A Trip in the Fall Pt. 02

They all thanked him, got into the truck and headed towards Ben and Connie's. The first 10 minutes of the ride back home was dead silent, but finally Carrie said from the backseat, "Are we going to talk about the fact that Sarah has a mean right hook?!"

Everyone started laughing and Sarah even with her face crimson from embarrassment laughed too after a moment. Once the laughter died down, Sarah said sheepishly, "I'm really sorry about that, I just couldn't handle how she talked to Brandon then about me. I'm sorry if y'all think less of me"

Brandon reached over and put his hand on her knee, "You're fine, just remind me not to piss you off." This caused another fit of laughter.

Ben leaned forward and put his hands on Sarah's shoulders and said, "Kid, I knew I liked you before, but I know I really like you now. Standing up for yourself is big in my book. You're just fine and have no reason to apologize."

The remainder of the drive back to Ben and Connie's was spent rehashing the event and what everyone thought. When they got home, Carrie and Sam picked little Emily up and headed home while Ben and Brandon filled Connie in on the evening. Connie was shocked and immediately ran to get Sarah a bag of peas out of the freezer for her hand. After she made sure Sarah kept it on for 15 minutes, she finally allowed Sarah to go shower and get ready for bed.

Once Sarah had gone upstairs, Connie looked at Brandon, "That Jessica is nothing but trouble anymore. I know I've told you I wasn't impressed when you were in high school, but I tolerated because you seemed happy." Brandon nodded and Connie continued, "Now Sarah, she I can handle. We had a long talk the first morning you two were here about her intentions and your future."

"Seriously mom?!" Brandon interrupted

"Shush, we just had a talk woman to woman about how you two have different lives, but what she said satisfied me, and seeing you two together just reinforces that. I hope we are going to be seeing more of her."

"Well I'm glad you approve, I think you will be seeing more of her."

Ben smiled, "That's good to hear, I like her too, just don't piss her off."

They all three laughed and Brandon said goodnight heading upstairs. He walked into his room, finding Sarah combing her wet hair staring at a picture tucked into the corner of the mirror. She turned and smiled, "Homecoming King?"

Brandon smiled back, walking up behind her and wrapping his arms around her, "Nah, Prom King. Steven the cop was the homecoming king."

Sarah nodded, "I'm really sorry about all this. I know you didn't want to go but I pushed it."

Brandon turned her around so they faced each other, "Shhhh, don't apologize, it was kinda hot. Maybe she got the point I've been trying to drive home for the last 3 years. How's your hand?"

Sarah reached up and kissed him, "I love you. It's fine, the peas helped."

Brandon smiled, " I love you too, I love how that sounds."

Sarah smiled, "Me too. I'm going to get into bed, see you in a few."

Brandon grabbed a shower and when he came back to the bedroom, he once again found Sarah in bed sound asleep with Cooper curled up, head on her stomach. "Really Coop? Move your ass." After the dog moved, Brandon got into bed, turned the light off and drifted off to sleep.

Ch. 16-Saturday

Saturday morning dawned clear and cold with another couple inches of snow having fallen. Brandon woke up to find Sarah already awake and out of bed. He went to the bathroom glancing out the window, seeing the new snow. He headed downstairs where he found his parents sitting at the table eating breakfast with Sarah.

"I didn't think there was anymore snow in the forecast."

Ben looked up from his paper, "Lake effect squalls, looks like another 5 or so. I measured 8 total when I let Cooper out."

Brandon nodded, pouring himself a cup of coffee then kissing Sarah on top of the head. He sat down, grabbing sausage and scrambled eggs and piling them on his plate.

Connie said, "Sarah cooked breakfast this morning. Your dad found her and Cooper digging through the freezer."

"It's the least I can do, you all have been so wonderful to me, and especially after last night."

"Nonsense, it's been our pleasure having you. What plans do you kids have today?" Connie replied.

Brandon chewed some sausage, took a drink of his coffee then said, "I dunno, I didn't really have anything planned. Anything you want to do or see?"

Sarah shook her head, "I can be happy curled up by the wood stove reading."

Brandon thought for a moment before turning to Ben, "You gotten the snowmobile ready for this winter?"

"Matter of fact I drained the old gas, put new gas in it, and changed the oil about a week ago. Just need hooked to the battery tender for a bit."

Brandon turned to Sarah, "Wanna go for a ride?"

Sarah smiled, but looked a little concerned, "That sounds like fun, but I don't think I have enough clothes."

Brandon finished his breakfast, and Connie chimed in, "Nonsense, I'm sure we have something that will work for you."

Sarah perked up, "Then sure, let's go."

Connie stood, "Come on, Let's go see what we can find, I'm sure there's something that will fit you in the basement."

Brandon set about clearing the table as Ben headed towards the garage. Brandon went upstairs and changed into longjohns, jeans and heavier clothes then headed to the garage where his dad was. He found his dad pushing the snowmobile they bought when Brandon was a junior towards the main door. Brandon found a battery tender, hooking it up while his dad wiped the seat down and dusted the helmets off.

Looking down at the tender, Ben said, "That battery is better than I thought, it's already at 85."

Brandon nodded, "The old CCC road down to Keating Hotel in good shape?"

Ben thought for a moment, "Wasn't terrible when I was down it in the fall for turkey, should be just fine with all this snow. Probably a little bit more up where that right-a-way comes across."

"Sounds perfect, I think we will go up and over that way, drop down to Keating for lunch and then come back. Nice hour and a half run over and back, hour for lunch, should be a good day."

"Sounds good, probably should take a thermos of hot chocolate for Sarah, she seems to like that shit."

Brandon laughed, "That she does. Lets get back inside and make that and I'll finished getting dressed."

As they walked back towards the house Ben laughed and said, "I can only imagine what your mother found for her in the basement."

When they got inside Connie and Sarah were nowhere to be found, so Brandon ran upstairs, grabbed a hoody before coming back down and pulling on his old carhartt bibs. Ben handed him a thermos for Sarah. Just as he finished zipping the legs, he heard, "Well, how do I look."

Brandon looked up and saw Sarah standing in front of Connie wearing a pair of old brown Berne bibs that had been Carrie's and holding what appeared to be an old blaze orange and camo hunting jacket.

Brandon laughed, looking herup and down," Well red carpet ready you are not, but snowmobiling, you're about as pretty as they come."

Sarah smiled, struck a pose with her hand on her hip and said, "What, you don't think this would work for the ACM's in March."

Connie sighed, "You'd be the most covered up there for sure!"

Brandon chuckled as he heard the sled fire up from outside. "Alrighty, let's go."

Sarah pulled on her coat and then a pair of mittens that had been scrounged up, Brandon pulled on his jacket and gloves and they headed out the door. Once they reached the sled, Brandon handed Sarah a helmet, helped her fasten it, then pulled his own on. He climbed onto the sled, instructed Sarah to climb on behind him.

He turned to her, "There are hand holds on either side of the seat, or you can hold onto me."

Sarah grinned, "I'll hold onto the handles for now."

Brandon nodded and Ben and Connie both told them to be careful, Brandon kicked the sled into gear, and down the road they headed.

They rode down the road, then turned onto the old CCC road that ran from Roulette over to the town of Keating Summit. After about 45 minutes of riding they reached the crest of the mountain and came to the powerline right away that Ben and Brandon had talked about. Brandon pulled the sled over, shut it off and took his helmet of.

"How about a little break?"

Sarah pulled her helmet off, shook her hair out and said, "Sure!"

Brand opened up the zippered bag on the front of the sled, pulled out the thermos and poured Sarah a mug of hot cocoa.

She took, smelling the the aroma while smiling and said, "Yummmm, thank you so much for this."

Brandon smiled back, "No problem, you've taken to the stuff, it's the least I can do for having you out here doing this."

"It's fun, I'm not cold; I'm with you, and the scenery has been beautiful." She leaned forward kissing him softly of the lips, "Thanks for bringing me out here."

"It's my pleasure."

They sat in silence for a bit, Sarah enjoying her hot cocoa and Brandon drinking a bottle of water. It was Sarah who broke the silence, "So, the last week has been nice. What are we going to do about Christmas?"

Brandon sat quietly for a few minutes, then finally said, "I dunno. Weather is a concern for me, and it's a huge holiday for both of our families. I've never spent Christmas anywhere but my parent's."

Sarah nodded, "Yeah me either."

Silence fell back over them. Sarah finally said, "We could do individual Christmas with our family, then do New Years together?"

Brandon smiled, "That could work for this year, then figure it out later."

"Later? Like the future?"

Brandon smiled, "We've said I love you, so I'm thinking there will be a next year."

Sarah leaned forward on the sled, hugging Brandon, "I like how that sounds."

Brandon hugged her back, "Do you want to come to NJ for New Years, or do you want to meet somewhere?"

"You ever been to Nashville?"

"Nope, was going to go there for a buddy's bachelor party, but Covid ruined that."

"I have an idea. Why don't we meet in Pidgeon Forge a couple days after Christmas, just you and I, then we can drive over to Nashville spend New Years there, I know some people." This caused both of them to laugh. As they stymied their laughter, Sarah continued, "Then we can both leave out of Nashville."

Brandon thought for a minute, and got a concerned look on his face. Sarah's grin turned to a frown and she said, "What is it?"

"Sarah, that all sounds great, but I don't think I can afford it. 2 rounds of airfare, 2 different hotels or whatever plus spending money is a lot, I just don't have it."

Sarah reached over and placed her hands over Brandon's, "You have done so much already, two round trip flights..."

Brandon interrupted, "Only one was for you technically."

"Stop and listen. Two flights, a rental car to come see me for the final show. Dinner and other things, you have done more than enough and spent plenty of money on me already. Let me handle New Years or at least the bulk of it. You can get the rental car, or your flights, but let me handle the majority of it."

Brandon climbed off the sled and paced a bit, Sarah following him with her eyes, "Brandon talk to me."

He stopped, turning to face her, "Sarah I can't ask you to do that, I'm not one to take handouts. I'm a little old school that I think I should pay for things when it comes to us and I can't do that! I can't give you the things you deserve, I can't treat you to things you deserve all cause I'm a fucking broke teacher!"

For the first time ever, Sarah was seeing Brandon raising his voice. She could see it wasn't in anger at her, his face showed that he was upset because he truly believed what he was saying. She stood up from the sled, walked over to where Brandon was standing and stopped in front of Brandon.

She put her hands on his shoulders, "Brandon stop!"

"Sarah, how can I stop? Everything I have said is true and we both know it!"

Finally raising her voice, "Brandon shut up!"

Brandon looked back at her stunned. She continued, "Brandon I knew what I got when we started seeing each other. I have been under no illusions of you being able to give me anything and everything in the world and guess what I don't give a shit! I want to be with you and I have that. I do love you and if this goes how I hope it does, we will have to figure this shit out, but we can because we will be a team!"

"Sarah, I just..."

Sarah reached up, grabbed the back of his head and pulled him into a kiss. She forced her tongue into his mouth until he wrapped his arms around her and kissed her back. After he did, she pulled back and smiled, "I had to shut you up somehow because you don't listen for shit. Brandon, I want to be with you. You're my broke ass teacher and if I couldn't sing, I'd be a broke ass librarian and we'd be broke together. That's what matters that we are together. "

"Are you sure?"

With an exasperated sigh, Sarah said, "Damn you're hard headed, yes I'm sure."

Brandon nodded and pulled her close. While holding her he said, "Did we just have our first fight?"

With her head against his chest, "I think so." She pulled back and looked at him, "I know we were going to do lunch, but can we just go back to your parent's and cuddle? I just wanna read and be close with you."

Brandon leaned down, kissing her softly and smiled, "That sounds fine with me."

They climbed back on the sled, Sarah wrapped her arms around Brandon and they headed back the way they had come.

Ch. 17-Sunday

Brandon and Sarah woke up around 7 and packed their things. They headed downstairs where Ben and Connie were waiting for them. Brandon dropped their bags by the door and followed Sarah into the kitchen.

Connie looked up from the paper and smiled, "Good morning. What time is the flight?"

"I leave Newark at 2, which puts me back to Biloxi at 4ish. My dad is picking me up."

Ben nodded, "So now that the tour is over, what do you do?"

Looking at her phone's calendar, "Well the next week or so is pretty empty. I'm going to just relax and spend time with family and friends. I have to be in Nashville the second week of December to look at some new material and do some vocals, then it's back home for Christmas. Brandon and I are going to spend New Years together, the ACM's are in March and then my spring is pretty empty until late April when we do rehearsals for next summer's tour."

Connie replied, "Well sounds like you're going to be busy. Brandon when does your season start this year?"

"Ummmm, pitchers and catchers can start throwing March 8th, teams go the 11th, and opening day is the 1st of April."

Ben nodded again, "So you guys will have to figure out when you can come back and visit." Looking at Brandon, "You still planning on coming up middle of April for fishing season?"

"Assuming weather is good, I've got the weekend blocked off with no games scheduled. We are scheduled to go to Myrtle for that tournament the week after so I'll have to go home Sunday. We're scheduled to leave Tuesday, play Wednesday through Saturday and come home Sunday."

Brandon continued, "Okay, as much as we don't want to leave, we gotta hit the road."

Connie frowned a bit before saying, "I know, this always sucks. Sarah darling, come back anytime. It has been wonderful having you here."

Sarah walked over and hugged Connie, thanking her for allowing her to come before moving onto Ben, hugging him also. They all walked to the door, Brandon hugging his parents and saying goodbye. They climbed into Brandon's truck and headed down the drive.

As they made it to the main road and began to head east, Sarah looked at Brandon and smiled, "Thank you for bringing me, I enjoyed it."

Brandon laughed, "Fight and all?"

Sarah turned pink, "Well besides that."

Brandon laughed again, placed his hand on her leg, "I'm kidding, I'm glad you came. I'm sorry about yesterday, I didn't mean to get so upset."

"It's okay, I know you weren't mad at me, and I understand where you're coming from. Look at it this way, you can be my trophy boyfriend."

Brandon laughed, "I dunno about that! Can I ask you something though?"

"Sure!"

"If your schedule allows it, will you come to Myrtle Beach with us? The room is covered by the boosters and we play 1 or 2 games a day, then it's relaxing time. Could be a nice break before you start touring."

Sarah started looking through her phone, checking dates, and looking at a couple of other things. She said, "Let me double check some things with Morgan, but I think that it will work. I wouldn't be a distraction?"

"Nah, there's never any press or anything, just parents and organizers, the occasional collegecoach. Might have to threaten the guys to not stare or be weird, but that's not bad, they'll be too busy chasing girls on the boardwalk and the beach."

"Then unless I'm missing something, I'm in."

***

They made the rest of the drive without any issues and about 12:30, they pulled into the drop off area of Newark international. Brandon parked then truck and walked Sarah to the security check point. Once again she donned an oversized hoody, a toboggan and had purposefully not put any make up on.

As she got ready to enter the security line, they hugged, Brandon looking down at her, "So we will see each other again in about a month?"

Sarah smiled, "Yes. Find us somewhere to stay in Pidgeon Forge. I'd like a hot tub and mountain view's, then send into me. I'll handle the hotel at in Nashville and then we can figure out airlines in a few days."

Brandon been down kissing her, "I love you."

"I love you too. Can't you just come with me?"

Brandon laughed, "I would love too, but I've got to teach still."

Sarah put on her pouty face, "But I'll be there."

Brandon laughed again, "Okay, Okay, this isn't fair! You gotta go."

Sarah laughed and pulled him back in for another hug and a passionate kiss. She let go and said, "Bye baby."

"Bye."

Sarah turned and as she started towards the TSA pre check, Brandon reached out and pinched her ass, causing her to laugh and whip around glaring at him. Causing him to smile and blow her a kiss.

Sarah cleared security and made it to her gate where she only had to wait for about 20 minutes before first class passengers started boarding. As she settled into her seat her mind flashed with one thought, "Well back to the real world."

Once Sarah cleared security, Brandon made his way back to his truck, and headed back towards his apartment. Once he got unloaded and unpacked it was almost 3. He ran to the grocery store and sat down to write his lesson plans and waited for a Sarah's text to tell him she had landed.

That evening just like always, they chatted via Zoom for about an hour and as Brandon climbed into his head, he texted Sarah, "The bed feels empty, I don't like it, I love you."

Sarah responded, "We will be together soon, I love you too."