Take it All (Blinded by Love) (11 page)

But Caleb’s job wasn’t good enough in his parent’s eyes. To them he should have been working with his dad, making the big bucks and doing nothing else but that; doing nothing but work and be miserable because he’d have no time for anything else, just like his dad. They brought it up any chance they could, but Caleb turned it down every time, not even giving it a second thought, not ever wanting to be like his dad or his parents in general. It just wasn’t going to happen.

Deciding he would think the Lennox situation over more then make a decision later on, Caleb got off the couch and hopped in for a quick shower. When he was done, he grabbed his keys out of the dish by the door, locked up, then headed to his car. He was headed to the place he knew he shouldn’t be going to, but he couldn’t stop himself, he never could. Lennox had been on his mind all morning but where he was going was the one place thoughts of her could not go, so he pushed her to the back of his mind and tried his best to keep her locked there until later on when he was done. Once she was gone from his thoughts, he put his car in reverse and made his way to the east side of the city.

Twenty minutes outside the city, in Spruce Hill, Lennox was sitting with her mom drinking coffee and talking about her night out with the girls. She had told her about everything, except for Raine. She had purposely left him out because she didn’t know what to say about him. She didn’t know if telling him nothing would happen, if they’d be friends after that. Lennox hoped; she didn’t want something she couldn’t control be the reason for Raine hating her and never wanting to see her again. So she left out that part and just told her mom about Tatum and Londyn’s fight then Londyn leaving, and how wasted Tatum was when she had to walk her home and just how long that walk turned out to be.

“What was the reason Tate and Lond got into it like that?”

Lennox swallowed her mouthful of hot coffee thanks to her mom catching her off guard. She had left out the reason for the fight for that specific reason because she knew she couldn’t tell her mom that she for one was no longer a virgin and had left the bar with a guy she didn’t even know. That would be something she told her when she was happily married and in her thirties when she could bring it up and say to her mom, “Remember when?” and then she would tell her all about that night, but not anytime soon.

“You know, I’m not sure. I think it was about Jeremy,” Lennox said, shrugging her shoulders as she sipped her coffee carefully.

“Tate, is she still on the whole ‘Jeremy’s a player’ gig to upset Londyn?”

“Yeah, something like that.”

Kelli sighed into her cup before finishing the rest of her latte she had picked up from Fizzy Wig’s earlier that morning. “You know, those girls never did play nice together. Growing up, they always fought, they were always arguing over something, and you were always the peace keeper, making sure they got along before it blew up into something bigger than it should.”

“I know, mom.”

“How was the night after that little tiff?”

Lennox took another sip from her cup as she thought of the night after Londyn had left, and debated whether she should just mention meeting Raine, and tell her it was nothing and not a big deal. “Oh you know, Tatum got hammered and the guy she had her eye on left with someone else because Tate was too inebriated for his liking.”

Her mom shook her head displeased, “And, how’d
that
turn out?”

“Oh, do you mean before or after she threw up coming
out
of the bathroom and I, being the best friend that I am, had to clean it up?” she said, sarcastically, looking at her mom with one of her eye brows arched.

“I would have made her clean it up, Lennox.”

“Mom, if I didn’t want to get home, I would have done that.”

“That girl, I swear, if it wasn’t for her situation at home, I wouldn’t know what to do with her,” her mom said, as she got up and made her way into the kitchen. “If you’re done, I made a pot of coffee.”

“Sure mom,” Lennox said, getting up and following her into the kitchen. “I know what you mean about Tatum, but,” she paused, shrugging her shoulders not knowing what else to say.

Tatum, unlike Lennox or Londyn, didn’t have the best home life. Her parents split up when she was six, and her dad, after sticking around in her life until she was twelve, packed his place up and left without a word. It tore Tatum apart; her dad was all she had since her mom hit the bottle right after the divorce finalized. She was left with her mom for six months, then one night she took her over to her aunt’s and went to the store for a case of beer and never came back; leaving Tatum to live with her aunt Karen and uncle Steve.

Suffice to say, Tatum had a lot of resentment built up inside her; she had abandonment issues, and like anyone in her position, she took it out on the only family she had. Not that she didn’t love her aunt and uncle for taking her in, she did, but she hated not having a normal family with a mom and dad who told her they loved her every day, or held her when she was upset. And because she couldn’t take it out on her parents, she took it out on her aunt and uncle, and, even though she didn’t realize it, she took it out on herself by trying to drown the empty feeling she felt with booze and random guys. But, in her eyes, they made her feel something, the something she was missing. Then when it was over and the guy got what he wanted, the emptiness came back and she did what she knew best, she repeated the cycle to hide her pain.

“How did you guys get home?” Kelli asked, filling up her cup then filling Lennox’s.

“We walked.”

Her mom’s head turned in her direction, surprised, “You walked her all the way home, drunk?”

“Yep, and what fun that was,” she said sarcastically, leaving Raines name out of it.

Her mom chuckled, “Oh sweetie, what time did you get home?”

“I’m not entirely sure, after two thirty, I think.”

Her mom handed her a lilac colored cup that had frogs jumping around, filled to the top with fresh coffee. “So then today will be a nice day to relax, maybe watch a couple movies until I have to start dinner before your dad gets home?”

Lennox smiled at her mom as she lifted her cup to her lips, and said, “You read my mind.”

Kelli motioned for her to follow her into the living room, where they turned on the fire place and curled up under a blanket on the couch then spent their day watching back to back chick flicks. By the time their second one finished it was just before three thirty and Kelli excused herself to get dinner started, leaving Lennox in the family room, flipping through channels to see what was on. It was when she stopped on an old sitcom from the 90s when she realized she didn’t have her cell phone with her all day and she spent all afternoon without thinking about Caleb.

When she woke up in the morning, just after ten, he was on her mind, and had been in her dreams. But after shaking the dream off she grabbed her cell phone and sent a text to Tatum, hoping she was feeling okay and then one to Londyn, hoping her night with Jeremy was good and that she didn’t do anything she’d regret because Tatum pissed her off. After sending the texts, she tossed her cell phone back down and made her way down to the kitchen where her mom was sitting, sipping her coffee, and reading the morning paper. And that was where she stayed, where thoughts of Caleb fizzled and were nonexistent through the whole afternoon.

“Mom, I’ll be upstairs for a bit,” Lennox yelled towards the kitchen as she made her way to the stairs.

“‘kay sweetie, I’ll call you when your dad gets home.”

Lennox made her way up the stairs and into her room where her cell phone was sitting on the table next to her bed, right where she left it. Setting her mug down, she picked up her cell phone and saw she had missed text messages. Only then did she feel a pang of disappointment when she saw they were only from Raine, Tatum and Londyn– and no one else.

Going through them, she replied to both Tatum and Londyn, telling them both she had left her cell phone in her room while spending the day with her mom and that she’d call them later. It was clear Londyn and Tatum had talked since their little tiff the night before, since Londyn wanted to know all about the hot guy who walked both of them home. She wasn’t the slightest bit surprised; she knew there wasn’t a chance Tatum would forget about Raine and that when she got the chance she would tell Londyn all about him and their night after she left.

Then she scrolled through Raines messages, who had only sent two. One saying good morning and asking how she was doing and then the last asking if she was free in the evening for dinner. She stared at the screen for a few moments, thinking over her choices. She knew it when she woke up, that even if there was a part of her that wanted to go out with him that it wasn’t a good idea. Thinking about it, she took any thought of Caleb out of the equation, and even then knew it wasn’t right. She no longer thought that maybe a date that ended with another kiss would change anything from the first kiss. To Lennox, a first kiss says it all. If there’s nothing there in the first kiss then there won’t be anything for any other kisses; she knew her feelings when it came to that kind of thing and she wasn’t going to just ignore it and do something she didn’t feel was right.

Before she could reply to his message, she heard her mom call up, “Lennox, your dad’s home.”

Dropping her cell phone on her bed, she rushed out her door, then down the stairs. She could hear her mom’s laugh come from the kitchen as it echoed throughout the family room and into the hall that lead into the kitchen. When she turned into the kitchen, she wasn’t at all surprised to see her mom and dad embracing.

Kelli’s head was slightly tipped back, with a wide, bright smile spread across her lips as she listened to Jason talk then burst out laughing at something he told her. His smiled widened and the dimples became more evident, as he watched her laugh. His dark eyes were bright, and filled with so much love for her that it was overwhelming, but also one of the most magical scenes Lennox had witnessed of her parents. She watched as her dad’s head bent forward and his lips grazed across her mom’s forehead before he saw her watching from the corner of his eye.

“There’s my other girl,” her dad said, his head turning towards her.

“Hey dad,” she said, walking towards the island in the middle of the kitchen and leaning against it. “How was your trip?”

“It was alright, the usual,” he said as her mom stepped around him smiling, and went back to cooking dinner. “How was your week, Chuck, do anything interesting or fun?”

Her dad, for as long as she could remember, had always called her Chuck. It was his nickname for her, one she got at a very young age because even back then she was always wearing chucks. He was the only one who called her by that name and the only one ever allowed to; it was their special thing. “No, not really, just went to Aces last night.”

Pulling a can of diet cola from the fridge, he looked back at her over his shoulder. “Lemme guess, with Tate and Londyn?”

She nodded, knowing where the conversation was headed. “She leave with someone or did you have to drag her home?”

“Oddly enough I walked her home.” Jason raised his brows and looked at her, waiting for her to continue. “She was too drunk for anyones liking.”

He shook his head as he cracked open his can of pop and took a pull from it. “That girl, she’s been on a downward spiral for years now, hate seeing you get caught up in her crap.”

“I know, dad, but she’s my best friend and I just hope one day she opens her eyes and... changes,” Lennox said, sadness filling her voice as she shrugged her shoulders, having nothing else to say on the matter.

“I know, Chuck, same with your mom and I.” He took another pull from his pop, and then motioned to the family room, “Game’s on, wanna watch with your old man?”

Lennox nodded happily then grabbed a pop from the fridge and followed her dad into the living room. Hockey was their thing; it was the one thing they had in common and spent time together watching. It had always been their bonding time since Lennox was a little girl; hockey ran in her dad’s blood so therefore it was in hers as well. They didn’t get to watch every game together due to working and their personal lives but they made the time, especially when Jason’s team from the east rolled into town. Hockey was a big part of Jason’s life. Growing up in the east he was raised watching Hockey Night in Canada then spent his childhood in skates at the rink right until he had to quit due to injury. Hockey had been his life, his first love so not being able to play was tough to get through but he was able to find his love for the game in a new, unexpected way; through coaching. He coached from his early twenties right up until Lennox was sixteen then decided it was time to retire from the rink and be home with his family more. Lennox had the love of hockey in her; she grew up in the rink during the season, and was always there in the stands watching his team win the championship game for three years in a row, and continued to do so right up until he decided to retire.

“Promise me, when you start... dating,” Jason said, his eyes focused on the television, “you date a guy who likes the game, not some guy who likes football or golf. I don’t do either of those.”