CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
Nick
The cafeteria was crowded. From the hallway, it seemed like every seat was filled. An older man who introduced himself as the school principal began to speak.
“Should we find a seat?” I asked uncertainly.
We were standing in the doorway and Charley seemed to be frozen in place.
“I’m good right here,” she said.
Principal Watkins held the crowd captive as he delivered his opening remarks, starting with what he called “honoring the victims.” Then he introduced a few guest speakers, all of which had been students at Danville during the shooting. None of them had been in the cafeteria, though. Charley had been the only person to walk out of this cafeteria ten years ago.
Charley had mostly been standing motionless, but she soon began to tremble. I grabbed her hand.
“He died right there,” she said quietly, nodding to the spot on the floor. “I need to go.”
I followed her as she hurried from the room and down the long corridor. She only slowed when she reached the door leading outside.
“Charley, slow down.” I grabbed her arm and pulled her to a stop. “It’s okay.”
“I know.” She looked back toward the cafeteria. “I appreciate what you tried to do tonight, bringing me here. But I don’t belong here. I’m not like all those other people who are so desperate to hold onto the past by remembering every painful second.”
The air was much cooler by the door and she began to shiver. I put a hand on her shoulder and said, “Okay. Let’s go home then.”
“You’re not going to fight me on this?” She was surprised.
“No.” I shrugged. “I just wanted you to try. You did that. If it didn’t help you, it didn’t help you. No use forcing you to be miserable.”
I put my arm around her and held her close to my body.
“I’m glad we came here,” she said. “It wasn’t as hard as I thought. I have more good memories of this place than bad. It’s just that the bad memories are really bad.”
“Can’t argue with that.” I glanced at her. “So you’re not mad at me for forcing you to come?”
“You flew all the way to Danville just to be with me. How could I be mad at you?”
“You’re right. I’m pretty great.” I kissed her forehead. “You are a lucky girl.”
She laughed and pulled me toward the door. “If we hurry home, you can still get lucky tonight, too.”
“I’ll drive,” I said, hurrying to catch up.
The minute we stepped outside, lights flashed in our faces and we were swarmed by people shoving microphones at us.
“Senator Moore! Shouldn’t you be in D.C.?”
“Did you tell the Secret Service you were leaving town?”
“Charley! What’s it like being back in the school?”
I recovered faster than Charley and yanked her forward, partly shielding her from our interrogators. “Move fast, Charley.”
When we reached the car, I pushed her through the driver’s side and climbed in after her. In a flash, the keys were in the ignition and we were pulling away from the school.
“What happened back there?” she asked, looking like she was in shock.
“I’m sure you noticed that I came to Danville alone?” I glanced in the rearview mirror, looking for any sign that we were being followed.
“I noticed.” She narrowed her eyes at me. “I was hoping you got a special dispensation for your visit.”
“Yeah, not exactly.”
“How not exactly?”
I grimaced. “I kind of snuck out.”
“Snuck out? Snuck out of where? And how is that even possible? Shouldn’t the Secret Service be able to stop that sort of thing?” She turned to look over her shoulder.
“I used a back exit at the Capitol. If they knew where I was headed, they would’ve tried to stop me. Then when they failed at that, they would’ve caused a scene and the media would’ve been waiting in Danville before I even landed.” I turned onto the street that would take us to her parents’ house. “I didn’t want this to be a circus.”
“If this is a circus, does that make you the bearded lady?” she joked.
“Funny.” I put the car in park and turned off the engine. “Now stop making jokes and get your butt in gear.”
We just made it inside when a series of cars pulled up.
“My parents are going to have quite a homecoming,” Charley commented as we hurried around the house and pulled the curtains closed.
“Do you want to call and warn them?”
“Nah. I’m sure they’re still busy with the ceremony. Which means we have a limited amount of time.” She gave me a seductive look that made my heart start to race.
Charley locked her bedroom door behind us and I reached for her instantly, my hand brushing over her cheek and down her neck. I took my time removing each article of her clothing, kissing every inch of her skin in the process.
“I’m glad you are here,” she said, breathing hard as I pulled her to the bed.
“Me too.” I sucked in a sharp breath as pushed her warm body against me. Her green eyes were wide and inviting. I wanted to get lost in them. A familiar feeling washed over me and this time, I didn’t keep it to myself. “I love you, Charley.”
She blinked hard and continued to stare at me for several seconds. Slowly, her lips turned up in a smile and she said, “I love you more, Nick.”
We were still wrapped up in each other hours later as we snuggled on her bed. Neither of us had moved or spoken for a long time. I ran my fingers up and down the soft skin on her side, wondering what she was thinking at that very moment.
“I don’t want to leave you,” I said, still a little breathless.
“What?” She rubbed her hand over my chest. “I mean, I don’t want you to leave me either. Is that something you are planning to do?”
“It’s unavoidable now. The media found me which means my security will be here in a matter of hours. At which point, they will drag me back to D.C.” I sighed and rolled onto my back.
“I want to go with you,” she said.
“I want you to go with me, too,” I said simply.
She propped herself up on an elbow. “I wasn’t just idling saying that because I’ll miss you. I mean that I am going back with you.”
“You can’t, Charley.” I appreciated the thought, but she had come to Danville for a reason.
“Yes, I can.” She placed her hand firmly over my heart. “One thing I’ve learned in the past couple of days is that this place definitely isn’t my home anymore. This is just the place where I grew up. You are my home now, Nick.”
I sighed deeply, not wanting to get my hopes up. “What about the reunion?”
“I can’t go to that now anyway, Nick. Too many people will follow me.” She hurried to add, “I’d much rather be with you anyway.”
“Charley, I’m not sure I deserve you.” I ran my hand over the bare skin on her hip.
“You don’t. You deserve better.” She leaned over me, letting her hair fall around us as we kissed.
I brushed the hair away so that I could look into her eyes again. “I could never do better than you. I could never love anyone as much as I love you.”
“Good,” she said with a hesitant smile. “That makes it less awkward for me to love you as much as I do.”
We kissed again, harder and longer this time, and as we made love a second time, all I could think about was how great it felt to finally love someone so intensely and so openly. As good as it felt to have Charley in my arms and in my life, it felt even better to have her in my heart.