Haven from the Storm (Storms of Life #1) (3 page)

“Well that went better than I expected,” Grandma Violet laughed.

I turned to my grandmother with a look of total disbelief. “Excuse me? That went
better
then you expected? Because I had envisioned something completely different from what just happened here.” I waved my hands in front of me to indicate exactly where Lily had previously been standing.

“What did you expect, dear? You left her high and dry during the one time in her life she needed you the most and you expected what? To walk into this craphole store and sweep her away like you’re her prince charming?” She rolled her eyes at me.

I stood there with my mouth hanging open. I knew it would hurt Lily when I left, but I was too focused on my own feelings to truly consider how my leaving would affect her in the future. I should have known how she’d feel since I’d been abandoned from the very start of my life. Had I ruined any chance we might have had?

“Well, I can tell the prince charming thing was exactly what you thought was going to happen…or you never really thought about it at all,” Grandma Violet said, shaking her head. “Guess you’re in for a bigger surprise then you imagined, dear. That young lady has been in hell these last four years and you, Mr. Dean Haven, played a starring role.”

I felt a sudden rush of heat.

I pulled at the collar of my heavy coat and took off my winter hat, allowing the cool air to touch my skin. I could feel the sweat beading on my lip as I reached up to run my hands over my face. I shook my head violently to let my grandmother know my thoughts since words escaped me. She had to be mistaken. I didn’t cause Lily that amount of pain. I would never intentionally hurt her.

“Dean, I was there. I helped when her battered body was lifted out of that ditch. I have only seen a small portion of what she’s been through and what little I know is enough to change a person completely. So don’t you judge her or what she’s been through until you have cold, hard facts. You hear me, son?”

“Yeah, I hear you. But I didn’t mean to hurt her. I would never…”

I shrugged my shoulders in confusion.

“You, my dearest grandson, have your head buried in the sand up to your rear end and are in for the shock of your life. I know you care for that girl and at one point in her life she cared for you. Now whether you can get back to that place is the question. However, this is not the time nor place to discuss it. C’mon, you can take me home and we’ll get you settled.” She turned to take her items to the clerk.

“When did you become such a blunt know-it-all?” I asked with as much humor as I could muster.

Grandma Violet just laughed as she paid the clerk. “You’ll find lots of things have changed around here. Dean, meet Adley. She lives in our house now.” She pointed to the clerk who was beaming at me.

“Nice to meet you, Dean,” she said, jumping up and down with excitement.

“Living with us? What happened?” I quietly asked.

“Forgive Dean, Adley. I did teach him manners, I promise. He just seems to have left them behind at college.” She reached up and smacked me on the side of my head. I creased my brow at her in complete confusion. “I told you, things have changed. Death and destruction have a way of putting an end to many of the pointless pleasantries in life. You better get used to it, dear.”

Why was Dean back in Kolby? Why would he bother to come back to this God forsaken town? There was nothing here for him; he’d escaped this place and should have never looked back. Why show up now? Why show up when my resolve was set and my sentence was almost complete? I wouldn’t let seeing him put any doubts in my mind. Only five months left until graduation and then I’d be out of this town forever. I was sure I’d be a distance memory to him before that time; maybe I wouldn’t even have to see him again.

I can’t believe he called me Sunflower! I didn’t want to see him again, especially after those comments I made. Did I really talk about how much time and energy I’d put into forgetting about him? Feeling that way was one thing, but I was completely embarrassed that I’d said it in front of him. But I
had
gotten M&M’s
and
a Heath bar. The chocolate would make me feel better, it always did.

Violet hid his visit from me and I knew that she probably had this entire thing planned for months. No wonder she’d stopped trying to fill me in on Dean’s great college experience, but why didn’t Adley tell me he was coming? She lived with Violet, so she had to know he would be here. Violet owed me more chocolate.

I had to stop focusing on him. I didn’t have the time or the energy to worry about his visit. I had my own life to deal with and that alone was enough.

I hid in my secluded bedroom, doing my best to remain alone and far away from my father. After the tornado he had put all his efforts into remaining drunk and our house had never been fully repaired. Luckily volunteers from the Red Cross came and patched up the smaller damage, so it was at least livable. All except for my parent’s bedroom. That room was open to the outside where a small part of the wall was missing. Nothing in that room had been touched since Easton and Mom’s bodies were removed.

Our little red farm house had never been the same.

We were able to get items from the Red Cross so my father didn’t need anything that was still in that old room. I didn’t go to that end of the house. I didn’t look at it from the outside. I avoided that room all together. It held too many hurtful memories and too much regret, regret for what I could have done and how things could have been.

My father stayed in Easton’s old room and I had taken over the den on the other end of the house, as far away from my father and all the old memories as I could get. When you looked at most of the house you could see remnants of the disaster, but my room didn’t look that way. I had completely transformed it so it served as more of a makeshift one room house than simply a bedroom.

When I turned eighteen a few months ago, I gained complete control of the money left to me by my mom. The first thing I did was secure my room so my father couldn’t come in when he felt like taking out his misery on me. I had spent enough time being the focus of his torment and legally becoming an adult gave me a small amount of power to make some changes. My effort was well worth it. Things had dramatically improved since that time, but that also could have been because I was the only one in this house that had any money now.

After the tornado, homes and businesses were destroyed. Many residents decided to leave town instead of rebuild their lives here, the lack of jobs being the biggest reason behind that decision. The manufacturing plant in town, that made parts for airplanes, had been the number one employer in Kolby, but it was destroyed by the tornado and the company never reopened. When the tornado destroyed the plant, my father was out of a job indefinitely, but he didn’t seem to care or feel the need to look for a new job. He just used his rights over my inheritance from my mom and her side of the family to continue living his life drunk, spreading his misery around for everyone to enjoy.

After gaining control of the money I was amazed at how easy it was to make the changes to my room so I could feel safer. The man at the hardware store two towns over helped with my purchases. I told him I was just moving into my own place and wanted to be very, very safe. He agreed I was better safe than sorry, but I thought he was suspicious. Both the entrance into my room from the outside and the door leading from my father’s part of the house were now completely secure. The main locks were electronic keypads, so I wouldn’t have to worry about misplacing a key. The day I installed them was the first day that I had felt safe since Easton was taken from me.

I had my own bathroom, mini-fridge, and microwave. There was no reason to enter
his
part of the house, except for showers. I tried my best to time my showers when my father was at the bar or passed out. I sometimes felt like a coward for going to such lengths to avoid him, but all I had to do was look at the scars from the abuse I had suffered at his hand and I easily remembered my reasons.

Speaking of showers, it was getting late and I was in serious need of one, which meant I had to leave the safety of my room. As I gathered everything I needed, my mind thought back to the one person I’d been trying to avoid-Dean. Why had he come here when Christmas break was almost over? I wondered how long he’d be here. Was he staying with Violet? Why couldn’t I stop thinking about him? I mentally kicked myself. I hadn’t thought about him in such a long time, yet my heart ached the same as it always had for him. He looked like the same Dean I knew years ago. He had the same messy black hair and dark caramel colored skin, but his eyes seemed darker and more haunted then I remembered. Any emotions he felt were always swallowed in their black abyss. His dark hair had given him that never ending five o’clock shadow that most men hated, but women everywhere loved. He looked much more like a man than I had expected and more rugged then I remembered, like the last four years had worn him down.

Before I realized it, I was in the hallway heading across the house to the bathroom to take my shower. I was so distracted with thoughts of Dean that I had forgotten to check for my father before leaving my room. I started to panic and could feel my stomach heave. The cold air pricked at my warm skin as the alarm in my head blared. I was tempted to run back to the safety of my room, but the panic wouldn’t allow me to move. Fortunately, I didn’t hear a single sound coming from the house.

I pulled a small flashlight from the bag I carried. I placed my hand over the end to partially cover the beam of light so it only illuminated a small path. Silently, I crept down the hall and through the kitchen where I could see the bathroom door. Just when I thought I would make it, I heard someone breathing. I frantically pushed the end of the flashlight against my black sweatshirt to block out the brightness. Where was he? I searched for him while trying not to make a sound. My ears were filled with the hum of blood rushing through my veins. I allowed the air to fill my lungs deeply as I tried to calm myself. Breathing in the coldness helped replace my fear with strength I wasn’t sure would help me.

I could hear someone slowly breathing, but I couldn’t see anyone in the small sliver of light coming from the kitchen window. If he was close enough for me to hear him breathing, I didn’t have time to escape. I waited, but nothing happened. He didn’t speak or approach me. I slowly moved the flashlight away from my stomach, shining it around the room at knee level. I didn’t want to see his face; I didn’t want his face to haunt my dreams again.

My vision was clouded by my own breath mixing with the frigid temperatures in this part of the house. I walked slowly toward the bathroom knowing that if I could get there and lock the door, I could wait him out. My eyes were focused on the bathroom door, eager to reach the safety it offered me, when I kicked something on the floor below me. Covering my mouth to smoother the scream that broke loose I backed away, shining the flashlight where I’d been standing; he was lying on the floor. I stumbled further away while trying to smother the light. I listened for sounds of him racing toward me and could already feel the impact of his weight pounding me against the wall...but nothing happened. Closing my eye, I tried to focus on the sounds around me and jumped when I felt something crawl across my bare foot.

But nothing else came.

I could still hear him breathing steadily. He must have passed out. Shining the flashlight back to him, I could see him curled in a ball and shaking lightly from the cold. He made no other sounds besides his breathing. At that moment I felt sorry for him; sorry for what he had allowed himself to become. This once regular man had become a useless heap, freezing on the floor of his own home.