My bus is about to pull out as I make my way over to it, I pound my hand on the closed door, startling the driver enough for her to stop, open the door, and let me inside. She looks at me as I make my way to my usual seat, slumping as far down as I can scrunch before I break and let the tears fall.
Chapter Fifteen
I drive straight to Presley’s house. I know I’ll make it there before her bus and I’ll be damned if I allow her to run away from me. This is all a huge misunderstanding, but I’m also kind of pissed she would even consider me cheating on her. Maybe these few minutes apart will actually do us both some good. Give us a chance to clear our heads and calm our tempers. God, the temper on her is electric, and I’m a damn bug begging to be burned by its light.
I can already imagine what make up sex with her would be like. Come on. Snap out of it. Focus. And Jesus Christ, do something with the raging boner you have right now. I watch out the rear window, waiting for her bus to pull up behind me, letting her out. White puppy hair covers the back seat, maybe it was a good thing she rode the bus home. I have no idea how I would have explained that.
Her bus stops, and she gets out. “Presley!” I call out to her from the truck. Eyes forward, she doesn’t look back. “Presley, get in the truck!” She continues her onward march, never looking back, I ease my truck up next to her and I see her wipe her eyes. Knowing I’m the reason for those tears is gut-wrenching. “Presley, baby, please get in the truck.”
“Leave me alone, Robert. Go back to your skank!”
God, she knows how to push my buttons. “Nothing is going on between Heather and me. I can't stand her.” She stops and looks at me and then to the house. “Come on, Presley. Please get in the truck and let me explain.” She starts moving towards the house again.
“I said, leave me alone, Robert.”
“And I said no. I’ve picked your ass up once before and put you in this truck; don’t think I won't do it again, Princess.” I throw the truck in park and kick my door open as she sprints the rest of the way to the house and through the front door. Almost instantaneously Gramps appears on the front porch, arms folded across his chest, his stance is wide and stable. He’s bearing an expression that would send even the Grim Reaper back to where he came from.
“I think it’s time you left, boy.” Presley’s head peeks out behind Gramp’s foreboding shoulders as soon as he speaks.
“Please, sir. I need to explain everything.”
“Not now. Now go on home.”
Her eyes are pained as I watch her close the door on me. I have never known defeat in this manner. “I’m not leaving until I talk to her.”
“Suit yourself. But you do not come into this house until she says.”
“Fine!” I walk back to my truck, bring it up to the house and cut the engine. Staring at the closed front door, I grab my jacket, hat, and gloves, preparing myself to sit out in the cold for as long as this takes. I mean, how long could the woman possibly stay angry?
*****
There’s a gentle knock on my door. I roll my eyes at the person on the other side of it and go back to holding the pillow that smells like him. “Go away, Robert!” I say through sniffled tears and mumbled breath. The door creeks open, and as I’m about to lash out at him, Gram sticks her head inside my room.
“It’s me, sweetie. Wanna tell me what all the yelling was about out there?” I sigh back into my pillow and try my damndest to keep the tears from escaping. “Come on. There isn’t anything you could tell me I haven’t heard before.”
“He smelled like some cheap whore when I hugged him after school. His truck had the same disgusting scent in it, replacing any trace of my presence in there, he has a hickey on his neck the size of a strawberry, and there was a cheap thong in his truck.”
“Anything else?”
“Excuse me, what else could there be?”
“Oh, my dear…” she chuckles as she sits down next to me, her hand rubbing small circles on my back as she tries to soothe me. “What did Robert say?”
“That it was all a big misunderstanding.”
“And what was his explanation for it all?”
“I don’t know. I didn’t exactly let him explain anything. I took off.”
“Honey, you can't keep running when things get hard. It’s not what your momma has done, and it’s not what I did when I was younger. We are fiercely loyal, almost to a fault, but we stand up for ourselves and for our men and we fight tooth and nail for the truth. We don’t accept wishy-washy answers, and we will take a bitch out.”
I laugh at the fact Grams had given me permission to kick Heather’s ass, and not just Heather, but any woman who dares to take Robert away from me.
I sit up and rest my head on her shoulder.
“Don’t you think he deserves to tell his side of the story?”
I know what the answer should be, but I’m not ready to give in to him yet.
“Honey, I’m gonna tell you something my grandmother told me when I was about your age. Men, as much as we love them, well, they’re stupid creatures. But if you find one who is willing to put you above all things, well, you don’t let him go, you fight for him, and honey, that boy out there loves you more than life itself. Things won't always be perfect. There will be hard times, but those hard times strengthen you not only as an individual but also as a couple.”
I know she’s right, but admitting I’m wrong, isn’t something I want to do right now. I want to be justified in my feelings. I want him to feel the heart-wrenching agony I felt, and I want to crush Heather’s fucking face in. I mumble a thank-you to her as she pats my leg on her way off the bed.
“You know that boy is sitting on the front steps waiting for you.”
I jump off my bed and look out the window as best I can and see what resembles a broken man. The snow has begun to fall again, and he’s sitting in the midst of it right there on the front step. Gram was right when she said men were stupid, there’s a covered porch and a bench he could take shelter on instead of sitting on the cold concrete getting wet. “Why is he out there?”
“Your grandpa won't let him in the house until you say so.” I laugh at how protective Gramps is over me. One of the benefits of being the only grandchild, I assume.
Looking back out the window, I call down the hall, “Gramps, he can come inside now, but only as far as the living room. I’m not ready to see him yet.”
“Will do, peanut.” I hear the front door crack open and the sound of boots stomping off on the front porch before closing my door again.
“Thanks, Gram.”
She kisses my head and heads to the door. “Don’t give up on him, but don’t let your pride push him away either. No one wins in that situation.” She nods and leaves me alone to contemplate her final words.
*****
The lock on the front door clicks open, and I look back to see a slightly less intimidating Gramps standing in the doorway.
“She said you can come in.”
Thank God for a softening heart. I was beginning to freeze out there. Sure there were warmer places to sit, on the bench, or hell even in my truck with the heater on, but that would that have been a weak move. I make my way inside and Gramps motions towards the living room.