Twenty Letters

Chapter 3

        Upon hearing footsteps coming from behind her she reluctantly let Mr. Jameson go. He looked down at her and smiled, pulling a smile yet again from Kathryn. She couldn't believe that this man already cared about her, even though she had just met him.

        It was then that she had this weird feeling of déjá vu.

        That's when Kathryn heard it, that unfortunately familiar voice coming from behind, almost to bother her more.

        "Hey dad, where do you want thi---?" The voice stopped mid-sentence as she turned around to face it. "You?! Why on earth...what...how?" The voice stammered, unable to finish a full sentence.

        With a frown on her face, Kathryn stared straight into the eyes of none other than the crazy driver, the one that had almost killed her not just but a few hours ago.

        "I'm taking it you already met my son?" Mr. Jameson said, filling the gap of silence that had befallen and been replaced by tension as the two teens glared at each other.

        Awaiting a response, he looked back and forth between Kathryn and his son.

        "Yes, we had the unfortunate meeting last night when your son almost ran me over," answered Kathryn sternly.

        "Ran you over? What!?" answered Mr. Jameson in a shocked tone. Turning sharply to face his son with a stern look on his face, he said, "Ross what do you think you were doing?"

        "Oh so your name is Ross. Good now I can call you by your real name instead of the 'crazy driver'," Kathryn said sarcastically, making air quotes with her fingers.

        "Look it was an accident. SHE was the one that was walking in the middle of the road, at night."

        Giving the 'we'll talk later' look to Ross, Mr. Jameson turned to Kathryn and said, "I apologize sincerely for my son's unruly actions. Trust me he will be dealt with...So to change the subject," he then turned to Ross, "This is Kathryn and she will be staying with us as long as she needs, from now on you will treat her like family.

        "What?! But..."

        "Like family," Mr. Jameson repeated.

        "Fine," said Ross with an exasperated sigh.

        "Good. Now let me take that," Mr. Jameson said, taking the tool form Ross hands, "and YOU can show Kathryn around. Then we will all meet for breakfast at eight." His smile held a bit of mischief in it, which made Kathryn curious as to why.

        With a smile and a tip of his hat, Mr. Jameson headed off towards the barn, almost in a skip, while he whistled a joyful tune.

        Both Ross and Kathryn stared at the back of his head till he disappeared through the huge barn doors. Turning around slowing to face one another, they just stood there, neither one wanting to be the first one to speak. Then with a heavy sigh Ross grabbed her suitcase and flung her guitar over his shoulder, from where she had set them on the ground, and started walking towards the big white farm house.

        He didn't even look at her as he did so. It’s like he expected her to follow him, which made Kathryn want to scream and stay where she currently stood. Then, with much reluctance, she ran after Ross to catch up with him.

        As she fell in pace with his long stride, she looked up at him through squinted eyes. He was quite a bit taller than her, probably around six foot something. “He’s not that bad looking, I guess,” thought Kathryn. With his blonde hair that reached a little past his ears, brown eyes, and farmer boy built body he… “Stop Kathryn, it doesn’t matter what he looks like. He’s nothing but a crazy driver with a stubborn demeanor and that’s all, nothing else matters,” she chided herself.

        “You know, a permanent frown is not very becoming,” said Ross out of the blue.

        Softening the intense scowl a bit, that she didn’t know she had on her face, Kathryn then realized that he had been looking down at her. She didn’t know how long he had been doing that, which unnerved her.

        “Why do you care, uh? I thought you weren’t going to talk to me anyway, let alone keep looking at me that way?” replied Kathryn.

        “Look at you what way?’ scoffed Ross, with a curious look on his face.

        “Like you want me either gone and out of your life or, by the way you’ve been standing there looking at my lips, you’re debating whether or not you want to kiss me,” said Kathryn.

        She noticed a red blush start creeping its way up Ross’s neck while he grinned, before he abruptly turned around and continued his way to the house. Kathryn also noticed that he walked a bit faster than before, which baffled her, because she didn’t think that was possible. Chuckling to herself about his reaction she casually made her way towards the door her had disappeared behind just moment before.

        She walked in the house through the back door, which opened up into a bright clean kitchen. It appeared that Mrs. Jameson liked to cook, because there were goodies that covered the counter. The smell of her favorite desert, apple pie, filled her nostrils. Following the scent she found the delicious pie on the window sill. It appeared that it had been recently pulled out to the oven, because it was still streaming form the top slits.

        “My mom is obsessed with baking, there really is never a moment when we don’t have something delicious in this house,” said Ross from behind her.

        Turning around she spotted Ross leaning against the door fame that lead to the other parts of the house. He appeared to of gotten over her confronting statements, because he had a cool look on his face.

        “That must be nice, my mother never really was the best cook, but she still loved to try. The one thing she made best was probably apple pie, so I guess it makes sense that it’s my favorite,” said Kathryn with a little chuckle at the end.

        “It’s one of my favorites too,” replied Ross. After a moment’s pause, he said, “Look, why don’t we start over, because if we continue this way, our lives will be miserable. And since you will be living here now, might as well make it somewhat enjoyable, without the stress of one-upping each other.”

        “Well, I can’t promise that I won’t try to one up you, because I will, but I agree, it would make my stay a lot more enjoyable, if we weren’t always bickering,’ replied Kathryn. “So I hear you have a beautiful farm and I’m just DYING to see it,” said Kathryn with a grin on her face.

        She then turned around and headed back out to the yard.

        “You know for a girl, who hasn’t had many friends, you are very sarcastic. Oh and yes, I did catch the emphasis on the dead reference, very funny,” said Ross catching up to her.

        “Okay good, you saw what I did there,” laughed Kathryn. “But you’re right I don’t have many friends. You know, now that I think about it, I do believe you are my first friend. Congratulations!” stated Kathryn while trying to hold back her laughter.

        Which didn’t work out too well when Ross took an over dramatic bow while he said,

        “The pleasure is all mine, I am honored to be your first friend.”

        At that the two of them burst out laughing and were soon wiping tears from their eyes.

                                                                        ~~~~~

        “Hmm, well I’m glad that car didn’t kill her, because that is my job. It is nice to see her starting to make friends. That just means her death will impact and cause more grief. I should probably start my plan, now that I know where she will be staying for a while. Oh, what fun this will be,” said the Ruler.

                                                                        ~~~~~

        “I have to hurry, I can’t be too late. I have to get to her before he does. I’ve got to, I’ve got to…,” Bellamy said determinedly.