Page 24 of Trusting Trey
"We're down here, Trey," she called, calm as could be.
I could hear his footsteps as he ran and then the door closing to block out the rest of the restaurant.
"Oh, sweetheart," he said, squatting down by where I was on the floor. "I think we better take you to the hospital. You've been sick."
I started to cry at the sight of him and couldn't speak, so Daphne did. "She keeps saying she doesn't want him to see her. That I had to protect her from him, but I don't know who ‘him’ is."
He threw Daphne his car keys. "Bring my car to the back. I'll carry her to the car, take her chair, too."
Daphne hesitated long enough to decide it was the best thing to do and finally left the small room pushing my chair.
"Allie, did you see someone that hurt you?" he asked calmly.
I nodded, wiping my nose and realizing I had vomit all over myself. I dropped my hand and the tears kept falling. "I'm sorry, I made a mess. NowBabawill know," I cried and he bent down, sliding his arm under my knees and back. I grabbed at him. "Don't take me out there, he's out there."
"Shhh, it's okay, we’ll go out the back and I'll make sure Daphne has the janitor clean the office beforeBabagets here. Stay calm."
He kept whispering in my ear all the way to the car. He laid me in the seat and buckled my belt, then drove away with his lips in a thin line.
Christmas Morning
Present Day
The daydream disappeared when I heard Trey suck in a breath, his face registering concern. “You got stiff there for a minute, another cramp?” he asked.
I shook my head. “No, I was just thinking about the first time I saw Sam at Drakos Agape.”
“I’ll never forget finding you on the floor that day. I’ll also never forget what you told me after I got you home that day, but look at you now.”
I held my hands out to the side. “Yeah, look at me now. I’m only trying to make a small impact on students before they do something that changes their lives forever because of one mistake.”
He nodded and turned, his knee falling to the side as he gripped his foot on his lap. “It’s working, because the word on the street is, all the schools where you give your presentation had a success rate of one hundred percent among fraternities and sororities.”
“Word on the street is right according to the data I received as well. I...um…talked to Sam last week, actually.”
He paused in his motion up and down my arm. “You what?”
“I talked to Sam,” I said, shrugging as though it were a normal thing to say in our household.
“Because?” he asked, but I could see he was trying to keep his temper in check.
“Because he’s part of my story,” I answered, but he shook his head.
“Not in a good way, Allie.”
I could give him that, but hopefully what I had planned would change his mind. “I’ve always felt that way, too. Don’t think for a minute that I want to be friends with him, but I have learned to forgive the child he was. He’s a man now and he’s paying his debt to society. I spoke with his lawyer before I spoke with him, and got his permission.”
“Were you going to ask my permission?” he asked angrily and I froze.
“No, I was going to have a conversation with you about what I was planning, but I can tell that’s not a good idea. I didn’t know I was still twelve and needed permission to talk to someone.”
“You need my permission when it comes to Sam McDonnell,” he ground out. “You’re never going near the man.”
I stood and left the room. I didn’t want to say something in anger that I would regret when the angry moment passed. I had thought about this for a long time and I think it’s a good idea. One that would be beneficial to new college students, and I think it deserves a chance. I’m not condoning what he did, nor am I planning to be best buds with the guy. Maybe Trey is the one who needs to learn some forgiveness on this early Christmas morning. I went into the kitchen and got the milk from the fridge, pouring myself a glass and setting it into the microwave for a minute to warm it.
Maybe I’m not being fair to Trey when it comes to Sam. Maybe he thinks because he picked up the pieces of my life and put them back together, he has a right to control whom I do and don’t talk to now. The only problem I have with that thinking is his assumption that I didn’t have an excellent reason for doing it, considering he hasn’t heard my reasoning. Leave it to talk of Sam to drive a wedge between us on tonight of all nights. Now I remember why I didn’t tell him about it last week.
The microwave beeped and I took the cup out, leaning against the counter and sipping it, the warm liquid feeling good on my dry throat. He hadn’t followed me from the bedroom, which meant he was in there brooding about all of it, or angry. I looked down into the milk and saw his face that day he picked me up from Drakos Agape and carried me into this house, his arms firmly around me.
