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I shook my head, very thankful I
was smart enough to avoid a similar outcome
.
But something was eating at me
,
and I finally decided I should ask.

“So did your friends think I was
dating
her?
What did you mean about ‘rumors’?
”

Jayden
stopped again and
offered me a sympathetic smile. “I’m sorry, it’s just the whole gossip line that gets things going. A friend of a friend h
eard from a friend of a friend…t
hat type of thing. Yeah, Chris heard you were with Holly
,
that…you used her and then dumped her
a
nd
…
that just really…set things off.”

“But you guys know what she’s like. Didn’t I get some kind of benefit of the doubt?”

“
Well, at first he didn’t
know it was Holly
.
H
e was away at school when Josh was dealing with that whole issue.
And then t
he fact that you’ve dated a lot of girls kind of added fuel to the fire.”

“
Wait
, just because I couldn’t find a girl interesting enough to go on a second date with, people automatically thought I just slept with them and moved on?
Besides, I didn’t even
date
very many girls. A bunch of them hung out at our house occasionally, but that was Aaron’s doing, not mine.
”

“
Ty, don’t worry about it now. It’s all in the past. Chris knows it’s not true, my father knows it’s not true… Besides, I never believed any of it. Doesn’t that count?” she smi
led, wrapping her arms around my waist
.

“Yes, that’s definitely the only thing that matters, but it really sucks to have
people think som
e pretty awful things about you.
”

“I know,” she replied. “I’ve certainly had my share of rumors to deal with.
”
I was tempted t
o ask what she meant
,
but I think she could read the curiosity on my face. With a sigh she asked, “Have any of the guys mentioned
Chaz
Morrison
to you?”

I shook my head no, but I already didn’t like the guy.

“By the time I was a senior in high scho
ol, I’d lost my closest guy friends—Chris and Matt had graduated two years prior, and Shawn graduated the year
after
them
—they were who I always hung out with or went to dances with. Josh was a
grade
younger than me
,
and I went t
o a couple of things with him, b
ut the rest of the guys in the school… I guess they tried to capitalize on the fact that I didn’t have my older friends around to intimidate them anymore
.

“
Chaz
was pretty nice to me. We had a couple of classes together, and I
even went to
homecoming with him.
I liked him because he seemed like a good guy; he didn’t even try to kiss me for about a month. I thought he was just being…
a gentleman. Anyway, a
fter we’d gone to a movie one night, he took me to his house to meet his parents. At least that’s what he told me we’d be doing.”

I felt my stomach sink, just from seeing the look on her face.

She sighed again. “
Long story short, I realize that his parents aren’t really home, he starts kissing me and putting his hands all over me, I tell him to stop and he won’t, so…” She paused, and then she smiled. “I really had to hurt him.” I tried to hide a smile, but when she said, “I even made him bleed,” I had to chuckle.

“Serves him right,” I said. “But he didn’t hurt
you
, did he?”

She shook her head. “Not physically. But when he got to school on Monday, he told all of his buddies… Well, he lied and said he ‘closed the deal’ with me. They actually had a bet going on to see which of them could…
” she shrugged, “…g
et the furthest with me, I guess.”

I blew out a breath of air. Guys like that could be pretty repulsive.
Aaron was like that, and I could easily see him being one of those guys.

“I’m sorry, Jay.”

She nodded. “I was so upset that day. You wouldn’t believe some of the things I heard, not only behind my back, but directly to my face. All I could do was deny it, but when I got home that day I just… I couldn’t believe he actually told them that he had sex with me. I felt completely violated, even though I knew it didn’t happen.

“
Chris came over—Cali told him what people were saying, but he wanted to talk to me
about it
first. T
hen he actually went over to
Chaz’s
house that night, told him he’d better come clean about what really happened, and that the whole school better know the truth by the end of the next school day. Chris
came
to my school to make sure
it was
all taken care of, only to find out that the rumors had gotten worse. So he finds
Chaz
in the parking lot
and tells h
im, ‘You’ve got one more chance
. I suggest you do the right thing.’
Chaz
had the nerve to call me a slut right to Chris’s face.”
She took a deep breath and exhaled. “I tried to stop it, but… Chris beat the crap out of him right then and there.”

I raised my eyebrows
with surprise.

Jayden frowned
and shook her head. “Chris was
twenty, coming to a high school to confront a student. It wasn’t good. My dad got involved, and things eventually
worked out, but Chris was pretty lucky
Chaz
didn’t press charges
.” 

Memories of the near-brawl with Garrett Freeman’s team flashed in my
head
. Jayden was pretty upset that day, not from what was said to her, but because I could have gotten in trouble. No wonder she almost freaked out.

“So did the problems at school get cleared up?”
  

She nodded.
“Yeah.
Chaz
never bothered me again, and the rumor
s stopped that very second. Everyone knew Chris and respected him, so
most of the school
was
on his side.
Chaz
actually ended up moving to a different school because of how many people hated him after that.
But anyways, b
ack to what I was saying before,” she smiled. “Rumors can be harsh.
But I can’t control what people think. All I know is I have friends that
try to look out for me
, and those are the people whose opinions matter
—even if
they’re wrong once in a while
. And most importantly
I have you, and that means more to me than anything.”

She
slid
her
hands
behind
my neck and kissed me,
and I knew she was all that I needed. I didn’t know why I couldn’t just go off and marry her right then. It seemed so simple. We both had good jobs, I could
afford to
buy us a
decent
house, and I would be content with staying in town and living a norm
al life. I didn’t need baseball, and
I was done living with excuses from my past. All I wanted was to be with her
,
and I felt everything else
would fall into place.

But I couldn’t stop that feeling that kept nagging at me in the back of my m
ind: It was too good to be true, and
it wasn’t going to last. I didn’t know what to do to convince myself that I was wrong. I had already decided that I was going to be a good husband and a good father. I knew I would be. But it was the other factors in my life that were dragging me down—
my dad and
Olevsky
and his business. I
couldn’t commit myself entirely to Jayden unless I got all of that out of my life.

“Ew, get
a room you two,” Cali giggled as s
he appeared next to us with Josh and Silvia.

“Hey,” Jayden smiled. “What’re you guys up to?”

“We’re heading over to hear some music. Wanna come?”

Jayden glanced at me and I nodded, so we headed to the other side of the park to listen to a live band. Matt and Stacie met up with us
a few minutes later, and Jayden called Chris
and he joined us
too
. It was
still
pretty warm out,
eighty
plus
, so it felt good to sit under the shade of a tree.

I had a new understanding of Chris that day. All this time I just thought he acted like a jealous ex-boyfriend. I knew Jay
d
en
’s friends
wanted to protect
her
from guys like
Chaz
and Aaron—and I certainly couldn’t blame them—but to know what Chris had risked to protect Jayden’s integrity made me respect him quite a bit.
If anything,
I
was the jealous boyfriend, and I felt I had the right to be to an extent, but I was so confident in my relationship with Jayden that I knew I had nothing to worry about. However, I was still trying to get used to having someone in my life that I cared so much about, and sometimes that unfamiliar feeling tripped me up a bit.

But there was one thing about Jayden that really helped me out when it came to her interaction with other people, including me. She was so
straightforward
in her expression and in her actions. I knew she loved me
,
and she made sure everyone knew it. I loved how important she made me feel, and I hoped that I made her feel the same way.

“Jay, is
Ty going with us next weeken
d?” Matt asked her
.

She glanced at me and smiled. “I haven’t even thought to mention it yet,” she admitted.

Matt looked at me and said, “W
e’re all going up river to camp—g
o boating, ride the bik
es, hang out—w
hatever anyone likes to do. You should come. Friday to Sunday—it’s a lot of fun. We’ll probably go two or three more times this summer. You’re welcome to join us anytime.”

“It sounds fun,” I replied. “I’ll have to see if I can get
that Saturday
off.”

“And just so you know,” Matt
told me
, “I can’t go riding
unless Jayden’s there to entertain me
. So I’m counting on you, man.”

“And I won’t go riding with Shawn unless Chris is there to fix him up,” Jayden laughed.

They spent some time joking around about why everyone needed to be there, and it was
clear
that no one wanted anyone else to miss out.

They described to me the spot they always camped at. It was
lake
front property that belonged to a friend of Joe Adams.
Ed had
been letting Jayden and her dad camp up there for years now, and the old guy told Jayden she could come up with her friends anytime. There was a boat launch, plenty of room for tents, and acres and acres of riding trails
and logging roads nearby
. There was also a small cabin on the property with a couple of rooms and a bathroom. I found out that’s where Cali stayed.

“That makes more sense,” I told her. “I was having a hard time picturing you camping in a
tent
.”

Shawn laughed and said, “She won’t go anywhere without running water. Try convincing her to take a dump in the woods.”

“Ew,” she replied, “Just thinking about
you
taking a dump in the woods is about all I can take.”

“Ugh! Anyways,” Jayden smiled at me, “we usually go up Friday after work and come back Sunday
evening
. If Lou can’t give you Saturday off, then I’ll have to find a way to close his shop down myself.”

At ten o’clock we were situated in a spot
on
the river to watch the fireworks. Matt built
a
fire, but he didn’t want it quite as big as the last one. Most everyone left around midnight, but Jayden and I remained until almost one in the morning. It was just too easy to stay there with her in my arms.

Finally I did take her home
, and when I walked her to the front door and kissed her
goodnight
, the last thing she said to me was, “I love you more than anything, Ty. Don’t you ever forget that.”