The Promise (34 page)

I don’t particularly care at the moment if I
’m to be completely honest. I’ve had an emotional few days and am now experiencing a hangover from hell, needless to mention that it’s the day before the anniversary of Jack’s death.

Save for one, other people’s opinions just don’t mean shit to me today.

“You need to get something to eat, Baby,” Chase says but I shake my head and feel myself throwing him a look of disgust, causing for him to give me a sympathetic smile in return. “I know it sounds awful but I think it will help. Just keep it light. Toast and eggs or something …”

“I don’t think I can,” I argue but he
’s relentless. Our server comes back over to our table to take our order. He orders some food for me anyway, along with a plate of fries for himself. As the server walks away, I take a deep breath, seeing that he’s shaking his head at me.

“Sophie, before you say anything, just let me say again that you don’t have to. I know you’re thinking about it and I want you to know that you don’t have to talk about any of this, okay? I meant what I said before, I’m going to give you some space so you can do whatever you need to do to get through this
. Until you decide what you want, you don’t need to say or do anything until you’re ready, okay?” he asks and I’m finding his sincerity heartwarming. I reach over and grab a hold of his hand as my eyes meet with his.

“Thank you. I appreciate you more than I can tell you. My head is such a jumbled mess right now, but I know my feelings for you haven’t changed, Chase. I know we need to talk about this and that’s something that I want us to do,” I tell him. He squeezes my hand and nods, although remains silent. “I’m not going to tell you every little detail in the middle of a diner, but I do want to tell you some things if that’s okay?”

“Of course. Whatever you want Sophie. Whatever you need,” he answers as I try and summon up enough courage to continue.

“You already know some things, but I don’t really know where to start, so I’ll just start from the beginning …” he nods as he waits for me to give him some answers.

Leaning forward, with my hands now entwined with his, I begin to open up to him a little more. I tell him about how Jack and I met, on my first day of school after I moved in with my aunt. It feels as though it was only yesterday as the flashbacks begin to pour into my mind.

I tell Chase how I’d sat next to Jack in English and when our class was over, he’d introduced himself before walking me to my next class. From that very first meeting we were inseparable. It had happened so fast for us, I swear. I vividly remember everything about that day.

Jack had been wearing a Rolling Stones t-shirt with some black Chuck’s and his hair was all over the place. From the very first time he smiled at me, I knew that I was screwed.

He took me on our first date less than a week later. We went to see The Dark Knight and sang Bohemian Rhapsody in the front seats of his rusty old Buick once we’d parked out the front of my aunt’s house. That had been the very first time that I’d ever sung in front of anyone.

I’d been so nervous and when I was done, I thought for sure he’d tell me I was awful. Instead though we had our first kiss and afterwards he smiled his beaming wide smile at me. He’d said ‘Best first date ever!’, before he’d walked me to the front door.

“I’m guessing Ana told you that Jack was her brother?” I ask Chase, noticing his eyes are focused directly on me but he’s in no way looking as uncomfortable as I thought he might have been. “Well, I don’t know what you know about their parents or what parts are really my story to tell, but suffice it to say that Jack and Ana were on their own. They still lived in the house they grew up in, but they had a lot on their plates financially.”

The server walks by the table, so I pause from saying any more until she’s clear from earshot. I don’t like to parade my private life around in public, especially when it involves such delicate details.

“Sophie? Do you want to stop?” Chase asks
with concern evident in his tone. His eyes are displaying such warmth. Watching as the server heads back towards the counter, I turn back around and smile slightly at him before continuing to speak.

“Jack had told me at the very beginning of our relationship that he’d decided he was going into the Army as soon as we graduated from school. Once we’d dated for a few months, we’d fallen madly in love and I’d begged for him to change his mind and not to go. He’d told me he had to because he knew it was the only way he could both help Ana, and secure a future for us. I argued with him that I didn’t care about the money, though his reply was that he would never be able to marry me, knowing he could never offer me stability. It was the one and only thing that we ever really argued about,” I say, closing my eyes and shaking my head slightly for a brief moment.

“It sounds as though you were perfect for each other…”

I glance over to Chase again, his words making my stomach plunge low to the ground. “I guess you could say that … Anyway, he’d already made his decision and stayed until the end of summer before he headed off to boot camp. Before he left, he took me to the state fair and while we were there … he gave me this,” I say, gesturing to the promise ring. It’s still in the very same place on my right ring finger, were he’d put it on that night.

I watch as Chase strokes his finger tenderly over the ring, feeling his warm hands gently squeezing my hand again, urging for me to continue. “He asked me to wait for him. By that point, I’d already turned eighteen and had been living with him and Ana. He’d made Ana and I promise to take care of one another while he was away and so obviously we’d agreed to do that. We were going to wait until he was stationed somewhere and then I was going to join him. We were going to get married here in Camden before moving away together.”

Our food arrives and I release my hand from Chase’s so we can eat.

Chase is really quiet and continues to listen as I carry on telling him a little more. “Instead though, he and Matt were sent to Afghanistan. They were stationed there on and off for the bulk of their enlistment, so I couldn’t exactly move with him during that time.” I glance up at Chase and see him watching me thoughtfully. “So anyway, not long before he was supposed to be done, he told me he’d decided to sign on for four more years. I was completely devastated, heartbroken even because we’d always agreed he’d come home after his time was up. He’d told me that the reason he did it was because he felt that with him being over there, he could do his part to help keep me and Ana safe and make sure we were taken care of financially. I understood to a certain degree, but I was so upset …”

Tears are brimming in my eyes as I think back to the conversation we had over the phone that very night. My eyes begin to glaze and I notice Chase sitting a little more forward in his seat before brushing a stray tear away from my right cheek. “Baby, you can stop if you—”

“About a month later, he came home for a visit and everything was great. We’d even decided that the next time he came home we would be married … but that was the last time I ever saw him. He was killed a few weeks later in an explosion. They told us he’d been doing security and that his truck had run over an IED … he was … he was killed almost instantly,” slouching back in my seat, I hear my own voice break but know I need to do this. I have to tell him everything. “Matt was in the truck behind Jack’s and saw the whole thing happen.” Pushing my food away, I grab another napkin so I can dry my eyes and the tears away. Chase makes his was to my side of the booth and sits down with me, pulling me in to him.

“God Sophie, I’m so sorry,” he says, softly kissing me on the side of my head as he rubs my back gently. I cry quietly in the booth with him for a few minutes before his ringing cell phone interrupts us. I take a d
eep breath as I peer up at him.

“It’s Ana,” he says
, leaning over before connecting the call. I hear him telling her where we are before hanging up. “I guess she and Drake are in Camden now. She said that they’re on their way over here ... I’m sorry for interrupting you, Sophie. Please continue?”

“Jack and Ana grew up here
, so everyone around here knew and loves …
loved
him. When he died, I swear everyone from the whole of the town came to his funeral. Their support was amazing but it was also really overwhelming to have so many people around us. We didn’t really get to have anything for just the people closest to him, know? Anyway, about six months ago they called Ana and told her that they wanted to honor him with something. We’d already planned on having a memorial service for his anniversary, so, that’s why we’re here. Tomorrow there’s going to be an enormous ceremony honoring Jack, with the mayor making a speech. After that, we’ve planned on going back to the house and having a few people over for a small memorial thing there,” I explain.

Hearing a dinging sound over by the door, we both look up and turn around to see Ana and Drake walking through the diner’s main door.

“Sophie you scared to hell out of me!”
Ana yells as she reaches over to hug me. “Are you okay?” She asks, her eyes searching over me. I can see the concern within her eyes and hear it within her tone. Drake gives me a small smile before patting Chase on the shoulder as they take a seat across from us.

We wait a couple of minutes for the server to attend to their
order, and then Ana looks over at Chase, her gaze landing on the arm he has around my shoulder. “Are you coming tomorrow?”

“Um, I don’t know how Sophie would feel about that, Ana
,” he answers her, his voice is low and sounds a little shaky. He rests his eyes on me for a split second before fiddling around with the sugar dispenser that’s sitting on the table in front of us.

“I don’t really know how well I’m going to do with
all of this tomorrow if I’m to be completely honest with you, Chase. I don’t know how you feel about everything but if you want to stay, then stay, but if you’d rather leave then I’ll understand. It’s entirely your decision. I don’t want you to be uncomfortable though so don’t feel pressured either way you decide okay?”

He looks genuinely surprised a
s he stares into my eyes, “I don’t think I’d be uncomfortable personally, but it might be weird for everyone else if I’m there.”

“It’ll only be weird if you make it that way
, Chase,” Ana tells him. He throws her a disbelieving look although she just rolls her eyes at him in response. “Listen, Jack liked everyone and I honestly believe that he would have liked you too. If I didn’t think he would then I wouldn’t be supporting any of this at all,” she adds bluntly while gesturing between the two of us. “I I also think that Sophie could use the support. Nobody will be offended if you come along but Sophie’s right, it’s your choice to make. You’re welcome to join us if you’d like.”

“Thanks, Ana,” Chase starts a
s he brings his eyes back to focus on me. “Sophie, do you think me coming along will help you?”

“Chase, I can’t ask you to come to Jack’s memorial service,” I
answer him, my voice sounding defeated as I let out a sigh. I want to be able to but I won’t. Unconcerned with having both Ana and Drake’s eyes on us, he whispers closely in my ear.

“What did I tell you before?”
he asks. Our eyes meet as he pulls away a little. “There’s nothing you can’t ask of me Sophie.” Once again, his sincerity has left me speechless and my eyes begin to fill with tears. I’m unable to find my voice to answer him so I nod in reply instead. “How about this,” he begins., “I’ll plan on coming with you but if you need me to give you some space then you’ll just tell me and I’ll go for a drive okay?” he suggest as his eyes flicker between mine, as though he’s trying to read my mind,

An hour
or so passes by and we so decide to head over to the house, so we can see Lucy and JT and maybe help finish setting everything up ready for tomorrow. I’m so excited to see JT because I haven’t seen him since we left Camden.

We pull into the driveway and
I can already see the main door opening up. Chase hasn’t even managed to turn the ignition off but JT is already on the porch and jumping up and down excitedly before running down the steps to greet us.

“Aunt Sophie!”
he yells, bolting towards the truck. I hop out think to myself that it really doesn’t matter what happens in my life, good or bad, this kid just manages to fix it all.

“JT
, my big boy! Come and see me my sweet pea!” I call back as I bend down, throwing my arms open so that I can catch him. He hits me like a ton of bricks. “Oh!” I exhale with light surprise. We laugh together and squeeze each other before I rise with him in my arms as he swings his little feet. Pulling back, I smile at him, with him returning my smile and giving me a kiss as he hugs me tightly. “Oh I missed you so much, buddy! How are you doing?”

“Good,” he smiles back
as he answers me. “Momma made a chocowate cake!” He still can’t say his “L’s” right and sounds so adorable.

“Momma made us a chocolate cake?” I ask him
, feigning shock which makes him let out a giggle.

“Yep! Come on! Wet’s go eat some of it!” he yells and cheers
. I laugh at his enthusiasm and kiss his neck. While keeping him in my arms, I walk over towards Chase, seeing him watching us with unveiled amusement.

“JT
, this is Aunt Sophie’s friend, Chase. Say hello to him,” I say and JT looks over at him, smiling bashfully as he stares.