The Soldier's Girl (Under Editing)

Chapter 18

CAROLINE'S POV

I got through the next night nightmare free. It was now Monday morning and we were going to go shopping before we left for Nashville. That means I would have to face paparazzi again, but at least I would have Taylor with me.

We headed out to the store at around 10 o'clock.

TAYLOR'S POV

I needed to quickly pick up an antique that was being held for me before we headed back to Nashville. Caroline and I left in the morning to go get it. When our car pulled up to the store there were paparazzi waiting for me, even though I didn't like it I usually expected it. But now I had to put myself in Caroline's shoes, because they absolutely terrify her. And she was my responsibility.

When we got out of the car I put my hand on her shoulder that was on the opposite side of me. My elbow was slightly bent and fell right in the middle of her back. I confidently walked through the parking lot while holding Caroline close to my side. When we where inside the store she seemed okay.

The store was pretty empty, only a couple other people where there. I first went straight up to the counter to get the item I had on hold. The woman behind the counter had went into the back room to get it and I looked down at Caroline. Her head was turned and she was intently watching a woman and a child shop. I was about to tell her to stop staring when I realized why she was staring.

The woman looked a few years older than me and the child had to be three or four. The woman had a bald head, not covered by any sort of hat or bandana. I pieced together that Caroline was staring because that little girl was pretty much her. When she was that age her mom was suffering from cancer, in all the pictures I'd seen of her mom, Courtney, she never wore anything on her head. She let her bald head show all the time.

"Taylor," Caroline whispered, still not facing me. She took a step back and bumped into me, she grabbed my arm for support and looked into my eyes. Her eyes were wide and I knew what she was thinking without her having to say it. She followed the path of my eyes back to the woman and the child and looked back at me knowingly.

My chest hurt from just watching Caroline gaze at them. I pulled her into a hug and put my hand on her hair so her head was sandwiched between my hand and my chest. I often forgot what all Caroline went through. It wasn't just that her dad was at war, she had also had to go through the death of her mom due to cancer.

Soon the woman came back with my item. It was pretty heavy so my bodyguard carried it for me. We didn't stay and shop because we had a plane to catch. We walked back out to the car and headed back home.

When we got there I checked to see if I had everything together that I was taking back to Nashville with me. Then I walked into Caroline's room to see if she was ready, she had her back towards me and was going through her bag.

"Are you almost ready?" I said while coming up behind her. She jumped and took in an audible breath.

"You scared me!" She laughed. She zipped up her bag and got ready to go. Before we left I wanted to talk to her, since now we were alone. She went to the bathroom to grab her toothbrush and I sat down on her bed.

"Aren't we gonna go?" She said when she came back and saw me.

"Yeah in a little while, sit down." I said gesturing towards the spot next to me. She sat down and after a second I spoke up.

"Do you wanna talk about your mom?" I asked, a little unsure if that was a good way to start the conversation.

"No." She said almost immediately after, she wasn't mad. She said it in a light tone and a high pitch, closing her mouth right after it got out.

"Why don't you ever talk to me about these things? I could tell that seeing that woman with cancer and her daughter affected you. I could tell that the paparazzi bothered you, you know you can talk to me right?" I said in almost one breath. Caroline was silent.

She looked at me why her lips pressed together, her lips were curled on the end in the tiniest way, almost like she was kind of grinning. Her eyes were wider than usual, but not very wide, just wide enough. Right before I was about to speak again she broke her expression.

Caroline let out a short breath out if her nose, scrunched her nose and made her grin wider to let me know she was laughing. I didn't have the slightest idea why she was laughing.

"There's nothing funny about this!" I said trying to be serious but breaking into laughter at the end.

"Well what did you want to talk about?" Caroline asked, failing at being serious about it. She was still grinning at me like I was something odd.

"I don't know, anything you wanted to." I said trying to get something out of her.

"Well I don't know what you want me to say!" She replied. She was now sitting closer to me and in a different position as we started. I just sighed.

"We have to go or we'll miss our flight." I told her. She chuckled again and grabbed her bag.

CAROLINE'S POV

The truth was that I liked the idea of talking to Taylor about everything and her wanting to talk to me. I guess I just laughed because I was happy. I was also glad that Taylor recognized me seeing the woman with cancer at the store. She recognized me being frightened by the paparazzi. And I love that about her.

Before she said that she actually wanted me to talk to her about these things I would never. I would just feel comfortable with giving her a hug or something when I was upset, now I felt like I could talk it out, and that she wanted me to. Our whole conversation resumed when the plane took off. We were covered in a layers of blankets and I was leaning up against Taylor.

"Now do you want to talk?" Taylor asked me. I shrugged my shoulders so she would feel them against her body and then said sure. She started off by saying that she wants to talk to me and she wants me to be able to tell her anything. The moment might have been a little bit awkward if we weren't all cuddled up.

I wanted so bad to tell her about the nightmares, I just couldn't work up the courage. We mostly talked about my dad and how I missed him. There was a break in the conversation and I moved in closer to Taylor, she repositioned herself so her arm was around me. A warm feeling built in me stomach when I felt her arm around me. Nobody but Taylor had ever made me feel so good just by putting their arm around me.

"What about your mom?" Taylor asked after a while.

"I don't know, what about her?" I said back, my mom felt like such a personal subject. I didn't know what Taylor wanted me to say.

"Well I just didn't know if there was anything you wanted to say about her." Taylor said suddenly becoming a little defensive.

"I miss her." I said after a short pause. I'd said It because I couldn't think of anything else to say, but it was also true.

"I guess I hardly even knew her, I was really little." I added. Taylor didn't say anything she just listened. There was a knot in my chest that tightened when I spoke about my mom. I really did miss her, and the letter about starting freshman year reminded me of that. If she was here I wondered what she'd be like.

She was a high school teacher before she quit because of her cancer. I bet if she was here today she'd be helping me with my homework and we'd be writing letters to my dad together. Or at least that's what I'd like to think. Now Taylor was the closest thing I had to a mom, which wasn't saying that much since she was only my foster mom and I didn't even feel comfortable talking to her about my bad dreams. But I still loved Taylor, if she wasn't here I might be in a home similar to the one I was in before and I would probably never get love and attention like I do with Taylor.

After that Taylor stopped asking me about things and we just sat there together. I actually did feel a little better after talking to her about my parents, and she was respectful about it. She understood the limits and she was open to whatever I had to say. I dozed off to sleep in her arms, only to be woken when we were back in Nashville.