Personal Possessions (7 page)

“Hi.”

“Hey, I’m in town, heading
for First National Bank. Can you meet me there? There’s something I
need to do.”

She didn’t hesitate,
“Sure, on my way.”

“Thanks.”

Disconnecting the call, I
drove back to my hometown. Thirteen years had passed since I had
stepped foot here, a town I swore I would never come back to for
the rest of my life. This was where I once had everything.
Popularity. Lifetime long friendships, or so I thought and where I
had found the deepest of love anyone could ever have.

I never had any thoughts
of leaving Richland. I had it all worked out.

Finish college. We were
going to get married, right away. I had found a piece of property I
had always wanted to purchase. As the normal person would drive by
it, all they would see was farmland. Not me.

Instead of seeing wheat
fields, I saw a two story house with a wraparound porch. Wooden
chair rails surrounded the deck with rocking chairs angled on every
side of it. Upstairs, large windows overlooking the spacious
property. I could see my daughter sitting in the dormer reading,
while my son was outside riding bareback on one of our horses. It
was going to be so perfect. That was going to be our life, and we
would be happy. We would be together and in love.

She would eventually end
up taking over her dad’s practice, and I would work in Atlanta. I
would be a commuter by day, rancher by nights and weekends. I
looked forward to that kinda life. But yet, life obviously had
other ideas that consisted of fucking me up the ass, and shitting
all over my plans.

I had to stop thinking
about this, it was a waste of time and energy to think about shit
that never happened or would never happen, since she was happily
married to Bear.

The town hadn’t changed
one bit. A little more run down, but it was still Richland. Looking
around at the shops that had changed over the years. Places that
were there when I was growing up, were now trendy little boutiques
that probably charged more than the normal family in Richland could
afford, and would be out of business within the next six
months.

Driving down Main Street,
I recognized the old curb store where we’d pop in and steal ten
cent Bazooka gum. Old man Timmons knew that we were doing it, but
never said a word because we would end up spending that and more
when our parents brought us in.

I passed the old movie
theater where I would take
her
for dates. Images of the past swept through my
mind, were so bitter sweet. Memories of sitting in the back row,
and never even watching one glimpse of a movie because we couldn’t
keep our hands off of each other. The thoughts made me guffaw a
bit, which caught me off guard.

It had been so long since
I allowed even a peek of her to ramble through my mind. Regret
filling me instantaneously, as I drove those images back into the
place where they came from. I didn’t want to know where they were
stored. I didn’t give a shit. I just wanted to make sure they
didn’t come back now.

As the bank approached on
the right, I pulled up to the front and parked. I didn’t even get
the car shut off when I saw Rachel approaching. I was hesitant
about getting out, but knew if I wanted to do what I had been
planning on doing since I helped start Mac-Gentry, I would need to
get out of the car.

For some goddamn reason, I
was nervous about being recognized. I stepped out of the car, and
up onto the curb. Reaching into my back pocket, I pulled out my
wallet, which contained a check. The check had been filled out for
some time now, just not dated. There would be one less worry on my
mind by the time this day was through, I thought.

All these years, I felt
like shit on how I left things with my mother, I was her pride and
joy. She would brag about me anytime she could, to anyone that
would listen. The day that I left for college, she had cried the
entire night before and the next day, along with
her
.

I promised my mother that
I would be back in a couple of weeks for the holidays, but I never
showed. No call, no word. I just disappeared. I don’t know what
pissed me off more. Knowing that my father was right because I did
cause my mother to have her breakdown, or that I had to hear the
truth come from that bastard’s mouth.

The truth. Something that
I had been trying to avoid ever since I left Richland When it came
to my mother, I loved her. I wanted to protect her, and I was the
one who ended up hurting her more than my father ever could
have.

Suddenly, Rachel’s voice
brought me back to reality. I had to take some quick breaths to
hide the pain and self-loathing that I sustained internally so that
nothing showed on my face.

“Well, well… I can’t
believe my fuckin’ eyes Look at you!” She said as she wrapped her
arms around me.

“Rach. Hey,
darlin’.”

The scent of her perfume
enveloped me. That aroma was one that would follow Rachel to her
deathbed. As a matter of fact it probably seeped out of her pores
for as long as she’s worn it. Rachel was always a Chanel girl, that
scent brought me peace. Something about it, made me feel as though
nothing had changed, we were back in school and I was just waiting
to pick up El-
her.

That’s when I came back to
reality. Never could I bring myself to say her name.
Never.

Rachel’s hands hugged me
tight as though she had actually missed me. For some reason, I
always thought that because of my little disappearing act and not
fighting for what was truly important to me, I would always be the
reason for a witch-hunt. That I would be burned at the stake in the
middle of town, but that wasn’t the case here. Still, I didn’t want
to be out here in the open for very long. I had to stick to the
plan, and get the fuck outta dodge.

“Look, I can’t stay. I
just wanted to see if you would…” I opened my checkbook and there
was the check that had been sitting in the same place, not dated.
Just filled out to the sum of three hundred and seventy-five
thousand dollars and thirty-two cents. “Take this check and pay off
my momma’s house. I will call the attorney this afternoon, and have
my name put on the deed along with hers so that Tripp can’t worm
his way in there.”

Rachel looked at me as
though I had lost my mind. I had been planning on doing this since
I found out that my piece of shit dad left, and my mom had her
breakdown. She had two full time nurses there, one with her round
the clock. I knew that with her medical bills, she wasn’t going to
be able to keep the house, and I sure as hell knew he wouldn’t help
pay it.

“Trevor-“

“No… Look, I just came
from a meeting with Tripp, I said what I had to say to that
bastard, and I did what I had to do. That’s it. He’s fucked with
her long enough, and I have to live with my own guilt over leaving
her.” I finished.

I ran the check through my
hands wishing I could do more, or at least stop and see her, but I
didn’t want her to know that I was here. I wasn’t ready to face
her. I wanted to make sure that her home. My home, was not going to
be ripped out from under her like the life she once lived
was.

“I’ve wanted to do this
since I le-“

I wasn’t saying anymore. I
didn’t need to, Rachel was there.

“Just fuckin’ do it,
please. I am taking a chance of someone recognizing me just
standing out here. I know it’s more than plenty to pay it off.
Whatever is left over, give to the local children’s charity in my
mother’s name.”

Her face was empty, I
glimpsed up at her but couldn’t hold her eyes without feeling like
shit. I didn’t want to see the pity on her face so I shifted my
eyes back out to the street.

She didn’t say a word,
just blinked and nodded. Reaching my hand out to hers so that she
would grab the check and head inside, I wanted to get back in the
car, quickly.

I checked my phone to see
if I had missed any calls, of course I did. Two from Greg, and
three from numbers I didn’t recognize. I threw my phone over in the
passenger seat, and laid my head back against the headrest.
Scrubbing my face in a pitiful attempt to wake up until I could
rest on the plane was when my worst fear was made reality; that was
when I saw
her
.

She was walking on the
sidewalk across the street from where I was parked. A wrapped up
bouquet of flowers in one hand, and what looked like a tray of
brownies in the other. Knowing her, she was probably off to nurse
the sick. I couldn’t take my eyes off of her. She was still as
gorgeous as she was thirteen years ago. Memories flooded my
mind.

I could feel myself
running my hands down the soft skin of her stomach. I could hear
her moan, pleased with my touch. I could taste her lips on mine as
I drug my tongue over them to see if I could truly taste
her.

The hair on my arms
pricked up along with my cock. Just watching her walk was as though
she was mocking me. Obviously, unaware, her body was sending me a
message that it knew I was here, that it could sense me watching
her and that it called out to me. Hungering with great intent for
me to touch, and tease it.

Her strides were long and
sinuous. I could just imagine walking by, and inhaling her in. My
dick swelled just at the thought of it. I took a deep breath in,
and closed my eyes, beseeching for the winds to blow just a small
breeze my way. I remembered how her perfume had permeated my skin
many a time, and I missed that scent. I dreamt of that
aroma.

I huddled down in the
seat, praying that Rachel didn’t come out. “Fuck, she’s coming this
way,” I mumbled to myself. I could sit in a conference room full of
the most conniving and manipulating people on this planet. Lies and
promises spewing from my mouth that I had no intention of keeping.
Anyone that was in the way of what I wanted was insignificant, yet,
this woman who would forever hold the part of me that sustained my
existence. And that woman is right there, in front of me, turning
me into a huge bundle of nerves.

I pushed my head as far
forward as it would go, and put my hand on my forehead over my
eyes, as if I was blocking out the sun. I continually snuck in
peeks of her. She went to pass my car and stopped, right in front
of me. There I was, in my car, hunched down looking like a total
fucking idiot.

She stopped to talk to an
older woman, I didn’t want to sit up to see who the woman was, but
I could hear them talking. She was seeing how the lady was
feeling.

The sound of her voice
ripped through me. I could mentally hear her saying my name in that
tone she always used that drove me fucking crazy with desire. She
didn’t look around, she kept her attention on the older woman the
whole time she spoke. I rose, and sat straight up. I didn’t want
her to see me, but yet I was mentally begging her to look over so
that I could catch her eyes.

She finished her
conversation, and gave the older lady a hug before going on her
way. I realized then, that I had not taken a breath that whole
time. I exhaled and inhaled again, filling my lungs up with fresh
oxygen. “What the fuck was that, Trevor! You can’t even say her
name!” I verbally chastised myself.

All of these thoughts,
memories and feelings filled the hole that was created in my chest.
For just one moment, I felt as though that crevice had been
plugged, and repaired. Could it be, I felt - happy? But just as
fast as the feeling washed over me, it dissipated as she walked
away.

I saw Rachel step out of
the front doors of the bank, and approach my car. She opened the
door to the passenger side and got in.

“Back out and go to the
right,” Rachel directed.

I looked at her for a
moment, then down at my watch.

“Rachel, I have a plane to
catch. I can’t be taking a tour down memory lane, besides - Tripp’s
on the warpath for me, I told him to go fuck himself.”

I knew as soon as I left
the meeting either Tripp or one of his associates would be running
their mouths that I, Trevor McHale was back in town. I was not in
the mood for a class reunion.

“We’ll talk over lunch. Go
out towards Hwy 17, there’s a place I wanna take ya. First, stop at
the store and let me grab some things.”

I drove through town to
the store as though I had never left. I couldn’t believe all the
subdivisions that had been built over area that had once been
farmland. I couldn’t bring myself to drive passed the land that I
had planned on purchasing; I didn’t even want to think about
it.

Rachel jumped out of the
car before I’d even come to a stop.

“Be back in a shake,” She
said as she headed in the automatic doors of the store.

I went and parked the car,
just looking around, trying to absorb the realization that I was
sitting in the parking lot of a grocery store in Richland. People
were passing around me, going in and out of the doors. Faces that I
knew and could still recognize, yet some I could not. The ones I
did, seemed as though they hadn’t changed a bit. The feelings that
washed over me were almost overwhelming.