“Wow. Are they cracking down even harder?”
“I don’t know, but I’m retiring the fake for a while.”
“We all should.” Mallory punched in the code to the house. “It’s too early to turn in though. What should we do?”
“Is Reed working tonight?” I asked Juliet.
“Yeah, why? It’s a girl’s night.”
“Yeah, it’s also one of those nights I wouldn’t mind a guy around for. Let’s go to Al’s. Think Colton would walk us?”
“Sure. He was just hanging out at the house tonight.”
“I never would have pictured that Colt would have gotten so into Kappa. I guess moving in as a freshman helps.”
She shrugged. “I know, it surprised me too, but he still spends time with his other friends a lot.”
Colton showed up a few minutes later. “How you doing, Cara?”
“I’m doing really well.” I was. Despite the rough night, I was feeling better than I had in ages.
“Aaron showed up tonight though,” Mallory said softly, but the anger in her words came right through.
“Oh. That sucks. He’s been keeping his distance usually though, right?” Colton watched me worriedly. I had to give it to my friends, they both picked caring boyfriends.
“This was the first time I’d run into him since the incident.” Incident. It sounded so clinical, but it was the only way I could describe what happened without using some less than appropriate words.
“Did he bother you?”
“In a way, but I took care of it. I think he’s going to leave me alone now.” He didn’t want the Cara who would slap him in the face and take care of herself. He wanted someone dependent, and that wasn’t me anymore.
“All right. Just let me know if I can do anything else.”
“Thanks.” I smiled. It felt so good to be independent. It felt equally good to know I’d be with Chase in less than twenty-four hours.
Chapter Nineteen
Showing up at a festival by myself in a place I’d never been wasn’t something I was particularly excited to do, so I was more than happy when Jade and Kyle agreed to go with me.
My friends were more excited about the music than I was, but my single-minded determination to see Chase more than made up for it. I was relieved that Kyle agreed to drive to Savannah, because I was pretty positive I would have struggled to stay within my usual rule of five miles over the speed limit.
Kyle parked in a large field, and we got out. We left our bags in the car before heading over to where the crowds were congregating.
I’d never been to a festival before, so I didn’t know what to think. I was just relieved the weather had warmed up. I’m not a fan of the cold.
“Wow, it’s crowded.” I tried to stay close to my friends. All I needed was to get separated from them.
“You should see the really big festivals. This one has a great line up, but it’s kind of off season.” Jade tied up her long hair.
“Oh. I think this is plenty big for my first time.”
“I won’t make the dirty comment I want to make.” Kyle grinned.
“Please don’t.”
Music poured from the main stage, and I tried to identify the folk-style tune. After a few minutes I gave up. It was definitely not someone I’d heard of.
“Where are you supposed to meet Chase exactly?” Jade asked, glancing around the crowd.
“He said to call when I got here.” I glanced down at my phone. “I’ve called twice already.”
“Hmm, well. I guess we might as well go watch whoever’s performing while we wait then,” Kyle suggested. He had this uncanny ability to take charge when the moment demanded it. He wasn’t pushy as much as he was just the leader type.
“Good idea.” Jade took my arm, and we walked into the crowd.
We listened to the couple on the stage. They had to be a couple. The way the two members of the duet were looking at each other only came from one thing—intimacy.
I love folk music because of the lyrics. A folk song is generally a story set to music, so I could relate to it. I could sink my teeth into it so to speak.
The duet, appropriately called the Love Doves, finished their set and left the stage. I checked my phone and saw a missed call. How had I missed it? I went to listen to the message, but my phone said unable to connect. Perfect. No signal.