She's My Wife
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Heather Teston
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17,3K
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31
Carrie Matthews builds a life from the ashes of heartbreak after losing her husband in a tragic plane crash, his body never found. Once shattered by grief, she slowly finds her footing again with the help of a close friend and the art gallery she and her husband dreamed of together. Just as she begins to feel like herself again, the past refuses to stay buried. Memories of young love, stolen moments, and promises made in high school linger, blending with the life she’s carefully rebuilt. When the impossible becomes real, Carrie is faced with emotions she thought she had laid to rest. In a story woven with first love and second chances, she must navigate a heart that remembers everything.
Chapter 1
How it all began: Carrie Dunn, Dante Matthews, and Hal Cooper all attended the same high school in South Carolina. Carrie was starting her second year of high school when she and her parents moved there from Washington, D.C.
Dante and Hal were seniors when they met Carrie. They were on the same football team, and at one of the games, Dante first saw her.
When the game was over, he placed his hand on Hal’s shoulder and had him look over to where the brunette was sitting with another girl. “Who’s that girl?” he asked.
Hal shrugged. “I don’t know. She must have just started here, but she sure is pretty.”
“I’m going to go over and say hi to her.” He shoved his helmet into Hal’s hand. As he walked over to the bleachers, some of the cheerleaders kept stopping him. He was always getting hit on by them and the other girls from school.
When he finally got away from them, his heart dropped—she had already left.
Back in the locker room, after they had showered and dressed, Hal went over to him. “So how did it go with the new chick?”
“I didn’t get a chance to talk to her. By the time I got away from the cheerleaders, she was gone. I’ve got to find that girl and ask her out before some other jerk does. It shouldn’t be hard if she goes to this school.”
Since it was Friday, he would have to wait until Monday to see her again, and he hoped she attended the same school. He would have asked the girl she’d been with if he had known her, but he didn’t, and she had disappeared too.
“Hey, are you going to the postgame party at Freddie’s?” Hal asked, nudging him in the arm.
“I don’t really feel like it,” he replied, shaking his head.
“Oh, come on—you scored the winning touchdown; you have to go. You can’t mope around all weekend thinking about a girl you might never see again. She might not even be going to this school. There’s going to be a lot of hot babes at the party. If you come, I’ll let you have the first pick,” he said, laughing out loud.
“Oh, what the hell, why not?” Dante said.
“I’ll borrow my old man’s car, and we’ll leave around eight,” Hal said, waving goodbye to him as he headed out of the locker room.
Later that night, he put on a pair of jeans and a white T-shirt, then his black leather jacket, and met Hal outside. They got into the car and drove off.
“I don’t plan on having more than one beer, so if you drink, I’ll drive us home,” Dante told his friend.
“Damn, this party is already rocking,” Hal said when they got out of the car and went around back.
Empty beer bottles were scattered all around, and couples were necking. He grabbed two beers and handed one to Dante.
They had no sooner taken a sip of their beers than some girls walked up to them.
Hal put his arm around one girl. “What say we find a quiet place to get acquainted?”
When the girl smiled at him and nodded, he turned back to Dante. “Excuse me for a while—go mingle.” With his arm around the girl, they headed off.
A cute blonde touched his arm, smiling at him. “Would you like to find somewhere quiet where we can talk?”
He looked at her, knowing that talking was the last thing on her mind. “No, thanks, sweetheart, but I’ll see you around.” He walked away.
Two hours later, he got bored. It was hard trying to talk to a bunch of drunks and to dodge the girls who kept throwing themselves at him. He went looking for Hal and found him standing with some other guys, so he went over, wanting to leave the party.
“Hey, Hal, let’s get out of here.”
He gave Dante a drunken grin. “I would have thought you’d want to hang around since your little brunette is here.”
“What? Where is she?” he asked, feeling a bit excited.
“I don’t know. Last time I saw her, she was inside, talking to Cal.”
“Why didn’t you come and tell me she was here? I can’t let her be alone with that jerk.” Taking off, he rushed toward the house.
Inside, there were more people, and he had to go through the rooms to find her. He was about to give up when he spotted them. Cal had her cornered, trying to get her to drink some whisky straight from the bottle.
“I don’t want any,” she cried out, pushing the bottle away from her mouth.
“Come on, baby, just one drink to loosen you up,” he said, trying to force some into her mouth, but the bottle was knocked from his hand. “What the fuck,” Cal cursed, slurring his words.
“She said she doesn’t want any. Now get lost before I lose my temper,” Dante said. He hated it when guys treated girls this way; it made him want to pound the guy’s head into a cement wall.
Cal staggered backward. “She’s not worth it,” he said, walking away.
He turned to her. Her face was flushed, and her hands were trembling. “Are you all right?”
“Yes, I shouldn’t have come here. I want to go home,” she said, looking at him. She recognized him from the game and had been told he was the star player. He was even better-looking up close, and she felt as though she could get lost in his green eyes.
“Would you like me to drive you home?”
“No, thanks. I came with Carla, so I’ll go tell her I’m ready to go home.”
“Carla Foster? I don’t think she’ll be wanting to leave,” he said, pointing to the sofa, where she was necking up a storm with another guy. “I’ll be happy to drive you home. Just let me get my buddy, and we’ll go.”
“Your buddy? No thanks.”
“Why? What’s wrong?”
“I’ve heard stories about girls getting in a car with two male strangers and getting raped. I’m not going to be one of them.”
“First, my buddy is too wasted to try anything, and second, I’m not that kind of guy. Now, I could take you home, or you could stay here and wait for Carla, who, from the looks of things, won’t be going anywhere for a long time.”
She looked over at her friend and knew he was right. She couldn’t call her parents to pick her up, as they didn’t know she was going to a party. They would never have let her go; they were a bit strict, and her father was the new minister in town.
“All right, but you better not try anything. I know self-defense.”
“I’ll keep that in mind. Wait right here.” He left her to get Hal. When he found him, he kept an arm around him to keep him from falling over. Returning to her, he motioned for her to follow, and she did. He managed to get Hal into the backseat, shutting the door. He turned to her before opening the passenger door.
“By the way, my name is Dante Matthews, and yours?”
“I know who you are.” When she saw the way his eyebrows shot up and he looked at her, she didn’t want him to think she was asking people about him. “I mean, everyone knows you’re the school’s football hero.” She cleared her throat nervously. “I’m Carrie Dunn.”
“Dunn, are you related to Reverend Dunn?”
“Yes, he’s my father.”
He opened her door for her to get in. “I doubt he’d be happy knowing you’re here, so I’d better get you home.”
“Is your friend going to be all right?” she asked, looking into the back when Hal let out a loud groan.
He chuckled. “Yeah, but he’s going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning. Does your father know you went to a football party?” He kept looking over at her. She was so cute with her long brown hair pulled into a ponytail.
“No,” she answered, looking at him, horrified. “You won’t tell him, will you?”
“I won’t, but you really shouldn’t get separated from your friends at those parties; they can get a little out of hand. So, how do you like living here?”
“It’s all right. I haven’t met many people yet.”
When they got to her place, he got out of the car and walked her to the door. He had an urge to kiss her, but he knew if he tried, she would probably slap him, so he would wait until she got to know him better.
At the door, she stopped and turned to him. “Thanks for bringing me home and rescuing me from that guy.”
“Anytime. So I guess I’ll see you at school.” He turned to leave, then turned back to face her. “I was wondering if you’d like to see a movie tomorrow and grab a bite afterward?”
She blushed when she looked into his eyes and had to look away. “I can’t. It’s not that I don’t want to; it’s just that my father thinks I’m too young to date.”
“Then perhaps I should talk to him, maybe get him to change his mind.”
“He won’t,” she said, wishing she could go out with him.
“What time will he be home tomorrow?”
“He usually gets home around five.”
“I’ll be here,” he said, smiling at her as he walked back to the car. Getting inside, he started the engine.
“So did you kiss her?” Hal asked, sitting up and looking out the window as she went inside. “She sure is pretty.”
“Yes, she is, and no, I didn’t kiss her.”
“Well, why not?”
“She’s not that kind of girl, and I want to take it slow with her.”
“Why?” he asked, slurring his words.
“Because she’s the girl I want to spend the rest of my life with.”
“You’re crazy, man. You’re too young, and you have college to attend soon. Damn, you got your whole life ahead of you, so stop talking crazy. Oh God, you better pull over now. I’m going to be sick.”
Finding a deserted spot, he pulled over just in time as Hal opened the door and jumped out, spilling his guts.
Wiping his mouth with the back of his hand, he looked at Dante. “What’s so special about her anyway?”
Dante leaned against the car, staring into space. “It’s hard to put into words. When I looked into her eyes, I got lost in them. When she looked back at me, my heart started racing, and I got this warm feeling inside, like butterflies in my stomach. I knew she was the one for me.”
Hal stood next to him, leaning against the car so he wouldn’t fall over. “You just met her today, and you sound as if you’re in love with her. You do know how crazy that is, don’t you?”
“I know it sounds crazy, but I do think I’m in love with her.” He looked over at Hal. “I’d better get us home,” he said as they both got into the car.
“When are you going to see her again?”
“I’m going over to her place tomorrow and ask for her father’s permission to take her to the movies and for pizza.”
“Are you kidding me? Who asks for permission these days?”
“Her father is old-fashioned and a minister. I’m doing it out of respect, hoping he’ll see that I’m a good guy and will let me take her out. You know, Hal, it wouldn’t hurt you to be more respectful toward the fathers of the girls you go out with.”
Hal shook his head. “Sometimes I swear you belong in a different time, a time when you had to court a young lady with a chaperone following you around. You’re just way too nice for these times.”
“I respect the opposite sex; you ought to try it.”
When they got home, he pulled the car into the driveway and made sure Hal got inside safely. Dante then went next door, where he lived with his parents and two sisters—ten-year-old twins, Jane and Joyce. He went around back, entering through the kitchen.
His father looked up from his paper when Dante walked in. “You’re home early, son.”
“Yes,” he answered, taking a juice box from the fridge. “Can I ask you something?”
“Anything, son. Take a seat.”
