Southern Chance (Southern 1)

“Jana,” he repeats the name, “the teacher who teaches your son?” I roll my eyes. “’Cause that sounds like a great idea. How do you think the next parent-teacher conference will go after you dump her two dates in?”

“What if I don’t dump her?’ I ask. “I mean, she’s cute.”

“Yeah, that’s always something that you want to hear from a date. You’re cute.”

“What am I supposed to say?” I ask. “And first of all, who are you to talk? When was the last time you went on a date?”

“Two weeks ago,” he says without skipping a beat. “I had a date for a charity event.”

I groan. “That’s not a date.” Shaking my head, I say, “That’s your mother playing matchmaker.”

“Same thing,” he tells me. “I don’t want to date. I have to focus on the mayor’s office, and dating isn’t up there on my list of shit to do.”

I pull up to my house, and I spot Casey there, leaning against his truck as he waits for me. “What the fuck?”

“What happened?” he asks.

“Casey is here,” I say, stopping my truck and turning it off. “I’ll call you back.”

“Don’t get yourself arrested, Jacob. I am not in office yet, so the only thing I can do is bail you out,” he says, and I disconnect the call, getting out of the truck.

“What are you doing here?” I ask, cutting through the bullshit, and he looks at me.

“It seems there is something on my property that needs to be moved,” he says, and I look at him with a confused look on my face no doubt. Why would I give a shit what is on his property, and why would I need to know? “There is a rock that seems to be in the wrong place, and I’m just letting you know that I’m having it moved.” I don’t know why it feels like he just kicked me in the stomach, but it does. “I’m guessing by the look on your face that you know what rock I’m talking about.”

I put my game face on. “Fuck if I care what you do with that rock. Toss it in the creek. Blow it up for all I care.”

“Perfect. I just assumed since you tried to cut down the tree right next to it, you might want to know.” He looks at me, putting his hands in his back pockets. We’ve never actually been friends since he was the same age as my brother, but we always got along. Well, we did until he hid Kallie from me and then refused to tell me where she was.

I shake my head. “Don’t care.”

“Sure,” he says, turning and getting into his truck. “You keep telling yourself that, and maybe one day, you’ll actually believe yourself.”

“What does that mean?” I say, and it’s his turn now to shake his head.

“I’m not spelling shit out for you,” he says, starting the truck. “The only thing I know is my sister is finally back at home, and I’m going to do what I need to do to make sure she comes back often.”

“Again,” I say, “don’t care.”

“Again,” he mimics me, “you keep telling yourself that.”

“I wasn’t the one who left without looking back!” I shout.

“Wasn’t her who got knocked up by another guy!” He throws it in my face, and I just shake my head. “Take care, Jacob.” He pulls out of my driveway, and I want to shout and tell him to fuck off. I want to shout and tell him that he knows fucking nothing, but I do what I’ve been doing for the past eight years. I keep the secret to myself, burying it deep. I walk into my house and close the door. Tossing my phone on the counter, I walk straight to my bedroom.

I collapse on the bed and turn to look out the window at the trees in the distance. My thoughts go back to the last time I went to the rock.

“What exactly did you want me to come for?” Beau asked as we walked through the woods toward Kallie’s property. I parked as close as I could, then got out and grabbed the chainsaw.

“I need to do something and figured that you had nothing else to do.” I laughed and walked along the creek. Water slowly worked itself downstream. The sound of birds chirping mixed with the sounds of water trickling.

“I don’t think anything that you have to do with a chainsaw is a good idea,” he said as he continued walking. Finally, I walked over the hill and saw the lone rock right next to five elm trees. The sun made its way through the leaves, shining on the rock like a spotlight.

Even though I wanted to go sit on the rock and see if I could still feel her all around me, I ignored it. Instead, I walked straight to the tree where I had carved our names into one day. We were lying with her head on my chest and my arms around her. My hand came out, and I traced the letters with my finger, lost in the thought of her again, but I was done. It was enough or at least that was what I thought. I pulled the string and the chainsaw roared to life. I was about to cut the fucking tree down when Beau shouted.