The Long Road Home

By Jamie Nicole White

Click here to send comments

Click here if you'd like to exchange critiques

Chapter Eleven

            Jake had felt the air leave his lungs the moment she had descended down the stairs. She looked like some vision he had conjured up in his head, the pale blue dress that tapered at her tiny waist and flowed gently to the top of her knees, the way her hair flowed down her back in a wild array of curls. She smelled of jasmine and honeysuckle, the scent purely intoxicating to his nose. And to top it off, she had scrounged up a pair of brown cowgirl boots. All in all, she had looked beautiful and exotic, and Jake couldn’t stop himself from staring.

            They had wasted no time leaving the house, Jake helping her into the truck and pulling out of the drive without a single glance back. He figured he could kill two birds with one stone, give his parents some time alone and spend some time with Hayden. After all, he needed to judge for himself exactly how far he was willing to take this forgiveness thing. And the only way he was going to do that was take the time to talk to her, reacquaint himself with her, and decide if it was worth recreating a bond and calling a truce.

            How he wanted to get past everything and just be friends again. He wanted that more than anything. They had had too many good times together, too many childhood memories that revolved around one another. And it was obvious that she had moved on, had not taken a look back and sped ahead with her own life. If it wasn’t a reconnection with a long ago friend that he wanted, it definitely would be the ability to prove to her that he too had moved on. That was really what this was all about. Showing her that he was completely, one-hundred percent over her. And more than ever, he needed to prove that little fact to himself. What better way than to spend an evening out, no ties and nothing over their head, just two friends reminiscing. 

            Giving her a nonchalant glance over, he had to admit she was a stunning vision in that simple pastel dress,  her silky hair blowing in soft waves from the opened window of the truck. Jake caught a strand as it threatened to whip him in the face, that smell of jasmine and honeysuckle teasing his nostrils again.

            Hayden glanced over at him and smiled, causing his stomach to do somersaults. Deciding to break the uncomfortable silence, he carelessly reached over and flicked on the radio.

            Sitting back in the seat and relaxing, Jake had almost forgotten that she was there at all until he heard her soft voice humming to the music. As if humming wasn’t enough, Hayden actually started singing the words to the song in harmony with the music.

            He had never really heard her sing before. Yet, her voice was fascinating. She hit every note of the song with perfection. Realizing that he was becoming mesmerized by her, by the sound of her voice,  he quickly leaned over and changed the station to something he was almost certain she wouldn’t be able to sing.

            Hayden proved him wrong as she started belting out the lyrics loudly, purposefully singing off key to drive him nuts. He had to chuckle. This was typical of the Hayden he once knew, the girl that he thought was gone forever when she stepped back into his life merely one day ago. In spite of the sophisticated way she talked or the graceful way she moved, or the urbane life she had been leading over the last ten years, he continuously caught glimpses of that small-town girl from the south she had once been. And that realization aggravated him to no end.

            He didn’t want to be reminded of the girl he had fallen so madly in love with. He didn’t want to look at Hayden and see anything other than a snob and a rich bitch that had forgotten her roots. Jake wanted her to be arrogant and egotistical. It would be easier for him if she looked down on him and his mediocre life, if she belittled his accomplishments and boasted about her own. Instead, she seemed proud of him, humble about her own success, and all in all, not arrogant and egotistical.

            Her singing continued, a painful ode to Johnny Cash and his ring of fire. He had heard enough, the adorable way she bellowed a classic. Without any thought, Jake simply reached over and covered her mouth with his hand to stifle her howling. Unfortunately, that didn’t succeed to silence her as she continued belting out the lyrics horribly, only the words were now muffled. Jake couldn’t help but chuckle as he released her mouth and allowed her an excruciating finale.

            “You should be ashamed,” he stated matter-of-factly.

            “Why is that?” was her amused reply.

            “Desecrating Johnny Cash like that. There ought to be some kind of law…”

            Hayden shrugged and reached over to play with the tuner on the radio.

            Jake glanced over at her sporadically, trying to decide which he was more pissed off about, the way her subtle beauty fascinated him or the way she seemed completely oblivious to how charming  she really was.

            Jake was more than relieved when he pulled into the packed parking lot of the corral.

            He put the truck in park, and being a complete gentleman, he quickly got out and ran around to the passenger side to open the door for her. Hayden nodded graciously and stepped out of the truck. She smiled at Jake as he carelessly placed his hand at the small of her back and escorted her inside.

            The dance hall was decked out with small white lights dangling from the ceiling, loud country honky-tonk blaring from the live band onstage, and the crowd of couples line dancing to the fast-paced music.

            The further they traveled inside the confines of the crowded corral the closer they were forced to stand beside each other, much to his dismay. 

            Familiar faces greeted them, some friendly and some a little too curious for their own good. But to his surprise, Hayden had taken it all in stride.

            Hayden glanced around the sea of swimming faces, recognition kicking in instantly. Their high school valedictorian, the girl that used to sit behind her in algebra, the boy that used to chew gum all the way through Mr. Hanley’s chemistry class, all greeted her as if they had been best friends growing up. Unknowingly she had reached over and grabbed Jake’s hand as if it were her life preserver, too overwhelmed to realize what she was doing. Just as quickly as she had reached for it, she released him and stepped away.

            She needed to get away from him and fast. The sudden flood of emotions and memories were overpowering. The sudden tingle up and down her spine when her hand had brushed against his was chilling and powerful. She needed an escape, prayed for one. And just as if her prayers had been answered…

            “Hayden Laurence!” the masculine southern drawl bellowed, drowning out the music.

            She turned at the exact moment his hands came around her waist, squeezing the very breath out of her. Hayden leaned back and stared into the face of the stranger before her eyes lit up with recognition and she returned the boisterous hug. “Billy Riley,” she screeched. “How the hell are you?”

            Billy Riley had been Jake’s best friend since grammar school, had been the one to give her the worst time of it when she had first moved to Bakersfield. But they had ended up being friends. Trading barbs back and forth and getting into a battle of wits had been their specialty. And nothing had changed because Billy fell right back into his role in their dysfunctional friendship.

            “How are you doing, Miss Hoity-toity, High Society, hooligan?”

            “A lot better than you,” she countered, leaning back and patting his swollen beer gut. “You look like you swallowed an entire keg.”

            “And you look like you’ve been visiting the porcelain god much too often to be healthy.”

            She laughed. “So, what have you been up to? Gotten arrested lately?”

            “I just got out of jail today, I’ll have you know.”

            “Drunk or disorderly?”

            “Both,” he offered with a hearty chuckle.

            Jake could see that he was conveniently off the hook momentarily and took the opportunity to dismiss himself and go get a beer.  He meandered his way through the crowd and found the bar, ordering the tallest draft they had.

            With beer in hand, he leaned back against the counter and watched, his eyes shaded by the brim of his Stetson. It was amusing how everyone had flocked to her, had been tripping all over themselves to talk to her. She looked baffled at all of the attention, and seemed a bit humiliated when Leslie Parsons coyly asked her for her autograph.

            He did not want to be so fascinated by her. He didn’t want to look at her and be so damn attracted to her. What he wanted was to quickly find someone to take his mind off of Hayden and the effect she was having on his senses.

            As if his prayers were answered by a higher power, Magnolia Benedict sashayed over to him and asked him to dance. The busty blonde was the perfect diversion and he accepted her hand gratefully.

            As he spun around the dance floor, he kept one eye on Hayden. Jake couldn’t help himself. She was just so beautiful to look at. He was afraid that if he looked away, she would disappear. But the moment her eyes met his, he pulled his gaze away and pretended to be completely caught up in the woman dancing with him.

            Out of the corner of his eye, he saw Billy pulling her out onto the dance floor, with quite a bit of protest from Hayden. Yet, she finally succumbed and allowed Billy to lead her in a fast-paced two-step. She laughed as he twirled her around wildly.

            Finally, the song ended and Billy tugged her over to where Jake and Magnolia were standing, applauding the band.

            Hayden refused to meet Jake’s eyes and he couldn’t for the life of him figure out why. But the moment Billy dipped his hat and propositioned the luscious Miss Benedict for a spin around the dance floor, Jake found it just as hard to look at her.

            The music began to play and as much as he wanted to bolt from the uncomfortable moment, he turned to her and reluctantly offered her his hand.

            Hayden gave him an unsure look as she accepted, allowing him to lift her hand to his shoulder, reaching for her other hand and tucking it in his. He wrapped one of his arms around her waist and pulled her a bit too close. Their eyes met simultaneously.

            Despite all of her previous protests, Hayden was pretty light on her feet. She fell into step with him quickly. They floated among the other couples, spinning and laughing as if they didn’t have a care in the world, as if neither one would surrender to what they inevitably knew was going on… a jolt back in time.

            “You’re not half bad, Tucker,” she teased, more than anything wanting to bolt out of his arms, run away from the sudden tingling erupting throughout her entire body.

            “Well, you’re not so bad yourself.”

            “Get out of here. I’m horrible.”

            “No. Really, you’re pretty good.” Just as he said it, she stepped on his foot.

            Hayden grinned sheepishly. “Sorry.”

            He returned her smile. “It’s okay. I didn’t need the feeling in that foot anyway.”

            Jake leaned back and gave her an appreciative look and smiled sweetly. “Thank you for coming out with me tonight.”

            “Thank you for inviting me,” she said with a light voice, before arching one brow curiously and offering him a lopsided grin. “Why did you ask me to come out with you?”

            “I figured my parents could use some quality time alone.”

            “Ah,” was her less than enthusiastic answer.

            “What? Are you disappointed by that answer,” he countered quickly causing her to flash him an irritated look

            “No. Not in the least. I could care either way what your motives are.”

            “I see. What if I told you my original date cancelled on me and you were just there,” he teased, tipping his black Stetson and grinning mischievously.

            “I’d say it wouldn’t be the first time,” she countered.

            “You seemed a little overwhelmed earlier, when you were getting bombarded by adoring fans.”

            “Adoring fans? Hah! Nosy people who wanted a piece of gossip to spread around town is more like it,” she snorted disdainfully.

            “You have to admit, you miss living in the country just a little bit.”

            “I may deny it later, but yeah, I do.”

            She looked away for a moment before returning her eyes to his. In all the times she had been with Jake, she had never seen him in a cowboy hat. It was usually baseball caps or nothing at all. He was sinfully sexy in the black shirt, his muscles more than evident beneath the cotton, and the loose fitting faded jeans. Not quite the cowboy of her dreams, but enough to keep her awake tonight.

            As if realizing her thoughts had run away with her, Jake asked lightly, “What are you thinking about?”

            “Huh?” she replied absently.

            “Your face got so serious all of a sudden.”

            “It’s nothing. I was just thinking back. I don’t remember ever seeing you wear one of those hats before,” she replied, her eyes flicking upward to the Stetson.

            “I did. Just never around you.”

            “Why was that?”

            He looked away from her, almost embarrassed by his reason. “I was afraid that you would laugh at me.”

            “Why would I have laughed at you?”

            “Because you told me once that you hated the stereotypical Texan cowboy thing that most of the guys we hung out with tried to pull off. You said unless they were roping cattle they had no business wearing a cowboy hat.”

            “I remember that now. But if I would have known how sexy a Stetson was on a man, I would have never said that.”

            “Sexy on just any man or sexy on me?” he offered playfully.

            She looked away from him, unprepared to answer his question. But then, she lifted her bright eyes and smiled. “On any man,” Hayden threw up to him, causing him to grin.

            “Well,” he said lightly, “I guess we can say that this dance is a success.”

            “Yeah?”

            “No broken toes so far,” he chuckled.

            “That’s because our feet are moving too fast. Give me a slow song and you’ll be wishing you had worn some steel toed boots.”

            As if right on cue, the music slowed down, the band playing a ballad. Hayden stepped away from Jake and glared at him hesitantly.

            He shook his head and chuckled, pulling her back to him. “Uh-unh. Not so fast. You owe me a slow dance.”

            “How do you figure?”

            “Toby Anderson’s graduation party. We got into a fight and you ran out of there before I had a chance to dance with you.”

            “If memory serves me correctly, you were drunk that night and being a horse’s ass. I don’t think you could have stood up straight long enough to dance with me.”

            “Well, I ain’t drunk now. Or being a horse’s ass… At least I don’t think I am.” He smiled at her and winked. “What do you say? One more dance for old time’s sake?”

            Groaning inwardly, she figured what the hell. There could be no harm in something as innocent as a dance. “Fine,” she agreed.

            He wrapped her arms around his neck and encircled her waist with his. They began swaying slowly to the music.

            Jake couldn’t pull his eyes away from hers. As if mesmerized by the music and lost in each other, they could have been the only one’s in the room. Jake’s fingers caressed the small of her back as they swayed. He thought he had imagined her hands toying with the hair at the nape of his neck. But when she gently cupped his cheek, he knew his mind wasn’t playing tricks on him. Jake decided to run with it. To hell with tomorrow or yesterday. Right now, all he wanted was to feel those lips of hers against his again.

            His gaze fell to her mouth, then back to her eyes. And he lifted one brow, deciding to leave the next step up to fate.

            Hayden felt shivers erupt throughout her entire body as his fingers tickled up and down her spine. And when he pulled her closer to his chest, she tingled with a feeling she hadn’t experience in a long time. This was what she had been missing in her life, purely intoxicating attraction. And Jake had always been the only man to make her become so completely incapable of rational thought.

            As he leaned down closer to her face, she could feel his breath against her hair. Then, he pressed his lips against her cheek, kissing her softly. Hayden turned her mouth to his, allowing him to spray soft kisses against her lips.

            What started as a gentle kiss suddenly erupted into something more as he flicked his tongue against her mouth. But the moment she opened her lips and allowed him entry, Jake was at the point of no control. The kiss deepened, lasting what seemed like an eternity. They held onto each other as if they could drown at any time. Jake’s hands tangled in her hair as he tried to pull her closer, unable to get enough of her.

            As the song ended, so did their kiss. Jake pulled back slowly and stared into her stunning eyes. The expression on her face was first shock and then complete and utter pleasure. But as quickly as the aroused light had flickered on, it faded. Hayden pushed away from him. He could tell she was bewildered and confused. And like an idiot, he just let her walk away.

Continued