Chapter 2
“Excuses me, are you still waiting for your luggage? You have been sitting here for a while now?” I look up at the member of staff standing in front of me. I stare for a while, “are you okay?” She asks.
“I have all my luggage, thank you,” I look at the suitcase, then back at her.
“Are you waiting for someone?” She asks, looking around the luggage hall.
The sounds of the automatic doors opening and closing are a sound I have been listening to for a while now; you would think it would get annoying but, no I’m still sat here. Then there is the noise of the children crying, or shouting, or their parents shouting at them to be quiet, makes me smile that a family have just got back from a holiday or have come to England for a vacation, memories, happy memories.
“No. He’s already here, I can feel him on the other side of those doors.” I look over at the doors, and the women sits down next to me, “I’ve come to see if a broken person can fix another broken person,” I turn to face the women, looking at her I would say she is in her fifties.
“I can stay with you,” I give her a small nod, “so this man on the other side of the wall, what’s his name?” She asks, her soothing voice makes me smile.
“Rhett Johnson,” she makes a noise, and I look at her.
“You must be Scarlett,” taking my hand in hers, “Rhett has been her every day this week, he’s here at six in the morning, will check every flight that comes from Vegas to see if you bought your ticket, his friend would have to drag him out of here.” She stops as she looks at some of the other passengers leaving the airport. My heart is slowly breaking at the thought of him being her every day. He must look like a mess; I can also picture Terry and Jay dragging him out of the airport, and make him go home.
“How does he look?” I ask, I know I can always just get up and see him.
“Oh darling I won’t answer that, you both are fighting for the same thing, but you have to find your own way there. You’ve made it this far.” She gives me a smile, rubbing my arm to comfort me.
Yes, I’ve made it this far, so why can’t I move past the doors?
What is stopping me?
Putting my hand on the suitcase handle, I start playing with it, “I thought the hardest part would be to get on the plane,” I let out a nervous laugh, “but no the most difficult part is walking out that door, soon as I do. I’m putting all the trust in him again.” Standing up so does the women, “I know that he loves me, so maybe it’s time to find the courage to fight for use.” Picking up my handbag, I look at the door, and stay there for a moment.
The stare at the door opening, and closing. I can do this; I need to fight for us, I need Rhett to be in my life, I need to have that safety he brings to my life, that happiness I feel when I’m around him.
I turn back and look and the women, “you never know until you take that step forward,” she says, standing next to me, rubbing my arm, “if you ask me, I don’t think he is going to let you go again.”
There is no going back; he said he would talk I have to believe him and trust that he will.
Walking through the doors, I look around as I walk towards the exit, there he is, my heart beats faster, his back to me watching the screen information about the flights, then looking at his watch.
“You never told me how cold it would be?” I say, and Rhett turns around so fast and stares at me. My heart is beating so fast right now; I’m scared I’m going to start panicking.
Slowly walking over to me, I can feel eyes watching us both, looking up as he stands in front of me, cupping my face, his lips crash into mine. I grab his jacket so that I won’t fall back from the push; I kiss him back. God, I have missed him so much.
“You came,” leaning his forehead on mine, his hands still cupping my face. “Let’s go home.” Moving away from me, “Hey Jack, cancel my ticket, she came.” Rhett wraps his arm around my waist pulling me in closer.
“Where were you going?” I ask, looking at the group of workers smiling at us.
“I bought a ticket to go back to Vegas; the flight was for midnight. I was going to fight all the way to get you back,” kissing my head, he grabs my suitcase, and I follow him outside.
Fuck it’s cold out here, I’m going to have to go shopping to buy some warmer clothes. Rhett’s arm pulls me in closer as my body shivers; he must be able to see that I'm cold. “You have no idea, how much you coming here means to me,” Rhett smiles at me, he stops at the car, a Range Rover. “This is it, Sweetheart, you and me against the world. You are the only person I love; we will make this work.” He says, then puts my bags in the back seat.
Rhett walks around the car, and I stay where I am, “Sweetheart you coming?” He asks, taking my hand to turn me around.
“Rhett, this is the last time. You talk to me, or you will break me, and I don’t think I will come back from it.” I tell him, stroking my face with the back of his fingers I close my eyes.
“I will never let you fall; I will always be there to catch you always.” Placing his finger under my chin, he lifts my face up, “I will tell you everything, but right now can I be happy that you’re here?” He asks.
I smile at him, that’s all I want is us to be happy, and for the moment because I’ve not seen him for so long I just want to enjoy it too. “Yes, you can.” I tip-toe to give Rhett a kiss.
“Let’s go; Terry is going to be happy to see you.” Rhett opens the door for me, I sit down, and watch Rhett walk around the front of the car.
As he sits down, “can I use your phone to call Noah, please?” I ask, looking out the window.
“Sure,” I look over at him taking his phone out of his pocket. As I go to take his phone, he takes my hand in his, “Scarlett, I love you.” He leans over and gives me a kiss.
My stomach rolls around, flipping side to side. I want to say those three words to Rhett, but my mouth won’t open to say anything.
“What time is it in Vegas?” I ask as I look for Noah’s name in his phone.
Rhett looks at his watch, “about ten; you can rest go to sleep, then we can have some dinner.” Rhett starts the car, and I hit call on the phone.
Listening to the ring tone, I wait. “Rhett watch out for the car,” I shout as the car drives past us. Oh my God that scared the shit out of me.
Rhett starts laughing, “we drive on the other side of the road here,” placing his hand on my leg, as he continues to smile.
“Hello,” Noah answers.
“You could have told me that they drive on the other side of the road here,” I tell him as Rhett is still laughing at me.
“Is Rhett happy you came?” Noah asks.
“Yes,” I look over at Rhett looking out the window, as he drives.
“Star, you’re there now. Give him time to talk; you don’t know what his demons are and how they are affecting him.” I look at the window, “you handle your demons by drinking, Rhett is handling it in a different way, and now he has to tell you, but let him do it in his time.” Noah says, and I continue to look out in the window. “Star, we both know that you want to be with him, so it’s time to fight for it, and…” He goes quiet, and I know what he is about to say to me. “Love.”
“I’ll call you tomorrow when we get to Rhett’s gonna go to sleep for a bit,” I say, as I look at England with the light of the street lamps.
“I love you,” Noah replies.
“You too,” I say, ending the call, I put the phone on my lap, and say nothing. Even though this is Rhett sitting in the car with me, it feels different.
It’s like we both want to say the same thing to each other, but neither one of us intends to start the conversation. I Sat on the plane thinking about how this was going to go with Rhett. Would he just start talking to me because of how close he came to losing me or would he wait until I walk away for the last time? I don't know what he thinks, but I didn't come all this way for him not to talk to me. I am fighting for us whether he likes it or not.
After what Adam did to me, and because of Rhett I broke to the point where I could have lost everything, but yet here I am sitting in a car with him. Me being here has to show him that I want to be with him, but this also has to show him it’s his last chance, I can’t keep doing this.
Looking straight ahead, he stops at a set of traffic lights, “you have until I go back home, to talk. If you don’t then…”
“Then nothing, I will talk to you, I will show you before we go back to Vegas you will know everything, just let me talk when I’m ready, that’s all I ask. Please.” Rhett says, he takes my hand in his and gives it a squeeze, I give him a smile, and I know his no buying that I’m okay with it all, but he says nothing to me.
The rest of the car journey is quiet, not because I don’t want to talk, I’m just so tired, and don't have the energy to talk. The last few days I didn’t sleep well at all, worried about making a choice, on the plane I didn’t sleep worried about what I was going to do when I got here, and now that I’m here I just have to wait and see what happens.
* * *
“Sweetheart,” I hear Rhett’s voice, “sweetheart, you want to wake up?” I open my eyes, to see Rhett lying next to me, “evening beautiful,” Rhett moves closer to give me a kiss.
“What time is it?” I ask, trying desperately to wake up a little more.
“Eight in the evening, but you need to eat,” wrapping his arm around me, “Mom, and Terry are here, and Jay is bringing some food, Fish, and Chips.” I cuddle up against him, “have a shower freshen up,” he starts kissing my neck.
“Or we can stay like this, that would be nice too.” I get Rhett’s arm and pull it in closer to me, this big man is a real softy when you get to know him, and the best part is that he’s mine.
“As much as I would love that, I want you to eat, get some energy.” I stare into his beautiful green eyes; I have no idea what I’m searching for in them, an answer to why he’s hiding something from me. But I have to think that I’m now in his country, the place he grew up, where everyone knows him, how much can he hide?
“I will have a shower then,” I smile at him, “what the fuck is Fish and Chips?” I ask, taking the covers off me, walking around the bed I look around his bedroom, “is this your house?” I ask I must have fallen asleep in the car, on the way here.
“Fish and Chips is the British must have food, and yes this is my house, well it’s now my mom’s house, but while I’m here with you, mom will stay with Terry.” Rhett gets off the bed, and walks over to me, “I will show you around, once you have a shower.” He takes my hand, and I follow him, “this is the bedroom, and mom got you a few things to wear, but then she said she wants to take you shopping.” I look in the walk-in closet, “the shower is through there, meet you downstairs,” Rhett gives me a kiss on the cheek and leaves the bedroom.
Walking around the closet, I pick out some leggings and a loose sweater, I never thought about packing sweaters or a coat, I was making sure that I had enough space for my mother’s journals to come with me. I haven’t brought all of them, but a few, then I also brought my own, I mean it’s the only way I know how to get my heart to feel a little lighter, after a hard day.
* * *
Walking down the stairs I hear voices coming from the room to my left, walking in I see Terry, Helen and Rhett watching T.V. Pulling on the sleeves of the sweater, so that Rhett doesn’t see them, as I’m not sure if he has or not. His not said anything to me about them. I tried so hard not to drink, and that was not easy for me, and my wrists paid the price for it, I can’t remember the last time they looked this bad. Walking further into the room, Terry gives me a smile, getting up he walks over to me.
“Welcome to England, love.” He pulls me in for a hug, a very tight hug. “He will talk, or I will kick the crap out of him,” Terry whispers in my ear, making me smile.
“Move out the way,” Helen pushes Terry out the way, “So glad you came,” she gives me a kiss on the cheek, then gives me a hug. I give her a smile, as I still feel a little strange being here, I only have four people to turn to. Four people that are still strangers to me.
“How is the jet lag?” Helen asks as I sit down on the couch in front of the fireplace.
“Not too bad, I think it’s the cold that I have to get use to more than the jet lag,” I start laughing, I mean I’m freezing. “I think I need to buy some warmer clothes,” I say looking behind Helen, and smile seeing Jay walk through the door. As crazy as it sounds I’ve missed him.
He looks at me with a smile, “About fucking time you got here,” he starts laughing, Terry takes the bag from him, and Terry and Helen walk off into another room. Jay sits down next to me, wrapping his arm around my shoulder he pulls me in closer and gives me a kiss on the cheek. I look at Rhett walking off into the other room. “You’re here for just over a month, and I’m all yours. Rhett will be training most days and then busy with press interviews, so you get me, aren’t you lucky?” He smiles still with his arm around me.
“I’m so lucky,” I smile at him, “I think a few days to get my body use to the weather and time difference is what I need first, then I’m all yours,” I say, looking at everyone walking back in. Taking the plate of Rhett, his eyes look at my wrist, then looks at me. Maybe he hasn’t seen them then, they aren’t as bad as they were before, but that doesn’t mean my skin didn’t break from pulling my band so much. “Thank you,” I say pulling my sleeves down hoping no one else saw them.
“How is Noah?” Helen asks, as I look at my plate, what the hell is this? Fish and Chips I guess.
“He’s good, goes back to work after Christmas,” I reply. They all talk about some football game coming on soon and who will win, I have no idea what they are talking about, but they seem to very deep in conversation.
I listen to Rhett, Terry, and Jay arguing about something. Looking down at my plate and I feel my eyes watering up, this is what Noah and I should have had, arguing over stupid things, laughing about Noah crying over a girl, we should have had a family.
Putting my plate on the table, “just going to get some water,” I say leaving the room.
“Rhett, let her go. This is new to her; family is new…” I can’t hear any more of what Helen is saying to him, looking around the kitchen, and I have to say this is a big kitchen.
“Looking for this,” I turn to see Jay holding a glass for me, walking over to the sink, he fills my glass up and hands it over to me.
“Thank you,” I say. Jay leans on the counter, and I look at him, his tall six-foot body stretched out, his blond hair seems a little grown, and puppy dog brown eyes staring at me. “What?” I ask.
“You know that the only family Rhett and I know is Helen and Terry, we have friends, some of them we have known for our whole life, but family to me is them three sitting in that room.” He pushes himself off the counter, he takes a step closer to me, “to me you are part of this family, to Helen and Terry you are most likely a daughter they didn’t have, and Rhett, you’re his world, don’t forget that.” He stops and looks at me for a moment.
Leaning on the counter behind me, my eyes still looking at Jay, “I won’t…”
“I know when you need to talk, you speak to your parents, but you’re here now, I want you to talk to me. I swear that I will never tell Rhett a word.” He smiles, and it’s that cheeky smile too, “even if it’s about how shit he is in the bedroom,” Jay starts laughing, which makes me laugh too.
“I will never tell you anything about that.” I say pushing him away from me, “and never, I mean never tell me about what you do in the bedroom,” I say walking back into the sitting room.
“I’m a god in the bedroom, trust me…”
“Oh God, have you already started bragging about your bedroom skills.” Terry looks at Jay laughing, “we are all eating and don’t want to listen to that, thank you very much.” Terry gives him a look that shouts stop talking.
Taking my plate of the table, “Fine, but I’m only telling the truth.” Jay sits back down next to me, and looks over at me and gives me a wink, “they're just jealous,” he whispers, making me smile and shake my head at him at the same time.
The rest of the evening was fun; I listened to them shouting at the T.V shouting at the players, I thought it was funny how they are with this sport. I could just about keep my eyes open, I felt someone put a blanket over me, and after that, I don’t remember anything.