Salvaged (32 page)

"I can't believe you agreed to kill the dog, Attie," Tess teased.

"I was willing to do anything not to have to add Advanced Visualization sessions," Attie said, giggling.

Gramps stood up and quieted the crowd. "I'd like to lead a prayer
in thanksgiving," he requested.

Everyone got serious and bowed their head.

"Dear Lord, Heavenly Father. It's about time. Amen."

"Amen!" everyone shouted.

I hadn't ever seen Attie as joyful as she was that day. There were
no signs of the girl who moved in almost three months before. She'd
turned the corner and was enjoying life again.

"Okay, Attie, are you ready for your present?" Gramps asked.

"Yes!" she squealed. "I love presents!"

"Riley?" Gramps looked at me, and I got up and grabbed her
hand.

"Are you my present, Riley?" she whispered while squeezing my
hand.

"I wish," I mumbled under my breath.

"Everybody out the back door," Gramps ordered.

Friends filed out, and Attie went to follow them, but I gently
kept hold of her hand to keep her back.

"Just wait," I whispered.

After a few minutes Gramps told me to go ahead and bring her
out. She closed her eyes, and I led her through the kitchen and out
the back door to the patio.

"Now, stay right here, and don't open your eyes 'til we tell you
to." I ran to join the others.

"Okay, open them," Gramps yelled.

She opened her eyes.

"Surprise!"

Her jaw dropped, and she didn't move a muscle.

"It's a miracle!" Tammy yelled. "She's speechless!"

"Is it mine?"

"Yes," her Gramps told her as he walked up to her and gave her
a kiss on the cheek.

"Gramps, it's brand new. It's too much!"

"What else do I get to spend my money on? Let me spoil you
a little."

"What kind is it?

"It's a Toyota Sequoia, and it seats eight people. I thought it
would be good for driving all your friends around."

"Good grief, it's huge!" Attie screamed.

"Well, it can certainly withstand a pounding if it needs to," Dad
told her.

"Go check her out!" Gramps ordered.

Attie ran around and climbed into the driver's side. She was in
awe. Matt, Curt, and Chase all jumped into the row of seats in the
back, the girls got in the middle row, and I got in the passenger seat.

"Oh look, it has a butt warmer!" she gushed. "I've always wanted
a butt warmer."

"I think the correct term is heated seats," Chase corrected.

"I don't care what you call them; I just like my butt to be warm."

"Take her for a spin!" Dad yelled.

Without thinking, I snapped my head around and looked at
everyone else in the car. They all looked slightly afraid, and Attie
noticed.

"Hey, I'm a good driver!" she shouted.

"Yes, I'm an excellent driver," Tammy said in her best Rainman
impression.

"See, Charlie, even Tammy knows Rainman."

"I already told you I'd watch it, Riley," she snapped back. "All
right, everyone, you ready?"

"Hold on!" Matt yelled as he clutched the seat in front of him.

"Enough from the peanut gallery," I yelled back. "You'll make
her nervous, and then we'll really be in trouble."

We were all excited for Attie but a little nervous for ourselves.
I could hear people snapping seatbelts in place and preparing for
the ride. Chase passed me the camera, and I took pictures of everyone in the back. They posed and acted out various scenarios. In one
particular pose, everyone acted like they were terrified. In another, everyone's arms were raised in the air as if they were on a roller
coaster. I couldn't wait to get the pictures developed.

"Let's get the show on the road," Tammy ordered.

Everyone not going in the car with us walked around to the
front of the house so they could see us as we drove by.

Attie carefully put the car in drive and started toward the
driveway.

"I'm ruining your dad's grass, Riley; he's going to kill me."

"Hey, he's the one that parked it there. What else can you do?
Just go slow."

She did.

"Okay, maybe not that slow," I corrected.

She sped up little.

As we drove past the patio, everyone started cheering, and Chase
snapped photos of the waving family members and friends. Attie
slowly made her way down the driveway, turned on her blinker, and
made her way onto the street. As soon as she officially exited out of
the driveway, we all started clapping.

Attie drove us around the neighborhood several times and honked
at everyone on the patio every time we passed the house. Granted, she
never drove over twenty miles an hour, but she did great.

"Do you think you can handle a Sonic run?" I asked.

She bit her thumbnail and then smiled over at me. "I think so."

We drove by the house so we could tell everyone where we were
going and get money from Dad, and then Attie drove her new car
down to the Sonic.

Sitting in the car talking, we drank our Route 44s and planned
our first road trip. Everyone agreed that we needed to float the Illinois River and go camping, so we put Chase and Tess in charge of
planning the event.

Once we made it back home, everyone took turns riding around
the neighborhood, and then we sat on the patio and watched as
everyone said good-bye and drove away.

(Attie)

"Wanna go to the drive-in?" Riley asked. "There's a showing
tonight."

"I thought you weren't going to ask me out until I was out of
your house? Wouldn't that be considered a date?"

"No," he said quickly and firmly.

"It wouldn't?"

"No, because there will be no touching involved."

"Oh?"

"You sound disappointed."

I felt my face blush. "Do I?"

"Yeah, I think you did. I love it. Come on, let's go," he begged.

"You know as well as I do that I can't say no to you."

"Really? Well then, maybe there will be some touching going
on," he taunted.

I gave him a playful glare before punching his shoulder.

"One can always hope," he added.

I waited on the patio while he grabbed a couple of blankets,
pillows, bottled waters, and snacks, and although it wasn't actually a
date, I couldn't wait to spend time with Riley alone.

We got there early enough to park on the front row and get
ourselves situated. Folding down the backseats, we lay on our backs
and propped ourselves up with the pillows.

"This is so comfy. If my Gramps had realized that this car gave
me the ability to fold down the seats and lay down in the back with
a boy, he wouldn't have gotten it."

"He wouldn't care if he knew it was me. He loves and trusts me."

"He doesn't know you well enough." I laughed. "Good thing he
can't read minds."

"That's the truth."

As we waited for it to get dark, we watched as other cars filled
the vacant spots and children ran around playing on the field below
the movie screen. I remembered when Riley, Melody, and I were
little and our parents used to bring us to the same drive-in. When
very young, we would play in the field just like the kids did tonight, and the older we got, our parents let us lay on a blanket and watch
the movie in the grass instead of in the car with the adults. We felt so
grown-up and independent. I couldn't wait until I was old enough to
drive my own car to the movie and leave my parents behind.

Now I'd have given anything to stay with them in the car a little
bit longer and not been in such a rush to spend time away from
them. Had I known then what I knew now ...

"I haven't gotten to congratulate you on your success today,"
Riley said, interrupting my thoughts.

"You haven't?"

"No." He reached into a bag and pulled out a gift. "Congratulations," he said, handing it to me.

"I get another gift!" I snatched the box out of his hands. "Oh,
Riley, you didn't have to get me a gift."

He sat up. "It's not much, trust me."

I carefully peeled the wrapping off and opened the box. "Key
rings!"

"Okay, now I need to explain why there are two." He gently took
the box away from me.

"All right."

Pulling the first one out, he showed it to me. It was a circle made
out of silver.

"This one has your initials on it. See?"

"Yes, it's beautiful." I took it from his hand, placed it in my palm,
and looked at it closely. I traced the engraved initials with my finger
and then looked back at him.

"I love it. So what's the other one?" I asked, trying to peek into
the box.

He grinned at me and then pulled out the second keychain.
It was a silver heart. "This one has your initials on one side,"-he
turned it over-"and mine on the other. You don't get to use this one
until we're officially dating."

For some reason I was surprised that he was still interested in
dating me.

"What?"

"Good grief, Riley, you still want to go out with me after all this
time? I thought for sure you'd be sick of me by now."

I lay down on my side and looked over at him.

He turned to face me. "Yes, I still wanna go out with you. I'm not
anywhere near sick of you. Why is that so hard for you to believe?
I don't think I'll ever understand why you constantly doubt how
special you are."

"I don't know; I just do."

"You're a keeper, Charlie. You might not realize it, but I sure
do."

"We'll see, Riley Bennett. The summer isn't over yet."

"You haven't seen anything yet."

"No?"

"Not even close."

"All right, let's get this road trip started!" Tammy yelled.

"You're driving, right, Riley?" I asked.

"Do you want me to?"

"Yes. I don't trust myself pulling that trailer thing behind us."

He laughed as I handed him the car keys. "I think I drive your
car more than you do."

"Don't worry about it. Gramps said that you were covered on his
insurance. You can drive, and I'll be in charge of the entertainment."

He cocked an eyebrow. "Entertainment?"

"The music. You can't have a road trip without good music. Isn't
that part of the fun?"

"It depends on the music," Tammy interjected.

"I brought all kinds. Hopefully everyone will be pleased."

We said our good-byes to Riley's parents and piled into the car.
Anne, Curt, and Matt sat in the back row, and Tess, Tammy, and
Chase sat in the middle. Riley apparently didn't trust my ability to
give good directions because he asked Chase to sit directly behind
him and handed him the directions.

I pushed out my bottom lip and tried to make sad eyes. "I don't
get to give you directions?"

"I didn't figure you could do entertainment and directions at
once.

"Hmm, good call. You know me well," I admitted.

"I know." He gave me a large grin. "Shall we go?"

"Yes, sir."

As Riley started the car, I began the entertainment portion of
our trip. "Let's Go Crazy" by Prince was the first song that I chose
to play.

Chase screamed at Riley over the music. "Take 1-35 south. We're
gonna go past Tinker Air Force Base and then stay on I-4o east until
we get to 69 north."

"Gotcha." Riley had already settled in and was heading toward
the highway as the rest of us bobbed our heads to the music. Curt
and Matt played air guitar as the song came to an end. I followed up
the awesome pop song with a classic country hit, "She Thinks My
Tractor's Sexy" by Kenny Chesney.

We spent the first half of the drive listening to songs from all
different decades and genres. "Bad Medicine" by Bon Jovi got the
best reaction from the crowd, so we played it three times in a row,
and in general, hair bands from the eighties got the most requests.

After about an hour and a half of driving, Anne decided to start
a game of "Let's Get to Know Each Other."

"Okay, first question. Is everyone ready?" she asked.

Riley and I rolled our eyes at each other. "Yes," we answered not
so eagerly.