Chapter 28

Before Vega knew it, she was outside again, but this time she was in a barn filled with filthy cows and pigs. The stench was over-whelming. I guess that’s what I get for asking to help! she thought to herself.
“No, not like that,” Jacob coaxed. “You have to pull and squeeze like this,” he finished, demonstrating the proper way to milk a cow.
“Forget it; I give up!” Vega snarled and sulked back outside to the fresh air where there would be less of the disturbing manure aroma.
“Would you like to try your hand at something different?” Jacob’s voice came echoing from the barn.
“Anything else, please!” Vega spat, annoyed at the ignorance of some people.
“How about the candles that you were admiring so much?” he offered.
“Oh, yes! That sounds fabulous!” she exclaimed, and they ran back into the main house before they began to get soaked yet again.
They reached the front door, and Jacob held it ajar so Vega could slip through. He locked the door again behind them and led her to the steps of what he introduced as “the cellar”. He opened another door, and everything that came into Vega’s view was all dirt. She proceeded down the makeshift brick steps until she reached the bottom where a faint glow dimly illuminated the room. The scent of fruits and herbs penetrated her nostrils and she felts suddenly at peace. Jacob began telling her and demonstrating how these candles were made. She was a fast learner and caught on very quickly. Soon she was dipping the wicks and melting the wax quickly and efficiently.
“You’re doing well; I’ll leave you be now for a bit while I tend to the animals,” Jacob stated and began up the stairs.
“Okay, yeah, sure,” Vega muttered, not really paying attention.
Jacob reached the top of the stairs and seated himself at the kitchen table. “Now what do I do?” he said aloud, putting his palm on his forehead.

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“…well… your son is in a coma,” the doctor stated with a downcast gaze. He was never very good at breaking bad news.
“Oh Walker!” mother hen Mrs. Hanson exclaimed, putting one hand over her mouth and the other on her husband’s shoulder to keep balance from the shock.
“Diana, keep calm,” her husband replied, not wanting the other children to get excited.
Mrs. Hanson composed herself again, taking the three breaths that her psychiatrist had recommended. She opened her eyes and gathered the children together and forced them all out of the room with her husband. She remained by the bed with her son. She grabbed his hand. “Are you truly okay, honey?” she asked Taylor. “You know you can’t lie to me, I’m your mother.”
Taylor rolled his eyes, but he was really glad to hear his mother’s voice again, for once. “Mom, I’m fine; really I am! We had quite a scare,” he motioned, nodding at Jacqui, “but we’re okay. It’s all gonna be okay.”
“Who is she?” Mom demanded, noticing that Taylor’s other hand was holding Jacqui’s.
“Oh, mom, this is uh… Jacqui. We met her while we were lost. She was helping us get our bearings back before Ravi hit us—”
“RAVI?” his mother exclaimed. Her face turned white and she collapsed on the floor.
Taylor released both grips and put his hands on his face. “OY! I knew that in this business I’d have girls falling all over me, but this is ridiculous!” he sarcastically snorted.
Jacqui snickered and pressed the “call” button above her bed. A nurse appeared in 15-seconds flat and collected Mrs. Hanson. She took her into the visiting room where the rest of the Hanson family was sitting somewhat patiently awaiting any news. The nurse plopped Mrs. Hanson next to her husband and said annoyedly, “Would you please get the women of your family under control? They are all fainting!” she finished and stalked angrily away. Mr. Walker reacted with an incredibly confused expression, shrugged, and went about shaking his wife awake.
“Well, that wasn’t exactly what I had in mind when I think about meeting a guy’s parents,” Jacqui said sarcastically. Taylor laughed in response.
Jacqui noticed a receiver by her bedside and she picked it up. Taylor asked her what she was doing and she said, “Calling my mom.” She dialed her mom and told her a little bit of what had happened… basically that she had been in a car accident. She left out the fact that she and Becca had snuck into the back of the blue bug and that Becca est morte (she’s dead). Jacqui’s mom drilled her with the usual 20 questions and eventually became somewhat satisfied that Jacqui was okay. Her mom said that she would be there A.S.A.P. since Grand Rapids was a two-hour drive from their town. She hung up the phone and turned to Taylor whose face was suddenly saddened once again.
“What’s wrong now?” she asked.
“Oh… nothing. I was just thinking that I’ll probably never see you again. I was also thinking about Veg… I mean, this other girl I know. She’s just a friend though. I’m just worried that she might be in trouble,” he answered with a little too much information.
“What makes you think that?” Jacqui questioned.
“Well… it’s a long story. I don’t know if I can tell you it all before one of us passes out again,” Taylor responded. “But… well, I’ll tell you a little bit. Promise not to judge me or think of me any differently because of this?” Jacqui smirked. “You’re Taylor Hanson. The only thing I can ever think of you is ‘lust object!’” Taylor let out a weak grin and began his story. “Well, you’re probably going to think that I’m the weirdest twisted person ever, but…”
+ _ + _ + _ + _ + _ + _ + _ + _ + _ + _ + _ + Vega was in heaven pouring the scented aromas of peppermint, cherry, and peach into jars. She wondered what Jacob was doing upstairs, but for now she was simply contented in her own little ‘candle world’. She stopped what she was doing and said aloud “What the heck am I doing?” She put her work down and went upstairs where she called for Jacob. She looked everywhere upstairs and down, but she couldn’t find him anywhere. “Jacob? Are you there?” she called. No reply, no sign of him at all. She decided that sitting at a place with no transportation or communication to the outside world whatsoever was going to get her nowhere pretty quickly, so she grabbed her belongings and her now-dry clothing and trotted outside to the sunny but muddy ground. She ran up the long muddy “driveway” and out to the street. She walked along the freeway and waited for cars to come. After about four or five rejections to her hitch-hiking method, a green beetle pulled up along-side her and a gorgeous guy asked her, “Hey, do you need a lift?”
Vega’s breath was stolen for a second. “Woah… umm… yeah,” she stuttered.
“Well, hop in,” he motioned for her to get into the cute beetle. Vega smiled and sat in the custom-leather seats. She looked at the face of this angelically cute guy driving next to her and examined him. His bright blonde hair was true colored—not dyed like most of the others who had this color. He was skinny, but what he had on him was all muscle. He was wearing a white “wife-beater” style shirt and khaki cargo shorts. At least he has good taste Vega said to herself. The stranger looked at her for a bit as well and finally spoke.
“I’m Matthew, and you are?”
“Vega. Vega Madeleine. I’m from Michigan. Thanks for picking me up. I was afraid I’d be stranded in the boonies of Amish-ville forever,” she stated.
Matthew laughed. “Ha, that’s hilarious. So, where are you headed? What brings you to Oklahoma, city girl?”
“You wouldn’t believe me even if I told you,” she started. “It has to do with this guy. He told me that he loved me… I just wasn’t ready to admit that I loved him too… I didn’t think I did. I guess it just took being away from him to realize how much I really care about him.”
“Wow. Sounds deep! Who’s the lucky guy? Do you think I might know him?” Matthew inquired.
“I think all of Tulsa and the world basically knows him,” Vega muttered.
“Oh no, you’re not talking about who I think you are, are you?” Matthew grunted.
“Most likely I am,” Vega blushed.
“You’re not the first girl I’ve picked up who’s heart has been played with by a Hanson,” Matthew snorted.
“Well, I’m different than all of them. Taylor actually reciprocates my feelings,” Vega stated proudly.
“I’m sure he does. Well, where can I take you, Vega?”
“Where are you headed?”
“I was headed home to Tulsa. Are you staying in a hotel or something?”
“Well… I hadn’t really thought of where I’d be staying. I thought I’d just end up staying with the Hanson family, but the aunt and the cousin kinda bit my ear off, so…”
“If you need a place to stay, we’ve got a couple extra bedrooms that aren’t being used right now…”
“Really? That’d be awesome! That’s really thoughtful of you… do you think your parents would mind?”
“Parents? I don’t live with them anymore, hun. My dad is pretty prestigious in the record business. He bought me my own adobe,” Matthew said proudly.
“Woah. That’s pretty awesome. Does he work with Hanson at all?”
“Nah, his last big hit was with Faith Hill. She went a long way though, and she didn’t need him anymore. Hey, you said you’re from Detroit, right? Maybe you’ve heard of this girl… she sings locally out there. He was going to sponsor her and let her use our studio… her name is… gosh I can never remember it. I think it’s like Becca or something,” Matthew rambled, trying to remember the name.
“It’s familiar, but I can’t recall if I ever saw her in concert. My friend Lucy really likes her… and Katie too. They love her.”
“Really? Cool. I hear she’s really good, but I haven’t heard her for myself. She has a really weird story. Her dad died or something and no one ever found the body,” Matthew said.
Vega choked. “Are you serious? That is so scary! I lost my dad a while back too in a car accident, but they said that the body was too mangled to even have anything donated. I refused to go to the funeral because there wasn’t even anything in the coffin… and I don’t know why I’m telling you all this!” Vega stopped her sentence and put her hand on her face.
Matthew put one of his hands on her shoulder. “You don’t have to talk about it if you don’t want to. I know how it is to lose a family member. My mom died when I was four,” he said.
Vega looked up. She took his hand and held it in her own. A weird feeling came over her. His hands were so familiar. She looked at his face and looked at his hand.
“You look so familiar, but I can’t figure out where I’ve seen you before. I mean, you’re from Tulsa, how would I know you?” she said aloud.
“You look familiar as well. How odd. I feel like… like your hand was supposed to be in mine. They fit so easily,” he smiled.
Vega continued to hold his hand as they pulled up to an enormous white mansion guarded by a black spiked fence. A security guard was at the gate. He punched in a few buttons and said, “Welcome home, sir,” to Matthew.
Vega said nothing but was very impressed with all the respect that Matthew was receiving. He parked in front of the huge doors and opened Vega’s door for her and let her out. He offered her his hand and escorted her into the beautiful mansion. A maid named Hannah showed her a room and then Matthew asked her for her presence at dinner. She said that she would get cleaned up and be right there. She noticed conveniently that there was a phone by her bed. She dialed Taylor’s pager number and put in the code that always let him know it was her… just so he’d know she was alive and well. She would find out the number of the house soon and have him call her there, but for now she was going to discover exactly what was so fabulous about this Matthew character… besides his house, incredibly good looks, personality, and wealth.
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Taylor felt something down in his pants begin vibrating. “Woah!” he said aloud and jumped up a little. He looked down and saw “314 – 69” which is what Vega always paged him at. He looked at Jacqui and looked at the pager. It was time to make a decision. He had Jacqui: pretty, sweet, sincere, and hilarious who he had just met. He didn’t know about her past, her present, what she had planned for the future. Then he had Vega, who was also pretty and sweet, but then there was the background with her. He still hadn’t told her the truth about what really happened that night in the car accident. He hadn’t told her about her father. Did he want a complex relationship with a girl he had told her that he loved, or a casual sincere relationship with someone he barely knew. Or, then again, could he possibly handle both as he had done many times before? Was he finally ready to stop being such a player and settle for one girl?