how lucky you are. I see how your mom and dad are around each other, laughing and teasing, and the way they are with you and your sisters. And it makes me hurt inside.”
“Do you remember your mom?”
She shrugged. “I was six when she died. And she’d been sick for a long time. I never heard her laugh, or my dad joke with her. Now he’s gone so much. Paulette tries to do things with me, but she’s just the housekeeper. She and Carl are paid to live there and look after things. They don’t do it because they like to.”
“You can be a part of our family, if you want.”
“Not really. I don’t look anything like you. Nobody would believe I’m a Callaway.”
“You don’t have to look like us. Some of our cousins have your color hair, or close.”
She almost smiled. “Just what you need, Clay. Another sister.”
He thought about that for a while. “Well, maybe that would be okay. I mean, we could talk about things—like we’re doing today. And I could show you some of the places I’ve found on the ranch that I’ve never told anybody about—an old log where I found a nest of raccoons once. And some caves that I think coyotes live in. You could pretend I’m your brother, couldn’t you? Someone to talk to when you’re upset or mad or something?”
She thought about that for a long time. “I don’t care what Kerry says about you,” she finally said. “I like you, Clay.”
“Well. Good. I like you, too, Pam. And I’m glad you stay out here on the ranch with us. Heck, you’re practically family already.”
After that day, he made a point to keep an eye on Pam, both when she was visiting the ranch and at school. As he grew older he found it easy to talk to her and tell her about things at school, fights he had with his sisters, and the time he got sent to the principal’s office.
She in turn told him about her teachers and things she liked to do and the classmates she worked hard to avoid. He learned to trust her…and she trusted him.
He could still remember his junior year in high school when he’d successfully intercepted the pass for the winning touchdown. Pam had been the first one there when he walked off the field, fighting her way through the other players to reach him. She’d thrown her arms around his neck and given him an enthusiastic kiss that rocked him back on his heels.
Until that moment, Clay had considered Pam a very special friend who patiently listened when he discussed his frustration with other girls, his struggle to bring his English grades up, and what he wanted to do in college.
Now he found his arms wrapped around a delectable female. He discovered that he didn’t want to let go of her. Instead, he responded to the kiss with wonderment, only letting go of her when his teammates started making catcalls and whistling.
Nothing was ever the same after that.
For the next two years he and Pam were a pair. His parents were amused, remembering his grousing as a young boy about all the girls at home. Now he didn’t mind it a bit when she stayed over at the ranch for a weekend or longer, when her father was gone for long periods of time.
By his senior year he’d decided to join the Corps of Cadets at Texas A&M University. The corps was the largest uniformed body of students outside military academies. Organized like the military, it was a student organization and it provided cadets the opportunity to receive a commission in the United States Armed Forces.
Pam had another year before graduating from high school, and she was already planning to go back east to one of the universities there.
It was the night before Clay left for college that everything changed between them once more.…
“Where would you like to go tonight?” Clay asked as soon as he picked Pam up in his ancient pickup. He was nervous and on edge. Of course he was glad to be going off to college. It had been his dream for years. What he hadn’t counted on was this hollow deep within him at the thought of not seeing Pam every day.
She looked down at her hands, clasped in her lap. With a small shrug, she said, “I don’t care.”
“Well, gee, you don’t have to sound so enthusiastic about seeing me tonight.”
She turned and stared at him in the shadowed interior of the truck. “Well, excuse me for not being excited about the fact that you’re leaving!”
He slid his hand beneath her hair and rubbed the nape of her neck. “I know, honey. But this is hard on me, too.”
“How can it be? You’ve got a whole new life to look forward to. I’m the one who has to keep going to school in the same place, only without you.”
He pulled her closer and softly kissed her. “I’ll be with you, don’t worry. I’ll always be there anytime you want me.”
She threw her arms around his neck and hung on to him. “Oh, Clay. I’m sorry for ruining your last night home, but this is so hard for me! You’ve been my very best friend for years and now you’ll be gone.”
“You know I’ll come home every chance I get. It isn’t that far. Just a few hours. And you can come see me.”
She sighed. “I know. I’ve known I’d have to face this day for months. It just got here too fast.”
He chuckled. “Fair enough. So why don’t we watch some funny movie, then get the richest concoction of ice cream and syrups made and forget about tomorrow for a little while?”
“Something with chocolate ice cream…and chocolate syrup.”
“Man, you drive a hard bargain, but okay.”
It was barely eleven by the time they got back home that night, but Clay was pleased to see that Pam had enjoyed the movie and the huge, custom-made banana split.
As soon as he pulled up in front of her house, she said, “It’s too nice a night to go inside. Why don’t we sit out in the gazebo for a while, unless you need to go?”
“Sounds good.” He helped her out of the truck, took her hand, and together they wandered into the large backyard of the McCall family home. The gazebo could not be seen from the house, giving them the illusion of being alone in a night filled with stars.
“You promised to write,” she reminded him.
He made a face. “Or call. You know how much I hate writing letters.”
They sat down on the padded cushions of the gazebo. Pam began to tell him about her memories of growing up with the Callaways. They laughed at some of the silly things that had happened—the water pistol fights, playing dress-up with the old clothes found in the attic, telling ghost stories late at night. Finally, she said, “I hate to think what my life would have been like if I hadn’t known all of you.”
He hugged her to him. “Well, just think about this time next year when you’ll be the one leaving, going out of state. Time seems to fly by so fast.”
He kissed her. He loved kissing her, loved the way she gave herself up to him, returning his kisses with enthusiasm. Only tonight their kisses had to last for weeks and
