I'll Always Love You

I'll Always Love You, Chapter 5

Something wasn't adding up. Seeing Tiffy and her two-year-old son, he had realized it was just the two of them, no one else, no boyfriend or guy there with her. Was she newly divorced, separated, or had she just hooked up with the wrong guy and was now, from what he could tell, a single mom with a kid at eighteen? What a way to start out her young adult life. It must have been a mess for her. Why was he still thinking about her and giving her the time of day?

He parked his truck beside his dad's pickup and Gabriel's older model, which was still newer than his own pickup. He gave his door a shove as he walked toward the house, hearing voices from the barn and the house. As the screen door opened, out stepped his sister.

"You didn't come home last night, Jeremy," Sarah said. "Dad was just asking about you, and Mom, too. We were all wondering where you were, especially when Mom said your bed wasn't slept in. She was going to call you, but Dad said to leave it alone and you'd show up." She strode out of the house, her very light blond hair pulled back in a high ponytail, wearing blue jeans and a faded yellow T-shirt. She was getting into his business just like she did everyone's.

He made a face as he glanced to the barn and ran his hand over his hair, which was a mess and likely sticking up everywhere. He needed a shower, getting a whiff of how bad he smelled, and to brush his teeth and have a coffee. "Crashed at Alex's. Where is everyone?" he asked, thinking of the date he'd committed himself to later.

It was a favor Alex was going to owe him for big time, considering Jeremy still wasn't convinced it would be anything other than time he'd never get back. There was just something about the idea of a blind date that didn't interest him in the least. He was the last guy who'd ever need anyone to fix him up. He liked it that way.

"Gabriel and Dad and Zach were rounding up some of the calves early this morning, and Elizabeth and Shaunty are here. Elizabeth brought a bunch of crabapples, so we're making jelly right now. Mom's been canning since yesterday, and..."

He turned his head to the barn even though his sister was still talking, filling him in on everything she seemed to think he was missing. His dad and Gabriel were leading the horses out to one of the corrals to graze, and he'd stopped listening to Sarah, who could, at times, go on about everything, giving a blow by blow, with details that he didn't want to hear.

Then he heard a car and turned to see the dust in the distance and what looked like a small blue Subaru. Alex. Seriously? Like, he'd just left his place. Had he forgotten something? Yup, the closer he got, he could see it was his friend, who always drove on the fast side. It was just something about Alex, nothing calm and reasonable. He was about getting places fast, not wasting time, go big or go home. But the way he was coming in was crazed, out of control, and unusually over the top, even for Alex.

He took the curve in the dirt road so fast his back end skidded around. The rev of his engine was loud, and Jeremy could hear the door to the house behind him, but he didn't glance back. Alex's hands were white on the wheel, and he was staring right at him, coming right for him, not slowing at all. Like, what the fuck? This crazy-ass shit was not the thing to pull here, not around his dad, his family.

He just stood there and could hear his mom yell behind him, he thought. Then his sister and someone else shouted, and all he could think was that his friend wasn't slowing down, and he was so close, coming closer still, in this bizarre, twisted, fucked-up scenario that he couldn't wrap his head around. Time froze, and someone was yelling in the distance, long and loud, before he was hit from the side, arms around him, and he was tackled hard. It knocked the wind out of him, and he was on the ground with an oomph.

He gasped, pulling the dust that whirled around them deep into his lungs. It was in that second that he realized the car had now stopped so close that he could reach out and touch the front end of the dingy chrome, which he thought was steaming. It was another second before he realized it was his dad who had knocked him out of the way. He was on the ground beside him, and Jeremy sat up, coughing, seeing the faded blue of the Subaru and then Alex stalking around the car toward him, his face contorted with rage. He was pumped and furious.