"Momma, I don't understand. Why are you telling me this?" Scarlett Jensen said as she looked up from her birth certificate to her mother. This was the first time she had ever seen it. She'd never had a reason or desire to see it before, and now, of all days, her mother was hitting her with all type of information she'd never asked for. She took of her graduation robe and hat, tossing them onto her bed as her mom just sat in the chair in the corner.
"Scarlett, you needed to know before it was too late. You're going to stay with him this summer and then you can come back when your college classes start. This isn't something that's up for debate." Mariah Jensen said to the ball of anger that was her eighteen-year-old daughter. She smiled weakly as the last light of the setting sun caught Scarlett's auburn hair through the window.
In some ways, it felt like she was looking in a mirror back in time. They had the same long, auburn hair and freckles, and even their smile was the same. Other than that though, Scarlett looked a lot like her father. She was tall and tan, just like him. But, what really made Mariah remember her short time with Scarlett's father were her eyes.
"Momma, I'm supposed to stay here and spend time with my friends and Johnny before he goes off to training camp. Why are you doing this to me?" Scarlett screamed at her mother as she yanked a suitcase down from the top of the closet. As angry as she was with her mother, she knew she wouldn't win the argument, so she may as well start packing.
"Scarlett, do you have any idea how many people here would kill to go to California for a summer? Most people don't even make it up to Atlanta and you want to complain about spending a couple months with your father on the West Coast?" Mariah asked, rolling her eyes at the stubbornness that she had certainly inherited from her other parent. She took a couple of deep breaths, trying to fill her lungs with air before Scarlett could notice how bad she was feeling.
It had been a year since she was diagnosed with lung cancer and the chemo had stopped working about six months ago. That's when Mariah reached out to Scarlett's father. It had been a shock to him, not only hearing from Mariah, but learning that he had a daughter. After a couple months of late night arguments and planning, he had finally agreed to have Scarlett come out and stay with him. Mariah felt a little bad about playing the cancer card, but she had to make sure he would agree.
Mariah watched as Scarlett threw clothes into two big suitcases that were lying on the bed. She felt tears welling in her eyes as she stood to leave. No matter how much planning went into this, she still wasn't ready to say goodbye to her daughter. There were so many secrets she had kept from her to keep her happy. Now, it was all coming together.
Scarlett watched as her mother walked out of her room without a word. She couldn't help but be mad at her. Regardless of the plans she'd had with her boyfriend before he went to football training for the University of Georgia or the fact that she'd planned a road trip with her girlfriends, Scarlett was most upset that Mariah had lied about who her father was.
Ever since she was little, her mom had told her that her father had been someone she met on spring break in Panama. She'd said it was a fling and that he'd died in a car accident before Scarlett was ever born. Now, she learned that her father was actually some guy who lived out West and that Mariah had met him when she was modeling in San Francisco.
Scarlett slammed the suitcases shut and slid down into the floor, staring at her birth certificate. She'd asked her mom for a picture of her dad, to which Mariah had laughed, saying that he wasn't big on pictures. Scarlett didn't see how that was so funny, but ever since the chemo had stopped the cancer from growing, Mariah had been happier and had a better since of humor. Scarlett sighed and smiled a little. At least if she had to jet off to California in the morning, she knew her mom would be okay here.
The cell phone on Scarlett's dresser started going off, jolting her out of her thoughts. She jumped up and grabbed it, smiling at her best friend's name and picture on the screen.
"Hey, Megan! What time are you wanting me to pick you up?" Scarlett said, grabbing her purse from the iron hook on the wall. She had a feeling Megan was more than ready to get the after-party started.
"Now would be great! Is Johnny meeting us there?" Megan asked, her tone dropping a little when she mentioned Johnny. Scarlett walked out of her room and closed the door behind her before jogging down the wide staircase leading to the front door.
"Yeah, he's just having dinner with his family first." Scarlett said, ignoring her best friend's suspicious tone for the fifteenth time that day. She stopped by the parlor when she saw her Mom sitting there with a glass of sweet tea.
"I'll be over in about ten minutes." Scarlett said, ending the call with Megan before walking up to Mariah. "I'm sorry about yelling at you, Momma."
"Hush, Scarlett, I should have told you before. Go have fun tonight. Just be careful." She said with a smile and a knowing expression. Scarlett blushed and gave her mom a quick kiss on the cheek before running out to her Jeep. Mariah looked after her and took another drink of tea before heading up to bed.
"Megan, if you don't hurry up I'm going to leave your ass." Scarlett yelled up the stairs to her friend that was being annoyingly slow at getting ready. She sighed and took a seat on the stairs, laughing a little at how similar she and Megan's houses were. They both grew up as little Southern Belle's in their big plantation houses in a tiny, South Georgia town, even competing in pageants together when they were younger.
"Hey, Scarlett. She tell you she was ready before you came over?" Megan's mom Lisa asked, sitting down beside Scarlett. Lisa and Mariah had been best friends since their daughters started preschool together. Scarlett considered her to be a second mom sometimes.
"Yeah, tricky little witch." Scarlett said with a laugh until she noticed Lisa's look. "What?"
"Are you going to tell Megan tonight?" Lisa asked with a frown. Obviously, Mariah had told Lisa what was going on at some point. Scarlett frowned and nodded just as Megan hurried down the stairs in cut off shorts and cowboy boots.
"What's wrong with you two? We graduated! Stop looking so damn down." Megan said with her normal southern twang. Scarlett looked away from Lisa quickly as she jumped up to let Megan by. If you didn't know the girls better, you would have thought they planned their outfits together that afternoon. In reality, they just always partied in cut-offs, boots, and some type of short top. Much to Lisa and Mariah's objections, which usually referenced back to poofy dresses and glittery heels from pageants.
"Y'all be careful and no drinking if you're driving." Lisa called as the girls rushed out of the door. They didn't hear, but knew the drill by now. Scarlett hopped up in the driver's seat and flew down the driveway once Megan was belted in.
"So, do you think Caleb will be there tonight?" Megan asked as Scarlett drove out towards the Johnson farm where there was a big bonfire tonight. She looked over at Megan and laughed.
"It's his party, Meg. I'm pretty sure he'll be here." She said as she pulled in to the long, gravel driveway leading to the part of the farm that always had bonfires and parties. She hit a rut and laughed as both she and Megan bounced up towards the top of the Jeep. "Glad I took the top off now."
Megan just glared over at Scarlett, all too fed up with her normal bat out of hell driving speeds. She was about to laugh when Scarlett locked up the brakes, skidding the Jeep forward across the now dirt drive.
"The hell are you trying. Oh. Shit." Megan said as she looked at Scarlett before following her gaze. Scarlett was staring at her boyfriend, Johnny and a short, blonde girl lit up in the Jeep's headlights. They were oblivious to being caught, so they kept making out up against Johnny's truck. Megan looked back over at Scarlett and swallowed hard.
Megan loved Scarlett to death and considered her a sister, but she could be down right scary if you actually managed to piss her off. Megan recognized this as one of those times immediately. Scarlett parked beside another Jeep down the drive from Johnny's truck without a word.
She was fuming as she hopped down from the Jeep and headed towards the blazing bonfire where almost the whole graduating class was milling around dancing to music and drinking beers. Scarlett heard Megan jogging up behind her and slowed down, remembering how much longer her legs were than Megan's.
"Hey! Scarlett, Megan, y'all made it!" Caleb Johnson said, walking over and handing them both bottles of beer. Scarlett downed hers quickly as Megan gave Caleb a quick hug. They milled around and socialized for a while, though Scarlett wasn't much in the mood for talking at the moment. They were sitting on the tailgate of Caleb's new Ford Raptor when Johnny came waltzing up to Scarlett.
"Hey baby, I saw your Jeep. You should have called and let me know you were here." Johnny said, running his hands up from Scarlett's bare knees to her hips. She snarled at him and finished off her second beer.
"Yeah? Don't know if you would have answered with your tongue down that blonde's throat or not." Scarlett growled at him. She heard Caleb whistle lowly; acknowledging that shit was getting real. Megan narrowed her eyes at Johnny, but didn't say anything.
"Baby, I'm sorry about that. She's just some junior I met. I wasn't thinking." Johnny said, brushing off the death glare he was getting from Scarlett. Despite how good he was with a football, Scarlett realized just how stupid he was. "She said she always looked up to you and wanted to be like you. It's kind of an honor to you." He said with a stupid grin as he tried to lean in and kiss Scarlett. If she was mad before, she was livid now.
"Fuck you, Johnny." She said, kicking him away with her booted foot. His face got red as he tried to reach out for her again. This time, Scarlett spit what beer she had just sipped into his face as she hopped down from the truck bed.
"Megan, I'm heading home. You want to stay here? I'm sure Caleb wouldn't mind taking you home." Scarlett said calmly as she turned to her friend. Megan gave Caleb a quick, shy kiss on the cheek and hopped down to Scarlett.
"Nope, let's roll chick." She said, looping her arm through Scarlett's. They were almost out of the crowd when someone called out to Scarlett, causing her to spin on her heel. Megan was whipped around to face none other than the blonde that had been tongue deep in Johnny's throat.
"Sorry to hear about Johnny. You gotta know how to keep a man happy if you expect to keep them." The blonde said with a smile. Scarlett shook Megan off and stepped towards the girl, with a sinister smile. She was considering whether to use her words, like her mom had begged her, or do what came naturally.
Instinct won over manners as she decked the girl in the nose with all of her strength. The girl screamed as she fell back on to her ass. Scarlett went to go after her, but Megan caught her by the elbow. She turned and looked at her, catching her breath before she nodded and followed Megan out to her Jeep.
Scarlett handed Megan the keys, too pissed to drive. She was sick of falling in love only to be cheated on by small town hicks. She started to consider the trip to California as a blessing in disguise. Megan pulled into the ice cream shack's parking lot and smiled over at Scarlett, knowing some cookie dough in a cone would make her level out.
"So, I needed to talk to you about something, Meg." Scarlett said, looking over at Megan as she sat down on a bench and started eating her ice cream. She felt her anger subside with every bite.
"I'm not going to be able to go on the road trip with you and Heather. I'm sorry. I was really looking forward to it but my Mom is making me go to California to stay with my father this summer." Scarlett said quickly, worried that if she paused she wouldn't have the nerve to hurt Megan's feelings like that. Megan's eyes opened wide as she looked at Scarlett with shock.
"I thought your dad died before you were born." Megan said, looking into Scarlett's eyes. Scarlett shrugged and took another bite of ice cream before responding.
"Yeah, you and me both. Apparently he lives in California and Mom has this crazy idea that I need to go out there and spend some time with him before classes start in the fall." Scarlett explained, emphasizing the word crazy. Megan nodded and surprised Scarlett with a hug.
"That's awesome, Scar. You get to go to California and meet your dad? I mean, I'm bummed you can't go on the trip, but maybe we'll have to make sure we stop by and see you in Cali!" Megan said with a bright smile. Scarlett hugged her back and nodded, forcing a smile. Of course Megan would want her to meet her dad. Megan's dad had died overseas a couple of years ago, so she was always sensitive about family.
"I leave in the morning. I guess we better head back so I can try and get some kind of sleep. You wanna stay with me?" Scarlett asked as she tossed her cone into the garbage and waited for Megan. She knew the reminder of her dad would upset her, and she was going to miss Megan while she was gone. She didn't say anything, but nodded and followed Scarlett back to the Jeep.
"Maybe there will be hot surfer guys for you to date while you're there." Megan said as she stared up at the ceiling from Scarlett's bed. Scarlett rolled over and laughed.
"I don't think I'm that close to the ocean, but yeah. Maybe." She said before biting her lip.
"I can hear you doing that." Megan said, referring to Scarlett's habit of biting her bottom lip. "What's wrong?"
"I've never had a dad before, Megan. What if he doesn't even like me? I mean, I'm not exactly you. You're sweet and funny and caring. I'm just kind of a bitch." Scarlett said now turning her own eyes up to the ceiling. Megan shook her head and sighed.
"Scarlett, he agreed to have you come out there all summer. He's got to be a nice guy to do that for a daughter he's never met. Doesn't matter if he knows you. Dads love their daughters, bitches or not." She explained. Scarlett caught the wavering voice at the end and turned on her side, giving Megan a kiss on the forehead before flipping around and trying to go to sleep.
"Scarlett Kathleen Jensen if you don't get down stairs right now you are going to miss your plane." Mariah called from the front entrance. She had sent Scarlett and Megan upstairs to get her bags after they had breakfast. She had agreed to let Megan take Scarlett to the airport and bring the Jeep back. It was probably just as well, because she didn't think she could handle watching Scarlett get on the plane.
Mariah looked up when she heard Scarlett's and Megan's boots coming down the stairs, punctuated by the clanging of suitcases on each step. She smiled and took her daughter into her arms tightly as Megan rolled the bags out, leaving them to their goodbyes.
"Momma, I'll be back in a few weeks. Don't cry. You and Lisa can have some girl bonding while Megan's out on the road to." Scarlett said as she felt a tear on her lips after kissing her mom on the cheek. Mariah took a deep, shaky breath and nodded as she walked Scarlett to the front porch.
"Here, you need to take this. It's the directions to his garage. He can't leave to meet you at the airport, but he'll be there waiting for you. I've already got you a rental car waiting at the airport, okay?" Mariah said, handing over a manila envelope. Scarlett nodded with a smile, actually feeling excited to head out West now. "I love you, baby girl, so much."
"I love you too, Momma. I'll call you when I land okay? We gotta get going." Scarlett said, giving her mom one last hug and kiss before getting into the Jeep's driver's seat. Mariah stood on the front porch and waved with a smile until she could no longer see the Jeep. Then, she lost the damn holding back her tears and stumbled into the house, sobbing hard enough to shake her entire body.
"You've got to send me pictures of, like everything!" Megan ordered from the passenger seat as they parked at the airport. Scarlett agreed and pulled her bags out of the back of the Jeep as Megan went around to the driver's side.
"If you leave a single scratch, I will have your head when I come back, Megan." Scarlett said with a playful smile as she gave Megan a hug. Megan waved her comment off and pulled back.
"Have an awesome trip, Jensen." Megan said with a wave as Scarlett headed into the airport. She didn't turn back so she could avoid crying and ruining the makeup Megan had insisted on doing that morning. She took a deep breath as she walked into the airport and picked up her tickets as her bags were checked.
"Ladies and Gentlemen, we are making our final descent into Oakland. Please return seats to the upright position and remained buckled in as we land. It has been a pleasure flying with you today." The flight attendant said with a smile before putting the microphone back on the wall and making her way down the aisle to make sure everyone had followed her directions.
Scarlett rubbed her eyes carefully as she woke up and looked out of the window she had used as a pillow. She and Megan had barely gotten any sleep last night, so the nap was inevitable. She hadn't planned on sleeping the entire time though. Now that she was here and awake, she felt butterflies in her stomach, some of which felt like they were trying to escape up her throat.
She got off the plane and walked down to the baggage claim. Luckily, both bags made it in one piece. Next, she took off to the car rental station and picked up the keys to the Jeep her mom had rented her. She smiled as she put the suitcases in the back. The Jeep looked exactly like her one at home and she knew her mom had probably done that on purpose.
She followed the highway as directed by the gps and started to calm down as she took in the scenery around her. It was a lot less green than Georgia. There were jagged mountains and brown earth stretching out along both sides of the road. It wasn't until she was about ten miles out from her destination that she noticed more vegetation and forest around.
She passed a wooden welcome sign to Charming as she slowed down to a more acceptable speed. The city wasn't huge, but it was certainly bigger than home. She smiled when she noticed that, so far, there weren't any fast food restaurants or big-name stores in town. She was almost worried it'd be too far out of her element to come out to a California town. Now, all she had to worry about was a father she had never heard about in the eighteen years she'd been alive.
She pulled into a garage lot and swung the Jeep into a parking lot. She let it idle for a few minutes as she took a deep breath and checked the place out casually from the mirrors. There were motorcycles lined up behind her and a large building with a grim reaper looking design on the wall. She swallowed hard and cut the engine before slowly getting out of the car and walking uncertainly towards the garage.
Gemma watched as a tall, redhead got out of a late model Jeep Wrangler and walked slowly towards the garage. She couldn't be older than twenty and she didn't exactly look like she was from around here. She had brown and blue cowboy boots that looked like they'd never seen ground before, a short pair of denim shorts and a cropped, blue and white plaid shirt on. Something about her looked familiar, but Gemma couldn't place it, especially since she still had dark sunglasses on over her eyes.
She watched silently as Juice jogged out from the garage, stopping a few feet from her. Gemma couldn't hear what was going on, but Juice's head turning from one side to another made her wonder exactly what was going on. The girl pulled out a manila envelope and moved her sunglasses up to the top of her head as she looked down at a piece of paper.
"No, nothing's wrong with the Jeep, it's actually a rental. I'm actually looking for somebody." Scarlett said, biting her bottom lip as the guy with a mohawk standing in front of her looked at her curiously. Then, she noticed a woman standing in the office doorway.
"Juice, stop standing there like an idiot and bring her over." The woman said, rolling her eyes at the mechanic in front of Scarlett. He blushed a little and walked Scarlett over to the office. The woman sent him away as she ushered Scarlett in to the little office.
"Can I help you?" The lady said, staring at her a little strangely. Scarlett sighed from nerves and looked down at the paper in her hands.
"I'm actually looking for somebody. The Jeep's fine. It's a rental." She said, bouncing her leg up and down nervously.
"Darlin', if you don't take a breath you're going to pass out and I don't even know who you are. I'm Gemma, now what's your name?" Gemma said looking the girl in they eye. She definitely felt like she looked familiar, but knew she'd never seen her before.
"Scarlett." She responded, looking up at Gemma. She smiled at Scarlett and nodded her head.
"Nice to meet you, Scarlett. You sound like you're a long way from home. Now, who are you looking for?" Gemma said, trying to keep from sounding annoyed. She didn't like some random girl showing up and looking for somebody out of the blue.
"I'm looking for Happy Loman." Scarlett said, feeling like she was going to throw up. Once she got the name out, she felt a little better though, like a weight had been taken off her chest.
Thank you for reading so far :) I've had this idea in my head for quite a while, and so far I'm really enjoying what I've gotten out. I hope you all enjoy and review, follow or favorite to let me know how you receive it. It's going to be a little different than other things I've written so far