Salvaged (21 page)

"Yes, actually I do."

"I can tell," he teased.

"Mind your own business, Tammy," I added. "So, Coop, answer
my question. What type of veterinary medicine interests you?"

He shined his bright teeth at me again. "Growing up I wanted
to work with zoo animals. I've been around horses my entire life; I
thought a little variety would be good."

"I can understand that." I felt a little sorry for him. It was as if
he was expected to fulfill his family's expectations and his interests
weren't considered.

"Other than my time away for school, I'll probably never get
away from this place."

"It's beautiful, Cooper. I would love it here."

He grinned. "You're welcome anytime."

I ignored the blatantly obvious invitation and kept talking. "So
why Cornell?"

"It's about as far away as I can get. If I went to OSU my parents
would expect me to come home every weekend. I'm ready to get
away for a while."

"Oh." I nodded. "Your parents were okay with Cornell?"

"Yes, it's kind of a status thing. I know it sounds terrible, but in
the circles they run in, that kind of stuff is important."

"Sorry," I said.

"Why?"

"It seems like you have a lot of expectations to meet."

He grinned at me again. "You're very perceptive."

"You ride English I assume?"

"Yes. You?"

"Western."

"Uh-oh, you're one of those," he joked.

"Yes, I am. You better watch it, Coop. Your parents find out
your hob-knobbing with a girl who rides western and you could be
disowned."

"Promise?" Cooper laughed before excusing himself to chase
down a runaway beach ball.

As he left I saw Riley across the pool directly in front of me.
Tiffany stood between us as she talked, but with his weight shifted
to his left, I could see him clearly. She may have been standing there
barely clothed, but he didn't seem to notice. His eyes shifted back
and forth between looking at the ground and me. His arms were
tightly folded across his chest, and his face wore a scowl. He looked
miserable.

"She hates me," I mouthed as I pointed at Tiffany.

He laughed and nodded, which caused Tiffany to turn to find
out what he was laughing at. A bitter scowl exploded onto her face
the moment we made eye contact. She quickly turned back around
and repositioned herself in order to block Riley's and my view of
each other, but within seconds he walked away.

My heart rate increased as he somehow managed to keep his
eyes on me while making his way through the crowd and finally took
the spot Truman left empty.

"Having fun?" he asked.

"Oodles."

"Oozing with sarcasm, are we?"

"I've been hanging around Tammy too long."

"I hate to tell you this, Charlie, but you were sarcastic long before
Tammy came along."

"You get stuck talking to Cooper Truman for thirty minutes and
see how much fun you're having," Jen said.

"It's actually been an hour. I also got stuck with him in the house
for thirty minutes, remember?"

"I'd rather not think about it," Tammy said, rolling her eyes.

"Oh, girls, he isn't that bad," Anne interrupted. "Attie, you and
he have a lot in common."

"What?" Riley asked.

"The whole vet school thing," she answered.

"That's one thing, Anne, not a lot of things," I said.

"Still, he's nice."

"Oh, Anne," Tammy scolded. "You like everybody. Why can't
you just be judgmental and hateful like the rest of us?"

"I don't like everybody," Anne clarified.

"Name one person you don't like," Tammy challenged.

It took a few moments, but Anne finally spoke. "Tiffany."

"No, Anne, I said to name a person."

"Oh, Tammy, be nice." I don't know why Anne bothered; she was
wasting her breath. Nothing short of Jesus appearing before Tammy
and telling her to be nice to Tiffany would work, and I wasn't even
so sure that would do it.

"Girls sure are catty," Riley said.

"Aren't we?" Jeri agreed.

I lightly kicked his shoulder. "Your girlfriend asked me to remind
you that you owe her dinner."

"My girlfriend?"

"Tiffany." I lightly kicked him on the shoulder again, and as I
pulled my foot away, he grabbed me by the toes and placed my foot
in his lap. His fingers never broke contact with my skin.

"She's not my girlfriend," he said adamantly.

"Well, evidently she doesn't know that. She informed me that
she's been dating you for a while, and I didn't get the sense she's realized you aren't dating her back."

"She knows, she just doesn't wanna admit it, and she isn't gonna
concede anything to you."

"Me?"

"She sees you as competition," he pointed out.

"Ooh, there's a competition for Riley's heart," Tammy teased.

"No." He shook his head at Tammy but kept his eyes on me.
"You look a little tired, Charlie, are you?"

"A little bit."

"Do you need to go home?" Anne asked. "We can take you. We
just need to find Tess first."

"You want me to take you home?" he asked.

"Nobody needs to take me home. I want you guys to stay and
have fun. I can stay."

"No, I don't mind," he offered. "I've had my fill anyway. This
really isn't my scene."

"What is your scene, Riley?" I asked.

"Sitting on the couch watching movies."

"Sounds thrilling," Tammy said.

We ignored her.

"I am pretty tired. Are you sure you wouldn't mind leaving?"

"Positive."

"Do you girls care?" I asked. "I didn't get much sleep last night."

"No, go ahead," Anne said cheerfully. "Go home and get some
rest."

He stood up and pulled me to my feet.

"Will you guys tell Tess I said good-bye and I'll see her later?"

"Sure. Hey, you have any plans for Monday during lunch? Maybe
we can all get together," Anne said.

"Monday?" I couldn't hide my growing anxiety.

Anne looked surprised. "It was just a suggestion; we don't
have to."

"Oh, no, Anne. I would love that. Thanks for asking. It's just
Monday's the anniversary of the accident... "

Riley wrapped his arm protectively around me as the girls' eyes
grew large and filled with sadness.

"... and I don't know what the day's going to be like yet."

"Oh my gosh, Attie! I'm so sorry I didn't realize."

"Don't worry about it, Anne. How could you have known? It's
no big deal. If I don't have anything planned, I'll call. I'd love to go
to lunch with you guys. It'll probably help."

"Good." Anne sounded hopeful.

"All right, see you guys later."

As we turned to go, I heard Riley whisper, "She'll be okay," over
his shoulder. He kept his arm around my waist until we made it to
the car.

"Do you think that's why your nightmares have been getting
worse? Because of the anniversary?"

"I don't know, maybe." I wasn't sure of anything at the moment.
Consecutive nights of hours without sleep were catching up with
me, and my mind was a complete crow's nest. My thoughts were
jumbled, and sentences were slow to form.

He pulled me to him, and without thinking twice I laid my head
on his chest. He kissed the top of my head several times as my body
relaxed into his.

"You know, one day we're gonna look back on all this and not
believe we've come so far. The pain and the nightmares will be a
far-off memory."

"Promise?" I asked.

"Yes."

"Well, can we stay like this until then? I don't want to move."

"Trust me. I'm game if you are. I don't wanna move either."

"Then let's not. Not right this second anyway."

He wrapped his arms more tightly around my body, and I allowed
my eyes to close. We stood silent and still for several minutes, and
when I opened my eyes, I caught a glimpse of Tiffany standing next
to a tree watching us.

"We better get home," I whispered as I removed my head from
his chest and looked up at him.

The look on his face was one I'd never seen before. Somehow I
could sense the battle raging in his mind. He wanted to kiss me, that
much was obvious, but he wouldn't. He wouldn't break the prom ise he'd made to his father no matter how much he wanted to or I
secretly wished he would.

I ignored Tiffany as he rested his forehead on mine. "Riley, if
we're going to leave, then you have to let go of me."

"I realize that."

"So I take it we aren't leaving then?"

"No, we are." He released his grip and reached behind me to
open the car door. "Hurry and get in before I change my mind."

I laughed as I hopped in and took one last look at Tiffany before
we drove away.

(Riley)

"Kids! We're gonna be late!" Dad yelled up to us from the bottom of the stairs.

"Come on, get your butts down here!"

"Go without us then," I yelled. "We'll meet you there!"

"No, sir! We're going as a family. Now get your butts down
here!"

I knew when my dad meant business, and he meant business.
"Come on, Attie, we've got to go. Dad's gonna bust a gut."

"I'm coming," she said through her bedroom door. "Go on down.
I'll be right there."

I obeyed and made my way down to the foyer where Mom and
Dad were both waiting.

"What in the world, son?" Dad asked.

"She's nervous; give her a second. Besides, it's best that we're
a little late; otherwise, she might run into Mitchell. He does the
greeting each week."

"Well, that's true. I didn't think about that." He nodded. "Molly,
let's go on out to the car. Riley, go get her and bring her down this
instant."

"Yes, sir."

I was nervous for Attie. Gramps called the night before to let
her in on a secret. Today would mark forty years to the day that
he sang in the church choir for the first time. The worship pastor decided to celebrate by asking him to sing a song at the end of service, and Gramps agreed but made the request to do a duet rather
than a solo. A duet with Attie.

"What?" she shrieked over the phone when he called to ask her
to sing with him. "Have you lost your mind? I haven't sung that song
in years, and I haven't sung it in front of people ever! Gramps, don't
ask me to do this!"

He asked anyway. This was his one wish, he told her. He would
never ask her to do another thing for him again.

After getting off the phone, she went into a complete panic, and
I joined her.

"Have I ever heard you sing?" I asked.

"I doubt it. It's not like I'm that good, and I only sang with him
or my mom, and it was always in the car." She searched iTunes for
the Sandi Patty song on our family computer.

"I can't even believe this song is on here; it's from the eighties,
which would make it a classic in your eyes."

"I don't even know who Sandi Patty is," I admitted.

"Most kids our age don't."

After downloading the song, she spent the rest of the night
practicing outside in the pasture so that none of us could hear her.

"Come on, Charlie! We've got to go!" I peeked out the door and
saw my dad's scowl. "So glad we're all in such wonderful moods for
church today."

I heard her footprints on the steps and turned to tell her to
hurry. "Gorgeous," slipped out instead of "hurry."

Her chin dropped, and she looked at me through squinting eyes.
"Nice try, Riley."

"I'm dead serious. You look amazing."

"Thank God your mom took me shoe shopping yesterday. I
don't know what I would have worn on my feet."

"You could have gone barefoot," I suggested. "Personally, I love
the red toenails."

"They're crimson, and no way, some of those old geezers would
think I was going to hell if they knew I wore crimson polish on
my toes."

"Does that make you a harlot or something?"

"Probly."

"Did you say `probly' instead of `probably'? Ya getting a little
Okie in ya finally?" I teased.

The car horn honked.

"Jesus Christ," Dad screamed. "Get your butts out here!"

"Nice talk for Sunday morning, Dad!" I locked the door behind
us. You do look gorgeous. Everybody's gonna love you."

"I wouldn't bet on it. They're going to wish that God never gave
them eardrums by the time I'm finished. Gramps is the singer in the
family, not me."

I closed the car door behind her, ran around to the other side,
and jumped in before Dad could leave without me.

"Sorry about the J.C. comment earlier," Dad mumbled while
Mom stared at him in contempt.

"You gotta watch that stuff on Sundays, Dad. I think it's a double sin to say the Lord's name in vain on the Holy Day." I felt compelled to give him a hard time; plus I needed to keep Attie's mind
occupied.

"Enough out of you, Riley."

I rolled my eyes. "Yes, sir."

"Oh, Attie, I can't wait to hear you sing!" Mom was gushing.
"Your mom used to brag about your singing all the time."