen and sat at her feet, begging for attention. Carmen crouched down on the ground, and immediately started to fawn over the dog, scratching him behind the ears and placing kisses to the top of his head. What in the world had gotten into my lazy dog?

“He is so cute
, Walker!” Carmen said in a sweet voice, while still loving on that damn dog. “What’s wrong?” She questioned, giving me a puzzled look as I stood there with my mouth open in sheer shock from my normally sluggish dog.

“He never gets up
, unless you say work and have treats; it’s just odd I guess,” I state, still wondering what in the world is going on. I walked back over to the two of them, and reached down to scratch his head. He accepted the love, then wandered back to the deck and flopped down. Just when I thought I had this dog pegged, I was wrong. Story of my life.

“Well
, let’s go in and say hi to Mom,” I mentioned to Carmen and nodded to the door. I gave her the four digit code number to get in the back door and we walked into a baking nightmare. There were pots, pans, flour, and oil everywhere in the small commercial type kitchen.

“Looks like a bomb went off in here,” I muttered
, as I stepped over several large pots on the floor and headed out to the main shop. Carmen began to pick up some things that were cluttering the floor and placing them into the sink.

“Mom?” I called
, out as I pushed my way through the swinging doors that separated the café and the kitchen area. Mom was running ramped behind the counter, getting things out of the bakery case and trying to talk with the few tables she had filled with lunch customers.

“Walker
, my son! Can you please help the tables?” She shouted at me when she noticed me walking in. I simply nodded my head, and grabbed a small notebook from the counter to head over and take their orders; I never remembered what people wanted by the time I took it back to the kitchen. I apologized for the wait to the two tables, and scurried back behind the counter to get the drink orders and pass off the sandwich stuff to Mom.

“Where is Heather today
, Mom?”

“She called in
, and I just can’t seem to catch a break! I meant to call your Aunt Patty, but haven’t had the time to stop and make the phone call,” she gushed, while grabbing the sandwich order and darting to the back to quickly make them. I finished giving the customers their drinks and went to clean up behind the counter a bit since no one else was in the shop at the moment.

“Ahhhhhhh!” a shriek came from the back, followed by a loud clang of metal hitting the floor.

I ran to the back and swatted the doors out of my way, worried about what transpired back there. I walked in on Mom having Carmen in a full on embrace. Her arms were pinned down by her sides and a metal bowl was slowly coming to a rest at their feet. I snickered when I realized what the scream was from; mom found Carmen.

Mom was always the forgiving
type; as long as you owned up to your sins and tried your best not to repeat them that was always enough for her. Carmen didn’t have many people that believed in her before she left town, and even few now that she came back. My mom was always one of her biggest cheerleaders; always knowing that this girl was made for more than what she chose at the time.

“I am so glad your home
, you silly girl! And look, Walker, she is cleaning up.I missed you Carmen,” Mom shrieked with excitement, as she finally broke the hold she had on Carmen.

“Thanks
, Mrs. Mason. I hope you don’t mind but I just started picking up back here. I still remember where everything goes,” She babbled, nervously reaching down to pick up the bowl she dropped.

“I have never been happier to see your
gorgeous face as I am right now. However, my dear you are way too skinny. Do you still have your food handler’s permit?” Mom asked, as she gave Carmen the once over look.

“I took the class when I was in………………..um…………….well
, I took the class to be able to serve food. I don’t know if it transfers here though.”

She wasn’t ready to come clean with her jail time, and I understood. It was something that she was just starting to accept, and I can’t imagine how hard it must be to try and deal with the emotions tied to that part of her life. Eventually
, she would share; well she needed to, in order to start clean. Secrets can’t be kept in this small town; everyone knew everyone’s business, no matter how hard you tried to hide it.

“Well
, that’s fine; we can go over to the health department and see what we need to do to fix that situation later. So today, you can just get this mess I’ve created back here in some sort of order and help with the retail portion. I have a new cash register that I’m going to have to show you how to work when it slows down, but other than that you remember how things work, right?” Mom verbally spewed as she threw together the orders for the lunch customers.

Carmen nodded her head silently
, and offered me a small smile. This was a start to getting her old life back; something that she needed desperately.

“Oh
, sweet girl, I didn’t even ask if you could stay today where in the world are my manners?” Mom shoved the first order out to me, as I backed out of the kitchen slowly to take the food out.

They needed their girl time and I need to get out of here and check in with work. I had to figure out this parole thing, and sell it to my superiors.

“So
, you just disappear for two days and say nothing? Please don’t tell me you found her?” Derek questioned with disgust. He wasn’t a fan of Sadie since she ran off and broke my heart; well there wasn’t a soul in town that had warm wishes for that woman.

“Have a little faith in me when I say I’m over it. No, I didn’t find S
adie.”

“Well
, then where were you? It’s not like you to just take off without anyone knowing where you were going,” Derek stated, as he blocked the doorway to my desk, and I knew he wouldn’t move until I gave him an answer.

“I went to Los Angeles
,” I stated quickly.

“And………..I know that’s not the full story.” Derek crossed his arms over his chest and took a wider stance with his feet. I wasn’t getting past him till he decided to move.

“Carmen called, okay; is that a good enough reason?” I barked, lowering my eyes to give him a glare. The shock registered on Derek’s face as he stepped to the side and allowed me to pass through to my desk. I collapsed into my chair, tossing the folder of Carmen’s history on the desk in front of me. I needed to do a read through of her file, but wasn’t so sure I was ready to read it in print. She had yet to actually share any details about what happened, and finding out this way wasn’t going to be pretty.

“Wow
…… I mean ,shit dude, what happened? How is she?” Derek questioned as he sat in the chair across from me. I knew everyone would find out once I talked to the sheriff about getting her parole transferred here, but I didn’t feel like sharing with anyone just yet.

“She is okay
now; I brought her back with me,” I admitted as I reached for the folder.

I took a deep breath and opened it.
Shock crept over my body when I saw her intake picture paper clipped to the top. She was so thin and grey in color; this couldn’t be real. I had a hard time believing this was the same Carmen; her eyes were like two black holes placed on her face. Her hair hung limply down her sides and the same dirty tank top she came walking out the door two days ago swam on her shrunken frame. My heart ached to see this side of her; I couldn’t imagine what she had gone through to come to this point.

“I take it her past is what is in that folder. And by the lo
ok on your face it isn’t pretty,” Derek commented with a frown.

No
, it wasn’t pretty; it was an ugly reminder what the cruel outside world could do to someone if they weren’t careful. I scanned the intake form with her general stats; holy shit, she only weighed a hundred and three pounds. My stomach took a turn for the worse as I slammed the folder on my desk and closed my eyes. I couldn’t read this; I needed to hear it from her first.

“Derek
, I need a favor,” I said carefully. I hoped he could read the file for me; he never knew Carmen before this happened, and hopefully he could see the good in there somewhere. I needed to have a plan when I talked to Sheriff Ramsey, and not knowing the details was not going to look good when I presented it. “Can you read this? My judgment is clouded, being that she is my friend, and I know her past.”

“Yeah
, not a problem, Mason, but why do you need to know it now? Won’t she eventually tell you?”

“Well
, I kind of asked her parole officer to let me handle her parole for the next nine months. They were going to make her stay in Los Angeles, and that place just ate her alive. I couldn’t leave her there,” my voice started to trail off as a hitch developed. I bit my bottom lip between my teeth to try and stop the tears from making an appearance. I think I could count the amount of times I’d openly cried on one hand in my entire life, and crying over Carmen had accounted for most of them.

“Hey
, no worries man. Give me a few minutes and I’ll read it over. I take it you haven’t talked to Sheriff yet?” Derek questioned as he picked up the folder from my desk. I simply shook my head and glanced down at the floor. Shit, this was harder than it should be.

“Alright
, well, I’ll get started on this,” he said, while standing up and holding the folder out. “Then we can formulate a plan to talk with Sheriff.”

“Thanks
, Derek,” I said in a weakened state.

I needed to get my shit to
gether. Carmen was home safe, things were looking up, and me being a fucking sap didn’t help any. Maybe I should go shoot something; that should release the tension that was plaguing my mind.

I called M
om to check on how the rest of the afternoon was going with Carmen helping. Of course there were no problems, and she raved about the work ethic Carmen was showing. Hearing those kind words from my mother made me smile, but it was going to be a fight to get the rest of the town on board with her return. The talk with Sheriff Ramsey started out a little heated. I knew what kind of responsibility this took, but didn’t think about the extra work the department would be forced to do with my plan. Luckily ,Derek offered to work with me every step of the way; he was an amazing friend and coworker. His face about threw me into a panic when he came back into my office after reading the entire file. His only words were “We will make this work ,Walker, and thank god you went and got her.” I knew whatever was written in that file was not an easy read, that was the reason she did time. I stashed the folder in the bottom of my desk drawer and vowed I wouldn’t read it until she talked with me. Just looking at the picture in it did me in, and now that Derek and Sheriff Ramsey knew the details in the file I figured not reading it right now was okay. When she was ready to spill the past, I was ready to listen, and then I would read. Sometimes things written down are harder to digest then words spoken.