Chapter Seven: Where You Belong - Part Two

 

 

 

We walked towards his truck and he ran in front of me. Before I knew it, he was opening the truck door for me. I quietly thanked him and got in. As I buckled up he walked around to the driver’s side and got in. After buckling up he started the truck and pulled out of the driveway. He had given me no indication of where we were going.

I hope I don’t regret this. I have no idea why I agreed to this. He’s right; he doesn’t deserve a second chance. I’ve already given him a second chance several weeks ago.

As he drove me wherever it was that we were going, I kept thinking about what he had told me last night. It was all I thought of all night long while I sat on his bed.

 

He treated me like trash and the whole time he had feelings for me?! I couldn’t wrap my head around it. I actually understood why he hadn’t told me till now about his feelings. It spoke a lot to how close of friends Johnny and him and been.

Didn’t you do the same thing to Johnny? My conscience invaded my thoughts.

No, I didn’t. I didn’t treat Johnny like crap while at the same time having feelings for him.

But didn’t you push him away when you realized that, because of circumstances out of your control, you couldn’t be together?

The realization hit me hard. I had. When I started having doubts about our relationship and our age difference, I started pushing him away. Little by little, I distanced myself from him so if our relationship ended I wouldn’t be so hurt. Little did I realize that the guilt of pushing him away would eat up inside of me and cause more hurt than if I had just talked to Johnny about how I was feeling.

I owe Johnny I huge apology.

Why should he accept your apology if you won’t accept Chuck’s?

Darn you conscience!

That’s when I had heard the smoke detector and found Chuck trying to burn the waffles.

The motion of the truck stopping pulled me back to the present moment. I looked out the window and noticed that there was no building in sight.

“Where are we?”

“Well, the first week I lived here I was looking for a quiet spot to fish and think about things. I asked one of the guys at the precinct if he knew of a place and this is what he recommended.”

We got out of the truck and I looked around. I had never seen anything like it. There was a large lake surrounded by trees. At one end of the lake was a beautiful waterfall that made a calming noise as it met the water.

“It’s beautiful. What’s this place called?”

“It’s Cinnamon Crest Falls. This is where I come when I want to think. Sometimes I’ll get up early and come down here when no one else is here. It’s a great place to watch the sunrise.”

“I imagine it is. This is incredible. Whenever I imagined things that I would see while living here, I never imagined something so beautiful.”

 

I looked at him and he was smiling at me. I turned away quickly.

“Thank you for showing me this.”

“Now, if you need a place to think, you can come here. Come on. I want to show you another place.”

“Really? I could stay here for a while.”

“Come on. You can always come back some other time.”

We walked back to the truck and Chuck again opened the door for me. I took one last look around before getting back into the truck.

 

We were soon on our way to the next spot. While riding I kept looking at the scenery. This is one thing that the country has that the city can’t compete with.

As Chuck drove, I started to guess where he was taking me. When we pulled up to the beach I realized my guess was right.

“You enjoy going to the beach?”

“Yes, even us cowboys enjoy some fun in the sun. Let’s go.”

We walked from the parking lot towards the water. After walking around for a little bit my curiosity got the better of me.

“So are you going to tell me a story about how you were looking for a place to skip stones and one of your buddies suggested this place?”

“No. This place is special for a different reason.”

“What would that be?”

“This is where I realized that I didn’t want to be in the rodeo anymore. I was on vacation, staying with Johnny, and I came across the beach one day. It was almost sunset and I was standing right over there, admiring the amazing colors, when I realized that I was tired of living on the road all the time. I wanted more out of life than staying in a different hotel every other night, having few friends, and getting beat up by a bull. I decided that I needed to make a change and that Appaloosa was the place I wanted to make a new start. And it’s also not a bad spot to skip some stones.” He jokingly looked at me.

“I’ve actually skipped a couple of stones here myself.”

“Have you? Well let’s see what you got.”

I picked up a stone and tossed it toward the water.

“Not bad.”

“For a city girl, you mean.”

“No. Just not bad. Come on, there’s one last place I want to show you.”

We walked back to the truck and Chuck once again opened the door for me. We drove down several roads before we turned down Pomona Promenade. Chuck slowed down as we approached my house. To my surprise, he stopped right in front of it.

I looked at him confused. “Are you dropping me off at my house?”

“No. But I want to show you something here.” We got out of the truck and stood in front of my house.

 

“Take a look around.”

“Yes, Chuck. It’s my house. What does my house have to do with your story.”

“This isn’t about me. This is about you. Look at it. Look at your house and land and tell me you don’t feel a connection to it.”

 

I sighed and started looking around. This is silly! What exactly am I looking for? It’s a lot with a couple trees and a small house.

“Remember what you felt the first day you moved here.”

I looked at my house and started remembering the feelings I had the day I arrived in Appaloosa Plains. I remembered being in love with the open spaces outdoors, the beautiful trees, my small cozy house, and the country.

“You didn’t move here for anyone but yourself. You belong here, Amanda. Can you honestly say you would be happy living back in the city after living here?”

As I took one more look around I realized that Chuck was right. I could never be happy living in the city again. No matter what had happened here or what was going to happen here, this was my home. As the thought came into my mind, I looked over at Chuck with tears in my eyes.

“Thank you.” I said quietly to him.

“It’s the least I could do. I’ll give you a minute alone.” He walked back to the truck and stood next to it waiting for me. In the whole year I had lived in Appaloosa Plains I had never completely felt like I belonged. I had spent the whole year thinking about how I didn’t fit in or feel connected instead of realizing that those things didn’t matter. I knew that this is where I belonged and I owed that to the last person I ever would have guessed could make me realize it.