Reaching Rose (Hunter Hill University Book 3) (14 page)

BEN

I drum my fingers on the steering wheel all the way up to Wantage. Rose has me worried sick. She's in the woods with no phone. Common sense tells me she found a place to turn around and she's home safely in her house. My gut tells me she never got home. My overactive imagination tells me she's lying in a ditch somewhere dead.

Odds are, common sense has won, but what if?

That's why I am racing up Route 23's two-lane highway at double the speed limit. Kudos to my Honda for breaking a hundred miles per hour.

When I pull up, every light in the house is on, including the front porch light. My panic has me rapping on the door harder and faster than I should, especially since with my other hand, I'm ringing the doorbell.

"I'm coming, I'm coming." The voice on the other side sounds just as panicked.

"Ben," Rose's mother cries as she opens the door.

Even before I ask, I know the answer, but I ask anyway. "Mrs. Duncan, I'm just making sure...is Rose here?"

"No. No."

We're bombarded at the door with the rest of Rose's family...and, "Holly?"

"Ben?"

"Do you know of any trails around here where Rose would go?" I ask quickly.

"Trail?" the man, who I gather is Rose's father, asks. "Do you know where Rose is?"

"She called me from some trail. Her phone died and...and I have this feeling."

"Come with me, son." The man grabs a set of keys off a hook on the wall and leads me off the porch. "I'm Bruce, Rose's dad."

"Ben, sir. Rose's friend."

We get into a huge F350, and Mr. Duncan peels out of the driveway.

"You sure she said trail?"

"Yes. And she didn't have room to turn around. Then her phone went dead."

"Hopefully she's where I think she is. We didn't know where she went. She wasn't answering her phone. I mean...we weren't worried at first, but then my wife saw her purse was still in her room and I knew there was no gas in the old Chevy. I don't know why she took that clunker and not this truck, or her mother's car, but..." He glances at me. "Sorry, I couldn't get a word in edgewise in the house with my wife yappin' it up. Sorry."

"No need to apologize, sir."

"Call me Bruce. Please."

We turn up a dark road paved only with what seems to be huge rocks and small logs. Rose would have had to have taken a truck to pass through this. My car would never have made it.

About two miles up the trail, we spot the truck. Both of us make a run for it, because from where we are parked, it looks like no one is inside. The doors are locked when we get there, but when Bruce shines his flashlight in the window, we see Rose curled up on the seat, sleeping.

Bruce bangs hard on the glass. "Rose," he yells. "Rose."

The banging startles her awake, thank God, and she unlocks the driver's side door. "Daddy," she says when he opens it.

I'm standing to his side and she doesn't see me yet.

"What the hell, Rosebud?" He's half yelling, half laughing.

"I'm sorry, Dad. I ran out of gas and my phone died. It was too dark to walk, so I...Ben? Ben, what are
you
doing here?"

"Thank God he
is
here," Bruce answers instead. "He's the one who told us where to find you."

"I'm sorry."

"Come on, let's get you home. I'll come back in the morning to get the truck. No one'll be driving up here tonight."

"Do people actually drive up here normally?" I ask as Bruce helps Rose out of the truck.

"I'm good, Daddy," Rose says, climbing out of the truck herself.

"Not normally," Bruce says in answer to my question. "Unless of course you're my daughter."

I open the passenger-side door and Rose says, "I can't believe you came. Thank you."

"I was worried."

She hops up using her right leg and slides in to the middle of the bench. My hand not-so-accidentally grazes hers, but it's so cold, I reach for her other hand and hold both inside mine. "You're so cold."

"Not too much." But I see her straining to keep her teeth from chattering.

"Why, Rosebud?" her dad asks while backing his way off the trail. I like his nickname for her.

"Ironically, I didn't want to run out of gas."

"But you did."

"That's why I said ironically, Dad."

"Sorry they all ganged up on you before. I shouldn't have let it get that far."

"It's okay."

Her father keeps glancing our way after he's found a spot to turn around, and I can tell he wants to say more, but my presence is probably keeping him from it.

"You warming up?" I ask Rose quietly.

She nods and her fingers move inside my hands. I squeeze tighter, assuring her they're just fine where they are.

"I still can't believe you came," she whispers, sounding amazed.

Trying to keep my voice low, even though I know her father can hear me anyway, I say, "You call me, crying alone in the woods, and then your phone dies. That's a scene right out of a Stephen King novel. What did you expect me to do?"

"Yeah. I guess that would sound scary," she says above a whisper, "but I used to ride Cloud up here all the time. I know these trails like I know my own house. It's just..."

"It's just pitch black here in the winter, and you can't tell your ass from your eyeballs out here," her father finishes, making no sense but causing us to laugh despite that.

"Yeah. That," Rose deadpans.

***

We're back at her house, walking up the stairs, when she asks her father, "Are they all in there?"

"Your sisters or your friends?"

"My...my friends?"

"Only Holly. The others left when they found out...that you ran out."

"Didn't she get my text?"

Her father shrugs. "She didn't mention no text."

Rose bows her head and stops before we go inside. "So everybody knows I had a hissy fit."

"No, bud. Everybody knows you're struggling. That's all."

"But Patti...did she, like, tell them..."

"No. I wouldn't let her bring that up again."

Rose nods and looks at me. "I'll tell ya later."

Her father leads the way in.

In the kitchen, standing around the island where Rose made me the ham sandwich, Holly, Rose's mother, and Rose's three sisters are chopping things.

"Hey." Holly's the first to run over. "You mind I'm here?" she asks before squeezing the shit out of Rose.

"No, I'm glad you're here. You didn't get my text before though?"

"No. I didn't. What did..."

"It doesn't matter," Rose says, practically into Holly's shoulder.

When Holly lets Rose breathe again, the sister who answered the door the first time I was here says, "I'm sorry, Rose. I shouldn't have said that."

Rose shrugs. "It's fine."

Holly tilts her head at this, then she looks at me.

I shrug, having no idea what she's trying to relay.

The sister I haven't met is rolling her eyes and pursing her lips.

I can't even fathom what was said before Rose took off in her father's truck.

Holly tugs my sleeve. "Let's give them some privacy."

Running my hand on the back of Rose's arm, I tell her I'll be in the other room.

"You were right," Holly says when we're in the front living room. "We aren't dealing with the old Rose."

"How can you tell already?" I whisper.

Barely above a whisper herself, Holly says, "When her sister apologized, the old Rose would have said, 'It's okay, but...,' and proceeded to tell her exactly why she didn't like whatever it was her sister had said. This Rose just shrugged it off."

"But is that bad?"

"I don't know. To me it is. It's a sign that her self-esteem, wait...you told
me
this a few weeks ago."

"Yeah. Yeah. You're right. I wish I knew her before, just to see."

"Maybe it's better that you didn’t. Maybe Rose likes it that way."

I'm contemplating that when she asks, "So why are you here, anyway? Did Rose invite you? What's been going on?"

"No, she didn't invite me. I haven't even talked with her since that night you dropped me off."

"Are you kidding me? Then what are you doing here now?"

"Out of the blue, she just...called me. Crying." I move to the farthest side of the room and sit on the loveseat I sat on last time. Holly takes the rocker. "She barely said hello before she started crying."

"Really?"

"Then...I don't know. I shouldn't talk about it behind her back. Not like she won't tell you herself. Not that she even told me anything."

"Wait. You're rambling. Why are you
here
?"

"Her phone died right after she told me she was alone in the woods with no place to turn her truck around."

"Oh." Holly's mouth turns into a cocky grin. "Man, you got it bad. You come running up because her phone died?"

I roll my eyes at my insanity. "I thought she may have been in trouble or something."

"Hey." Rose walks in.

I stand.

"You okay?" Holly asks.

"Yeah. Just feel like an ass," Rose says. "Ben, I'm really sorry you had to come all the way up here."

"I didn't mind at all." Sticking my hands in my pockets, because I'm just so nervous all of a sudden, I repeat what Holly asked. "You sure you're okay? What happened?"

"Something stupid. Do you want something to drink, Ben? Coffee, tea, cider, anything?"

"I'm good, Rose." I sit down, patting the space next to me. "Sit down."

"I feel bad that Mick and them left," Rose says to Holly.

"No. We came 'cause your mom asked. Mick actually felt funny coming anyway. And Griff and them, they only wanted to help."

"Why did my mother even ask? That was stupid."

"She's worried about you, Rose. She said all you do is farm work." Holly hesitates. I think she's waiting to see Rose's reaction.

Rose just darts her eyes to me every now and then. We don't know each other well. I'm thinking I shouldn't be here.

"Rose," Holly says. "Come back to school. Live with me at Griffin's. We'll have so much fun."

"And get to be lifelong friends," Rose adds, and Holly and she laugh at something I'm not getting.

Holly winks at me and says, "It's a line from the movie
Grease
."

"Ah. Never saw it."

"We used to watch it in the dorm," Rose adds with a chuckle. Then she looks at me. "I'm sorry I called you like that. It wasn't fair."

"I really didn't mind. But...do you mind if I ask what prompted it?"

"I can leave," Holly suggests.

"No. It's...it was nothing like that." Rose leans back against the couch. "My sister laced into me for not being grateful I'm alive...and for moping around and acting like I'm dead anyway." She looks embarrassed admitting this.

"Oh, Rose." I take her hand and squeeze it.

"I reacted sorely. I just should have shrugged it off."

"Do you think your sister is right?" Holly asks.

"Maybe. Yes."

Rose's eyes dart to mine again.

I'm still holding her hand when I say, "Really, Rose, I can leave if you want to talk to Holly alone."

"No. I don't. I want you to stay. My mom's setting up a bed for you in the back room."

"Oh, I don't need to stay."

"Please." Her eyes bore into mine and I can't help but comply. "I feel bad you had to come up; I'd hate to see you drive back down so late. Besides, it's Thanksgiving. My mom makes a ton of food."

"I'll stay."

"Yeah. He can drive me home tomorrow night," Holly adds.

"Sure," I tell her.

"Why don't we..."

"Rose." She's interrupted by her mother. "Why don't you all come in the kitchen? I put some coffee on, and we're all sitting around the table."

The three of us look at each other.

Rose shrugs and says, "You guys mind?"

"No," Holly and I both say.

We're sitting at the table about fifteen minutes before her sister Terri suggests we play Monopoly. So we do.

I'm pretty competitive and usually stop at nothing to get Park Place and Boardwalk, but I notice that Beth gets sore when I purchase Boardwalk, so when I land on Park Place, I pass on purchasing it. Making enemies with Rose's family is not my goal tonight. Terri, on the other hand, seems to find it funny that I ruined Beth's plans and broke up the two premium spots. When Beth lands on Boardwalk, I offer to sell it to her.