Kara went to her grandma and embraced her in a hug. “I’m so sorry, Grandma.”
She patted her head. “It’s ok. She’ll get over it. She’s just sad to lose her little girl.”
“But she’s not losing me,” she protested.
“Oh sweetie, when your little girl falls in love, you do feel like you lose them a little bit.” She smiled over at me.
“Now you two go out and have some fun. Try to forget about this.”
Kara stood up. “Let me go change.” She disappeared to her bedroom and I sat down at the table with her grandparents.
“She loves you.” Her grandma said. “But she’s conflicted by her mother. Just be patient with her and love her.”
I looked down at my hands. “I don’t plan on doing anything else.”
“Good.”
Kara came back into the kitchen and took my breath away. She was wearing a plain white sundress, but it accentuated her tan and the blonde highlights the sun had put in her hair over the course of the summer. She looked like my sun kissed angel.
She hugged her grandparents goodbye and we went out to my truck. We had to stop at my place so I could shower and change quickly. Matt was having a party at a nearby bar to celebrate his birthday, so we decided to head over there. Spending some time with our friends might help us get what happened today off of our minds.
“I’m scared to touch you and get you dirty,” I teased her. “You should know better than to wear white around a mechanic.”
“You can get me dirty any time you want to, JT.”
I gripped the steering wheel and was tempted to find a way to get that dress off of her, but I didn’t want to take advantage of her when she was upset.
She chatted with my dad while I cleaned up. I put on my signature red baseball cap, some green shorts, and a brown t-shirt. I felt underdressed compared to her, but I had that feeling most of the time. I constantly wondered how a girl like her wound up with a boy like me.
When we arrived at the bar, the party was in full swing. Kara gave me a kiss on the cheek and went over to talk to Brittany. She didn’t spend much time with her anymore, so I found Chase after getting a beer.
A few hours later, we were feeling pretty good and the events of the evening were long forgotten. I was taking it easy on the beer since I had to take Kara home, but she was definitely drunk. She was laughing with her friends and would come over for a kiss every now and then. She even tried to drag me into a closet so I could take advantage of her. It was tempting, but then there was a knock on the door and we were busted by one of the bartenders looking for something.
She promised me later tonight and I was going to hold her to that. Monday I was going to look at apartments. I needed to get my own place. It was too soon to ask her to move in with me, but I hoped she would be a regular visitor.
I was talking to Matt about trucks when I heard a familiar song come on. The girls all screamed and it wasn’t long before Kara was dragging me out on the dance floor. I wrapped my arms around her and we moved to the sounds of Luke Bryan’s “That’s My Kind of Night”.
It wasn’t a slow song, but I didn’t care. I had my girl in my arms and we moved together. She kissed my lips and whispered. “Take me home. I need you.”
I nodded and took her hand. We didn’t say anything as we headed for the door. I needed her too and I was going to show her that tonight.
We walked out into the warm, muggy night air. She stopped and let go of my hand with a gasp. I turned around to find her standing here, staring at something with her mouth open. I looked in the direction of her gaze and saw a guy standing there, leaning against his Land Rover with his arms crossed. He was tall with jet black hair and was dressed a lot like her dad was.
“Hello, Kara,” he said, a lazy smile on his lips.
She didn’t say anything but her eyes filled with tears and my instinct to protect her overwhelmed me.
“Who are you?” I asked him.
He looked at Kara. “Tell him who I am,” he urged her.
She shook her head.
“I guess I will then.” He turned to me. “I’m Grayson, Kara’s boyfriend.”
THE END
Read more about Kara, JT, and Grayson in the next Up North story, coming late 2014.