Rebuilding Valley View (Valley View Book #4)

Chapter 13

My relationship with Tyler didn’t change much after we slept together. I was thinking there might be some awkwardness, but we seemed to easily fall back into the comfortable ease that we had always had with each other. The only difference now was that time spent together ended in the bedroom. I wouldn’t say I have been avoiding the conversation on what the status of our relationship is, but I certainly haven’t brought it up myself. I guess if I had to label it, I would say he was my boyfriend. Those weren’t words I was ready to say out loud though.

Tyler spent the night with me that Sunday. He was so funny telling me different things he had always wanted to try in bed and boy did I let him try anything that he wanted. If he wants me to be his little sex experiment sign me the heck up. When my alarm went off for work that morning I was running on maybe three hours of sleep, but it was worth every minute of missed sleep. He might have been inexperienced when the night began, but he was a quick study.

Since our schedules have been so busy, we try to make the most of the time that we can be together. That is why he’s started to spend the night on Fridays. I won’t lie, I love this feeling, laying in his arms with his fingers mindlessly running through my hair and mine dancing across his abs.

“Charlie?”

“Yeah?”

“I’m going to miss you when you’re gone.”

“Next week? It’ll only be from Saturday to Wednesday.” I answer that way in the hopes of keeping the conversation light. I don’t know what he means, if he’s talking about August, he’s right. If he’s talking about March, I don’t want to think about that yet. I want to hold onto him as long as I can.

“Yeah, but what if I want to come to say hi? You’ll be so far away.”

“Are you getting clingy, Tyler?” I tease him.

“If I am, you only have yourself to blame. You took my v-card, you’re indebted to me for life now.”

I laugh and cuddle up closer to him. “There could be worse things in life.”

After a long pause, he continues running his fingers through my hair. “What are your plans while you’re there?”

“I’m staying with Dean and his family. Quinn is going to be gone until Monday, so I’ll go have dinner with him on Monday. Maybe stop by a say hi to a few friends. I don’t know.”

“Are you going to see your parents at all?”

The question takes me by surprise and then I remember that as much as Tyler and I have talked, it is usually about his family and he doesn’t know much about my life. “No. I’m not in contact with them.”

“Either of them?”

“Nope.”

“Can I ask why?”

“How much do you care to know?”

His hand comes across his body and takes my hand that is resting on his abs and folds it into his. “I want to hear anything that you’ll tell me.”

“Your parents are great, Tyler, but mine are not so much. My dad left once he found out my mom was pregnant and my mom, well, she had other priorities in life.”

“How could she have other priorities?”

I give a half-hearted shrug, “That’s how drugs work.”

“Oh. Shit, I’m sorry Char, I had no idea.”

“It’s okay. I don’t bring it up and you’ve never asked before. The truth is that my mom has been mostly out of my life since I was about 15. She was around enough so that the school didn’t involve CPS, but not around enough to actually raise me. I haven’t seen her in probably three years. I don’t even know if she’s even alive still.”

“Wow. Do you, miss her?”

“I guess I miss more the idea of having a mom than my mom herself. She made her choices.” 

“What about your brothers? What was their relationship like with her?”

“They didn’t have to deal with her as much as I did. Their dad got custody long before I was even a thought. She was clean for a while after she got pregnant with me. They came around for visitation and whatnot. By the time she had dipped back into the drugs, they were adults and doing their own thing.”

“They didn’t step in and help you at all?”

“I don’t know if they knew everything that was going on. I don’t blame them. They had their own lives and I was just a little kid they saw a few times a year. I guess I could have said something, but I didn’t know any better. I was just a kid.”

“But you’re closer to your brothers now, right?”

“I reached out when I graduated high school, I guess I just needed somebody. Our lives were very different though. Just like my life was very different than yours. We’re as close as we can be, but they don’t get a lot of the choices I make because they didn’t live the life I did.”

“I kind of want to say sorry, but I feel like that’s not what you want to hear.”

“No. I’m okay about everything, really, Tyler. I’m not sure I’d be the person I am today if I didn’t go through what I did. I learned to rely on myself and put myself first.”

“Everybody should have others they can rely on, especially when you’re young.”

“Maybe, but not everybody gets that life, you know?”

There is another long pause in our conversation while we just lay in each other’s arms. “Does that have anything to do with you hating your name?” He finally asks.

“Kind of. Charlotte was a kid that had a mom that loved her and took care of her. She had red pigtails and her favorite color was bright pink. She used to plant flowers in her garden and spend her weekends going on adventures with her mom.”

“And Charlie?”

“Charlie had to do everything on her own and grow up much quicker than any 13-year-old should have to. Charlie did whatever she had to do to survive and fought for everything she’s ever gotten in her life. Charlie never gives up. Charlie looks out for herself because she knows nobody else will.”

He gently cups my jaw with his hand, “I will.”

I kiss the inside of his palm, he’s such a loving soul. “It isn’t the same, Tyler.”

“I’m here, Char. I know this is new, I know we don’t know what this is even. But while we’re living in the moment, I’m here. I’ve got your back. You can rely on me. You’re not alone.”

Tyler kisses the top of my head and then turns me onto my side and pulls my back into his chest. His arm holds me tight around my waist and his slow breathing pattern tells me that he’s almost asleep. A lot of people in my life have made promises, but Tyler didn’t just make a promise, he made a declaration. It was probably the nicest thing anybody has ever said to me.