Not Desperate

Chapter 20 An Owl in the Tree

Chapter 20

An Owl in the Trees

            Daryl felt that there weren’t many positive things people could say about him, except for one. He was a man of his word. After he made breakfast, scrambled eggs and toast, he drove Michael to school and spent the rest of the day taking care of Yvonne. He made sure she ate, stayed hydrated and put ointment on her cuts and bruises. When she slept, which was most of the day, he lay with his arms around her. Eventually, he called Merle. He told Daryl he had known what Joe was gonna ask him and just couldn’t be there; he was a coward. He didn’t know about what happened to the girl until Daryl called him. He had taken a risk and gone to Carol who had not turned him away. He poured his heart out to her about Daryl, the boys and her. Afraid of how this would end for him, he told her he loved her and had spent the night in her bed. Those things he kept to himself. Carol had volunteered to stay with Yvonne during the day so Daryl and Merle could go back to work. It would be for only one day, because Daryl and Yvonne were going camping this weekend.

            When Friday morning arrived, Daryl was up before the sun, packing gear in his truck. He wasn’t sure if they should still go, but she had insisted. She told him that it would help get their minds off what had happened. He put Michael’s gear in along with theirs. They were dropping him off for his own trip, then driving to the cabin. As they got closer, Daryl stopped at a small grocery store located just off the dirt road that led to their destination. He was planning on going hunting tomorrow and had brought food supplies to sustain them until then, but he had come up with a plan for a special night and had to get some extras. He picked up hot dogs, buns, marshmallows and, of course, beer. Yvonne wasn’t sure of what she expected when she saw the cabin, but it certainly was not this. It was anything but a shack. It had two floors, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, a large kitchen and a living area with a fireplace. “This is incredible. It’s so big and beautiful. Did your grandfather build this himself?”

            “Yeah, for the most part. He let Merle and I do some stuff to the bedrooms to make them our own. Let’s get the gear unloaded and I’ll show you around.” It took thirty minutes to get everything out of the truck because Daryl wouldn’t let her carry anything. After she had put the food away, he grabbed her bag and they went upstairs. He showed her all three bedrooms and let her choose the one she wanted. She looked at each one twice before picking the one at the far end of the hall. Daryl sat her bag down by the door and sat next to her on the bed. The room looked the same as it had the last time he had slept there. This had been the room he had stayed in all those summers. He had made it his own in so many ways that weren’t visible to the naked eye. This was the first place he could ever call his own, the first place he ever felt safe. There were still things hidden in this place that would never see the light of day. “Why’d ya pick this one?” he asked her.

            “It seems the most comfortable. It feels safe, I just felt good when I came in here.” She answered him.

            “This one was mine. The second one was Merle’s and the big one at the other end was grandpa’s. I felt the same way when I first came in here. Merle wanted it at first, but grandpa told him that as the youngest, I deserved to get what I wanted for once. “

            “I can pick another room, if you want this one to yourself,” she told him.