Prologue

August 1993, Richmond, Virginia

"I can't do this…" Carmen Andrews groaned for at least the millionth time in the last hour. She ran a shaky hand through her long caramel hair, her gray eyes resting on the man in front of her. "I just can't…"

Elliott Sadler smiled softly and cupped her face in his hands. "Yes, you can. Listen to me. You need to do this for your mom's sake, if not for your own. This scholarship means the world to both of you and you'll hate yourself if you don't go through with it." He kissed her gently on the lips and pulled her tightly against him, his body wrapping around her protectively.

She sniffled against his chest and closed her eyes. She knew he was right. There was no way her mom could afford for her to go to college without this scholarship and if she passed it up she'd be stuck cleaning transmissions for her brother for the rest of her life. He couldn't afford college and now where was he? Running the family garage. Not that there was anything wrong with it, her grandfather had opened it fresh out of high school and business was still growing but she wanted better than that.

When her guidance counselor had informed her that the Art Institute in Atlanta was offering her a scholarship she'd been beside herself. This was her chance to make it big. But that meant leaving behind her mom, her brother and her Elliott.

She tightened her arms around his waist inhaling his scent, not knowing when she would get the chance again. This was the first time since preschool that they would be apart longer than a few days and she didn't think she was going to survive. He was her rock.

Flight 91 to Atlanta is now boarding at Gate C.

She straightened pulling herself out of his embrace, fighting every fiber in her body to pull away. "I'll be home for Thanksgiving, alright."

He smiled and smoothed her hair, gently wiping her tear-stained cheeks. "I'll be here." He kissed her. A slow, gently, loving kiss. A kiss that held all the promise in the world.

"Take care of Chessa for me, okay," Carmen reminded him, speaking of her 6-month-old Chesapeake Bay Retriever. "And don't let Charlie torture her too much."

Elliott smiled and kissed her forehead. He was going to miss her. She was everything to him and she was leaving. He wasn't going to stop her though. She needed this and he was going to be at James Mad on a basketball scholarship, everything was going to be great for them when they graduated.

He watched her walk towards the gate, not surprised when she stopped and ran back to him, throwing herself in his arms. "I love you CJ…" he whispered.

She smiled and kissed him quickly. "I love you too. I'll call you when I get to school."

He nodded, trying to hide the pain he felt as she disappeared into the crowd. She'd been his shadow since they met forever ago, his best friend Charlie's little sister. A tomboy to the hilt, she was their tagalong, anything they did, she could do too until one day everything changed. One day he woke up and she was different. No longer was she just one of the guys, she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen.

He'd asked her to be his girlfriend the first day of sophomore year and till this day that's what she was. One day she'd be more than that. That was why he was so eager for her to get her education and why he was so ready to get his. He wanted to give her anything she asked for and he couldn't do that on a Sadler Auto Centers paycheck.

May 1995, Emporia, Virginia

"Carmen Julie Andrews get your butt in this house young lady and give me a hug?!" Deirdre Andrews called to her daughter as she and Charlie pulled into the driveway. She smiled at the young woman her daughter had become. In the past to years the last bit of baby fat had all but disappeared and she was absolutely gorgeous. *After all she has her momma's genes.*

Carmen ran up the porch steps and into her mother's arms. "Hey momma! I've missed you so much!" She hugged her mother so hard she wasn't surprised when she asked her to let up. She'd missed being home. Now she had at least 3 months to get sick of it again before going back to school. She'd decided after attending classes last summer in hopes of graduating early that she just couldn't do it anymore. She definitely needed time to regroup and catch up with Elliott. Speaking of, where was he?

She pulled away from her mom and looked around the living room, into the dining room and kitchen searching for him. "Um, ma? Where's Elliott? I thought he was going to be here."

A worried glance passed between Charlie and her mom.

"What? Oh God… did something happen? Did he get hurt? I told him to stop racing those damn cars…" She had, too. When she came home for Christmas this past year he'd just started racing late model stock cars, by far the stupidest thing he'd ever done as far as she was concerned but other than telling him it wasn't safe, she'd kept her mouth shut. He came from a long line of racers and there was no way something she said was going to make him stop. She just decided to be proud of him and his accomplishments, which from the size of his trophy collection was quite large.

He'd quite school shortly after freshman year due to a knee injury that pretty much killed his chances of playing basketball. No play ball, no scholarship. Almost immediately he was back in a car.

Charlie cleared his throat nervously. "He didn't get hurt C.J., he's just…"

"What? He's just what Charlie? Why isn't he here? He's supposed to be here." Carmen new she was whining but she didn't care. She wanted to see Elliott.

"He's gone." Charlie finally got the words out not quite sure what to expect from his sister. He knew this was going to be hard. He'd nearly killed Elliott when he found out he was leaving but he'd been given an amazing opportunity and he couldn't blame him for going with it.

Carmen's heart stopped. "Gone?" She carefully made it to the couch before her legs gave out on her and she collapsed. "Where'd he go? Do you know? Did…Did he just leave without telling anyone? Why didn't he tell me? Dammit this isn't fair. What the hell is going on?!"

Dierdra rushed to Carmen's side and wrapped her arms around her daughter, gently rocking her as she cried. She knew that Carmen wasn't going to take this well but there was nothing she could do but be there for her. Elliott was like a son to her and she supported him in everything he was doing but not telling Carmen he was leaving was one thing she didn't support.

Charlie shrugged. It was true. He knew what Elliott was doing, but he had no clue where he was. He was supposed to have called once he got settled. He was supposed to call today knowing that Carmen was going to be home but he hadn't heard a thing.

He glanced at the answering machine but there were no messages. He just didn't know what to tell Carmen that was going to make things better.

"All I can tell you, sis, is that he's got a contract with a small race team. He's racing or going to be racing. He's been tearing it up on the late model circuit and they're jumping at the bit to sign him. This is his chance to make it big CJ. But I don't know where he is or anything else. I haven't talked to him since he left."

Carmen chewed on her bottom lip, something she'd always done when she was upset or nervous. Something Elliott had always teased her about. "I think I'm gonna go for a drive," she said quickly. Rushing towards the front door, stopping only long enough to grab her mom's keys off of the hook by the front door.

Dierdra watched her son closely as he picked at his fingers. "Do you think she's going to be okay?" she asked, knowing that Charlie and Carmen were much closer than she and Carmen were. Not for lack of trying, it was just Carmen always wanted to be with her big brother.

He sighed heavily. "I don't know mom."

"What's with all the drama?" a voice called from the kitchen doorway.

Charlie looked over at Frank Phillips, a high school friend of his and Elliott's, he'd forgotten Frank was there. He'd left him when he'd gone to get Carmen in case Elliott called. "Frank, did anyone call while I was gone? I didn't see any messages but I figured if Elliott had called you would've picked up on the machine."

Frank shrugged his broad shoulders, his green eyes lacking any emotion as he responded. "Nope. Is C.J. gonna be okay?" he asked, a spark of light shining in his eyes as he put his old ball cap on his blond head.

"First of all don't call her that. And I have no idea," Charlie resigned, leaning back on this coach to cover his tired eyes with his hands. He didn't care if Frank was his friend or not, nobody was calling her C.J. but him and Elliott.

-next-

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