Small town secrets, p.2
Small Town Secrets, page 2
“Jordan!”
Even though she had only heard the voice for the first time tonight, she recognized it immediately. Turning around with a smile, she saw Taylor following her out the door.
“We didn’t scare you away already, did we?” Taylor asked.
Jordan laughed. “No, not at all. I just came out here to get some air and head home.”
“I see,” Taylor said. “Well, are you headed home immediately?”
Jordan recognized the hint of an invitation in the question, and weighed her options. She could sit on the couch in sweatpants, covered in Cheez-It crumbs and watching Netflix. Or she could go out and try to make a new friend.
Taylor filled the silence as Jordan thought about her response. “I’m not trying to be pushy,” she said. “I just wanted a chance to get to know you a little better.”
“Standard preacher’s daughter responsibilities?” Jordan asked playfully, hoping that legitimately was not the case.
Taylor laughed in response. “Not quite,” she said. “I don’t really do the whole preacher’s daughter responsibility thing on a regular basis. Tonight was a one-time deal. There’s just something about you that makes me think we could be friends.”
“Well, then I guess I’m in,” Jordan said. “What did you have in mind?”
Taylor gestured to a red Ford truck sitting on the edge of the lot. “Hop in, and I’ll show you,” she said.
“Is this where you take me out to a field and chop me into tiny pieces?” Jordan asked.
“We’re not really that kind of church,” Taylor said, laughing. “That’s the church across the street. You’re safe with us.”
Jordan laughed along with Taylor, not sure how to take her humor.
“Stop being so suspicious and come on.”
Jordan shrugged. “All right, you talked me into it,” she said.
The truth was, Taylor could have talked her into pretty much anything at that point, she was almost certain.
They got into the truck, and Taylor put it into first gear.
Jordan watched her carefully, taking note of every little detail. She was a walking mystery, and Jordan wanted to know so much more. Her Chiefs ball cap and her mannerisms as she shifted gears seemed somewhat masculine, but her perfectly applied—albeit subtle—makeup left no question about the fact that she was definitely quite feminine.
“So where are you from?” she asked, breaking into Jordan’s thought process.
“I’m from here,” Jordan said, as if admitting so automatically made her a loser.
“Don’t be so quick to knock it,” Taylor said. “At least you have a home.”
Jordan’s curiosity was piqued. “What do you mean by that?”
“I’m a bit of a tumbleweed,” Taylor admitted. “We’ve moved around so much that I’m not really sure I have a place I call home. I guess if I had to pick, Oklahoma felt more like home than anywhere, but even that was temporary. I’m not much of a settler.”
Jordan let the thought marinate for a while, before coming to the conclusion that moving around sounded like an adventure. Immediately she wanted to know more and as she tried to sift through her questions and determine which ones were most important, she cocked her head to the side.
“I’d love to know the thoughts behind that look,” Taylor said with an amused smile.
“Sorry,” Jordan said, blushing and snapping her focus back into the moment. “I was just curious about what it was like living so many different places. I mean, I’ve only ever lived around here.”
She hoped her voice didn’t give away just how enamored she was with this girl. The last thing she wanted to do was appear to be that little kid following around the cool crowd.
Taylor’s soft smile put her nerves at ease. “We’ll chat all about it inside,” she said, motioning to the diner across the parking lot. “Does this look okay to you?”
“That works for me,” Jordan said with a shrug. She didn’t really care. To be honest, she was just happy to have a friend—even if just for a while.
Inside, they sat at a booth in the back. With the soft glow of parking lot lights in the background, Jordan felt more at home than she had in weeks.
“Would you have any interest in splitting some chili cheese fries?” Taylor asked with a hint of a mischievous grin.
The look made Jordan laugh. It was as if they were breaking the rules.
Jordan looked down self-consciously, considering the offer. “I really shouldn’t,” she said.
“Why on earth not?” Taylor asked.
“I’m going to have to start watching what I eat a lot more,” Jordan admitted somewhat shyly. “I’m not getting near as much exercise as my body is used to.”
“You look like you’re in good shape to me. I’d love to have that body, actually.”
Jordan blushed at the compliment. For reasons she couldn’t explain, Taylor’s admiration of her body made her heart soar. She took the moment to look Taylor up and down in curiosity.
“You have a pretty nice body, too,” she commented, looking at those long legs and the way her trim hourglass figure was displayed in something as simple as jeans and a fitted T-shirt.
“Thanks,” Taylor said casually, accepting the compliment with ease. “Then there’s no reason for us to skip out on the fries.”
Her logic was simple, but Jordan figured a little indulgence wouldn’t hurt.
“Okay, I’ll eat some of them,” she conceded.
As their fries came out, Jordan got lost in conversation. All of her previous inhibitions slipped away as the two of them chatted into the evening about movies, TV, the various towns Taylor had lived in—and all sorts of sports other than basketball, to Jordan’s relief.
Jordan glanced at her watch. “I better head home,” she said reluctantly. “I have a big paper to write for tomorrow’s class.”
A slow smile spread across Taylor’s face.
“What is it?” Jordan asked.
“Nothing really,” Taylor said with a shrug. “You just reminded me how old I am.”
Jordan furrowed her brow. Surprisingly, they hadn’t broached the subject of age in all that they had covered. “How old are you?” she asked innocently.
“Way to put a girl on the spot,” Taylor teased. “Twenty-nine.”
“That’s not old at all,” Jordan retorted.
“Sometimes it feels like it,” Taylor replied. “But either way, let me get you back to your car.”
Taylor dropped some money on the table, and Jordan started to protest.
“My treat,” Taylor said both cheerfully and firmly.
Jordan thanked her and side by side they walked out of the diner.
Once they were back in the coffee shop parking lot, Jordan was hesitant to get out of the truck. It seemed as though she had finally found a friend, and as lonely as she had been, she didn’t want to give up that feeling just yet.
“What’s your number?” Taylor asked.
Jordan smiled. Taylor wanted to be her friend, too, or at least it seemed that way. Quickly, she rattled off her number and watched Taylor enter it into her phone. Taylor gave Jordan her number as well, and Jordan leaned over and hugged Taylor.
She had never been overly affectionate, but it just felt right in the moment. To her relief, Taylor did not seem to think the gesture odd. Instead, she returned the hug and warmly said, “I had a wonderful time tonight. Let’s hang out again soon.”
“Definitely,” Jordan agreed, getting out of the vehicle.
On her drive home, she felt a twinge of hope. Perhaps all was not lost since her recent removal from the basketball team. For the first time in months, she felt as though the future had possibility. Maybe she had a whole new life waiting up ahead of her.
Chapter Two
The silver moonlight lighting her small backyard provided the perfect serene backdrop for the way Taylor was feeling. She had hated this town ever since she moved here. The people were as fake as they were set into their cliques.
Sure, they were all warm on the outside, with their superficial smiles and quick hugs. Yet, they were the most judgmental people she had ever encountered, and that was saying a lot considering she had church-hopped since she was a baby.
She had gone into tonight’s meeting with her usual pep talk. She would go into the room, she would show genuine feeling and she would go home. It had been her theory that all these people really needed was someone genuine, and slowly it seemed to have been making people take notice. Not that she wanted attention; she just wanted to show them what it was like to be a real person—one who didn’t care what everyone else in the room thought or how things appeared to outside eyes.
Now, she wondered if she was being hypocritical as she let another sip of rum slide down the back of her throat. She swallowed the bitter liquid and stared at her backyard.
The feeling of camaraderie in this place was foreign to her, but it gave her hope. There was something special about Jordan Weston. She had no doubt about that.
Jordan was the first person that Taylor had actually carried on a legitimate conversation with in the four months since she had been in Kansas, aside from family. It was the first time she felt as though there was someone in the godforsaken town that she might be able to trust someday.
The feeling made her smile as she took another sip. She thought about Jordan’s beautiful smile, and the way that her adorable dimple showed when she laughed. The girl was breathtaking. But, more than that, she was real.
She glanced down at her phone, and briefly contemplated sending Jordan a text message. She had meant every word when she said she wanted to hang out with Jordan again. But, she resisted the urge. There was no need to scare that girl off right now.
Besides, Jordan could not provide her the solace from her loneliness that she longed for. Sure, Jordan could provide friendship, but one look in the girl’s eyes had told Taylor that anything else was off limits. It was clear that Jordan was far too innocent to even consider anything different.
She let out a slow sigh and lit a cigarette. Taking a drag, she felt the nicotine swim through her body, relaxing her nerves. Thankful once again that, although the house was tiny, she was able to afford a place of her own, a sanctuary, thanks to the church providing it for nearly nothing in monthly rent.
In the alley, she saw a car drive slowly by her house. She watched as the head in the driver’s seat turned and stared at her. Quickly, she moved the cigarette out of plain view and waited for the driver to move on down the street.
For the millionth time since she moved here, she simply wanted to scream. This town was full of small-town, small-minded busybodies who were more concerned with what she was doing than with their own lives. She guessed it was always that way in a small town, but as a pastor’s daughter, it felt like the scrutiny would never end.
There was always someone else to please and someone’s approval to win. She missed Oklahoma and her friends back home. She thought of her childhood best friend Amy, who had been one of the few to simply accept her. With Amy, she had never needed to win approval. She had never needed to explain herself. They had just bonded easily and effortlessly, and had stayed close throughout the years—through every stage of life, through every heartache.
It wasn’t that easy here. People didn’t seem to accept. They judged, just as so many people had done all her life. They had a preconceived notion of what made a “good preacher,” and that always included picture-perfect children.
In her mind, she replayed all the little lessons her mother had tried to teach her brothers and her through repetition as children.
“Sit up straight.”
“Wear that dress. It makes you look pretty, and we all know we need to look pretty.”
“You can’t let anyone see you cry. It looks bad on your father if he has unhappy children.”
It was always a show, and it probably always would be. But, right here, right now, she was hers alone. There was no one she had to answer to, and there was no one to tell her what was proper.
Proper. She hated the word. It seemed as even speaking it was too stuffy, too disingenuous. She and her brothers had learned long ago how to put on a proper face, while hiding everything else. It had been their tactic of survival and possibly the only way they had stayed sane. Although they occasionally fought, they had been each other’s allies in hiding details from their parents. As she put out her cigarette, she felt like that same little kid again, hiding out and hoping mommy and daddy didn’t find out.
Once again, she let her mind drift back to the night she had enjoyed. The piercing green of Jordan’s eyes as she smiled would surely haunt her dreams for nights to come, but she pushed that thought aside and focused instead on how easily their conversation had flowed.
By the end of the night, she felt as if she had known Jordan for years—not hours.
That was the type of friendship she had been missing—craving, even.
She heard her phone buzz, breaking her out of her dreamlike thoughts.
Her smile grew as she looked at the screen.
I know it’s probably a little weird to text you so soon, the text from Jordan read. I just wanted to say thank you again. It meant a lot to me to find a friend tonight.
There was something so raw and honest in the text message. Although it was a simple grouping of words, Taylor could read into it the underlying loneliness. It seemed that Jordan was searching for companionship just as much as Taylor was. The thought broke her heart, as she couldn’t imagine a girl that sweet being so alone. However, it also brought about hope that maybe each could be the friend that both were looking for.
Leaning back in her chair, she took another sip from the bottle, carefully thinking through her reply.
* * *
She knew it was late, but her curiosity was getting the best of her. Damn her curiosity.
Trying to stifle her need to know if Taylor Reeves had screwed up her group was like trying to convince a heroin addict that she didn’t need another hit. Unable to suppress her need any longer, Callie Wilkins quickly grabbed her cell phone.
After one ring, an obviously sleepy Chris picked up his phone.
“Callie, how are you?” he asked through a yawn.
“I’m good,” she replied quickly, wanting to get to the point of the call. “I’m ready to be home, though. How was the group meeting tonight?”
“You make it sound like a cult,” he said with a lazy laugh.
She found no humor in his comment. “I do not. But, seriously, how was it?” With each minute she had to wait to get the news that Taylor had screwed up, yet again, she was growing more impatient.
“It was pretty good,” he said. “There was a hot new girl there.”
“Are you really there for the girls?” she asked with irritation. “Never mind,” she cut him off before he could answer. “I don’t have time to get into that.”
She took a deep breath, reminding herself to calm down. She didn’t want him to call her a gossip again. He did that far too often.
“What do you mean it was pretty good?” she asked, knowing he’d crack under pressure.
“What do you really want to know?” he asked, clearly tired and not wanting to go through her usual twenty questions.
That was the beauty of a good friend, she thought. They knew your weaknesses, and she knew one of hers was having to know as much information as possible on her enemies. She didn’t know that she would exactly classify Taylor as an enemy, but she definitely didn’t like the girl with all her big-city ways and the way she seemed to think she could waltz in here and steal Callie’s territory.
She sighed. “I want to know how Taylor did,” she admitted. She should be ashamed at how transparent she was, but she didn’t really care at the moment.
Chris let out a small laugh. “She did fine,” he said. “Why don’t you like her?”
“I never said I don’t like her,” Callie quipped.
She could just picture Chris’s brow furrowing quizzically. “You don’t have to say it, Cal. We can all see it. Even she sees it.”
“Well, she isn’t the friendliest person I’ve ever met. It’s not like she tries all that hard.” Even Callie could hear the way her voice escalated to an unnatural pitch. She worked to bring it back down. “Sorry,” she muttered.
Chris was full-out laughing now. “I think she’s pretty friendly. She’s always been nice to me, but in the spirit of friendship, I’ll indulge you in a little bit of information.”
Callie felt the corners of her lips creep up into a slight smile. Although she’d never admit it to anyone willingly, juicy gossip was her favorite pastime, and she hoped this would be good.
“Go ahead,” she urged.
“Well, when she left, she went to hang out with the new girl I was telling you about,” he said. “That’s about all that was out of the norm.”
“She’s usually kind of a loner,” Callie said, contemplating. “I wonder if the new girl is a friend of hers.”
“I don’t know,” Chris said. “But I think Taylor’s only a loner because you all push her away.”
Callie felt her blood boil. Chris was supposed to be her friend and take her side. She knew she was being irrational, but she didn’t care.
“Good night,” she said.
As she slammed her cell phone down on the counter, she wanted to scream. She didn’t understand why everyone was so enamored with Taylor Reeves. Sure she was pretty and she was the exciting new girl from a far-off place. Callie’s thoughts were filled with bitterness.
She had spent years working to build the young adults’ group. This was her home. This was her church, and she didn’t like someone stomping all over her territory. Even more than that, she sensed Taylor had a secret she was hiding. Callie was determined to find out what it was.
In her head, she heard her best friend’s amused voice. “If there’s a secret within a hundred yards, this one will sniff it out.”
It was the truth, and it was a truth of which she was damn proud.
