Page 60 of Country Road Romance

“Sheri…,” he started to say, but she held up her hand. He closed his mouth with a snap.

“Save it,” she said. “We’re leaving.”

CHAPTER 19

When he got back to Huntington, Jared went straight to his apartment, determined to never come out of it again. He knew that he’d acted like an absolute asshole to Charlie and that he should have told him that he was sorry. For that matter, he should have offered to drive him back to the festival, regardless of what his parents might have had to say about the matter.

If he was being honest with himself, he was also a little hurt that neither his parents or Charlie had called to check in on him.

You could make this better in a heartbeat if you’d just call them–your parents, Charlie, Rebecca–and tell them you’re sorry.

But, with that typical West Virginia stubbornness, he just couldn’t bring himself to do it, and it was only when his phone started buzzing that he even looked at it. Rebecca’s name blinking on the screen, becauseof courseit would have to be her.

I just can’t with her right now,he thought. He put the phone back down, hoping to ignore her as much as possible, but when she kept calling he knew that he was going to have to pick up eventually.

“What?” he snapped.

“Don’t youdaretake that tone with me,” she said at once. “I’m not the one who has been acting like an absolute dunce about this whole Charlie thing.”

He rolled his eyes and tried to calm himself, taking several deep breaths. He knew that this was just her way, that she was trying to give him the tough love that she thought he needed. He wasn’t in the mood for it, of course, but he knew her well enough by now to know that she was going to bulldoze him if he didn’t at least try to stand up for himself.

“Rebecca, I’m really not in the mood for this right now,” he began, but she immediately cut him off.

“I don’t really care what you’re in the mood for, Jared Russell. Can you imagine my surprise when Charlie Garrett showed up at the hotelwithout you? I’m just going to assume that it was your parents who brought him. Either that or he had to rent a car to get back to Huntington, and God help you if that was the case. The last thing we need is for our star attraction to have had to drive himself all the way back here from your parents’ house.”

“Rebecca, listen,” he said and took a deep breath to calm himself and give himself the strength to go on. “I’m sorry about all of this. I was being stupid, and I have no idea how to fix any of this, not Charlie, not the stuff with the film festival, or my parents, or the City Council. Or you, for that matter.” He barked out a bitter laugh at that last part. There was a time when he would never have imagined feeling so lost or desperate, certainly not where Rebecca was concerned. The two of them had always seemed to understand one another at a deep, instinctual level.

“I know you didn’t ask for my advice, but given the way that you’ve been acting, I’m going to give you some tough love. It’s going to take you a while to dig yourself out of the hole you’ve put yourself in, and the more honest you are with yourself aboutthat, the better off you’re going to be. Take a bit to figure yourself out, and then start making amends.”

Now it was her turn to take a deep breath.

“For what it’s worth, I forgive you. You’ve been a really good friend to me when I needed it, and sometimes even though I made it really difficult to love and be loyal to me. Even a fight like the one we just had isn’t going to demolish that, even if you did act like an asshole.

“And I know that it might be easy to contemplate, but I also think that you need to say sorry to Charlie. He might not accept your apology, but it’s the least that he deserves. I mean, I don’t know exactly what went down between the two of you, but if I know you, you were probably the one who started it.”

Damn it. I hate when she’s right,he thought.

“You’re right,” he said, “even though I hate to admit it. But…thank you for being willing to forgive me. I know that I can sometimes be a bit of a pill as a friend. And you really do mean the world to me.”

“Get therapy,” she said.

“I will,” he promised.

“Okay. Well, I have to get off of here. I know you might have forgotten, but I have a film festival to put on.” She paused. “Are you sure you wouldn’t like to come?”

Jared shook his head even though he knew that she couldn’t see it.

“I think I’m going to have to pass on this one,” he said. “I really want to come, but I think it’s best that I stay away. I don’t want to distract Charlie from his big day.”

“Fair enough. Well, goodbye, Jared.”

“Bye.”

After hanging up with Rebecca, Jared wasn’t quite sure where to go or what to do. He felt even more aimless than heusually did and, considering the fact that he usually felt pretty aimless with his life, that was really saying something.

Suddenly it hit him. There was one place where he could go where he would at least find a measure of peace. It was one of the few places in Huntington that gave him the same feeling of serenity that he was able to find on the hill back home and at Streeter Park. Leaving his apartment yet again, he made his way to the campus of Marshall University.

Even though he’d lived in Huntington ever since finishing his undergrad, he’d rarely been back to Marshall’s campus. Perhaps it was because he still hadn’t achieved all of the ambitions that he’d had as a college student, or perhaps he was just lazy and didn’t have much reason to come to this end of town. Either way, he’d avoided it, and now that he was here he found himself in a very strange mental and emotional space.

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