Constant Surprises (Wrong Numbers Series) (5 page)

The look on his face
was priceless for every bit of color drained from it. He wasn’t expecting that.
Taking a deep breath, he held out his hand. “Done.”

 
“We better head on inside because you’ve got
to get cleaned up and I don’t want my dad getting even angrier at you,” Amie
said.

Everyone stood as they
walked into the living room. Richard asked, “So did you apologize to her?”

“Yes, he did, Daddy, he
apologized and we came to an agreement,”

“An agreement, what
kind of an agreement did you come to?” Steven asked.

“I accepted his apology
on two conditions, one he had to take me to the airport in the morning.”

“And the other
condition?” asked Abby.

“Well, she said that if
I messed up like this again, I’ve given her permission to kick me in the
balls.”

Sandy started to
giggle. The older ladies blushed while the men cleared their throats.

 
“I think we better head on home so Roy can get
some sleep. Glad we got this whole thing straightened out. Amie, I hope you do
really good while you are in France and please write to me,” Agnes asked giving
her a hug.

“Will do, Mrs. Fulton,
I promise you I’ll keep in touch,” said Amie.

“Be careful over there,
sweetheart,” Bob said giving her a hug, before the Fulton’s walked out the
door.

 
Steven came over and hugged her so hard he
lifted her off her feet. “Thank you for knocking some sense into your brother’s
head over there,” Amie whispered in his ear.

Steven laughed. “If you
want me to do it again, give me the word and I’ll pummel him. Take care, Amie,
knock ‘
em
dead in France. Come on, Roy!” Smacking the
back of Roy’s head, they both walked out the door.

 
When the girls got back to the guest room
Sandy laughed. “I can’t believe he said you could kick him in the balls, how
the hell did you get him to agree to that?”

Amie couldn’t believe
it either, she too was laughing hard. “I swear you should have seen the look on
his face when I said that was a condition. I was shocked he even accepted it; I
guess he realized he fucked up big time. Let’s get some sleep; this has been a
trying evening. One I want to forget.”
 
Amie clicked off the light on the nightstand.

* * * *

The following morning,
the girls got up to a big breakfast Amie’s mom had made. It was quiet while
they ate. Amie was trying not to dwell on this being the last home cooked meal
they would eat together for who knows how long.

Cleaning the pan she
made the scramble eggs in, Amie’s mother began sobbing. Amie immediately ran to
the sink and hugged her tightly. Her mother started uncontrollably heaving and
sobbing. “My baby, oh my baby is going away.”

Amie had been dreading
this moment for days now―seeing her mother crying like this.

“Please, Mom, we said
no tears we promised each other that we wouldn’t start this crying mess.” But
it was too late. Amie was now crying like a baby, standing at the kitchen sink
with her mother. Sandy was quietly crying while pushing her eggs around the
plate. Amie motioned for her to come over. Sandy ran into their arms and the
three had a good long cry.

Cleaning up after
breakfast, Amie took a quick shower getting ready for when Roy would pick her
up. But when she came downstairs, Amie was surprised to see Roy already taking
her bags outside to the truck. When he came back in to get the last of her
luggage, she saw his jaw and left eye were now swollen and a lovely shade of
purple.

“Damn, he really gave
you a wallop didn’t he?” She laughed.

Her parents and Sandy
walked into the foyer. Hugging her mom, then getting an even bigger hug from
her father. He whispered in her ear, “I love you, baby girl, take care and be
safe. Do you have your tickets and passport?”

“Check.”

“Traveler’s checks.”

“Check.”

“Phone card for when
you want to call us.”

“Uh huh, I got that
too, I think I have everything, Daddy, I’ll be fine, you taught me well.” She
gave him another hug. She could feel his chest shuddering and see tears in his
eyes. This was one of the few times she had ever seen him cry. All she could do
was hold him while he cried. When he stopped, she smiled wiping his tears away.
“I love you, Daddy.”

Grabbing hold of Sandy,
both of the girls held each other tightly. “I’m so going to miss you, girl,
knock them dead in France. Show them what a girl from Kansas can do.” They both
laughed. Their foreheads touched for a moment. She walked out the door to Roy,
who was waiting for her by the truck. He held the door open and she got in.
Looking over at her parents and Sandy, they all waved with tears in their eyes.
She choked back her own tears and waved goodbye. The rumbling start of the
engine startled her; her heart seemed to sink into her stomach as they drove
off.

The entire ride was
quiet until Roy turned on the radio.

 
“How is your face feeling?” she asked.

“Still sore, but I’ll
survive.” He smiled as they got onto the highway.

“I do want to thank you
for taking me to the airport.”

“Well, I made a promise
to you and I meant to keep it.” He gave her a small smile. He pulled up the
armrest. “Come over here and sit next to me.”

Amie couldn’t believe
it, but wasn’t going to pass up a chance to be able to sit next to him. Slowly
she moved over and his arm went around her shoulder holding her close to him.
She had been waiting for this for so long, but why the hell did it have to
happen now of all times, she thought.

When they finally got
to the airport and checked her baggage, Roy offered to walk with her to the
terminal. While they were walking, his fingers captured hers
slowly―another first. Damn, why was this happening? Is he just trying to
make up for last night or does he really mean it?

 
They got to the security gate. The line was
short and her plane wouldn’t be leaving for over an hour. Roy asked, “Do you
want something to drink?”

Shaking her head no,
Amie said, “You know I love you, right?”

Roy stopped looking out
the window and looked directly at Amie. His eyes lit up. She was aware he
wanted to say something to her, but she moved in close resting her fingers
along his lips. Every nerve in her body started to tingle; she was going to
hold on to this moment forever.

“Please, let me talk
because I don’t know if I am ever again going to have a chance to tell you
this. I’ve cared so much about you since we were in elementary school, as
stupid as it sounds. I just didn’t know how to tell you how much you meant to
me. I always dreamed about how it would be to have you as my boyfriend, how our
first kiss would be. I wanted to be the one making love to you instead of that
bitch Susan.”

Roy started laughing
when she called Susan a bitch. “I hate this shit; I honestly hate this shit
right now. Why couldn’t I just have gone out with you? We would have both been
happy.”

 
“Pride. Along with being scared of what would
happen if we did let everybody know we were dating. We could have kept it a
secret, only ones who would have known would be us, our family, and friends.
But I am not sure that would have worked.”

He took her hand in
his. She watched his long fingers gently touch hers. “There would be no way in
hell I would have kept our love a secret, Amie. I would want everybody to know
how proud I am to be with you.” He smiled sweetly and kissed her hand. “Man, I
have never felt such a big ass weight lift off my shoulders as I did when I
heard you feel the same way about me as I do you.”

“Well, you are a dumb
ass, Roy, an absent-minded dumb ass,” Amie smirked.

 
“Well you have to admit that I am the
handsomest absent-minded dumb ass you’ve ever met.”

Amie laughed long and
hard, tears of joy and sadness welled up in her eyes.

It was time for her to
go through security. Going into her purse, she took out her ticket. He took her
hand once more. “Will you write me while you’re away?”

“Every day as long as
you write me back,” Amie told him.

“I promise I’ll write
you as soon as I get a letter from you.” He smiled.

He held her in his arms
once more, before letting her get in line. “You smell so good, Amie, like sweet
vanilla and flowers. What is that you’re wearing?”

“Vanilla Fields.”

“Will you do me a
favor?”

“Of course, what would
you like for me to do?”

“When you send me a
letter, spray some of it on the letter, that way I can always think of your
smell while I’m reading it.”

Amie started to tear
up, nodding yes. He softly nuzzled her cheek, then captured her lips to sweetly
kiss them. Their first kiss, she thought as his teeth lightly nibbled on her
lower then upper lip. God, she so loved this moment with him. But once the
kissing got intense, he quickly stopped groaning with pain. “Fucking, damn
Steven; I swear I am going to kill him for giving me this sore face. But damn,
you have some luscious lips.” She flushed.

They both began walking
over towards the other passengers going through security. “Well, this is it, I
guess,” Amie said, tapping the plane ticket along her fingers.

“Yeah, I guess so.” Roy
grabbed her, hugging her in his arms for the last time. She sighed.

“Take care, Amie, I’ll
miss you.” He stopped hugging her. His thumbs pressed against her cheeks as he
kissed her lips, her cheeks, every part of her face. Once he let her go, Amie
went through security then to her gate. She was going to treasure this moment
forever.

* * * *

“You know she told me what
happened that day,” Sandy said getting up, turning off the computer.

“Yeah, you two are like
peas and carrots,” he said imitating Forrest Gump.

 
“I wish you would have told her sooner though
instead of later. Did she write you?”

“Oh yeah, every time she
could but after the second year of school, she stopped. I don’t know why but
she just stopped. I figured that maybe she had just moved on with her life.”

“I think she did
because she was too busy with school and I guess other things. She wouldn’t
tell me what the other things were, but Amie had her reasons for moving on…that
is her. You know you could still have a chance with her, Roy. Make up for lost
time while she’s here for the reunion.”

He had hoped they could
have a second chance, but of course that would be up to Amie.

Chapter Three

When Amie got off the
plane, all she wanted was to see her parents. She hadn’t been home in over a
year, too busy with the café to go home for Thanksgiving, much less Christmas.
It hurt her that she missed those special days from her family. But she was
planning to make up for lost time while here. She saw her dad standing in the
back near the baggage claim. She smiled making her way through the crowd
shouting, “Daddy!”

“Amie, darling, I’m
over here!”
 
Richard shouted waving his
cowboy hat. She had never been so happy to hear her father’s voice. It was one
thing hearing his voice over the phone, but actually being able to hear him in
person was soothing for Amie.

Amie pushed her way
through the crowd and ran into his arms. She hugged him so tight, almost
knocking the poor man off his feet. “My baby girl is home at last. It’s so good
to see
ya
,
lemme
get a good
look at you, hon. Turn around.”

“Oh, Daddy, you really
want me to do that in the airport?” Her dad always knew how to embarrass her
completely.

“Nah, I’m just picking
on you, let me get another hug from you, baby girl.” Richard laughed grabbing
hold of her tight. “Now come on, let’s get your bags and head on home.”

Once they got her bags,
they start making their way home. “How’s the feed store going?”

“Been doing pretty good
as always, honey, I’ve had to hire four more guys to help out. Added some more
space for other things I’ve wanted to add, new types of equipment and such.
Your mom has planted that garden she’s been bugging me about for years. I think
you’ll like it just as much as she does.”

“She told me all about
it I can’t wait to see it. I’ve wanted to have my own garden, but living in the
city there’s no place to have one. That is, unless I do it up on top of our
building. I just don’t want it like that. So I have some herbs in pots on my
kitchen windowsill.”

“Well, you know you can
move back here,” Richard hinted.

Amie laughed. She knew
her parents wanted her to move back for years now. Even though she loved her
parents, she still had a hard time dealing with her past in Herington.