CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
Caleb
I stood outside of the recording room, wearing a pair of headphones that were hooked up to the feed. I could hear what was going on inside the sound-proof room, but everything blurred except Cherry’s voice. And damn she looked good.
I’d been avoiding seeing her for weeks, hoping what I felt for her would dissipate. It hadn’t. In fact, I felt like Mount St. Helens was in my chest about to erupt.
Cherry was sitting at a table with two disk jockeys, her own set of headphones on, and a microphone placed in front of her. I could tell she was nervous, but to anyone else, with her hair pulled casually into a ponytail and that model pretty smile on her face, the nerves wouldn’t show past the beauty that smacked you over the head.
It was difficult to contain myself, watching through the thick glass that allowed me to keep an eye on the proceedings. I had hoped that the initial response to Cherry would be a warm one, and it definitely looked like we were attracting attention. Since the radio show had called, we’d gotten about a dozen more emails and a couple of calls asking for a little slice of Cherry Bomb’s time.
This was her first step into the world of big time PR.
I typed a text into my phone and watched her reach into her bag. Don’t be nervous. All you have to do is open up, give a tidbit of yourself to hook the audience.
Like you do? appeared on my screen seconds later. She didn’t look at me, just turned her phone off and tossed it back in her bag.
My chest burned, joining my gut in agony, and I wondered if I was having a heart attack.
One of the techs beside me signaled to the disk jockeys and the two men came alive.
“Good morning, ladies and gentlemen and straight up beasts! It’s DJ Ray here with my mic-man Freezer, and today we have a special lady with us!”
“That’s right,” Freezer said, looking indeed like he could be from the freezer with his white goatee and white bushy eyebrows, as he leaned into the mic. “None other than Miss Cherry Bomb herself! Now for those of you don’t know, Cherry is the so stunningly gorgeous fighter who could TKO you straight on sight she’s so good-looking.”
The two men laughed, and I rolled my eyes, if only to tamp down the jealousy that was suddenly joining the burning in my gut.
DJ Ray jumped in. “She’s pretty alright, but she really made waves because she lasted several rounds with Roberto De La Matta and even managed to land some pretty intense blows. Say hello, Cherry.”
“Hello everyone,” Cherry said calmly. “Thank you for having me on today.”
“No problem! We’re excited to have you.” DJ Ray leaned toward his fellow worker. “Hey, what’s the difference between a woman and a boxer?”
“I don’t know, since we have both sitting in front of us,” said Freezer in an apprehensive voice.
“The boxer stands up to be knocked down. The woman lies down to be knocked up!” The DJ roared with laughter.
Cherry stared at him in horror, and I wanted to shatter the glass, take the guy by the throat.
Cherry didn’t have a chance to say anything before Freezer jumped in. “This joke’s for you, buddy. A boxer had written ‘You can stop counting, I’m not getting up’ on his tombstone.” He shook his head at his cohort. “You might want to do the same because you just dug your grave.”
A series of annoying honking sounds played, courtesy of one of the techs.
“Please don’t punch me,” said Ray, and the two men shared a laugh.
But Cherry didn’t laugh. Good. Instead, she leaned into the mic. “That’s the type of attitude women fighters of all categories come up against every day. I’d like to represent women in creating a place where women can be a part of the fight world without being shaped into a demeaning role or having to take the rampant sexual harassment on to be able to fight.”
Both DJs stared at her for a heavy, silent second, stopped in their ridiculous tracks by the words “sexual harassment.”
Cherry just blinked back at them, the corner of her mouth turned slightly upward.
“Ray, you saw the girl beatin’ up on ol’ Roberto, you have to pick a fight with her and get your chicken butt kicked too? Apologize.”
Ray all but bowed an apology and went on to talk about her upcoming schedule, which hadn’t been filled yet, so he jumped to her background.
“What made you want to go up and face one of the most prolific fighters in the current boxing scene?”
“Well, going to boxing matches as a child with my dad is one of my favorite memories. So even though I knew I wouldn’t win, to be in the ring with a known boxer, I just couldn’t pass it up. The publicity hasn’t hurt.”
“So your father had an influence on your becoming a fighter?”
“Dad had an influence on my everything. He was such a strong figure in my life. He taught me to be tough, never give up, and always go after my dreams. We had plenty of lessons in being tough growing up on a three-hundred-acre farm.”
Freezer snorted. “I bet. Is that how you got to be so strong?”
A little smile curved Cherry’s lips. “Yeah. Farming is hard work and it takes a lot of discipline, and my siblings and I all started working as soon as we could walk.”
Ray leaned forward. “What type of farming did you do?”
Cherry’s eyes widened. “You name it. We raised cows and pigs, but our main focus was on crops. Corn, soybeans, and—”
“Marijuana?” Freezer asked, bobbing his eyebrows.
To my surprise, Cherry laughed. “No. My mama would have had a stroke.”
Ray jumped in. “Isn’t weed like the number three leading crop in Indiana? It could have been very lucrative.”
Cherry laughed, a big, bright, boisterous sound. “It could have been gold-plated and it wouldn’t have mattered to my mother.”
“So, your mama was strict?” Freezer asked.
Cherry bobbed her head side to side. “Yeah, but in a good way, you know? Strict but fair.”
Freezer bobbed his eyebrows again. “But, you can’t tell me you and your siblings were angels, now can you?”
Her grin grew wider, and it was nice to see her start to have fun. “Well, I guess my halo got a little dirty at times.”
The big bastard stroked his goatee. “Come on, tell us a story. Give us a little glimpse of Cherry Bomb back on the farm.”
She leaned back in her chair, the grin still in place. “You know, if my mom hears about this, she will kill me and my brother.”
Both DJs leaned forward. “Come on, live a little,” Ray prodded.
I leaned forward too, hungry for more of this side of Cherry. She was relaxed. Having fun. And gorgeous.
“Okay, but in order to protect my siblings, I’m not going to name names.”
Freezer nodded. “Fair enough.”
Cherry blew out a long breath, looked up to the ceiling as if for guidance, and began. “On the farm, we’d rotate crops so the soil wouldn’t get depleted. Well, this particular year, we planted tobacco.”
Ray and Freezer looked at each other. “This is about to get good,” Freezer said.
“For anyone who hasn’t had to deal with tobacco…” She waggled a finger at the two men. “Which is bad for you, by the way. Bad.”
Freezer raised his hands in surrender. “We got it. Tobacco is bad.”
She nodded. “Anyway, growing tobacco takes a lot of steps. Planting, topping, harvesting, with a lot of additional steps in between, but in the end, you have to hang it up in the barn for the leaves to dry and cure.” Cherry waved a hand in front of her face as she clearly was about to get to the good part of the story. “Well, the tobacco had been drying for a while, when one of my siblings and I decided we should go try it.”
“Ohhh…” Freezer said, clapping his hands together.
“Yeah, except my sibling and I had no idea what we were doing, so we tore some paper from our notebooks for school, snuck some matches from the drawer, and went to the barn to see what all the fuss was about.”
“Was it good?” Ray asked.
Cherry laughed. “As a reminder, this is bad! Bad!”
Freezer lowered his voice, “As a reminder to the audience, this should not be tried at home. I repeat, the following bad, bad deed should not be attempted at home.”
“Or barn,” Cherry added.
“Or barn,” Freezer repeated. “Go on.”
“So, my sibling and I pulled down some leaves and rolled it in the notepaper. We ended up with…” she held her hands about a foot apart, “this monster sized cigar looking thing.”
Both men started laughing, wiping at tears.
“I put that sucker between my lips and my sibling strikes the match. I take a big puff and… whoosh!” Cherry threw up her hands. “The entire thing bursts into flames… right in my face.”
Ray stuttered out his question through bursts of laughter. “Were you burned?”
“No, I should have been, but I was lucky. Lost a good chunk of my bangs and part of my eyebrows. We were seriously lucky we didn’t burn down the entire barn when I threw the thing.”
Freezer was using both hands to wipe at his eyes. “What did your mama say when you came home with no eyebrows and wacked out hair?”
“My brother used a crayon to color in my eyebrows, and I was forced to wear a headband for weeks. Said it was the new style.”
Ray said, “Well your eyebrows sure look real to me now. Real pretty, that is. I’m sure every guy listening is wanting to know… did you leave any boyfriends behind in Indiana?”
Freezer elbowed him. “Do you like getting punched in the face?”
Cherry’s pleasant expression flickered ever so slightly. She leaned in and batted her eyes at them, an expression I recognized as the signal she was about to lay down some serious sass.
I crossed my arms over my chest, leaned against the wall, and watched with satisfaction.
“You know, I could have sworn that you invited me here to talk about the fight and my experiences as a boxer. But if you want, we can talk about significant others. You first though, Freezer. I heard you might have a certain special someone.” Freezer’s mouth dropped open as his face turned a ruddy shade of red and his eyes flicked to his wedding ring. When no words came out of his mouth, Cherry continued, “It’s actually a funny story how I got involved in MMA.”
She talked about college and dropping out, and it was so clear that she had command of the conversation that I was sure even the radio listeners were rapt.
It wasn’t until one of the techs gave them a five-minute warning that DJ Ray looked down at his list of questions. “So tell us, Cherry Bomb, what’s that all about?”
“You mean the name?”
“Yeah. I assume that’s not what your mama named you.”
“I dunno,” Freezer said, nudging his partner. “You know how these new-age names can be sometimes. Scramble a few consonants and vowels together and you’ve got a first and middle name for your baby.”
“Cherry comes from the trees on the farm I left behind,” she answered coolly. “As for the Bomb part, it’s because of the blast of punches that just burst out of me in the ring or cage. People might think that I can’t do much damage — and in a lot of situations I can’t — but use me the right way, and I can bring an entire building down. I came from nothing, I’m fighting to make a name for myself, but I intend to make a very big impact wherever I land.”
I couldn’t think of a more perfect end to the interview.
I signaled to one of the techs that we were done here, and he scrambled to launch into the wrap up music. The disk jockeys did a good job of transitioning to the outro, and within a minute, they were off the air and shaking Cherry’s hand.
It was surprisingly difficult to stop myself from hugging her as she stepped out of the room.
The way she stopped and looked up at me with those gorgeous hazel-green eyes that seemed to be waiting for me to apologize made me feel like an ass.
Before I could think of what to say, the door behind me opened and Hunter stepped in.
He nodded at Cherry and pulled me aside, murmuring in a low voice, “I have to talk to you.” Then he went about giving our goodbyes to the techs, waving to the manager on the way out and swearing that we wouldn’t forget the people who had given Cherry her first interview when she made it pro.
“You killed it in there, you know,” I said to Cherry, almost afraid of speaking and breaking the good feelings like a bubble as we walked to the car, Hunter beside us. The fragrant newly spring air was still a bit nippy.
At the car, Hunter grasped my arm and pulled me closer, making eye contact with me. “Listen, first of all I have to say I’m sorry.” He looked miserable and guilty, causing my stomach to churn. “Man… fuck. I was quiet for her. She made me promise.”
She?
I frowned, something I didn’t want to consider winding its slimy self through my stomach. Had Hunter… and Cherry? I looked to her, but she was looking at him in curious interest.
She shifted her gaze to me, and hers widened as she shook her head, her hand outstretched. “Oh no. Not me!” Her gaze shifted to my friend. “What are you talking about, Hunter?”
I took a step closer to him, anxiety twisting at me. “Who made you promise what?”
Hunter rubbed his face with both hands before stuffing them into his pockets, his gaze boring into mine. “Lillie. After the car hit her the other night and she ran, she called me.” When I only stared at him in shock, he went on. “Man, she’s in rehab. I paid for everything. She didn’t want you to know until she was less messed up.”
My mouth moved, but I didn’t know what to say. “Is she…?”
Alive?
Wanting to see me?
Does she hate me?
There was too much, and all the emotion churned in my throat.
Hunter sighed, shoving a hand through his hair. “But she’s leaving. I don’t have time to explain more. I need you to come with me.”
The noise from the traffic speeding past dimmed and became a distant echo as the whole world narrowed to the three of us standing on the concrete.
“You’re going to pay for this later, Hunter. But for now, get in the fucking car.” I shot Cherry a glance when she took a step back. “You too.”
“I can—”
“I swear to god, if you say you can take the fucking bus I’m going to pick you up and stuff you in the car. Now get in.”
She narrowed her eyes, but she did what I said, and in seconds, I was following Hunter’s directions to Our Lady of Peace — mostly a mental health facility but one that had a short-term inpatient drug treatment program.
Despite my protests, Hunter and Cherry followed me inside. At the desk, the nurse wouldn’t give me any information. I didn’t like to do it, but I threw out my dad’s name and watched her entire countenance change.
She nodded. “One moment, sir.”
In school, I’d never given a second thought to the way the world opened up when my father’s name was uttered. I’d been spoiled to the fact that the name Birchmeir got me what I wanted. Once life changed after my mother’s death and Lillie’s disappearance, not even who we were would change those two things, and I began to resent every door that flung open each time someone found out who I was.
Now though, it was a blessing.
A few moments later, a woman in a suit escorted us to a hallway. “Please wait here. Your sister will be on her way out momentarily and you can have a word with her before she goes.”
I thanked her then turned to look out at the full parking lot, trying to get my emotions in check. I was going to get to speak to my sister, really speak to her, for the first time since we were teens.
There was the clicking of a door behind me, and I turned.
Lillie blinked up at me, the blue eyes that matched mine clear, not cloudy like they had been that day on the street. When she smiled, she looked like the girl I remembered, not the ravaged, skinny drug addict she’d been for the last decade.
Her name slipped from my lips, the two syllables holding all the torment and anxiety her disappearance had caused me.
“I’m sorry,” she said, tilting her head the way she always had when she knew she’d been in the wrong and wanted forgiveness.
I shook my head. “I’m sorry I wasn’t here. Sorry I went off to college. I should have stayed… it was my fault. I—”
“No.” She pressed her lips together and gave her head a quick shake, her blonde hair drifting over her shoulders. “Nothing was your fault. And I’m okay now. I’ll be okay. Thanks to you.”
She was clean and safe. For the moment, anyway. But none of that was because of me. In fact, I was afraid to get too close, afraid she would bolt again and this whole nightmare would begin anew.
“I’ve never stopped looking for you.”
“I know.” Her gaze went to Hunter and their eyes locked, an understanding passing between them. She smiled at me. “That day on the street, I’d come back here because I’d lost hope and just needed to be somewhere familiar. When I saw you, I couldn’t stand myself any more. I wanted to be able to be in your life but couldn’t let you see what I’d become.”
“You look wonderful.” The words gushed out of me, and the image standing before me, the one I’d waited to see for so long blurred.
“Don’t be mad at Hunter. Please.”
I looked at my friend, but he only had eyes for my sister. He’d helped her. How could I be pissed? “Okay.”
She sighed out a breath of relief. “He helped me get in here, encouraged me to keep going. Now, I’m going to a rehab in California that’s geared toward long-term addicts. It has a high success rate. I’ll be gone for a while.” Her eyes filled with tears, and she stepped closer, laid her palm on my face. “But I’ll be back. I promise to come back. In the meantime, write to me? Catch me up on the last ten years?”
Emotion flooded me, to have found her and be losing her so soon, but I nodded and joked, “I’ve just been using the Birchmeir name to skate through life.”
She laughed and flung her arms around me. The deep freeze that had taken permanent residence in my soul began to thaw as I wrapped my arms around my beloved sister and squeezed, inhaling the fruity scent of her hair that had always reminded me of sunshine and summer. I felt like the sun had been hiding behind a cloud and finally broke through.
All too soon, she stepped back, and the orderly who had been keeping a low profile near the door stepped forward. “Ready?”
She nodded and held out a hand to Hunter. “You write too. Pretty soon, we’ll all be together again, just like old times.”
He smiled, but I could tell it cost him, and I could see just how deep the feelings he’d harbored for her all these years were. My question was answered when he closed the distance between them, hooked his finger under her chin and pressed a quick kiss to her lips.
A hand gripped my bicep when I might have interrupted, and I looked over to see Cherry, tears streaming down her cheeks. A surge of something hit me so hard I nearly rocked backwards. It swelled in my heart.
God, I was in love with her.
I felt like I’d been asleep for ten years and just now woken.
I’d been a cold-hearted bastard, and I was surprised she was even standing here, lending her support.
When Hunter stepped back, Lillie’s complexion was flushed, and she looked so much like the girl who had ridden in the middle seat next to me that fateful night that it took my breath.
We said our goodbyes for now, and I watched her walk to a waiting car that would take her to the airport. I didn’t take my eyes off its taillights until they disappeared, scared out of my mind I’d never see her again.
“She’ll be okay now. She’ll be back.” Hunter clapped a hand on my shoulder.
I narrowed my gaze on him. “You have a little explaining to do.”
Hunter’s phone dinged in his pocket. When he took it out, he smiled as he read the text message. “Saved by the bell. The fight bell. This is Gary Duffy from the Titans Gym in Ohio. Says he has a fight scheduled that just had one of the opponents drop out. He heard about Cherry and would like to fill the slot if she’s available.”
I looked at Cherry, whose eyes had grown wide. She wasn’t saying anything, so I asked, “Is it a money fight?”
Hunter’s fingers flew over the screen then he gazed up at me, grinning. “Yep.”
Cherry let out a screech and did a bounce, clapping her hand over her mouth, her eyes big as plates. “Are you kidding me? The Titans gym wants me in a fight?”
“I told you,” I said, excitement leaking into me as well, filling up all the places that had been dark and empty for so long, “as soon as your first legitimate fight aired, everyone would be able to see what I spotted from the moment I saw you.”
She clapped her hands, folding and clasping them under her chin, looking like the girl she once was. “Oh my god. This is a dream come true.”
“Nope, it’s reality,” Hunter added as he continued texting. “The fight’s in three weeks.”
I wanted to reach over and caress her cheek, feel her skin heat under my thumb. Instead, I just said, “Seems like today is a day for dreams coming true.”
She flushed, and as if she couldn’t contain herself, bounced up and down on her toes like I’d seen her little sister, Honey, do.
I’d never been the touchy-feely type, but with Cherry, the whole world always turned upside down, because now I had the sudden urge to pick her up and spin her around. I held on to it, stuffed it back inside.
I didn’t want to pile the mess that we’d become on top of her glee.