Gone Country

Chapter 36 (Changes?)

Rain.

Pouring rain is what jolted me awake. I woke panicked, jerking to right expecting to be comforted by Brant. My heart pounded in my chest when I felt then saw that Brant wasn't lying next to me. Please tell me he didn't leave in this kind of weather! Rain killed my mother, he knows that, so why the heck is he not here?

I looked over the side of the bed to where our suitcase was lying on the floor open and messed around in. His boots that had been placed next to mine had vanished. I felt around in the bed, realizing my phone had disappeared as well. Where on earth had my handsome cowboy gone? Was he safe?

Waking up without him during a rain fest wasn't something I liked experiencing. It went against everything I felt to get up from this bed, but rain wouldn't stop me from finding him. I slipped out of bed to grab the light blue matching robe that went with my negligee from the suitcase to hide my body. To the door I headed, tugging on the robe that I gently tied at my waist.

I gently opened the door, just to peek out of it to see if the truck was here. When I poked my head out, a small smile immediately pulled on my lips when I saw that he was safe and leaning against the railing outside of our second floor motel room, gazing out at the rain and talking to someone on my cellphone. It all made sense then.

My trembling heart calmed to it's normal pace when I heard his husky morning voice speaking to his mother. "Mom, I promise we'll wait until the storm passes to come home. You know Charlotte doesn't like the rain because of what happened to Lillian. I wouldn't dare make her go through that."

I slowly made my way out onto the terrace, listening in on the conversation while approaching him. "Mom," he softly laughed. "There's a Denny's right next door, I can get her some food there. She's fine, ma, I'll take care of her and myself. You can stop fretting now."

I wrapped my arms around his waist, letting out a giggle when he flinched in surprised. He turned around some, smiling down at me when I snuggled up into his side. He suddenly rolled his eyes. "Mom, we have enough money and we don't need for you to send dad to come pick us up, that will only worry Charlotte more." Brant kissed my hair good morning while wrapping an arm around me when he saw my cautious glance at the rain pouring down.

I nuzzled my face in his chest, forcing myself to look away from it. "I'm eighteen now, a legal adult, I can handle this," Brant told her. "We're going to be okay, it's just a rain storm." To him it was just a rain storm, to me it was millions of bad memories falling from the sky that I didn't want to relive. "I'm going to go, ma, Charlotte just woke up."

The phone was softly pressed to my ear, notifying my brain that she wanted to speak with me before she got off the phone. "Hello?" I murmured.

"Are you okay, sweetheart?" she cooed in her motherly tone.

"I have Brant, he makes it okay," was my response. She made sure I knew that Brant was to buy us breakfast, lunch if the storm prolongs, and we weren't to start driving until the sun had been out for at least a hour.

"Charlotte, are you sure you don't want me to come get you?" Jack asked when Stella let him have the phone.

"No, please don't go anywhere," I begged.

"Alright, I won't, but call if you need me. Don't hang up, your dad wants to speak to you."

The phone was scuffled around to my father who has known my problem with rain for years and has never done anything about it. I didn't know what to expect, maybe an interrogation on whether Brant and I had sex, or he might even tell me that he wanted me to come home regardless of my fears. Comfort from him hadn't even crossed my mind, but my father was officially full of surprises.