Just A Small Town Girl (16 page)

A gentle knock on the door caused both of our heads to whip toward the sound. She started toward it, but I cut her off, pulling the door open before she fully crossed the room. I couldn’t help the relieved smile that swept across my face at the sight of Fisher, fully dressed and Riley free, standing before me.

“Everything okay?” he asked, placing his hand on my shoulder. It was a question just for me and his thumb traced a circle on my shoulder in the silence that followed, imploring me to provide an honest answer.

“Yes young man everything is fine,” my mother called from behind me at the same time I shook my head no, tears pricking my eyes.

Fisher ignored her, letting his eyes bore into mine.

“It’s going to be all right Piper,” a tear dripped down my cheek and he used the thumb of his free hand to wipe it away, “Don’t cry baby. I love you and we’ll get through whatever it is together.” He pulled me close to his side and wrapped a hand around my waist before extending his palm to my mother.

“Hello Ma’am you must be Mrs. Miller, I’m Travis Fisher,” he gave her a winning smile.

“Yes, I saw you earlier. The young man trying to saddle my married daughter with his offspring was it?” she gave him a saccharine smile, ignoring his extended hand.

“Sam and I are not married,” I ground out, frustrated tears running down my face at full force.

“I taught you better than that Piper. To have and to hold is forever, not just until you decide to run away and become some random man’s whore.”

“He was cheating on me! He was sleeping with other women in my bed while I was out shopping. Sometimes they were my friends! He humiliated me in front of the whole town and he made me feel worthless. Don’t you care? Do you know how that felt for me?” I felt Fisher’s hand tighten on my side.

“And have you considered how Sam felt when you left? How your daddy would feel if he knew you were out here fornicating with the first man who offers you a little affection? Did you think about what people in town would say at my thanksgiving party when they realized my daughter was gone? Have you considered how bad it looks for your family to have everyone in town know you filed for divorce?” she stopped screaming long enough to take a calming breath. When she continued her eyes were squeezed shut, her voice level, “You are selfish and you are immature, but it is not too late for you to come back and grow. Sam wants you back. He asks about you all of the time.”

“I can’t,” I choked out, “I’m worth more than being the blind wife to a man who doesn’t love me.”

She stared at me. Her eyes, so much like my own, assessing my appearance, flicking to Fisher’s hand on my waist a few times before squeezing shut.

“You should go,” I whispered, my wet cheeks beginning to dry, “I love you and I hope one day we can have a healthy, caring, relationship, but that day obviously isn’t today, so I need you to please leave my apartment.”

“This man won’t commit to you, he will use you and throw you aside and then you will want a good man, your husband, but I can’t guarantee he will still be there waiting for you.”

We watched her leave, both hands gripping her purse strap as she went.

“You’re married?” he said it like he was scared.

“Divorced,” I took a step away, crossing my arms over my chest and preparing myself for a fight.

“And you never mentioned it because?”

I shrugged, “Who wants to date the damaged little divorced girl?”

“I do,” he placed a hand on the back of my head, using it pull my body close to his.

I crumbled into him without a fight, snuggling my face into the Henley spanning his chest and drawing my arms tight around his waist. His arms snaked around my shoulders and his cheek rested on the top of my head.

“Can we just promise each other something?” he asked after a few minutes of silence.

“What?”

“Can we just get everything off our chests? I don’t want to find out you used to be a man in six months and feel betrayed just because I never asked,” his laugh shook my body and I playfully slapped at his side.

“I never was a man, but I was born in a small town where people can be really judgmental and my mother cared what they thought just a little too much,” I heaved out a deep breath, “I got married because it was expected and he cheated on me. When I decided to leave him everyone blamed me, so I came here.”

“To me?” he squeezed me a little. I noticed he didn’t ask if I wanted to be with Sam and I didn’t push the question I knew was weighing on his mind.

“To you,” I smiled even though I knew he couldn’t see it, “Anything you need to get off your chest Mr. Fisher?”

“Well,” he held me at arm’s length, looking into my eyes, “I got a girl pregnant. She wasn’t my girlfriend and I didn’t love her. I don’t know, we were bored I guess. She only told me, so I would pay for an abortion and I begged her not to do it. I pleaded, I screamed, I cried, I fucking proposed,” he ran a hand through the back of his hair, releasing me so he could pace in front of me, “She said no until I told her I would take care of the baby on my own and I would pay her medical bills and I would give her a weekly allowance while she was pregnant. I think she only agreed because I gave her the papers terminating her parental rights.”

“That’s terrible,” I gasped, reaching out to him then retracting my hands, unsure of what exactly to do with them.

“That’s not the worst part, she’s allowed not to want to be a mother” he placed his hands on his hips and turned to face me, “Through every rough patch of life they say you need a support system right? Well, my friends left me, except Kyle and Dustin, they said I was stupid for wanting my son and they thought it would get in the way of our fun. Puck and Rick offered to shove Seph down a flight of stairs to ‘take care of it,’” he shrugged, shaking his head back and forth a little as a humorless laugh passed his lips, “So I tried to forget about them. For nine months I worked at the garage on main, booked gigs for the band at night, waited tables whenever the diner could fit me in, helped the guys down at the dock on Saturday mornings, and saved every penny I wasn’t putting toward Seph’s allowance and bills. I saved enough that I got my apartment pretty easily when my mother told me I had to marry Seph, go to college, or move out. When Riley came I had new bills, so I worked my ass off until I got promoted to manager at the garage and I spent my nights at gigs or trying to get my little monster sleep trained. Eventually I dropped the diner, but I know he’s just going to get more expensive, so I have to make things work with the band,” I stepped close, pressing a kiss to his lips.

“I have to make this work Piper,” he breathed out, his eyes pinched shut.

“You will,” I kissed him again, then kissed each of his eyes, imagining he didn’t want me to draw attention to the tears slowly rolling down his cheeks. I placed my hand in his and pulled him toward the couch, settling into his lap and hugging him tightly until the tears stopped.

It felt good to hear about Fisher from his own mouth. It felt good to know we had no more mysteries or secrets hanging in the air we shared. I liked knowing his hang-ups and knowing he knew mine. Laughter began to bubble up from somewhere deep inside and I couldn’t stop it. It started to shake my body and in turn I shook Fisher, who smiled questioningly.

“What’s funny?” he asked

“Nothing really,” I laughed more, “We’re both so screwed up.”

“Yeah we are,” he answered, laughing too.

“This time next week we’ll be in the studio!” Dustin exclaimed, bending over the back of the couch to give Bailey an excited kiss. I watched my friend turn red and kiss him back.

“Yeah, you said that like five times,” Fisher rolled his eyes, scooping Riley out of Bailey’s arms, “I need my sous chef,” he winked at me before carrying the baby back to the kitchen, gesturing for Dustin to follow.

After a long debate about chauvinism and the perpetuation of unfair gender stereotypes they were making dinner for Bailey and me. I watched them go before leaning toward Bailey.

“So, you and Dustin?” I raised my eyebrows.

“Are seeing where it goes,” She blushed again before adding, “but I like him.”

“I can see that,” I laughed out.

“Yeah, he came over for thanksgiving and I couldn’t believe how charming he was. I think my mom fell in love with him. My dad might have fallen in love too come to think of it.”

“What about you?”

“I might be headed in that direction,” she smiled shyly, “What about you Miss Fish?”

I batted at her arm, fighting my own shy smile.

“Patricia Fisher hates me, my mother hates Fisher, and God I love that boy,” I caught his eye in the kitchen and he gave me a goofy look before turning back to the stove, “He’s everything I never got a chance to figure out I wanted.”

“Wedding bells?” Bailey sighed heavily and batted her eyelashes, earning another playful slap from me.

“We’ll see where it goes,” I smiled to myself. If I ever did get married again it would be far down the road, but I couldn’t help hoping it would be to someone exactly like Fisher.

“Dinner is served ladies,” Fisher announced, grabbing my legs to throw my torso over his shoulder, completely disregarding the fact that I wore a skirt.

I giggled and kicked before reaching my hands down to squeeze his behind.

“Careful, you’ll get me excited,” he kidded, quiet enough only I could hear.

I dragged my hands up to the waistband of his pants, sliding my palms under the back of his t-shirt and across the muscle I found there. I tugged his shirt up high enough for my lips to trail across the newly exposed skin, letting his body burn my lips.

“Be right back,” I heard him call into the kitchen before swiftly carrying me back to the living room.

Fisher placed his hands on my upper thighs, letting them slide my skirt up and trail to my breasts as he lowered my legs to the ground. I grabbed fistfuls of his hair as I passed and used them to pull his face to mine. My back slammed against the wall beside his front door as he backed us against it, our tongues dancing while our fingers flew over each other’s bodies; his palm cupping my breast, my hand sneaking up the front of his shirt to stroke his abs.

Suddenly he pulled away, “We have guests,” his hands cupped my cheeks, his thumb stroking my lower lip as he spoke.

I bit the pad of his thumb softly before whispering, “yes, guests,” and pushing his chest softly, trying to move past him.

Fisher pulled my mouth in for another sweet kiss before leaving me breathless while he walked toward the kitchen. I shook my head, trying to clear it, and straightened my clothes before following close behind.

“Sorry, we were just saying the four of us should go on a double date sometime,” I lamely explained.

“Sure,” Dustin agreed sweetly at the same time Bailey said, “Isn’t that what we’re doing right now?”

I looked to Fisher for help, but he just readjusted my top where I hadn’t noticed I was exposing an indecent amount of cleavage thanks to his roving hands and gave me a cocky smile.

I huffed, busying myself with feeding Riley cheerios and yogurt.

I saw his car parked out in front of our building before I even fully realized I was home. My first Monday at work after the long weekend was brutal and I’d been looking forward to slipping on a pair of Fisher’s sweats and spending my evening hanging out with my favorite toothless man until his father came home. Those plans were pretty firmly broken when I saw the dark blue truck I knew was an eighteenth birthday present and they shattered when I took the final step onto my floor. I tried to be brave, but I only made it a few steps before I stopped, unable to go on.

“Baby Girl I can’t believe you actually left,” he took three steps toward me, travelling down the suddenly short hallway with a boyish grace that only came from spending every fall since pre-k playing sports. I knew, I’d been cheering on the sidelines for every single game.

“Well you look damn fine. I…I’ve been tits up without you and the house is lonely baby,” he placed a hand on each one of my shoulders, rubbing his thumbs across the fabric as if they belonged there, “I missed you.”

This was my best friend. The man I’d imagined I would make forever with. He was my first kiss, the first person I had sex with, the first person to marry me, the first person to love me. I’d missed him too, not as a husband or a boyfriend even, but as my friend; the person who knew me best.

I let myself relax into the hug he offered me, his overly muscled arms squeezing my body while his platinum hair, longer than I remembered, touched against my dark blonde head. He huddled his bulk around me whispering, “good girl” and I remembered why I liked being around him. Sam felt safe. He felt like home and high school, but he didn’t send shocks through my skin the way Fisher did. He never had. I mentally took being the first person to love me away from Sam’s resume. The first person to love me, the first person I really loved, was Fisher.