You Promised: A Brantley Gilbert Story.

Telling The Truth On 129...

Telling The Truth On 129...

• Kolby •

I parked my truck across the street from where it all went down years ago and killed the engine. We sat there in silence, staring out the windshield for awhile, before I got the nerve to speak up.

"Look, bro...you wanna repeat history? That's on you. Before you drive down this road again though? Think about that little girl of yours and her Mama. Cause I'm telling you now that woman maybe strong as a bull, but when it comes to you? She melts like butter."

"She looks to be doing just fine." Brantley shot back.

"You telling me you ain't ever heard of the saying ...fake it 'til you make it? Serenity doesn't like this situation anymore than you do. And I'm getting real tired of her having to pretend she's all good."

Brantley shuffled a laugh that said he didn't believe a word I was saying.

"Alright, don't believe me. But let me tell ya something you will believe...'because you got to see it firsthand. Let me tell you about the morning you drove your truck down this road and what I, at twelve or so years old had to deal with."

"I already know, Kolby. I've heard it a million times over the years, bo. I know."

"You know? So then tell me, brother, just how in the hell you figure that a girl who lost her shit in the middle of a hospital emergency room and needed the help of a twelve year old to calm down when ya'll wasn't even together yet mind you, could live through that, the addiction, plan to marry you, have your kid, and then one day just decide "Oh, I gave him years of my life, I'm good"? That makes no sense, B."

"You wasn't there that night shit went bad, bro. You don't know."

"I was there that night, B..."

• Brantley •

"I was there that night, B. As soon as Seren got herself together, she called me. Luckily I was on ya'lls side of town that night when I got the call. By the time I got there, the poor girl was turning blue from being in the rain. All she kept telling me was that you left. That's all I could get out of her for a few hours. I got her inside and by the fire and bundled in every damn blanket in the house I could find. I left her like that, went to the store, gotta shit ton of junk food, and drove back."

All I could do was stare at my little brother for the longest. Kolby was telling me parts of that night I never knew happened and I knew he was telling the truth. Serenity maybe older than him by give or take a few years, but they've always been the best of friends. If it wasn't for my little brother hounding me to go swimming up by the creek all those years ago, we both never would have met Serenity. It made sense for her to call him in a time of need like that. But you mean to tell me she stayed outside that night, even after I left?

"Wait, wait...you saying when you got there Serenity was still outside?"

"Yeah, man. Crying her eyes out in the driveway. Talk about your awkward, I had to carry her inside and her night gown was soaked!"

"What else don't I know?" I was curious now.

"Oh, son...you don't know a lot of things, brother. And if I tell you she'll find out somehow, someway and I'll be a dead man."

"Koby...help me out here, man. If I stand even the tiniest chance of fixing things with her, you be the one to know. Do you know why she came to see me today?"

I didn't think Kolby was gonna tell me much more by the way he scratched at the back of his neck and glanced out the windshield for a moment.

But then he took a deep breath and said, "Georgia wants her Daddy to come to her Mama's birthday party in a few days. Serenity told me about it today at the diner. Said she was gonna tell her no, but one look at her and she knew she couldn't do it. When Seren left the diner she said she was going to your place. That's all I know about that."

I nodded along with Kolby's words, it made sense with the way she acted at first before she saw the Jack Daniels bottle in my hand at least. "What else do you know, Kolby?"

My voice held some extra base to it without me putting it there, guess I wanted to know more than I originally thought I did.

"Ever ask yourself just why she took your ring off that night?"

He said it softly, but I still heard it...