Storyteller

Chapter 33 (Final Chapter)

Tim POV:

Carrie watches me carefully as I place the letter gently on the coffee table between us. She rubs her hands nervously on her thighs. She swallows hard, and shrugs. 

"I had no clue. I mean, I knew I was adopted, but I never looked into it much..." She starts to ramble as I lean back and sink down into my chair. I rub my forehead, as my tight chest suddenly releases. I look at Carrie, and study her for a moment. 

"Holy shit." I mumble, covering my mouth. She takes a few deep breaths and bites her lip, before hugging herself tightly. "I don't know what to say..." I look down at my hands, and shake my head slowly, before releasing a little laugh. "That woman..." I whisper, looking over at a few of the guitars against the wall. 

"So what now?" She asks, placing a hand on her stomach. I narrow my eyes at the letter, realizing a little something I  overlooked. 

"Who's Isaiah?" I ask, watching her. She smiles, and looks down at her stomach. 

"I'm pregnant... We think it's a boy so we were going to name him Isaiah." She explains, her smile growing brighter. I spare her a smile in response, and take a deep breath. I try to brainstorm quickly, hoping to maintain normalcy. 

"It's up to you. You're always welcome, Carrie." I try, feeling my heart wrench a little bit, thinking about way back when. 

"What happened to me?" She asks abruptly. I cringe. 

"You had your heart problem, and then one day you just collapsed, and to my knowledge that was it..." I answer. She nods slowly, placing her hand on the side of her head as if it were aching. She looks down at her feet for a moment. 

"Tim, I... I don't want things to change right now, especially in the midst of everything that has just happened. If we could just, maybe, forget about this for a while?" She asks, looking as if she were about to cry. I nod quickly, wishing I could comfort her somehow. 

Once I get home, I rush upstairs to our bedroom, and dig out her notebook. I feel the desire to finish something I remember her showing me years ago. I find the song, which only consists of one verse at the moment. I find a pen, and begin to scribble down another verse, before the chorus comes out of me quickly. 

Faith wrote the following verse after having fled one night to Carrie's after I got drunk. She showed me a few years later...

"Baby I think we both know it's alright, alright, but how could I forget what you did that night? Baby you told me you loved me and Tennessee, where we were gonna live... But now you've done a few things that I can't forgive.... Driving to her house... tellin' her you love her... lying on a friday night... ring in your pocket... lying to me all along.... In the back of your truck with the radio on..." She wrote. 

"Baby I think we both know it's all wrong, wrong, wrong, wrong... And I know you don't think we can carry it on... Baby I think we both know it's gone bad, bad, bad... But think of all the good times we had... driving to your house... remember when we first met? 'nd dancin' on a friday night under the moon light... Talkin' till the night was gone... In the back of my truck with the radio on..." I write, my hand shaking as I take a moment. I hum the melody, before writing down the chorus. 

"Then that ol' song comes on... Together we're singing'... Forever we're singing'.... When that ol' song comes on... Together we're singing'... Forever we're singing'... That ol' country song... Yeah, Yeah, Yeah, Yeah..." I finish, looking down at the paper carefully. I turn the page, feeling relieved, but not wanting to reread it anymore. That's when I find our song. 

We wrote a song what seems like a lifetime ago. I remember how we were curled up on the floor of her bedroom with a guitar and a pad of paper, cranking out the most personal lyrics that have ever passed my lips. Reading the words now forms a pit in my stomach. I grab a guitar, and start to strum the chords that I've never forgotten after all these years...

"When the stars line up, and you catch a break... People think you're lucky, but you know its grace... It can happen so fast, or a little bit late... Timing is everything... You know I've had close calls, when it could've been me... I was young when I learned just how fragile life can be... I lost friends of mine... I guess it wasn't my time... Timing is everything." I sing the first bit of the song, her voice singing it along with me in the back of my head. I stop, and take a deep breath before carrying onto the chorus. 

"And I could've been the child that God took home... And I would've been one more unfinished song.... When it seems a rhyme is hard to find, that's when one comes along, just in time..." I smile as I sing, remembering that these lyrics were for her. She was that rhyme to me...

"I remember that day, when our eyes first met... You ran into the building to get out of the rain, cause you were soaking wet and as I held the door you wanted to know my name... Timing is everything... And I could've been another minute late and you'd never would've crossed my path that day. When it seems true love is hard to find, that's when love comes along just in time..." I miss her so much...

"You can call it fate, or destiny... Sometimes it really seems like its a mystery... Cause you can be hurt by love or healed by the same... Timing is everything... It can happen so fast or a little too late... Timing is everything..."