Farm Girl Has Bad Boy (#3)

Chapter Twenty-Seven

“About the letter,” my dad grunts after a few more minutes of talking. “I really think you should wait until tomorrow so you can calm down a bit.” He gives me a stern look, more telling me to not dare to even open it rather than a warning.

In my bed, I sit staring at the ceiling, trying to fall asleep. My dad’s right; there’s way too much on my mind making me upset already. But however, I’m still extremely curious to what’s in the letter. So after a few calming breaths, I reach over to the bedside table and grab the envelope in my fingers.

The Next Day:

“I can’t believe him,” Mary sighs, shoving her pants in her jacket pockets. It’s midafternoon and the sky has been threatening to rain all day. “I’m gone for, what, a few days and almost everything that can possibly happen happens.” She shakes her head, causing her blonde curls to fly around her face.

“At least it’s not happening to you,” I reply, carefully placing my footing on the small, dirt path that my dad and I had walked only hours earlier. He has showed me where the small house could go and how much wider we would make the path. He’s going to have to take a bunch of trees down for the house and the small road leading to my current house, but he doesn’t seem to mind.

“So tell me already,” Mary chirps, turning to me and grabbing my shoulders. She gently rocks me back in forth in excitement. “What did the letter say?”

I had fallen asleep with it in my hands after reading it over and over. I’ve memorized every word unintentionally, and can recite it if there ever comes a time that I need to.

“For starters, he apologized, over and over.” Mary watches me with curious eyes as she drops her hands to her sides. I start slowly walking again, knowing I’ll have time to tell her everything on the way to the small clearing. It’s almost a ten minute walk there and we need something to fill the silence.

“Did he say anything about what happened with Alana?” I move my eyes to the ground and nod. I don’t know whether to believe him or not with what he said. Half of me wants to trust him and the other half wants to slap him.

“He said that Alana got the wrong impression of him,” I start, shoving my hands into my coat pockets to keep warm in the chilly wind. “That he was just being friendly like usual, and she mistook it for something else.”

“So she’s the one who kissed him and not the other way around?” Mary asks, watching me carefully in case I might start screaming any minute. I nod and she brushes her hair out of her eyes. “What about the picture of them going into Alana’s room?”

“Apparently he was telling her that she got the wrong idea and didn’t want to upset her in front of all her friends.” I start to think back to when I confronted Alana and meet Mary’s eyes. “And as much as I know I should still be extremely mad, I think I believe him. The way Alana said to me that Emery should be with her not me...It just sounded like she knows she doesn’t stand a chance.”

Mary shakes her head and comes to a stop, turning to me. “But then why did he leave?” Her voice is soft, trying not to upset me but still wanting to know. As much as I hate to think about it, Emery leaving probably hurt her too.

“You’re not going to believe me when I tell you.” I raise my eyebrows, only provoking her curiosity. “But first I should let you know, that Emery is coming back. For sure.”

For a brief second, I watch relief flash across my best friend’s eyes. Her shoulders loosen, as if she’s been carrying a weight on her shoulders. Then, just as quickly as I notice this, she’s back to being normal Mary who pretends she doesn’t like my boyfriend.

“I guess what I said to him about hurting me really got to him,” I murmur quietly, staring at the ground as I start walking again. “Because he didn’t leave for him. He left for me.” Mary jogs to catch up to me, staring at me as I talk more to myself than to her.

“What do you mean?”

“You consider Emery to be a bad kid, right?” I ask, meeting her eyes. She gives me a confused look and then shrugs, thinking about it.

“Yeah. Just look at all the bad things he’s done here and even before he showed up in your barn.” She avoids my eyes for a moment, most likely thinking back to when she first met him.

“Exactly, and where do they send kids who do bad things?”

“Juvi?” Her mouth falls open. “He put himself in juvi?”

I roll my eyes and shake my head. “No, try again.” I think for a moment, walking slowly along the path until I turn to Mary and stop. “Remember that Sam guy you dated?”

Mary narrows her eyes at me and smacks my arm. “Why would you bring that up? Why can’t you just tell me?” I really do want to tell her, but the news is still fresh in my mind. It’s like that saying it out loud is making it real.

“Where did Sam’s parents send him when he broke into the school that one time?” Mary and Sam had only dated a week over a year ago and she dumped him right when she found out he broke into the school. As hard as it is to believe right now, Mary didn’t have a thing for bad boys.

“Oh my god!” Mary screams, running the few feet between us and placing her hands on my shoulders. “Emery went to Military School?!”

I cringe at the word and then slowly nod. Apparently he had talked to my dad about getting things straightened out and then decided to go to Military School like my dad had when he wanted to turn his life around.

“So he thinks that going there will make things okay here?” She slowly asks, looking at me sympathetically.

“I guess so. That’s what happened with my dad long before I was born.”

“I still can’t believe that your dad used to be like Emery is now,” she shrugs, trying to change the subject. “I guess that means that Emery is going to turn out a good person?” She smirks and I roll my eyes, smacking her shoulder playfully with the back of my hand.

“I’m supposed to see him in a little less than a month,” I tell her, starting to walk again. “The school is near Redwood and my family has been invited to see him for the day.” I know Mary really wants to go too, but I as selfish as it is, I don’t want her there when I see Emery for the first time.

We stop in the small clearing and I try to imagine Emery and I’s house sitting there, however I really can’t. My dad said that he’s going to come up with a few layout ideas and show me, but even if I could envision my dream house, I never thought it was going to be next door to my parents.

“I think I have to go,” Mary says disappointedly, checking her cell phone. “My dad called me so I’m probably late for an early dinner.” She looks at me, waiting for me to come back with her but I shake my head.

“You go without me. I think I’m going to stay here for a little while.”

“Are you sure?” She looks at me disapprovingly and I wave her off, telling her to go. After I’m alone, I sink onto the damp ground and cross my legs. I rest my elbows on my knees and my chin on my hands, staring at the grassy space in front of me.

I wonder what it will be like when Emery comes back. If he’ll still be the person I fell in love with, minus all the bad times we had together. Or if he’ll be someone completely new.

“Ow,” I mutter, grabbing my stomach just as the baby kicks. For a moment I get worried, wondering, will Emery even be here when the baby’s born or if he’ll still be away. But they wouldn’t make him stay on the due date, would they?

I quickly shake my head, telling myself no but worry still settles inside me. Tons of babies are born before their due date. What if ours is too, and Emery isn’t there for it?