I gave Kayla one final hug before she left with her horseback riding trainer, Ann, and her horse, General, on their voyage to Vermont. It would be a long haul with a trailer going all the way to Vermont, and from what Kayla had told me, General did not fare well in new places. I was a little worried about how he’d handle going north. “Kayla be careful, you know what happened in Kentucky.”
“Well even if he does dump me I’m not going to be at a show at least.”
“Still, be careful.” I had taken up a bit of a motherly role to Kayla, since our mother was always at work, or on the phone, or somewhere. Like now. Mom decided she had to stop in at the office this morning, and Dad went golfing, starting his vacation from the kids early I suppose, so I had to take Kayla to the barn and say the last goodbyes. All the Be Careful! and Don’t-Forget-To-Call-Me! fell on my shoulders, and because of it, my thirteen-year-old sister and I were incredibly close. “Did you remember everything?”
“Definitely, I checked all my stuff twice.”
“Your phone?”
“Yeah I’ve got it.” She patted her pocket, but nothing was there. “Oh no! Where is it? Oh my gosh, did I leave it at home?” Kayla never went anywhere without forgetting something.
“Lucky you, I grabbed this off the counter on our way out this morning. Now you wouldn’t have been the only distraught one if you’d forgotten this. You know that right?”
“Definitely. I really hope I didn’t forget anything else major.”
“I don’t think so, but what about everything for General?”
“I went through the trailer yesterday, everything’s there.”
We both paused for a moment.
“We’re going to be so far away from each other, and for so long. I don’t know if I can take it.” I started.
“I’ll call you whenever I can, you know that.”
I tried to stop myself from tearing up. After the last few months, I’d had pretty good practice with holding back emotions. “You need to have fun okay? And hopefully General will enjoy it too.”
“I’ll try. I don’t know about him though… Rose, I’ll miss you so much.”
“Me too…”
“Let’s go!” Ann called from the truck, “We’re gonna hit traffic if we don’t leave soon, and General won’t stand in the trailer longer than he needs to.” She turned the key and the engine roared to life. I heard a loud whinny from the trailer.
“I’m coming!” Kayla smiled up at me and got into the truck and closed the door. She began waving from the passenger seat. I leaned back against my car and waved back. The truck and trailer slowly made their way down the driveway, and turned right. Kayla waved again until I couldn’t see her anymore. I forced a smile as I gave a final wave back.
I got in my car and decided to stop by Strum and Pick on my way home, since it was right on the way. I made the realization again that this was the last time I’d get to see Jake. I cringed at the thought. Ranting about a song over the phone could never match meeting him and having a guitar circle as we would call our impromptu jam sessions. It wasn’t much of a circle though, just the two of us for a while after school in the band room or at Strum and Pick.
When I got to the store and walked in, I was greeted by the familiar stale smell of new guitar cases and a couple people playing guitars in the background. Jake stood at the counter restringing an acoustic. Behind him, the entire wall was covered by two rows of electrics, and on the other side of the store acoustics. Jake claims that he’s played all of them. It really makes me wonder how much work he actually does, or if he just spends the whole time playing around on guitars he doesn’t own. It must be fun getting paid for playing.
I heard Jake curse under his breath as I walked over to the counter, “Oh, hi Rose. Gah, I hate when this happens. Almost every time I restring an acoustic, at least one bridge pin breaks and or gets lost. I’m lucky I still get paid with the damage I’ve done. Do you see the one I just dropped?”
I picked one of his dreaded pins off the floor, “Is this it?”
“Yeah thanks.” He immediately set it in a dish next to the guitar with the other five pins. “So when are you headed out?”
“Monday, 10:45 AM out of Newark. Direct flight to hick-town.”
“Don’t disrespect Nashville like that. I know you hate the entire state, but you could at least give it some respect,” Jake had family in Knoxville, in east Tennessee. He was rather fond of the place, which I totally did not understand in the least. “Actually I’m quite jealous. So I guess that leaves me stuck… Uh… here. In this place.”
“Nice one, Captain Comeback. So, did you decide to make me pay for the strings?”
“Oh wait right. Here they are.” He pulled two sets of strings out from under the counter. “I really don’t know how you play extra lights. They’re so thin. Whenever I use them they break.”
“Don’t disrespect my fingers like that. I can’t help it that yours are twice the size of mine. And that you tend to get a bit… violent when you play.”
“It’s called expression. And big fingers are all the better for owning you at Guitar Hero.”
“Fine. I’ll give you that one. Y’know, I’m gonna miss coming here. I’m so used to just dropping in whenever I want and getting free stuff. I might actually have to pay for something. It’s a scary thought.”
“Well I make you pay for your guitars.”
“Yeah. Only because you’d have to work a year to afford Gloria.” Gloria was my beloved green electric guitar, my favorite ever. My parents bought her for my sixteenth birthday. Go figure. I was much more excited when I found her in a case in the trunk of my Mustang than when I was when I saw the car.
“Well… so? I can play whatever guitar I want, whenever I want. I just can’t leave the store with it.”
“Oh whatever.” I sighed, “I guess I’d better head home and finish packing for my doom trip.”
“Good idea. Just don’t forget the strings.”
“I won’t.” I stepped around the counter to give him a final hug. “Have fun with that acoustic anyway.”
“Of course I will. It hates me too. I can just feel it.”
For someone who claims to listen to country, and love the state home to Nashville, Jake was terribly cold to acoustics. I’ll call you as soon as I get in Monday, kay?”
“Just don’t do too much writing without me. Or find someone else who you’d let listen to a song first.”
“Don’t worry I won’t. I’ll miss you.”
“Me too.” Jake smiled.
I headed toward the door, strings in hand.
“Call me whenever you want, Rose.”
“Don’t worry, you know I will.”
]
