My Casey

They had no fucking idea what they were dealing with.

Stupid men.

Not all men.

Her father was the best.

Rome Jones, her father, was considered one of the most romantic men in the whole of the town. The way he’d courted her mother, Abby, was legendary.

It was a sweet story, one she wished she could tell her own kids, if she was to ever have them.

According to her father, he’d been completely besotted with her mother. Like, falling over himself in love, and she could buy that, one hundred percent. They’d been childhood sweethearts, and all of his life, he’d been completely devoted to one woman. Loving her, caring for her, just being everything to her.

It was a sweet, emotional love story. For Casey, it was hard to even think of finding someone who could ever give her the kind of happiness her parents had. People would often say she was going to end up in a relationship like her mother, or she would rival her parents’ legend one day.

Not too much pressure, sure.

She had found herself crushed under the weight of all the expectation, romance and boyfriends, and relationships scared her. She didn’t want to compete or have anyone expecting her to have the same or similar kind of relationship to her parents.

Her father and mother were … one of a kind. No one could ever compete with their love or the lengths someone would go in the name of love.

Her father was known as the kind of guy who would build his woman a house just for her. They had wanted loads of kids, but there had been complications with Casey’s birth, and it had stopped them from having any more kids.

For Casey, it was one of the reasons she had always tried her hardest to be the best daughter for them. To not be a failure, so returning back home right now didn’t exactly do well for her.

She wanted to be the best, and right now, she was heading back home a failure; not good.

Her parents would be really kind and supportive, but she knew the truth. It was that truth that she hated to acknowledge. She wasn’t supposed to allow her goals to slip, and yet she had. No matter which way she looked at it, she’d slipped into a bad spiral, and she needed to get out. She hoped being back home would help her to relax and to regain herself again.

That was her hope.

Just as she was starting to smile, her car made a really weird noise. She’d had this car since she’d watched her dad build it when she was sixteen. He’d take her out for little driving lessons, and it would be the highlight of her life.

“What? No. No. No.” The car that had gotten her from A to B finally died on the old dirt road, at least another thirty minutes from home.

She turned off the ignition, took a deep breath, and turned it over.

Nothing.

Flat.

“No. This can’t be happening. Come on. You can go.” The engine wasn’t having any of it, and she collapsed against the steering wheel, whimpering. This was not supposed to do this. “It’s supposed to go. Come on, you beauty, go.”

Nothing.

Finally giving up, she climbed out of the car and slammed the door. Pulling out her cell phone, she let out a gasp. It was working. Her cell phone was really working.

She got to her father’s number and put the call through.

“Hey, pumpkin, you better not be phoning me and driving. You know I don’t like that.”

“You don’t have to worry. I’m being good. I promise. No, what I need is for you to come and pick me up.”

“What’s wrong with the beast?”

She’d named her car that as she truly felt her car was a beast in all the good ways.

“He’s just stopped on me. I can’t believe it. After all this time, he just freaking stopped.”

“Language.”

“Dad, come on, you’re way worse than I am.”

“I’m not that bad.”

She rolled her eyes. That was a total lie, and they both knew it.

“Can you come and get me?”

“I will deal with it.”

She didn’t like the sound of that. “Dad, say you’re coming to get me.”

“Sweetie, someone will come and get you.”

“Dad, that’s not a guarantee that you’re going to arrive,” she said.

“I know, but hang in there, don’t worry. Where are you?”

She told him where she was, and in the next second, her cell phone died.

“What the…”

She tried to call her father, but obviously, he was fixing this. Folding her arms across her chest, she took a deep breath and tried not to think of all the bad things that could go wrong.

“It’s fine. It’s all perfectly fine.”

Even if she was talking to herself.

Leaning against the car, she rubbed at her temples, checked the time, and wondered how long she was going to be sitting out here waiting.