Don't You Dare

Chapter Forty-Four:

"The hell he will!" Tanner screamed through the speaker of the phone. "If he ever even looks at you again I'll knock every single one of his teeth out and wear them as a headband!"

"Tanner, I wish you were here, you could've kicked his ass..." I sighed.

"I can't stand the fact that I wasn't there for that. I'll talk to my boss about coming home early, okay?"

"Tanner, don't do that. You'll just lose your job."

"Nah! Not once I tell him the reason."

"Tanner! I want you to come home, but I don't want you to lose your job." I rubbed my temples, confused by what I actually wanted. I didn't care if he lost his job. Hell, I would have gotten three if it meant he could come home.

"Shelby, I honestly don't care either way, just tell me what you want." He said sweetly, even though I knew he cared.

"You selfless shit, do what you want and don't worry about me."

"It's my job to worry about you, Shelby."

I could feel tears well up in my eyes. He hadn't been gone even a day and I missed him more than anything. I'd have given anything to fall back into his arms.

"I'm going to talk to my boss. He might even shorten the time I work off for."

I smiled to myself, "Okay, whatever. Love you."

"Love you too, bye." He hung up the phone without another word. I let the silence ring in my ears for a moment before I set the phone down.

Tomahawk slept with me that night to keep me warm. I dreamt of my baby, of how I'd raise him, who he'd grow up to be.

The next morning I awoke to my phone ringing loudly on my night stand. I grunted and swatted at it, hoping it would stop. It didn't so I rose up from under the blanket and swiped the device form the stand. It was my mother.

"Hello?" I asked warily.

"Oh, Shelby have you watched the news yet?" She asked, sniffling.

"No ma'am, why?"

"Oh! Turn on the T.V.!" She said, bursting into tears.

I did as she said and flicked on the T.V. It was already on the news channel. It flashed pictures of a massive explosion. There were names and numbers of the dead. The entire news crew spoke only in condolences to the affected families.

"Momma, what's this-" I heard a news member speak of an oil rig explosion. For a moment I was in disbelief.

It has to be a different rig...
He... He couldn't have been in that explosion...

"Momma..." I began, watching the names of the dead scroll across the bottom of the screen. "Tanner is..."

"I know, I know. I'm sorry..." She said softly, trying to pull herself together.

I dropped my phone and stared blankly at the television screen. "Shelby?" The phone rung out for a short second until my it hung up. I could feel the tears start to pour down my face, but I was unable to move. Tomahawk whined as I twitched.

Suddenly, I erupted into a scream. A scream filled with sorrow and anguish. I didn't know what else to do but to pray and pray to God that Tanner wasn't really dead. I prayed that I would wake up and that this would all be a dream. That Noah never showed up and Tanner never left. That I would turn over and look at Tanner's sweet face. I prayed until I heard a familiar song...

I scrambled to find my phone as the melodious track emanated from the speakers. I finally found it and put it to my ear.

"Tanner..?" I asked hopefully.