Only One (2 page)

After Cole left for college, I high-tailed it out to California to make something of myself once I’d pleaded and begged my mama to realize college wasn’t in the cards for me. I banked everything on that one role I’d gotten back in high school, sure as hell I’d become famous if I tried and worked hard enough. I didn’t share my secret with everyone other than Cole that I wanted to head to Hollywood and give it all I had.

Cole was becoming famous in Alabama since he replaced their starting quarterback who had gotten injured, and he was even making a name for himself around the collegiate football world. I’d kept tabs on him this whole time, happily cheering for him from the sidelines, whether he knew it or not. Even though I resented Cole for what I found out he’d done, I still wanted to somehow be worthy of him. To prove I could be somebody that was famous, too.

Cole called me constantly after I found out, but I never picked up, and he never knew why I stopped answering. He finally gave up one day. I kept up with his football from afar or from my daddy. I pushed myself in my career, and finally, after a long time with Aaron’s help, I landed a role on a daytime television show. It wasn’t a long, committed contract, but it was something to look forward to each day.

~~~

As I pulled up the driveway to Aaron’s house on my way home from a long day at work, a horn honked behind me and I nearly jumped out of my skin, snapping me from remembering how I got out here in the first place.

“Annabelle,” a very familiar voice yelled out.

I turned to find my Uncle Josh grinning from ear to ear for a brief second. Once he got a good look at me the smile left his face.

With his car still running, he jumped out. His eyes blazed, even in the low light. “Hey, darlin’.” He kissed my cheek and pulled me in for one of his bear hugs that I always loved when I was little. I felt him stiffen as he held me. He pulled back, looked up to Aaron’s place and then down to me. His jaw clenched and worry was written all over his face.

“How did you know where I was?” I didn’t really want to know the answer.

He tilted his head to the side. “I got my ways.” He sighed heavily, examining me in with his eyes. “Baby girl, your daddy is worried about you.” I went to say something, but he held up his hands. “I offered to come, seeing as we’re all a little worried, and I’m pretty sure my big bro would flip right now if he saw you.” He looked me up and down again. “What the hell’s going on with you?”

I swallowed, looking down to check out the time on my phone, knowing Aaron was most likely home and watching from the window like he always did if I was running late. I didn’t dare look to find out. “Uncle Josh, you’re wasting your time coming out to see me, I was going to buy a ticket home next month.”

He rubbed his chin, eyeing me up, disbelief in his tone. “Is that right?”

I smiled. “Yeah, sure.” I stopped, finally wanting to break down and just hug him again. I missed him so much, but I didn’t dare, for fear Aaron would see us. “It’s great to see you. How long are you in town for? Maybe we can have dinner?”

“I think I might be staying a little longer than I originally planned.” Suddenly his eyes flicked to the loft and held steady. “Why the hell is that guy eyeing us from the window?”

“That’s just my agent,” I answered cheerfully, trying to assure him that everything was fine.

He turned his head back to me a few minutes later. “Do me a favor, baby girl, go pack your shit and let’s go.” He was giving me an order, one I know he wasn’t going to debate, but damn it, I had to try.

I smacked him playfully on his arm. “Oh, stop it, Uncle Josh. Aaron and I are dating and I’m happy here,” I lied and plastered one of my fake megawatt Hollywood smiles on. I was happy in my career, but most definitely not happy in my personal life. And if Uncle Josh suspected anything or anyone was harming me, it wouldn’t be pretty. And as much I despised Aaron more and more each day, I didn’t want him harmed.

Uncle Josh pulled his trademark toothpick from the front pocket of his button down, stuck it in his mouth, eyed me up another second, and then went to turn off his car before advancing on me again. “You got five minutes before I call my brother and tell him to book a flight here. If it weren’t for your mama he would be the person looking at you right now. She persuaded him to let me come, instead.”

I didn’t budge, even though his words struck right through my heart and he saw it. “Matter of fact, maybe I’ll even call up Cole and get his ass out here, too. Football season’s over.”

“You wouldn’t,” I yelled.

He grinned, knowing he’d touched my weakness. “You wanna bet, darlin’?” He wrapped his arm over my shoulder, tugging me beside him toward the door. “That asshole boyfriend of yours has been watching me ever since I got here today. That asshole boyfriend of yours has two other ladies he likes to have fun with.” He held up a finger to stop me when I came to a halt. “Already done the snooping, and you know it’s true. I said we were worried about you. Do you really think we’d let this shit fly much longer?”

I shook my head, unable to answer. Personally, I was surprised it had taken this long for someone to come get me. I knew I’d lost for now, so I caved. “I’ll get my stuff and be right back.”

I turned to go in alone, but he was right up my backside. “Not a chance.”

We barely made it inside before his phone went off. “Yeah, Dane. I got her, and I’ll be bringing home as soon as I can.” A few more words were spoken, but then he hung up. “What are ya waiting for?” He pushed me gently toward the stairs.

Seeing Aaron standing at the top of the steps, his arms firmly crossed over his chest, almost made me turn around and go back down. I gulped, unsure of what to expect, since Aaron ran so hot and cold. “Who the fuck is this, Anna?” His voice sent a chill up my spine. I guessed we’re getting cold tonight.

My uncle chuckled and then shot him a look of disgust. “Don’t worry about who I am, but I’m takin’ her with me.”

Aaron uncrossed his arms and rested his hands on his hips, as disbelief and shock crossed over his face. “The fuck you are.”

Uncle Josh looked at me. “You let this asshole talk to you like this, Annabelle?”

“Her name’s Anna now, she isn’t five years old anymore.”

Uncle Josh stepped past me to get to Aaron first. “Is that so? Well,
Annabelle
is my niece and I am taking her home. I know all about the two little babes looking to be famous you keep on the side. I know you slithered your disgusting hands into my niece’s life the same way. I also know my beautiful niece looks undernourished and not
fucking
like how we sent her off to California.”

I knew the punch was coming, but so did my Uncle Josh. Josh grabbed Aaron’s fist before it connected with his face, twisted Aaron around to push him up against the wall, and leaned real close to his ear. What he whispered I had no idea, but by the way Aaron nodded his head, I knew it wasn’t pretty. “I can either let go and you can go sit on that fancy ass white leather couch, or I can keep you pinned up against the fucking wall. Your choice.”

“I’ll sit,” Aaron spat out.

“You move and you’ll regret it.” Uncle Josh threw him down on the couch and planted the heel of his black cowboy boot into Aaron’s crotch. He looked back at me. “Darling, move a little faster, will ya?”

I threw everything I could into my suitcase, leaving behind a few things I couldn’t fit inside. I grabbed my make-up case, and my hair accessories, shoving them into an oversized handbag before looking around the bedroom I shared with Aaron. I breathed a sigh of relief that I was breaking free, but also felt a twang of disappointment that it had to taken my Uncle to rescue me, when all along I should’ve done it myself. I was just too afraid of disappointing my family and Cole with what I’d let myself become. I was too ashamed to find the real me again.

Aaron yelled my name and begged me to come back, not to leave, and screamed how much he loved me, but Uncle Josh kept pushing me along, not letting me glance back even once. Not that I wanted to.

A few minutes later he shuffled me into his rental. I broke down and let myself cry. He cranked the engine and then pulled me into a hug. The weight of his arms and then the comfort of him kissing the top of my head made me sob even more. “I got ya, baby girl.”

I shook my head as I buried it into his shoulder. “I can’t leave, Uncle Josh. I have a job, a commitment I made. I have nowhere to go. Aaron won’t let me go this easily. You don’t understand.”

He pushed me back softly. “It’s time to come home, honey. But let me do something for you. We can stay in my hotel for the week. One week, Annabelle, and you clear yourself up to come home with me. Yeah? Everybody’s waiting on ya, darlin’.” He sighed softly. “First thing first, though, I need to feed you. Where can we get a good burger and fries around this damn place?”

I smiled, practically salivating at the thought of eating a cheeseburger for dinner. It had been too long since I’d even entertained the thought. I directed him to the closest burger joint, rethinking my life and what his visit meant for my career and me.

Getting out my contract took more work than I expected it to. I’d only signed a month- by-month guarantee of my character when I started, but I still had two weeks left on the latest contract, and they wanted me to fulfill it. I couldn’t blame them, but my Uncle Josh was not happy, nor were my folks. The one positive Uncle Josh found was that he planned on fattening me up before my daddy got a look at me. He told me when he’d seen me the first time, it had broken his heart, and he knew my daddy would never let me chase my dream again.

I loved him for it, but after the first few days of eating unhealthy, I saw my skin start to break out like I was thirteen years old, and even my clothes started fitting a tad differently. It didn’t take long for the producers to lecture me about the terms of my contract. Even though they had my replacement already, thanks to Aaron, I still had to keep my figure under a size two, per my contract, or no pay.

I didn’t want to disappoint my Uncle, so I started being real careful of what I ate, and if he made me eat something I didn’t want, I did it anyway, and then got rid of it as fast as I could without being too noticeable. I felt more ashamed of myself than ever, but I needed to keep in good graces with these people if I ever wanted to work again.
I’ll go home for a little while, but I’ll come back stronger. And when I do, I will not need the likes of Aaron Kane ever again to make my dreams come true.

***

I don’t know what I’m more afraid of, facing my family or finally seeing Cole for the first time since that night we shared.
Once we arrived back in South Carolina, I was not surprised to see my family and my Aunt Lu pacing back and forth in the baggage claim at the airport.

It was like daddy sensed me as I came down the escalator. If I could have let my knees buckle, I would have. I was always Daddy’s little girl, and when our eyes met I couldn’t refrain from letting the tears drop while I ran straight into his open arms.

He gripped me tightly, holding on with one arm, smoothing down my hair with the other. “Let me see you, baby girl.” Though I’d never seen my daddy cry, I caught a glistening in his eyes that I’ll never, as long as I live, forget.

“I’m so sorry, Daddy. I’ve been horrible to you and Mama by not coming back sooner.” I cried.

Even though he kept his mouth quiet, I saw the concern in his eyes. I was different. Everything about me had changed since I left almost three years ago, my hair, my face, the clothes I wore, and most importantly, my ever-slender figure. “We’ll talk about all this later, right now you need to go say hello to your mama. She was up all night, excited to see you.”

I stepped out of his grip and turned to see Mama, Aunt Lu, and my baby brother AJ waiting for me. Aunt Lu kept eyeing my mama and me back and forth, making me nervous as ever. My mama just stood there, her mouth agape, a hand covering it like she was trying to hide her dissatisfaction at my appearance.

AJ met my steps. “Hey, Belle,” he whispered as he gave me an uncomfortable hug. “Mom is about ready to have a damn coronary, come up with something good about why you’re so damn skinny. And what the hell did you do to your hair?”

I smiled as I pulled away from AJ “I’m fine. You got big, baby brother.” I took off his ball cap and ruffled his hair some to get a smile out of him. When I left AJ was a scrawny thirteen-year old. I’d returned to find an adorably filled out sixteen year old. Mama was surely pulling out her hair trying to keep the girls away.

I slowly walked over to Mama. “Hey, Mama,” I said and then smiled at my aunt. “Aunt Lu, it’s good to see you.”

Lu’s hand leapt to her mouth, like she had something negative to say. My Mama reached out to me and twirled my now fake blonde hair around her finger. “It’s good to have you home, sugar.” And then like she couldn’t hold back, she sobbed, pulling me to her. After several minutes she shook her head. “Well, let’s get you home. I got the crock pot going with your favorite barbequed chicken and a peach pie for dessert.” She tucked her arm inside of mine. “Let’s get your bags and get outta here.” She smiled brightly, like her cooking was going to solve all my problems. If only.

Cole

Even though I hated thinking about it, the memory of my last night in town had been on constant replay when I was awake and woke me from countless dreams at night in a cold sweat since we parted ways. Still, I wouldn’t trade that memory for all the money in the world.

I woke with a start. Sweat was beading on my forehead and dampening my neck as the same dream slammed into me like it always did. Trying to shake away that dream, awake now, I glanced to my side, expecting to see Hannah beside me, but remembered that I was sleeping on the couch, while Hannah was in my old bedroom in the house I grew up in. I had just gotten home from school for the summer and brought Hannah home for the first time. Mama called weeks ago and told me Annabelle was finally home. I didn’t even know what to say, I just hung up the phone.