178…
The cabin had been a wedding present from her dad and for the next year, Daryl and Beth got up there as often as they could, fixing it up to make it habitable again after years of complete neglect. It was in the middle of nowhere, in the northern mountains and woods of the state. In addition to the cabin – which had hardly cost him anything at all – Hershel also paid for solar panels and a well and water tank so they could have electricity and running water.
Beth knew that if they didn't have actual jobs, Daryl would move them up to their cabin in an instant where they could spend the rest of their lives as hermits.
At the moment, they could only make it up there every other weekend.
"I hate that you can't call me up there," Hershel frowned as Beth and Daryl stopped off at the farm.
"I'll call when we stop at the store," Beth promised her dad with another hug. "And hopefully, we can get the radio working this weekend."
Hershel smiled and kissed her on the side of her head before turning to his son-in-law. "Take care of her, son," he said and Daryl smiled a little like he always did when Hershel called him that.
"Always," Daryl promised as they shook hands.
Beth gave Herself one more hug. "I'll call you soon!" She promised as she and Daryl climbed into their truck and Hershel watched them from the bottom step of the front porch, his hand in the air, as they drove down the dirt drive.
…
They met in a Cracker Barrel. Beth was a waitress and the restaurant was on Daryl's delivery route. He would always stop in for breakfast or dinner, depending the time of day.
Beth was his waitress the first time he stopped and as silly as it probably sounded to anyone else, Beth still remembered the exact thing he ordered. Meatloaf with green beans, carrots and the mac and cheese with the buttermilk biscuits. He barely talked and her section was a bit crowded that evening, but she made sure to check on him a few times and make sure he never got low on Coke.
He left her a ten dollar tip and she thought it was a mistake; so much so that she hurried after him just as he was walking into the parking lot.
"Sir!"
He instantly turned and she nearly ran into him. She skidded to a sudden stop.
"I think you left me the wrong bill by mistake," Beth said, holding the ten out towards him.
He looked at her for a second before glancing down to the bill. "Nah, that's the right one. You were good."
And he turned, continuing on his way, leaving Beth there, and she never expected to see him again.
So when he walked back into the restaurant, two days later, and was sat in her section again, Beth felt herself instantly smiling at the sight of him. She tried to hide it when she came to his table, but knew she was failing miserably.
"You're back," she stated the obvious.
And he looked up at her from his seat and smirked a little. "Looks that way."
Three days after that, he was back and another two days after that, he was back. The third time, Beth asked him for his name. By the fourth time, Daryl asked the hostess outright if Beth was working and if he could sit in her section. The fifth time, she asked what he did that always had him in and out of a random Cracker Barrel next to a random exit of a highway in Georgia.
He worked as an auto parts delivery driver – his main route between Atlanta and Columbia, South Carolina. And this Cracker Barrel just happened to be right on his route.
"Lucky for me," Beth smiled at that and blushed a little when she saw his ears begin to turn pink.
"Lucky for me, too," he then mumbled shyly and she just kept smiling.
Two more meals after that, Daryl asked if she would ever like to eat someplace else – with him. And after their first date at Cane's Chicken Fingers, that was the first time Beth kissed him.
…
"What is going on with traffic today?" Beth wondered, looking ahead through the windshield to see more brake lights ahead of them.
"And it's all comin' from the south," Daryl noted, frowning heavily. "Like everyone decided to leave Atlanta all at once."
"It is a beautiful day. Weekend getaways, maybe?"
"Jus' wanna get out of this mess," he muttered, turning the dial on the truck's radio, searching for a traffic report of some kind to let him know what the hell was going on.
Beth opened up the app on her phone and began to search. She then lifted her head to see where they were. The two lanes were jammed with cars and semis, the honking constant; as if that would help everyone move faster along.
"Get into the right lane when you can," Beth said, looking back to her screen. "We're going to get off at exit 27B in a couple of miles. There's a dirt road we can take that will hook up eventually with another road that will get us there. If you can get over."
"'m gettin' us over if it kills us."
Beth smiled. "That will kind of defeat the purpose, but whatever you think is best."
…
The general store was owned by a man named Andy and like everything in that particular area, it was in the middle of nowhere; about fifteen miles away from their cabin and the closest thing to civilization there was. They always stopped at Andy's before heading the rest of the way to the cabin.
"Anythin' yet?" Daryl asked as Beth sat next to him, frowning as she held her cell phone to her ear.
"It's still busy," she sighed, pulling the phone back to look at the screen; as if, somehow, she had called someone other than her daddy in her contacts list.
"Maybe he's talkin' to your sister," Daryl suggested. "Didn' you say one of the farms was expectin' a calf? Maybe he's talkin' to 'em about that."
Beth sighed and ended the call that just kept signaling busy. "You're probably right. I'll try again later."
Outside of the truck, Beth stretched her arms over her head and looked around for a moment. Thank God the traffic hadn't followed them. It was so quiet up here and before Daryl, she never though she would love it as much as she actually did. She didn't want to say that she married a hermit, but considering how much Daryl liked to be on his own, she might as well have. And in marrying him, she had learned how wonderful and freeing it could be; being out here with so few other people around.
"Come on, girl," Beth turned back to the truck with a smile and patted her thigh.
Their black and tan coonhound, Martha, jumped down from the bench seat where she sat between Beth and Daryl and shook herself off. Beth gave her a good rub behind her ear.
"Stay out here and don't get in too much trouble," Beth said and Martha pushed her head into Beth's thigh in response to that.
Daryl came around the truck and gave Martha an ear rub, too, before he climbed the step to the store's front door and held it open for Beth to walk through first.
"Hi, Andy," Beth greeted the older man behind the counter with a smile, but it faded when she looked at him. "Are you feeling alright?" He looked tired and pale.
"Not really, to be honest," Andy shook his head. "But I'll be fine. Just that season, you know? I have all of your boxes ready to go. Daryl, you want to double-check that I haven't missed anything?"
"Not sure why you would. Never have before," Daryl shrugged, but began following him to the back room where his and Beth's order was stacked, Beth following behind both of them.
"Just 'cause I'm sick. Might have forgotten something because of my cold."
Daryl had called in an order to Andy's a couple of days before of things he and Beth would need at the cabin – both for this weekend and now that it was completely finished, to start stocking it up. It was Daryl's goal – and hope – that someday, he and Beth would be able to spend much more than a weekend up here. They weren't there yet, but he still wanted to be ready for when they were; when they won the lottery and didn't have to work for a living anymore.
Daryl and Beth went through their order – cans, bags, and boxes of food, toilet paper, salt, sugar, flour, random spices, matches, rope, a first-aid kit, a pack of bottled water, extra bolts for his crossbow, a couple of boxes of shells for the shotgun, a bag of dog kibble for Martha and Andy had the few containers of gasoline for them waiting outside already.
"Was thinkin' of gettin' a gallon of paint, too," Daryl said as they all began carrying the boxes outside to put into the bed of their truck.
"What are we going to paint?" Beth asked.
"You said your dream house had a pink door," he shrugged and like Daryl to be, he was casual about it. He was always casual about just nearly everything; whether it deserved casualness or not.
Beth saw no reason why she shouldn't find it so amazing and touching that he'd remember that. She said so many random things a day and for Daryl to not only remember the color she always wanted her front door to be to volunteering their mountain cabin door to be that color, her husband definitely deserved a kiss for that.
So she kissed him right then and there; even in front of Andy.
Not that Andy would really notice, it seemed. He was too busy coughing.
"You need soup and tea, Andy," Beth told him, frowning with concern.
He waved her off. "I'll be fine. And sorry, Daryl. All out of pink paint."
Daryl smiled a little. "Figured you might be." He then looked to Beth. "I'll head inside and pay. Wanna call your dad again?"
"Sounds good," Beth agreed and as Daryl followed Andy back into the store, Beth pulled out her cell phone and leaned against the side of their truck, hitting her dad's contact information.
She smiled when she saw Martha come trotting from the woods behind Andy's store, but that faded when she only heard the busy signal from the other end of the phone. Still busy. Where was her daddy? Was his phone down? Did something happen? Or was he really talking with someone this long on his end?
Beth crouched down and Martha came straight to her, looking for love and affection, and as she rubbed the dog behind one of her ears, Beth hit her dad's number to call him again.
Hearing a growing sound in the air, a chopping sound, she tilted her head up and saw a helicopter flying overhead, followed by a second and then a third. They were heading south towards Atlanta.
Beth's frown grew as the busy signal, again, filled her ear. What the heck was going on today?
…
I had a new idea. Let's see (and hope) if it leads somewhere. THANK YOU!
