Get here now. Carly needs you.

Maddy’s text nearly gave me a heart attack. I’d just gotten in my car to head home after work. Before starting the car I texted back. Where?

Colin’s.

I didn’t waste any more time asking questions. I pulled out of the lot and onto the road. I didn’t get far. The traffic was horrible. With only one major road, high traffic times were a problem at the beach. Waiting wasn’t going to work. If Carly needed me I was going to get there—fast. I was still close enough to work I could get my car back. I drove over the curb and parked my car on the sidewalk. It would be quicker to run at the rate I was going.

My mind ran a million miles a minute. What could be going on? If Carly needed me she normally would have texted me herself. Why did Maddy have to do it?

I was sweaty as all hell by the time Colin’s place finally came into sight. I ran up the driveway. There was an unfamiliar car parked out front. I ran right to the front door and didn’t even bother to knock.

“I don’t understand why you’re supporting your sister making such a stupid decision. You know as well as we do that running away is never the answer.”

I walked into the living room just in time to catch a middle aged man going off on Colin. The familiar resemblance left no question that it was his father.

Carly stood huddled in the corner of the room with her arms wrapped around her chest. She hadn’t noticed me enter.

“I support Carly. That’s more than what you can say.” Colin glared at his father.

I took in the room. The dad had his arm resting on the leg of a woman that I assumed was their mother.

“We support all of our children, but we can’t just gloss over what she did to Kim.”

“What I did to Kim?” Carly stood, her eyes blazing with anger. “I did nothing.”

“Are you really going to keep this up? Something happened with you and Jasper.”

“Yes. Something did. He came on to me, and I said no.” She clenched her teeth.

“Are you sure you made that clear?” her father asked.

I didn’t think. I just stormed into the room. “Are you really going to talk to your own daughter that way?”

“And who are you?” Her dad eyed me with disdain. I’m sure I looked like hell, but I didn’t care.

I walked across the room and put an arm around Carly. “I’m Carly’s boyfriend.”

She glanced up at me. A look of relief crossed her face.

“Boyfriend? Carly doesn’t have a boyfriend,” her mother said snidely.

“You’d know she did if you actually bothered to talk to her once in a while.” Colin glared.

“Is this why you asked to speak to us? You wanted us to see Carly was playing around with some guy at the beach?”

Playing around? I would have gone off on Carly’s dad if she hadn’t squeezed my hand. She wanted me to stay out of it.

“No. That’s not what I wanted to talk about, and I didn’t ask you to come here. I told you I’d come to you.”

“We decided to surprise you.” The mother turned back to Carly and me. “And what do you do? Are you also wasting your time?”

“I knocked up Maddy.” The entire room went quiet after the words left Colin’s mouth. Maddy looked pale as a ghost.

“Excuse me?” his mom asked.

“You heard me. Lay off Carly. Let’s talk about me.”

Maddy buried her face in her hands. I knew she was annoyed, but Colin had actually just jumped about a thousand respect points in my book. He threw me a look, and I knew what to do. I tugged on Carly’s hand and headed toward the door.

“Pregnant? Are you really that irresponsible?”

“They’re getting married. Congratulate them.” Carly spoke just loudly enough that her parents could hear.

Her mother nodded and a look passed over her, like she was actually seeing her daughter for the first time. She turned back to Colin. “We’ll have to move fast with the planning.”

Carly headed to the front door, and I followed. Her family situation was seriously messed up.

“Just get it over with,” She mumbled the words as she searched around in her purse.

“Get what over with?” I stood right beside her, trying to come up with the right words. That conversation with her parents made me mad. I couldn’t imagine how she was feeling.

“Breaking up with me. I’m surprised you didn’t do it after Jasper, but this was even worse, huh?”

“What?” I turned her, putting my hands on either of her arms. “What are you talking about?”

“Now that you’ve seen how messed up my family is, don’t you want to run?”

“No. I want to wrap you up in my arms and keep everything else away.”

She gazed up with at me with tear rimmed eyes. “Do you really mean that?”

“Absolutely, can I have the keys?”

She pulled her clunky keychain out of her purse and handed it to me. I wordlessly opened her door.

I didn’t say anything until we were almost back to the condo. “When we get inside go pack enough stuff for a few days. I’ll call Max and my boss.”

“Wait, where are we going?”

“Do you trust me?”

She nodded. “One hundred percent.”

I pulled into her usual spot. “Then just pack. Nothing crazy, just the basics.”

“Okay…” She opened her door.

We walked upstairs quietly. I wanted to talk to her about everything, but not yet. I needed to keep us both focused so we could get out of town quickly.

I threw together a small duffel while I convinced Ralph to cover me at work and called Max.

“Hello?”

“Hey, Max. It’s Macon.”

“And to what do I owe the honor of this phone call?” He was definitely intrigued.

“Can you find someone to cover for Carly this weekend?”

“That depends. Why am I doing it?” His question came from curiosity and concern. He was going to give her the time off no matter what.

“She needs a weekend away more than anyone, and she deserves it.”

“I’m going to trust you on this one.”

“I can tell her it’s fine?”

“Absolutely, but is she okay?” he asked worriedly.

“She will be.” I’d make sure of it.

“Good. Take care of her.” He hung up.

“I’m all packed,” Carly called from outside my room.

“Great, let’s go.”

“You really aren’t going to tell me where we’re going?” She leaned against the door frame.

“Nope. I’d rather show you.” I took her small suitcase from her and led her to the front door.

---

After a quick stop to move my car back into a parking space at the shop, we got on the road. We drove through a heavy rainstorm, but otherwise it was an uneventful trip. I hoped Carly enjoyed the surprise.

I’d never brought anyone to the cabin before. My grandfather had left the old place up in the Blue Ridge Mountains to me, and even though my parents suggested I sell it, I knew I never would. Bringing a girl there had never crossed my mind, but I had a feeling it was just what Carly needed, and I wanted her there. I wanted to show her my little sanctuary that even Maddy hadn’t ever seen.

“Wow, this place is awesome.” Carly looked around at the small cabin with awe, and I knew instantly I’d made the right decision. On the surface Carly didn’t look like an outdoorsy girl, but she also didn’t shy away from it. She seemed right at home in the rugged place. “Is this yours?”

“Yeah, my grandfather left it to me.”

“It’s great.” She surprised me by hugging me from around the waist. Her eyes were brighter again—she was back to being Carly. “Thanks for bringing me here.”

I closed the door and set down our bags. “Ready for the tour?”

“Sure!” Most girls would have made a comment about not needing a tour of a two room cabin, but not Carly.

“This is the kitchen, sitting room combo, and the bedroom is through here.” I gestured for her to walk through the small archway. The small room was filled with a queen sized bed and a dresser. Nothing fancy, but that was the whole idea.

“Perfect. I couldn’t have asked for a better surprise getaway.”

I pulled her into my arms. “And I couldn’t have asked for a better girlfriend.”

She rested her head on my chest. “I guess we should unpack the groceries.” She headed back into the kitchen.

I started unpacking the paper bags. We’d stopped for dinner on the way up that night, but I wanted to make sure we had food for the rest of the weekend.

With the food unpacked, we went to sit out on the porch swing. I opened one of the bottles of wine I’d remembered to tuck in with my stuff. My grandfather would have laughed, but when given the option, Carly wasn’t a beer drinking kind of girl.

“Do you come up here a lot?” Carly’s voice broke through the nearly silent night. One of the reasons I loved the cabin was the quiet. The only sounds came from the crickets and rustling leaves at night. I liked the solitude, but having Carly’s company was even better.

“I try to come up a few times a year when I need a break.” I pulled her legs up onto my lap. She kicked off her flip flops.

“Do you usually come alone?”

“Always. This is the first time I haven’t.”

“I’m honored you brought me.” The light breeze blew the tendril of hair that had escaped her ponytail.

“It feels right to have you here.”

“I feel at home if that makes sense.”

“Perfect sense.” I ran my hands down her jean clad legs. As much as I wanted to touch her skin, I was glad she was wearing pants. The one downside of the place was the bugs.

“Do you want to talk about earlier?” I didn’t want to push it, but I needed her to know she could tell me anything.

“What’s there to talk about? My parents hate me.”

“They don’t hate you.”

“Ok, they don’t hate me. They just love me less than Kim.”

“Not that I have any interest in defending them, but I don’t think that’s it. And I’ve already weighed in on my bet about how Kim feels about you too.”

“Then what is it?” She pulled her legs from me. Not what I wanted.

“They’re confused. They don’t understand what happened. Maybe they do view Kim as more successful than you and somehow can’t accept her husband screwed up. Have they always liked Jasper?”

“They love him. He was the perfect friend for their son.”

“They don’t want to believe they were wrong about him. They’re angry at themselves for supporting the marriage. At least that’s what I think.”

“Maybe. I guess it doesn’t matter. I just wish they didn’t view me as the loser all the time.”

“Let me guess. Kim was the one who won awards for everything.”

“I thought you were an only child?”

“I am, but I had a cousin who was more like a brother. He was also better at everything.”

“Had?” She eyed me warily.

“He died when we were in college.”

“Oh. That’s where the pressure comes from. He was your uncle’s son.”

“Yeah…”

She moved behind me and slipped her hands underneath my t-shirt and started to run her nails gently down my back. I’d never had someone give me a back scratch like that, and it felt really good.

“Was that around the same time you stopped dating girls seriously?”

“We weren’t talking about me.”

“You’re right. We were talking about us. Both of us.”

She was right. “Yeah. His death changed me I guess. I didn’t want to keep searching for the one when I wasn’t even sure who I was.”

“But you’re dating me.”

“Because it’s different with you. There’s no searching. I can be myself with you in a way I’ve never been with someone before.”

“I feel that way too.”

A slap of thunder had Carly jumping behind me.

“Looks like that storm followed us up here.”

“I guess so.”

Even with her behind me I could tell she was tense. Was she afraid of storms? “We can go inside if you want.”

“Not yet.”

She moved back around and settled into the crook of my arm. We sipped our wine and watched the rain start from small drops to a steady downpour. Silence had never felt so natural before.