Where Forever Lies (9 page)

“Kyleigh,
do you think you’ll have any more problems from him?”
Paige asked, taking a sip of wine of her wine. She scrunched her nose
up as the twang of the wine hit her. It was bitter, just like she
liked it. She wasn’t normally a drinker, but tonight she needed
a glass or two of wine to ease her nerves. There had just been so
much stuff to deal with lately that she felt she was being
suffocated.

“I
don’t think so. I think he just needed to leave his last mark
before I left. You know, this is his way of getting in the last
word,” Kyleigh said, letting out a half laugh, half sob as she
poured herself another glass.

“Well,
you can stay here as long as you need to.” Paige leaned back on
the couch, running her finger along the rim of her wine glass. She
didn’t know what else she could do to help Kyleigh out. The
thought of Brad doing anything else to her, worried her. She couldn’t
imagine having anything else happen to someone close to her. She
shoved those thoughts away. Nothing was going to happen to Kyleigh,
she wouldn’t let it.

“Thanks,
Paige,” Kyleigh said, giving her a big, teary eyed smile that
made her busted lip stand out even more. Kyleigh covered her mouth
and said, “It’s so embarrassing. I don’t know how
I’m going to explain this at work.”

“I’m
sure we can come up with something creative,” Paige said and
took another sip of her wine.

Kyleigh
sighed and brushed her hair out of her face. It looked like a knotted
mess and Paige wondered how far their fighting had gone. She turned
her eyes away, her heart breaking from the thought of it all. She had
never been in an abusive relationship, in fact she hadn’t been
in very many relationships at all, but she could never figure out why
someone would stay with someone like that.

“Paige,
don’t look so down. I couldn’t be happier to finally be
away from Brad. If this last small incident is all I have to endure
to be out of his grasp, then so be it. But I’m happy, so don’t
worry yourself about me. I know how you are. You are a worrier,”
Kyleigh said as she nudged Paige’s side and gave her a smirk.

Paige
looked into her face and saw that she really meant what she was
saying and she couldn’t be happier for her. “Good, then
that definitely eases my mind. But I’m telling you, if you go
back to that bastard, then you better be ready for a fight from me as
well,” Paige said, slapping her on the arm. “I mean it,
too.”

“Don’t
worry, there’s no way in hell that I’m going back to him.
I don’t care if he comes crawling on his hands and knees,
begging.” Kyleigh’s eyes lit up as that thought crossed
her mind, but then they darkened. “But, unfortunately, I
couldn’t get lucky enough to turn him down in that scenario
because he would never do that.”

Paige
laughed, “That would be a sight to see.”

Kyleigh
let out a huff of air, “Oh, Paige, I just don’t know what
I’m going to do now. I’ve never been single for long. It
just seems so foreign to me. I don’t know what to do with
myself.” She looked over at Paige, her big brown eyes showing a
hint of fear in them.

“Kyleigh,
you are beautiful, believe me, you won’t be single for long.
Anyway, maybe it will be good for you to be single for a while.”
Paige smiled as Kyleigh’s eyes brightened and she let out a
giggle.

“Well,
I don’t know if I like that idea but we’ll just see what
happens. What about you. You haven’t dated in like forever. How
do you do it? You’re not going to turn into a spinster or
anything are you?” Kyleigh asked, her cheeks reddening from
laughing.

Paige
narrowed her eyes at her. “No, I just don’t have time to
date right now. I’m way too busy working and taking care of
Kyra. That’s already daunting enough, let alone adding a guy in
there.” Paige paused for a moment as she stared down at her
wine glass. She wasn’t really being honest here because she did
want to find someone but the thought just scared her. She could come
up with a million excuses as to why it was better to be single. She
was terrified of picking out the wrong guy again, and getting Kyra
involved or attached and then have it not work out in the end. It
seemed safer to just stay single and raise Kyra on her own. She felt
Kyleigh staring at her and looked up as she said, “Okay, to be
honest, I am lonely, but I did get asked out by a guy today at the
park,” Paige said and then started laughing.

“No
way! Who?” Kyleigh asked. “I knew there was no way
someone could be single as long as you have been and not need a man
by now.”

Kyleigh
was grinning over her wine glass and Paige rolled her eyes. “I
don’t need a man, really. But it would be nice to find a decent
guy for once instead of the losers I’ve dated. Geesh, I was
almost to the point of giving up on guys completely, but this guy
seems all right, and if he calls, I just might go out with him. His
name is Tyler and I ran into him at the park. Actually, he hit me
with his basketball,” Paige confessed, laughing.

Paige said
this as she tried to remember the last date she’d been on. It
seemed like forever. She thought it had to be at least six months ago
or maybe even more. Her mind drifted back to the guy she’d gone
out with. Colton. He had been such a jerk. He had been the arrogant,
cocky type who thought she wanted to have sex on their first date.
All it took was her slapping him across the face and kicking him in
the balls for him to realize his hands needed to stay off of her. She
had been so angry that night, and had sworn she wouldn’t go out
on a blind date again. She’d realized that she’d somewhat
kept to that promise because she hadn’t gone out with anyone
since. Maybe it was time to try it out again and maybe Tyler might be
different.

Kyleigh
began to laugh harder, making Paige forget to add that he also was
the one who had rear-ended her.

“Maybe...”
Kyleigh started, a huge grin covering her face, “maybe we will
both find a great guy Friday night when we go out, if
Mr.Guy-from-the-park hasn’t snatched you up by then.”

Paige
groaned. That wasn’t her idea of having a good time. She’d
wanted to get out of the house, relax with her friend, dance and
forget all her troubles. But when she saw the excited look on
Kyleigh’s face, she knew she couldn’t say no. “We’ll
see about that. But first, why don’t you tell me where you are
taking me, because I am a little terrified you’re going to have
me boot scoot boogying Saturday night, and you know I’m no
country girl.”

Kyleigh
started laughing hard and slapped her knee as the laughter took over.
Paige knew that wasn’t a good sign.

Tyler
walked up the porch steps into his home and, as soon as he turned on
the lights, the vacant feel of the house slapped him in the face. He
walked over to the fridge, his cowboy boots echoing against the
hardwood floors, and pulled out a beer. Normally, the quietness of
the house didn’t bother him, but after having his mom’s
company for most of the weekend, and Brandon over, now the house just
seemed empty. He scratched his head, not sure why he even noticed,
because he’d never given it much thought before.

He decided
to head to the barn to feed the animals, clean up a little and keep
his mind occupied. He went out the back, almost tripped on Diesel,
who was lying in front of the door, and barely caught himself from
falling on top of the dog.

“Diesel,
what the hell are you doing, boy?” Tyler asked, as he reached
down to pet him. Diesel raised his head and whined in acknowledgement
before quickly falling back to sleep.

Tyler
shuffled down the steps, jingling his keys in his hands as he made
the short walk to the red barn out back. As he opened the door to the
barn his phone went off. He pulled it out of the back pocket of his
Levis and looked at the number. Sarah Barrow. He contemplated whether
or not to answer it because he knew what she wanted. What she always
wanted when she called him. He looked back at his empty, dark house
and decided it couldn’t be any worse than being alone all
night, again. He wasn’t sure what had been going on with him
lately. For some reason he was beginning to feel the loneliness in
his single life. Maybe it was because he was twenty-eight, pushing
thirty. Maybe it was because he’d been divorced for five years
now. He didn’t know but the more he thought about it, the more
he realized that these thoughts didn’t start really bombarding
him until he’d run into that girl, Paige. Not just once, but
twice now. Literally run into her. He rubbed at the back of his neck
as he gave that some thought. What were the odds of that happening?
He didn’t know, but what he did know worried him. He was
intrigued by her. The more he thought about it, the more he realized
he’d never had a girl interest him in that way before. Sure,
he’d been married and dated girls but the way he had looked at
them was different. The way he felt around them was different. He’d
only been around this girl twice and she already had him
subconsciously second guessing his life.

He didn’t
know what was so different about her but he could tell she was
definitely unique. Paige Griffin. It also surprised him that he even
remembered her last name, because his memory was horrible. He had a
hard time remembering his own birthday, let alone the name of some
girl he’d just met. He’d glanced at her insurance
information, maybe once, when he was on the phone with his insurance
company, and her last name somehow just popped out of his mouth like
it was something he said every day.

His phone
started ringing again, breaking him away from his insane thoughts,
and he decided to answer it this time, “Hey, Sarah.”

“Tyler.”
Her voice sang through the phone and he tensed at the intensity of
it.

“Yep,
what’s up Sarah?” he questioned, his voice hard and to
the point. He didn’t want to play around with games and chit
chat on the phone. It wasn’t his thing.

“Well,
I’m sure you know what’s up,” she said, quietly,
her voice turning more seductive with each word. “Do you want
to get together later?”

Tyler
thought about it for a minute and for once he wasn’t really
sure what he wanted. He had yet to turn down Sarah’s weekly get
together, but for some reason he was starting to question if he
wanted to keep playing these games with her. Did he want to continue
with these weekly flings? He had been living on the quiet road for a
while, not worrying about having a woman around and doing as he
pleased. But lately, things seemed to be changing within him. He knew
he wasn’t interested in Sarah, well, not in that way, but he
also didn’t think she cared, and right now, it didn’t
matter to him either.

“Sure,
why don’t you swing by in an hour,” he said as he swung
the barn doors open, kicking a rock out of the way with his cowboy
boot, and making his way down to the stall. He wanted to check on the
colt before he went back inside for the night.

“That
sounds great,” Sarah said and Tyler shook his head when she let
out a light giggle.

He pushed
the thoughts of Paige out of his mind. He had her phone number but he
was hesitant about making that call and asking her out. Besides, he
did think Sarah was a pretty girl, and at times she was even fun to
be around. She was attractive with long blonde hair, sun kissed skin
and legs that seemed endless. It was easy being around Sarah. There
were no strings attached. But he knew he was just killing time; she
wasn’t his type and he didn’t feel the connection he
wanted to feel with her. He’d tried telling her this for the
past three months of their on-again, off-again dating, if you could
call it that; but she always brushed it off and told him he’d
come around. He knew he wouldn’t, but he also didn’t mind
hanging out with her and just having a good time for a few hours.

He peered
into the stall where the mare and colt were and rubbed his hands
across the light stubble on his cheeks as he watched them. The colt,
a week old now, was probably old enough to be turned out for good in
the small fenced lot behind the barn. He’d turned them out for
a few hours each day but he figured now they were ready for a
permanent home out there. They’d be the only two in the area
and the small lean-to would give them shelter.

He stepped
into the stall and put the halter on the mare and led them out into
the smaller lot. He watched as the colt followed behind and he
couldn’t help but smile when he started bucking and kicking his
back feet out sideways.

After he
got everything done in the barn, he headed back to the house. As he
walked down the gravel drive to the house, he heard the coyotes howl
in the woods in the distance. It was almost eight o’ clock,
now, and the sun was beginning to set; as he looked out in the
distance he saw the orange colors from the sun splattered against the
sky. The view was perfect out here. The air cleaner and the stars
brighter than he ever saw during the few years he lived in the city
when he was married. He turned away from the view, glad the city
years were behind him. He had a good life out here. Brandon loved
riding the horses and his four-wheeler and Tyler enjoyed taking care
of the horses and having land to do whatever he wanted. But still, he
couldn’t shake the feeling that something was missing. He felt
like he had an itch he couldn’t scratch and it wouldn’t
go away. Maybe he just needed to unwind tonight with Sarah and it
would help clear his mind.

He heard
gravel crunching under tires in the distance and saw headlights
coming up his long drive as Sarah drove her Mercedes up to the house.
His heart sank and he knew this wasn’t what he was missing.

Paige made
her way to the nurse’s station to finish filling out some
patient reports, and felt a hand grab her wrist. Startled, she
quickly turned around and saw Jimmy staring at her. His face was
scrunched up in confusion, his blue eyes were flitting around wildly,
and his thinning gray hair was strung out everywhere.