Chapter Eleven
The next morning, Keith awoke early and snuck out into the barn. He wanted to take another look into the box he had found there yesterday. He wanted to take another look at those pictures. For some reason, they warmed him.
"Mornin'." Came the greeting as Keith entered the barn. He was startled at first until he saw Hank in a far corner, filling horse troughs with fresh water. "You're up early."
"Um… yeah… sorry." Keith apologized. He hadn't anticipated Mr. Reyes presence. Now what was he going to do?
"Did you need something?"
"No, not really." He lied, "Just taking a walk, I guess."
"Would you like to help me with the horses?"
And for some strange reason, Keith agreed, "Sure." He shrugged and walked over to where Hank was filling up a second bucket.
"Just pour some water into each trough. Make sure they've got enough." Mr. Reyes directed.
Keith took the bucket and nodded in understanding.
"Thanks."
Keith watched him walk away and then began his task. For the next hour, he filled horse troughs, constantly sneaking glances over his shoulder to see if Hank had gone, but each time he turned around, he was left disappointed.
Keith sighed. He wanted to make sure that he was alone when he went through the box again. The last thing he wanted was for Mr. Reyes to know about it. In a way, it was his secret. Well, his and Cheri's. After all, he was sure she had put it up there.
Finally, at a quarter to eight, Hank finally headed for the barn door. "I think I'm gonna go start breakfast. You gonna be okay in here?"
"I'll be fine." Keith assured him and waited until the door closed before quickly hanging up the empty bucket (he had finished his task half an hour ago), and scrambling up the ladder to the hayloft. He instantly went to the far back corner and shoved the straw aside. The box was just where he had left it.
"Finally!" He popped it open and instantly started where he had left off the day before. He found a couple more photographs and a guitar pick and a ring. Keith paused. Hey! This was his ring. The one he had given to Cheri the day he…
"The day I told her I loved her." Keith closed his fingers around the object as he thought back on that moment. Cheri had thrown this away? She must have been very upset.
Keith kept hold of the ring as he continued his search through the remaining items in the box. A couple of photo albums, a few notebooks… Keith removed one of the books for closer inspection. He flipped open to the first page. An ownership statement occupied the paper written in a young Cheri's delicate scroll:
This book belongs to Keith Partridge and Cheri Reyes. Keep out. No admittance allowed. Violators will be punished.
Keith couldn't help but grin. Yep, this had definitely belonged to he and Cheri. He instantly turned to the next page and found a small poem written there. He read it carefully:
As winter nips the autumn leaves,
With artic wind they quiver,
All alone a young girl grieves,
And in the wind she shivers.
I offer her my jacket warm,
She takes it without answer.
I ask her why she's in this storm,
She tells me she's a dancer.
The poem stopped there and Keith turned the page. He read each new poem with acute interest and soon realized that what he was reading weren't poems at all, but lyrics to songs he and Cheri had written together.
As he flipped through, the lyrics got less and less inept and Keith figured he had started at the first notebook. He soon tossed it back into the box and grabbed another one, starting at the end. The lyrics of the song there made him stop for a moment and he read them over again. 'Summer Days.' The song was titled. They remind him of a song his family had released on their Sound Magazine album. In fact, the lyrics were almost identical. Is this where I got my idea? Was I remembering the lyrics Cheri and I had composed together?
He went to another notebook and opened to a random page. More lyrics. He decided to take the notebooks back to his room with him. He wanted to read them all. Every word, every lyric. He turned back to the box and began rummaging around inside. When he was done, he had a neat stack of eight notebooks. He flipped to the first page of each, making sure he was the partial owner of each. At about five books down, he came to one that didn't have his name.
This book belongs to Cheri Reyes. He was about to close it, but then something stopped him. Maybe I should look inside? No. He shut the book closed. He had no business snooping through her stuff in the first place. The only reason he had any right to the other seven were that they also belonged to him. This one didn't. It was Cheri's.
He sighed and tossed the notebook into the box, replacing the lid. He covered the brown cardboard with hay and then snatched up the seven lyrical notebooks he had discovered. He'd lock them in his suitcase until he had some time to go over them again. Mentally, he promised to return them to the box before they left the following week.
"Guess I'd better go see about breakfast." Keith stuffed the notebooks under his denim jacket and headed for the loft's ladder. He got on and was about to climb down, then stopped. He looked back to the box. It seemed to be calling out to him.
Go back, read the notebook. You know you're curious.
Keith shook his head to clear it. No, it wasn't right. Those where Cheri's own personal thoughts. He had no right to snoop.
She threw it away. She wouldn't know if you read it. Go on. She'll never know.
He had to admit, he really did want to know what was written inside. Was it more lyrics? Diary entries? She threw it away… Yes. She had thrown it away. That meant she didn't want it anymore. So what was the harm?
Keith climbed back into the loft and shuffled over to the concealed object. He once again brushed the straw aside and popped open the lid. The light green notebook still lay on the top of the stack. He picked it up.
This book belongs to Cheri Reyes.
Keith made sure no one was watching him before he finally settled down to read in the dim light. He opened to the first page and then moved on to the second where there was a poem, some lyrics. Keith had been right. These were Cheri-written lyrics. She had done them on her own. He flipped through it, reading a few here and there noticing each entry had a date. 1969, 1970, 1971, 1972, 1973... Keith stopped at the last entry and began to read. What he saw surprised him.
"Whoa." He stopped for a moment after reading the first verse. He had to admit. He was impressed. Already, a tune was forming in his head to accompany the words.
Slowly, he sang the remaining lyrics and then looked up at the title of the piece, "I'll Never Get Over You." He liked it. In fact, he loved it. It would sound great on our next album! Keith was excited by the thought, but soon his enthusiasm drained, as a new thought hit him. These were Cheri's words. He couldn't use them without her permission.
"I'll have to ask her." He thought aloud, but then realized that doing that would be the same as admitting that he had read her personal notebook. "That would just make things worse between us." He sighed and placed the notebook back into the box, closing it inside.
He knew his disappointment reached farther then the lyrics. He wouldn't be able to ask Cheri anything ever again. She didn't like him. She hated him. She had run away.
A small metallic object, lying in the hay, suddenly caught his attention. The ring! He must have dropped it when he had started looking at the notebooks. He quickly picked it up and looked at it for a long time, letting the filtered sunlight shine across its silver plain. "I love you, Cheri." He whispered, remembering again the first time he had told her.
She had been so happy. He had been so happy. And then, he had ended it all with that one stupid and selfish proposition.
I have to win her back! Keith determinedly shoved the small gold and silver band into his pocket and again snatched up the notebooks. There was no getting around it now. He and Cheri belonged together; he had to regain her trust. Even if he had to fight for her.