Trading for Love

1. 'Homeward' Bound

Charlotte POV

Three Years Later

"... and pencils down. That is the end of your final exam hour. Leave your question booklet on the desk and bring your answer sheet forward. Grades will be posted within forty eight hours." Mr. Linn drowned without taking his nose out of his phone. He had spent the whole hour of the exam playing solitaire as me and sixty other college sophmores scribbled out the answers to our Economics 201 final.

Granted he didn't need to watch us considering the test was open book and all the questions had been pulled from the glossary in the back. We were only taking a final because the university said he had to give one. Our grades had been determined by our portfolios created throughout the semester.

I dropped my answer booklet in the growing pile on his desk before ducking out into the hall. I bobbed and weaved my way through groups of friends talking and laughing as they celebrated the last of finals week. I dropped my head avoiding eye contact as I quickly made my way outside. I had avoided making myself known to this point, no reason to let it slip now.

My existance at Nolan University had been minimal at best. I had arrived on campus at seventeen, having graduated high school a year early with a full ride for my freshman year. By buckling down and maintaining my grade point average, I had managed to keep most of my scholarships into my second year. I had found a job as a farm hand for a local beef farm my freshman year that kept money in my pocket.

Lillian and Andre had been furious when I told them I wanted to attend college and even angrier when I told them I had been accepted. The day I left was the day they cut me off. They only thing they still paid for was my cell phone and that was mostly so they could send passive aggressive messages every couple of days commenting on how disappointed they were in me. I had given up even reading them by now. I was now only two years away from completing my degree in business and finance management and that was all that mattered. Once I had my degree I would begin working for a firm until I gathered enough start up money to have my own, then no one would have a say in my life other than me.

Out in the student parking lot, I mashed the button to the keyfob of Ty's bright orange Dodge 2500. Ty owned Gravestone Farm where I had been working for the last two years. He had been kind enough to put me up in a cabin my first summer break and had never asked me to leave. Rather than pay for a dorm my second year, I had commuted from the farm daily, taking whichever vehicle needed gas into town before class and running any errands before heading back after. Once back at the farm I would do chores till about seven every night before heading to my cabin for dinner and homework. It was a pretty sweet set up to be honest and paid reasonably well too. Really I couldn't have lucked into a better job.

I threw the truck in drive, heading off campus and taking the left toward Gravestone. The miles of fences, treeline, and river flew by in a blur as I drove, lost in the sound of the bass thumping through the speakers. Perks of Ty's vehicles, killer sound systems to drown out the quiet. In my time away from my mother and father I realized that the quiet was my worst enemy. In those silent moments where I was left with only my thoughts I could still hear all the negative comments and put downs like Lillian and Andre were there with me. Music was my way of combating it, silencing the inner monologue of negativity in my head.

I turned left, passing under the Gravestone Farm arch and heading down the drive to main house. The white two story ranch house with the wrap around porch looked plain from the outside but I knew the inside had been refinished and Ty had decorated it to perfection. Next to it was the equipment barn, all the tractors, attachments, and spare parts were stored away neatly in the gray behemoth of a building. Over the hill behind the house, hidden from view was the cow barn. It held about eighty head of cattle at any given time. There was also a smaller four stall barn set to the side that housed three horses. Ty had taught me to ride and I had even helped break Hank. They were used to run fence line and herd when we needed them. They were one of the biggest perks about working for Ty. Riding gave me an escape from everything and I got to do it almost every day so it was a win win. To the left of all of this, hidden away in the tree line was Tys off season money makers. He had placed ten small cabins in the tree line and rented them out during the hunting season, which in Junction City was pretty much year round but during the fall, it really got hopping with all the deer and bear hunters. Ty had a little over a hundred acres of land, about half of that being woods so there was always plenty of wildlife around.

As I neared the house I caught sight of Ty coming around the side, his phone pressed to his ear. He seemed to be in a heated conversation with someone, his normally smiling and cheerful demeanor replaced with a scowl that creased his forehead. He was wearing a faded pair of jeans and a washed out black t-shirt that both had smeared motor grease on them.

I parked the truck jumping out with my backpack slung over my shoulder as he angerly jabbed at the phone screen. He immediately ran a hand down his face smearing more grease across his cheek and through his bright red beard.

" Calling about your 'cars extended warranty'?" I called as I headed toward him. Ty rolled his eyes, throwing a hand on his hip as he held the phone out to me. I quickly realized he was holding my phone. I felt my brows knit together at I took it.

" You left it in the Chevy yesterday and its been ringing off the hook all day so I picked it up. Warn a guy that your mom is psycho crazy before letting him get in a conversation with her. I mean..." The rest of his sentence was lost to me. My mother? Lillian Kessing, was calling me?! In the two years that I had been away she had never once called me, her or my father. Now she had spend the better part of the day blowing up my phone. What could possibly be so important that warranted an actual call from her.

" What did she want?" my question came out small and child like, not at all like I wanted it to. Ty gave me a curious look before schooling his expression.

" I don't know. All I got out was hello before she started in with the questions and accusations. I hung up on her just as you were pulling up. I've never heard a womans voice reach that high of an octave, let alone hold it for five minutes while yelling into a phone." Ty almost sounded impressed behind the thick layer of contempt that coated his every word. That was a common reaction to a Lillian Kessing rampage. She could shatter glass with her shrieks and use just her words to cut down people to withering puddles of fear. If anything it was her one true talent.

Almost on cue my phone began buzzing in my hand, 'Mother' flashing across the screen. My stomach twisted in knots, my mouth going painfully dry. I hadn't realized after two years away just how much fear a phone call would stir in me. As I raised the phone preparing to answer I realized my hand was shaking. I forced a deep breath before tapping the screen to answer.

" Hello?" I forced my voice level, biting back the terror that had crept into every fiber of my being.

" Charlotte! Who was that man that hung up on me? He couldn't even form a coherent answer to any of my questions. Why didn't you answer your phone earlier? What if there had been an emergency? Not that this isn't an emergency but imagine if it had been a true emergency emergency!" Lillian shrieked through the speaker. I held the phone away from my ear, having no problem hearing every word she said.

" Mother-"

" Leave it to you Charlotte to only think of yourself. I mean really, in two years you have barely even spoken to us and then you quit answering my texts all together. Truely what kind of daughter just leaves her parents hanging like that? Are we not the same people that raised you?"

" Mother please-"

" Don't 'Mother please' me Charlotte! Your father is lying in a hospital bed, possibly dying and you can't be bothered to answer the phone! If you have any love for your father in your heart still you will come home to see him before he passes. You owe him that much!" The line clicked off, the sudden silence defeaning compared to Lillians on slaught of shrieks.

My father, in the hospital? How could this be? That man had always been healthy as a horse, never even catching a cold. Granted he hadn't really been taking care of himself these last few years, drinking more and eating entirely to many greasy foods. Lillian had never complained about his extra pounds like she had mine though so his eating habits went unchecked.

"Char?" Ty's gruff voice pulled me back to the present. His concern was clear on his face as he stepped closer to me.

" My fathers in the hospital?" I'd meant to say it but it came out like a question, sounding foreign to me.

" I heard. What do you want to do?" What did I want to do? As terrible as Lillian had been to me all those years, Andre had been slightly better. By no means had I been 'Daddy's little princess' but he had been a huge buffer between Lillian and I. Did I really want him to pass away without seeing him one last time?

" I need to see him. I don't want to regret not seeing him in his final days. No matter the past." Ty nodded his head, already moving into action.

" I'll get the truck ready, you go pack," he called over his shoulder as he headed for the equipment barn. There were quite a few trucks on the farm so being without one for a few days would be no big deal. Ty had hired me as a farm hand, but treated me more like family than my own family did.

I quickly turned on my heel, heading for my cabin, breaking into a jog about half way there, the urgency of the situation driving me forward.