Goodbye Earl(40)

“I’m leaving soon, and I promise we’ll do this before I go…but not now. Not when we both smell like Goldie Light. God, I’d never forgive myself,” Kasey said, shoving her head out of his covers.

“Okay,” Silas said, breathing hard. “You’re right. Are you okay? Am I being too—”

“No! I’m the one—”

“No! I’m happy. I’m so happy right now,” he said, kissing her mouth, her ear, her neck. Kasey leaned over to retrieve her tank top and slip it back over her head. Silas was in his boxers. He was holding her face, and they laughed when they both got stuck in her shirt.

“Soon. I promise,” she said, kissing him back.

“I don’t want you to leave. I don’t want you to leave Goldie,” he said so earnestly Kasey thought she’d burst into tears.

“We’ll be us, no matter where we go. I’ll come back. A lot. You know I’m a mama’s girl so I won’t be able to stay gone too long without coming home anyway. It’s the future and we have phones and email. Plus, I’ll be here,” she said, touching his bare chest. His heart.

“You’ll be here,” he said, putting his hand on hers.

“And here,” she said, putting her hand between his legs.

He snatched her under the covers with him, tickled her until she begged for mercy.





2019


11





Caroline


Trey was in a mood at Taylor and Ben’s wedding reception. After dancing to two more songs with her grandma, Caroline found him sitting with a few guys she barely knew at a table inside the tent.

“I saw you out there. Didn’t want you to hurt yourself,” Trey said to her when she sat next to him. She took his glass of icy water from him, sipped it. “Were you dancing with Nick too?”

Caroline tried to think of who her husband could be talking about. Nick? She didn’t know a Nick.

“I was dancing with my grandma,” she said, tucking her hair behind her ear. “Who’s Nick?”

“Some guy who’s friends with Ben. He worked at the distillery for a minute. Seems like your type. He’s tall and his family has a lot of money,” he said. “He’d definitely try to get under your dress if you weren’t married to me.”

Caro was glad he said it low enough so the other men at the table wouldn’t hear him.

“I’m not letting anyone get under my dress,” she said defiantly. She kept her eyes on Rosemarie, still on stage with Leo. Leo was whispering something into her ear and Rosemarie bent over laughing. She touched Leo’s wrist. Roses and Leo were so gentle with each other, so kind. Trey had no idea that gentleness and kindness were Caro’s type, not height and money. She put her chin in her hand and blinked back tears, touched the pearl necklace Trey had given her, rolled it between her fingers. What did it matter if he gave her something like that if he treated her like shit?

“Not even me?” Trey said softly, putting his hand on her knee.

“Not when you’re being mean to me, no.”

“Stop it. You’re beautiful tonight. Don’t look for a way to ruin it.”

“You’re the one, not me. Did you have a bad day or something?” she asked, looking at him again. She wiped her tear away. The guys who were sitting at the table with them got up and left the tent. Rosemarie started singing a Taylor Swift song, which Caro knew was going to make her cry even more. Every Taylor Swift song made her cry. Three years ago, RACK had gone to see her in concert up in New York. They’d screamed-sung the words and cried so much that night. They’d gone back to Kasey’s place in Brooklyn and slept tangled together in Kasey’s huge bed with little puffs of confetti still in their hair, the four of them spilling onto the floor next to the wide windows and gorgeous view of the blinking, colored lights of the city.

In the tent, Ada and Kasey hugged on the dance floor. Grayson and Silas were next to them, being goofy as always. Caro wanted to go over there with them, wanted to hug little Taylor again and swish around with her girlfriends, but she was stuck to that chair and she was tired. Last night she’d stayed up late putting the finishing touches on the wedding cake and cupcakes. She hadn’t left the bakery until 2 a.m., and the girls had breakfast at Plum Eats before heading to the Plum house to get ready for everything. It’d been a really good day up until now.

That was how most of her days went. Things could be really good until Trey showed up.

They’d only been married for about six months. How in the hell was she supposed to do this for the rest of her life?

“Caroline,” Trey said with the tone she was all too familiar with now. The tone she didn’t hear until they returned from their honeymoon. It’d happened for the first time when she accidentally let the garbage leak out onto the kitchen floor. He yelled at her. “Caroline. Fuck! Why do you act so stupid? I don’t have time to clean this up. Come here!” She felt like she had to pee; she thought she’d go on herself. She was so scared, her first reaction was to run. To leave that house forever, to go back to her grandma’s trailer and hide.

She couldn’t do that.

It was too late and she’d be too embarrassed and this was what she’d wanted. Right? Right. She had to stay. She had to. Maybe Trey didn’t realize how he sounded or how scary he could be. He didn’t understand what women needed. He didn’t have a sister, and his mom had an iron heart.