*Grace POV*
As we drove back to the house (after looking for Kimberly's helmet that she threw) we both sat in silence. I was just glad that this silence wasn't like before. "Kimberly, I am really sorry. I thought I was doin the right thing. And I-""It's ok. Just please talk to me next time so I can help you." She responded, turing her head slightly so I could hear her over the motor. "We do need to talk about your song later, though." I nodded. "How did Carrie get down there?" Kimberly asked me. Before we could answer, I heard a roaring in the woods. A sleak black motorcycle pulled up behind us.
"That answer your question..?" I laughed. "When did that..? Ugh, nevermind." Kimberly laughed. We pulled up to the house and saw three figures sitting on the wooden patio that I had ran off of earlier. They all had glasses of tea. Mine was now empty, but I held onto it. We both hopped off and I heard Carrie turn her motorcycle off. "Gettin pretty good at that!" One of the figures yelled to Carrie, I realized it was Miranda! "Yeah, thanks to you!" Carrie laughed back. I smiled. "Did I miss something...?" Kimberly asked, both of us walking arm in arm to to porch. My leg had begun to throb. "Yeah, somethin bad did happen! I got Carrie a motorcycle!" Kimberly's mouth fell open. I laughed at her face. "Look out roads, cars, and anything that moves, Carrie Underwood now drives a motorcycle!"
We all started laughing. "Hey! That's not nice! At least I didn't run into the side of my garage on my four-wheeler!" Kimberly blushed. "Hey! That was one time and I was younger! At least I didn't forget the clutch! On video!" We all started laughing at that one! Carrie attempted to pout but started laughing. "Alright, so are we all friends now? Are you through scarin us to death!?" Neil asked me with a half smile. He picked me up and swung me around. I started laughing. I could feel Reid's eyes watching me. Uh Oh.
"Neil! Put her down!" Kimberly laughed. I smiled. I had never really had a guy do that to me before! Because when you have crazy men that you've dealt with, they don't do that with you. No, it's all crazy "I love you's" and gunmetal.Neil carefully set me down in a chair. I smiled the whole time. "So, well, this morning was exciting, but y'all have to pack and I have a dog to play with!" Miranda smiled. "Alright, let's go!" Reid said. "Thank you so much for all that y'all have done!" I hugged Miranda, and then Carrie. "Man, and I thought Kimberly gave the bone crushing hugs!" Carrie teased, flashing me a smile. "I know, right!?" Miranda laughed. I couldn't help but laugh with them. "I'll send y'all updates!" I smiled. "And I'll send you pictures of BlackJack!" Miranda smiled back.
"Thank y'all so much again." I said. They both gave me a smile. "Remember, shooting lessons later." Miranda winked. I gave them each one more hug, which they happily complained about, and they left. "Miranda left you some of her tea in our fridge." Reid informed me. I nodded. I felt a hand on my shoulder. "Grace, the hospital called, you need to have your stitches out. I offered to take them out, it's about 8 am. My office opens at 10:00. We can go now, if you like." I recognized the voice of Mr. Perry. My foot was propped up on the table, gauzed up stitches peeking out from under my skirt.
"Yes, sir. Sounds great! I actually forgot about them!" He smiled at me. They had to leave them in for a while because it was a major gash. "I'll come with y'all." Kimberly said. I smiled. "SHOTGUN!" I yelled. "Whoever gets there first!" Kimberly yelled back. I tried to sprint, but got really tired. I ended up at a brusque walk. Kimberly was still behind me. I knew what she was doing.
"You can race ahead, y'know!" I said, laughing. "No, you're too fast!" I smiled. This was the first time someone seemed to care! I made it to the door first! "Oh, girls! You forget who has the keys!" I heard Mr. Perry call after us. I glanced at Kimberly and she smiled.
When he finally got over to the car, he unlocked it and Kimberly helped me get into the passenger side. I smiled at her and shut the door.
As we drove, Kimberly and I talked about our childhood memories. "There was the first time that Reid ever really rode Romeo, do you remember it dad?" Kimberly asked Mr. Perry. "Yeah! Reid went out with some horse treats to try and catch him, but he ran away! So I walked out to a nice morning of Reid running around in circles trying to catch that horse! Reid eventually stumbled and fell on the ground. You know what that horse did? Stole the horse treats and ran away!" I started laughing. I couldn't believe it! "And then the horse went back over and nudged Reid off the ground before running off again!" I laughed even harder, my face turning red.
"What was it like when you were younger?" Kimberly asked me. I sat and thought. I had had a fairly good childhood, my parents fought a lot, but it wasn't bad. "It was alright. I mean, I grew up in a house with two siblings, one is now in the army and the other is an author. I'm the little kid....th-any way, I remember a funny story!" I could feel Kimberly eyeing me, she knew there was more to that story! "One time, my brother stole my stuffed animal and I ran after him. He was going so fast that he tripped and split his pants!" Both of them started laughing nonstop. I told a few more stories.
We finally pulled into his office. It was little, but in the center of the town of Greenville. It looked like a house and had old fashion pillars outside in the front. it was a dull pinkish color with white windows. He helped me in and had me sit down on one of his tables. "How do you feel?" He asked me, washing his hands in the small metal sink in the corner. "To tell you the truth, it's been hurting some. Especially my leg." I admitted.
He sprayed something cold onto my stitches and pulled them out. They didn't hurt a bit! Not at least on my stomach! Then, he pulled out the few on my leg, after using the cold spray. He then got some white strips and put them on both places before getting a patch bandaid and putting it over. "That way you won't have any infection."
"Thank you, Mr. Perry!" I smiled. He shook his head, "please, call me Steve, or dad." He smiled at me. "Thank you so much for all you have done, dad!" I smiled. He was kinda like a second father to me!
We drove back to the house, after Mr. Perry gave me a low dose pain pill. I was kinda loopy, so Kimberly sat in the front. I fell asleep and in no time was shaken awake. "How do you feel?" Kimberly asked me. I was laying on my bed!
"When did this happen!? When did I fall asleep!?" I asked, startled. "You've been asleep for only an hour. It's ok, we're all tired." She yawned. "Sorry about that...." I said. She shook her head. "It's fine." "Ok. Tell me, which was it?" She stared at me. "What...?"
"C'mon, I know you didn't carry me up these stairs!" I smiled. She rolled her eyes. "Guess which one." "Hmm I don't know, maybe Reid?" "Yup." She smiled. I laughed. "I have a problem. They're both very nice guys!" I said before covering my mouth. Oops.
She looked at me for a few moments, her mouth in a thin line. A clock ticked loudly in the room. Then, she smiled. "So, you do like one of them?" She asked me. I sighed. "Yes. They are nice and all of you seem to care about me." I said.
"We have a meeting at 3:30 for the tour, but come sit on the patio for a few minutes." Kimberly said. I glanced at the clock, it was 10:30. "I wanted to tune and maybe run to the antique mall for a few minutes with you before we eat lunch and leave!" Kimberly smiled. "Ok, sounds great to me!" I smiled.
I sat down on one of the rocking chairs on the front porch. They had a big lawn and trails that lead to the creek and the barn. It was a really neat place, especially in the summer! They had a small pool in front of us, a few yards from the deck. "So, tell me about your childhood and ex-boyfriend. And if you try and run, I will ducttape you to the chair." She threatened, eyes narrowing menacingly. I think she was half serious! "Oh..ok." I sighed.
"Well, I was always the youngest of my siblings. My other siblings seemed to be favored more than I did, I'm not trying to be mean. And my mother would get upset at me for random things, some I didn't even do. But three kids was a lot to handle! Anyway, but it was a great childhood, don't get me wrong. Anyway, now to the ex-boyfriends. I haven't really told anyone this willingly before. Miranda and Carrie just kinda got it out of me. I'm not tryin to be mean-""Yeah, they were just trying to help. They thought if you told them, it would make things better, which it did, at least you got it off your chest." Kimberly said.
"Yeah. That's what I was trying to say. So, here it goes. Sam, the crazy boyfriend, came into my room one night, when he was supposed to be out of town on vacation. But before that, he had texted me asking if I could be his girlfriend, not the best move, but I accepted. I had found the boyfriend before that was cheating with my friend on the common room couch. Long story short, after like one date, before his trip, he was kinda obsessed with me. My siblings tried to protect me, but my brother got deployed and my sister had to move to New York for her job. He ended up coming to my house and threatening to shoot anyone I got close to. The neighbors called police after the screaming match and found me bleeding on the floor, with a cigarette burn on my arm, I don't know how it got there. They arrested him... And I had to get stitches. He had hit me with a glass bottle before the cops came, thinking I had somehow magically called them. So..." I said, traitor tears leaking down my cheeks.
"That's why you left, to protect us? BabyGirl, you were just tryin to do the right thing. I'm so sorry I got angry with you. I was just scared and mad at myself for lettin you run away. It'll be fine, I promise." She hugged me. I wiped my tears and she smiled. "So... now about my brothers..?" I froze, this is gonna be awkward! "Are you mad..?" I asked. She looked at me and narrowed her eyes. "Why would I be mad?" I sighed in relief. "I don't know. I don't think I deserve either one of your brothers. And I want you to approve of whatever I do." There was a moment of silence as I looked away from Kimberly's eyes and into my hands.
She laughed, which startled me. "What's so funny?" I said, looking up. "You've had my approval ever since you pushed me away from that car! And, I think that you deserve either of my brothers. You're such a kind and thoughtful person, you deserve either! and have my approval." I smiled. Holy crap! I just got approval from Kimberly Perry! She started laughing uncontroably. "What?" I asked. "You said that out loud....!" I turned bright red. "Ah!" I yelled. "Oops.... I just never imagnied this would happen!" I jumped up and down in the rocking chair. "What are you? A kangaroo? Gosh! You're gonna hurt yourself! Again!" I laughed. The stitches were hurting a bit, so I stopped. "This is just amazing! They never said this would happen!"
Kimberly looked at me. "Who are you talkin about?" "All the kids in highschool. A lot of them made fun of me for liking country music." I said, putting my head down. "Who cares what they think! You like whatever you wanna! I am glad you like country music, or you might have a problem." I laughed and playfully punched her arm.
We sat and talked for a while as if we were old friends!