CAROLINE'S POV
Taylor had dropped me off at her parent's house a day ago to leave for a mini vacation with Karlie. Yesterday morning, Taylor's birthday, they left for a secluded island near the equator and they wouldn't be back until midday tomorrow. The weather there sounded great compared to the flurries of snow falling down in Nashville.
Of course, I wasn't invited on this little birthday trip. And instead of just staying home at our apartment so I could go to school and stay in my own room, Taylor made me stay with her parents. Now I had to drive through city traffic for 45 minutes to get to school every morning and when I came home I sat inside and did my homework at Scott and Andrea's kitchen table, then went straight to bed. I guess after the partying and getting blackout drunk incident Taylor doesn't really trust me alone.
I was glad that Karlie convinced Taylor to go away with her though. Taylor needed a break. From me, from work, from everything. Her anxiety had gotten worse after that night I came home drunk, which was to be expected, but I still felt awful about it. Knowing that I was the one who made her feel that way was more painful than I thought it would be.
On that second day of staying with Taylor's parents I got to their house after school and before I could get my homework out like they wanted me to Andrea stopped me.
"Hey Caroline, will you come to Walmart with me? I need to pick up a few things and I might as well do it now that the snow has let up a little." Andrea said while rummaging through her purse for her keys.
"Sure." I said, a little taken aback. I was going to get to go out. Even if it was just to Walmart I was excited. I haven't really been anywhere besides school since the night of the party because Taylor had grounded me.
As Andrea found her keys and we headed to the car I wondered if Taylor would think going to Walmart was breaking the rules of the grounding. I laughed to myself at that thought, Taylor didn't really know how grounding worked, or any punishment for that matter. But her ignorance on the subject was perfectly fine with me.
Ten minutes later we were walking through the store's automatic doors and you would've thought I was walking up to the gates of heaven. I guess Walmart is heaven when you haven't been anywhere in five days. Shopping for mundane things like deodorant and toothpaste kept my mind off being grounded and missing Taylor.
My pure joy when browsing the shaving cream options was interrupted when a large man in a camouflage army uniform tapped on my shoulder.
"Excuse me." He said in a low voice as Andrea and I both took a startled step back. I couldn't muster up any words to say to this strange man towering over me, all I could think about was how smart Taylor was for always having a security guard with her. This guy was probably two times my size and I had a hard time reading his face. I felt him analyzing my features and I didn't know what to make of it.
"Is your name Caroline Connor?" The man asked me, his face softening. I felt a lump form in my throat. Not only did he know my name, he knew me by my old last name.
"Yeah." I said more quietly than I might have liked. I saw Andrea take a small step forward out of the corner of my eye. She was like Taylor in that she was very weary of strangers approaching her.
"Oh my God." The man breathed out more to himself than to me. He let out a breathy chuckle as tears formed in his eyes. At this point, I was intrigued. He wasn't scary anymore, he was human, and it seemed like he knew me.
"Your dad and I were buddies in Afghanistan." The man said, a tear now falling down his cheek. Now tears were building in my eyes, I couldn't process this.
"My name is Tom by the way." He added quickly and held out his hand for me to shake it. I shook his hand and felt my bottom lip start to quiver as Andrea introduced herself as my grandma and shook Tom's hand also.
