Beautiful Goodbye (16 page)

Smiling I
pulled away from Larkin, “Yes, we are.”

“
What the fuck, Co? What if we were having sex or she was
blowing me?” Larkin yelled as he tossed his shirt towards
her.

“
Eww, God! Not a visual I want this early in the morning.
Nothing against you Jenna, you’re gorgeous. I just don’t want to
think about my big brother getting it on. Blah! Anyway, mom sent me
up to tell you breakfast is almost ready.”

Glaring at
Larkin I spoke to Cobie. “No worries, your brother won’t be getting
it on with me.” I hopped off the bed and took a few steps towards
her.

Cobie wrapped
her arm around my shoulders and laughed, “I really like you. I hope
you come around more.”

I didn’t have
the heart to tell her I wasn’t the sticking around kinda girl, so I
just smiled at her. “Me too.”

Walking down
the stairs with Cobie and a now grumpy Larkin following behind, I
took the opportunity to ask about his past. “Since your brother is
secretive about his past, what can you tell me?”

Cobie was
silent for a moment before saying, “The Larkin you know is
completely different from the Larkin I grew up with. He’s my big
brother and I’ve always loved him but he was an idiot.”

“
Oh.” Before I could dig deeper we were in the dining room
with a massive table covered in food. There were bowls of fruits,
bacon, sausage, pancakes, toast, waffles, eggs, biscuits and gravy,
and hash browns. “This looks delicious, Ms. Nayler.”

“
Please, call me Carrie or mom. Anything but Ms. Nayler, makes
me sound so dang old. Now have a seat and grab a plate. I wasn’t
sure what you liked so I made a variety.”

“
Mom, this is a damn buffet. I told Jenna you made a big
breakfast on Sundays but shit. You went a little crazy.” Larkin
pulled his mom into a hug.

“
Maybe just a little.” Carrie smiled softly at her son. “Who
wants coffee?”

Just hearing
coffee made my mouth water. “I do, please. I am not a functioning
human without my morning caffeine fix.”

“
You’re a mean zombie without your coffee in the morning.”
Larkin smirked as he lightly smacked my ass.

Cobie and
Carrie laughed. “I don’t want to know how you know how she acts in
the morning. I will pretend my son is the perfect little angel who
has never had sexy time with a girl”

We all broke
into laughter as Cobie asked, “Did you seriously just say sexy
time, mom?”

Carrie nodded.
“I did. What would you prefer I say? I don’t want to know about my
son screwing girls?”

Gramps walked
in just as Carrie said ‘screwing girls’. “Well that’s a helluva way
to start your day.”

“
Sorry Gramps, mom is talking about my sex life at breakfast.
Don’t listen to her.” Larkin clasped his hand on his grandpa’s
shoulder.

“
Son, I haven’t listened to her the last forty years, and I
have no plans on starting now.” Gramps smiled at him.

“
Oh, damn you guys. Let’s eat before you scare Jenna away.
Poor girl probably thinks our family is psycho.” Cobie pulled a
chair out and sat down.

“
Trust me your family seems normal compared to mine. By now my
little brother would have thrown food or asked about something
inappropriate.”

Larkin
snorted, “My sex life isn’t inappropriate for a breakfast
discussion?”

As we all sat
around the table the doorbell went off. Carrie hurried out of the
room to answer the door. When she returned she was followed by two
younger boys and a man and woman.

“
Larkin, I didn’t know you would be home this
weekend.”

Looking
between the two men I couldn’t help but feel the tension in the
room rising. “Uncle Chad. I didn’t realize I needed your permission
to come home and visit my family.”

“
Larkin, Chad!” Carrie scolded. “You two need to chill out. We
have a guest and I would really appreciate if you would wait until
later to rip each other apart.”

Chad turned
towards me, surprise flashing across his face. “Do I know
you?”

Scrunching my
face I shook my head. “No, sorry I go to school with
Larkin.”

The two
younger boys ran up to Larkin pulling on his arms and yelling at
him, trying to get his attention. Chad pulled his eyebrows
together. “You just look so familiar.”

Son of a
bitch. It had been well over a year, and I had only been noticed a
few times, and they were right after my issue of Playboy was
released. I didn’t want anyone to know what I did, I tried to keep
it secret. I smiled sweetly and said, “I guess I just have one of
those faces.”

A pretty woman
stepped in front of me and held her hand out. “Hi, I’m Kelli,
Larkin’s aunt.” Pointing to Chad she said, “That’s my husband,
Chad.” She pointed to the two young boys and smiled lovingly before
saying, “And that’s RJ and CJ.”

Placing my
hand in hers I returned her smile. “Hi, I’m Jenna.”

Carrie looked
around at everyone before saying, “Well, can we eat before all the
food gets cold? I made plenty so why don’t you guys join us for
breakfast?”

Kelli nodded.
“Sounds great.”

Breakfast was
full of awkward silence and the occasional question about my life.
After everyone ate Chad stood and placed his hand on Larkin’s
shoulder. “Why don’t you and I go out to the barn? You can help me
shovel shit.”

Larkin looked
to me before asking, “Will you be ok? It shouldn’t take me
long.”

I smiled and
nodded. “I’ll be fine. Go shovel shit with your uncle.”

Larkin hugged
me then gave me a soft, chaste kiss before walking out behind his
uncle. I helped Carrie, Cobie, and Kelli clean off the table and
load the dishwasher as the two young boys ran around the kitchen
pretending we were captured by pirates.

Cobie looked
at me, motioning out the door with her head. “Wanna go for a walk?
I can show you around the farm.”

“
That would be great. Let me put a sweatshirt on and we can
go.”

After putting
my sweatshirt on I met Cobie on the back porch. Looking out I could
see barn after barn after barn, fields in the distance, and the
pond in front of us. “Is this where you grew up?”

Cobie shook
her head then answered, “No. We lived in Cincinnati until my dad
died. I was nine and Larkin was twelve. He took it really hard. He
started fighting a lot and partying. My mom thought if we got out
of the city maybe he would calm down but he only got worse. The
only time I saw him truly happy was on the field at his
games.”

“
What happened to your dad?” I asked. I knew I shouldn’t be
prying but Larkin tells me nothing and I wanted to know
more.

“
He was a police officer and was called to a robbery. He was
shot on scene and killed instantly.”

“
I’m so sorry. Larkin has never told me about your dad. Well,
really he hasn’t told me anything about your family.”

Cobie shook
her head and pursed her lips. “He’s difficult. But don’t give up on
him. I have never seen him like this, not since our dad died. You
bring out the old Larkin. Not the fighting, drinking, stoned Larkin
I’m used to.”

Damn, this
girl was good. “Cobie, we are just friends. I care for your brother
but that’s as far as our relationship will go.”

Cobie turned
her golden brown eyes at me as she kicked the leaves. “Jenna, say
what you want but I see the way you look at my brother. You’re in
love with him, just like he’s in love with you.”

“
It’s not like that with us. I don’t do love, I do
fun.”

Cobie laughed.
“Girl, trust me I have heard how fun my brother can be but he’s not
like that with you. Larkin used to just use girls and when he was
done he would toss them to the side and go to the next one. He
would never take time to get to know the girl, he never cared about
them, and he sure as hell didn’t introduce them to our family. If
you knew the old Larkin you would see how different he is. I never
thought I would see him like this again. I always thought he would
overdose one day or get killed by some drug junkie.”

I knew Larkin
had a past that he wasn’t proud of but I never thought it was that
bad. “He was that bad?”

Cobie just
nodded and continued to walk. When we got to large red barn she
shoved open the door and motioned for me to go in. Walking in I
looked around seeing at least ten quads and who knows how many
tractors. “Ever ride a quad?” Cobie asked.

“
I’m from Alabama, what do you think?”

Laughing Cobie
handed me a helmet and walked over to the waiting quads. “Let’s go
for a ride. There’s a part of the farm I want to show you but
unless you want to walk a shit ton we will just take the
quads.”

I pointed to
my knee high boots and smiled. “Probably not the best for a walk on
the farm.”

Cobie giggled
then climbed onto her quad. “Just follow me.”

Starting the
quad I followed Cobie out of the barn and through the woods behind
the barn. Crossing a creek we came to a small clearing that was
littered with wild flowers and one single, giant oak tree. Cobie
stopped her quad just under the tree, pulled her helmet off and
hopped off.

Pulling my
helmet off I gazed around the clearing. “This place is
gorgeous.”

Smiling Cobie
said, “Ya, it is. This is where Larkin used to come when he needed
time alone. I followed him here one day and fell in love with it. I
still don’t think Larkin knows that I know about it.”

“
He was really, really bad wasn’t he?” I asked, the sadness in
my voice causing it to shake.

Cobie bit her
bottom lip and I saw the tears in her eyes. “I was so scared I was
going to lose my brother and my dad. My dad and Larkin are my
heroes. After my dad died I never thought Larkin would turn into
the person he did. I wanted my dad and my big brother back.” Cobie
shrugged and sunk down to the ground, leaning her back against the
tree.

Sitting beside
her I picked a flower and handed it to her. “I don’t know what the
old Larkin was like but the Larkin I know is amazing.”

Smirking Cobie
put her arm around my shoulder and said, “He is amazing. And so are
you. You two are perfect for each other. I know my brother can be a
pain in the ass and make life hell but he’s worth it. He deserves
to be happy and you give him that.”

“
I
have a past too, Cobie. Not a good one, a really fucked up past
that would scare him away.” I picked another flower and ran my
fingers along the petals.

“
Don’t be so sure about that. My brother is stronger than you
think. He has his own past that he’s trying to forget about. He
wouldn’t judge you because of your past.”

“
I
guess I just have a lot I have to work out for myself before I can
trust someone else with my heart.”

Cobie pulled
me into a hug and said, “You’re different. My brother sees that and
from what I have seen he’s not going anywhere. Just talk to him
about it.”

Giving her a
small smile I lifted one shoulder. “We’ll see.”

**********

After Cobie
and I got back to the house a very pissed off Larkin came in a few
minutes later. He didn’t say a word to anyone, he just stomped up
the stairs then I heard a door slamming.

Carrie looked
from Kelli to Cobie and I then said, “Well, I guess shoveling shit
didn’t go so well.”

Kelli’s mouth
turned down. “I think if Larkin and Chad both made it out alive I
would say it went stellar.”

I wasn’t sure
what the problem was between Larkin and Chad, but it was very clear
they were not fond of one another.

Cobie shrugged
as she picked RJ up and sat him on the counter. “Your daddy and my
brother are hormonal, do you know what that means?”

RJ smiled and
shook his head. “No. Tan you tell me? I wanna be smart when I
olda.”

Cobie ran her
hands through his messy hair and said, “It means they are
grumpy.”

CJ, who was
running in circles around the kitchen island stopped. Looking at
Cobie he asked, “Dats why momma talls daddy a gwumpdick,
huh?”

Kelli picked
her son up and through laughter she tried yelling at him, “Chad
Nolan Lang Junior! You do not say words like that.”

CJ looked
sweetly at his mom. “But mommy, you said dem.”

“
Because I’m an adult. Mommies and daddies sometimes say bad
words.” Kelli put her son down and watched as he ran off to another
room. Turning back to face us she was trying not to smile. “Damn,
boys.”

RJ was still
on the counter and wagged his finger at her. “Bad word
mommy.”

Kelli placed
her hand over her mouth. “Oh, sorry baby. Go find bubby and
play.”

Cobie placed
RJ on the floor and unlike his brother he slowly dragged his feet
out of the room.

Larkin came
stomping down the stairs and into the kitchen. “Jenna, I got our
shit packed and waiting. Let’s go.”