Page 41 of Country Road Romance

Say something, idiot!

“Yes, I know where we can go,” he said, gesturing vaguely to one of the larger hills that surrounded his parents’ house. “Do you feel up to climbing to the top of that hill? It’s a bit of a trek, but I promise you that the views from it all are simply breathtaking.”

Once again he was rewarded with that smile.

“If you’re game, then so am I. I have to make sure that all of those physical trainer lessons are worth something out in the real world.”

Great,Jared thought.He’s probably going to make it to the top of the hill long before I do.

They set off up the hill, and it became clear very quickly that, indeed, Charlie was in much better shape than Jared. While Jared started huffing and puffing after about only ten minutes of climbing, Charlie didn’t seem like he was even breathinghard or breaking a sweat. Jared shot him what he knew was a rather venomous look but Charlie, in typical Charlie fashion, just flashed him a smile.

“Sorry,” he said with a shrug. “I told you that I pay good money for a personal trainer. I’d be rather annoyed if I couldn’t even make it to the top of a hill without getting winded, you know?”

By the time they finally reached the top Jared was very thoroughly winded and very, very sweaty, but to give Charlie his due he hadn’t left him behind. Now that he was completely worn out, Jared threw himself on the ground and just stretched out, enjoying the feel of the grass beneath him and the cleanness of the country air.

“I think I’m going to regret this tomorrow,” he said. “I haven’t walked like that in a very long time. Probably too long.”

Charlie gave him a mock stern look. “You really should try to stay active, you know. Neither of us are spring chickens.”

“Ugh. I know. You’re right. I’ll be sure to walk to the top of this hill every time I come home.” He didn’t bother mentioning that that was exactly what he used to do before he got so caught up with other stuff and didn’t come home as much as he used to.

“So,” Charlie said, flopping down beside him, “was there a particular reason why you wanted to come up here?”

Because I thought that it was one of the few places where you and I could make out without anyone knowing what we were doing.

“Because…well, I guess because this has always been one of the most peaceful places that I’ve ever known,” he said aloud. “It was only up here, under the sky and in the field, that I could ever really feel like I was just by myself.”

Charlie gave him a wistful smile. “I like the sound of that,” he said. “We never really had anything like that where I grew up. The coal mines had already stripped most of the hills away, andthey hadn’t really done much to reclaim the land. We couldn’t even go into the creek most of the time because it was just so polluted.”

Jared sighed. “Yeah, there are a lot of places in West Virginia like that. It’s not so bad up here, or at least it wasn’t until all of the natural gas drilling started. Now you can’t even go two or three hills over without running into some place that’s been totally stripped of its trees. It’s really awful.”

A bit of an awkward silence settled over the two of them as they each thought about what it meant for the natural beauty of their state to be stripped away. While Jared knew it was a very important subject–and it was one that was near and dear to his heart, considering he lived here–he wanted to talk about something else, something more romantic, or at least not as depressing.

“I’ll be honest, though. There was also something about being able to look out over the land nearby that made me almost feel like a prince in a castle, like this was all mine.” He laughed at that. “Of course, my parents only really own this little sliver of land.” He gestured at the other houses scattered on the other hills. “Those are all different parcels of property. It all used to belong to our family at one time or another, but over the years people have moved away to other states and other folks have moved in. There are still enough of us left that people associate this land with us, but it’s not like it used to be.”

“You really love it here, don’t you?” Charlie asked.

Jared paused a minute before answering. “I do. I think it’s one of those things that it took me a very long time to accept, but I really do love it. It’s like nowhere else in the world.”

“Have you ever thought about moving back here?”

Leave it to Charlie to ask the one question that Jared himself had managed to avoid over the past several years. Of course, the truth was that hehadthought about moving back to live on oneof the hills around his parents’ house. He’d toyed with the idea for a long time–after all, it wasn’t like he had much of a life in Huntington, much as he hated to admit it–but something always held him back. He didn’t want to be one of those people who moved back to be with his family when there were so many other things that he could be doing, so many other places to explore and see and do. If he moved back here, it would be like admitting that he’d failed at all grand ambitions that he’d had as a young person.

“Jared, are you okay?”

He brought himself back to the present and decided to give Charlie the most honest answer that he could.

“Yeah, I’ve considered it a bit here and there over the years. But…I don’t know. I just don’t think I’m ready to admit that I’ve let myself down. If I move back here, it’ll be like I haven’t been able to make it, as a writer or as anything else. You know what I mean?”

Charlie paused for a moment, and then he nodded his head. Or maybe shook it. It was honestly kind of hard to tell, because it seemed to be a bit of both.

“I think you might be looking at this the wrong way. It’s not always a bad thing to come back home. Sometimes it’s the only place where you can really discover who you are and what you want out of life. And besides, you have a good relationship with your family, and if you really want to be a writer, that’s something that you can do anywhere, right? It’s not like you have to live somewhere fancy to become a success.

“You know,” he went on with a bit of a rakish smile and a glint in his eye, “I’ve heard there’s this thing called the internet that lets you get in touch with people all over the world.”

Jared plucked a few strands of grass and threw at Charlie, but he deftly dodged them. Somehow, not a single one of them managed to land.

“Oh comeon,” he said.

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