Story in progress

It was perfect jeep weather. The afternoons cooled off early and the evenings were warm and balmy. It was a nice change from the ninety-degree temperatures that plagued the West for the last few months. Even though there were only a few months out of the year in Arizona that allowed for nice jeep weather, Tyler Denny had always wanted a jeep. When he was younger he liked to picture himself cruising around town with the top off, wearing sunglasses so he could check out the girls without them knowing it, pausing at stoplights with the radio blaring and drawing the attention of other drivers. That dream came true when he turned eighteen and found a used jeep for sale within his price range. He had to bring his dad along for the test drive since he couldn’t drive a five-speed transmission, something he felt embarrassed about when he saw the long-legged blonde who was the seller of the vehicle. But in the end, he got the jeep, and the attention of its previous owner. 
         Tyler had always had a way with people, especially the ladies. He had a charismatic way about him, and he could charm anyone with his dark brown eyes and crooked smile. But it wasn’t so much his looks that won people over. He was actually just an ordinary looking young man. Tall, with a stocky build and fair skin. He came from a line of Hispanic mobsters on his maternal grandfather’s side. He had never met his biological father, but was adopted by his mother’s husband when he was just four. He always claimed he was Mexican, but the pale skin that never tanned and burned frequently gave him away. It was part of his charm, and Tyler learned early on that charm is what gets you places in life.
Besides charm, it was his goofy personality that kept people interested. He knew just when to be serious and when to bring on the compliments. He knew how to play into your emotions. To be regretful when he’d been caught doing something wrong, charming when he wanted to get his way. No one could say they didn’t like Tyler Denny. He knew exactly what to say in every situation to get his way, and to come out in the end looking as if he hadn’t had to do a thing to get it. It was that type of personality that won him the award for “Most Outgoing” his senior year in high school. He had been edging for “Best Personality”, careful to not come right out and petition himself for it. When his name was called for “Most Outgoing” there was a small wince of disappointment for not getting “Best Personality”, a far more esteemed prize in his eye.
         That seemed like lifetimes ago to Tyler as he sped down the street fumbling for his cigarette lighter in the glove compartment. High school awards and dreams of jeeps didn’t matter at all at this point. His life had cracked just a few short days ago and now it was going to explode right in front of him. His parents were reasonable people, making mistakes of their own and surely paying for it. But the disappointment he knew he’d see in their eyes tonight was enough to make him want to drive right into the red and orange sunset that was beckoning in front of him. His mother wanted more for him, for him to learn from her own mistakes. And here he was walking the same line she had walked eighteen years earlier.
         The vibrating of his pager made Tyler give up on finding the lighter and reach for the pager instead. It was Liz, wondering why he was so late no doubt. Her house was only a few blocks away from his and they had agreed he’d pick her up no later than 6:30 so they could prepare themselves for the meeting with his parents. Tyler checked the clock on the dashboard, 6:50. What had he been doing this whole time to make him so late? At this point he’d have to pull up to her house and honk to let her know he was there so they wouldn’t be late getting back to his house. He hoped her father wasn’t home. Not coming to the door and just honking to beckon his daughter outside wouldn’t go over well, especially after what he would inevitably find out in the next few days.
         They agreed to tell Tyler’s parent’s first. His mother had been through this before so they assumed she would be more understanding. Liz’s parents were another story. She came from an upper-middle class upbringing, having granted her her own car when she turned sixteen and a fully paid for higher education at the school of her choice. Though she was intrigued and accepted to a state University in California, and it had always been her dream to move to California and live with her aunt at her bed and breakfast, in the end she settled for the state University in her own state of Arizona. Her idea of living with her aunt was just that, an idea, and the dorm room she toured was the size of her bathroom at home, not to mention she wouldn’t even have her own bathroom if she chose the school in California. Freshman couldn’t live in the single room dorms, so she would be forced to share a bathroom and a room with a stranger. Liz was an only child, and though she didn’t act like the stereotypical spoiled brat with no siblings, she wasn’t keen on sharing rooms or bathrooms. And since her parents weren’t crazy about her finding a place to live off-campus, at least not her first year there, it was enough to make her settle and to stay in-state.
And then there was Tyler. She couldn’t imagine leaving him for months at a time, and she knew his family couldn’t afford to send him to college. They lived paycheck to paycheck ever since their restaurant failed three years ago. And Tyler wasn’t interested in college. Not the schooling anyway. The college parties and the girls would have lured him if his grades had been good enough for him to be accepted anywhere.
         So it was settled. Liz would stay in Arizona and go to school and work part-time, and Tyler would work and save up for the ring he kept promising Liz he would buy for her. One carat in the center and ½ carats on the sides, gold band, size 4 ½. They talked often about their future. They would go down to the park and lie by the lake on a blanket and feed the ducks until it got dark. They talked about names for the two children they would have, that soon turned into three, and then four. Two boys and two girls, in that order. It was all planned out. In four years Liz would have her degree and become a successful professional counselor, and Tyler would, well he didn’t know what he was going to do yet but it would be great and their life would be great because they’d be together and live out the dream they had created together during those long talks by the lake.
         Now the dream was almost real, but not in the way that it was supposed to be. It was supposed to happen years later when they had careers and a house and financial stability. Now they were poor, barely graduated from high school, and living with their parents. It was certainly not the time to start building the components of the dream. In fact, it wasn’t long ago that there wasn’t even a possibility of the dream becoming reality. Liz had wanted to wait. And she had waited, and Tyler was patient. Like any teenage boy though, the hormones were running wild and his capability for charm and persuasion lead the way to that first time. Liz had drowned in his stream of soft whispers and promises of ecstasy. She willfully accepted his servings of compliments and soft touches. She knew he was one-hundred percent sincere and that he would never do anything to hurt her. She ended up giving herself to him the night before their Senior Prom. It was magical as she had always dreamed, and it seemed to thrust them into a deeper part of their relationship. After that they were connected as one, and Liz felt closer to Tyler than ever. Each time after was like a special gift they gave each other. They were young and in love and refused to accept the possibility that someday their actions could lead to consequences.
         Until that fateful day. They were down by the lake when she told him. She hadn’t told anyone. She was so emotional; she didn’t know what to think. She was happy and sad and frightened and anxious, all at the same time. She knew though in the deepest part of her heart that Tyler would stand by her. She never doubted that he would hold her and rock her and tell her everything would be ok. And that’s exactly what he did. They made a plan to tell his parents and then figure out where to go from there.
         The time to do that was now. Tossing his pager on the front seat, Tyler reached for the glove compartment again to find his lighter. His smoking habit had increased to a pack a day since Liz broke the news to him three days ago. He cursed himself for not fixing the cigarette lighter installed in the jeep. It would have been convenient right now. Blink 182’s Dammit was blaring from the CD player. The sun was just about to set, sending that piercing last stream of light directly into Tyler’s windshield.
         “Damn it”, he cursed. “I know I threw a lighter in here,” he said out loud. His pager went off again. No doubt it was Liz. He pushed the gas pedal to the floor. The least of his worries at this point was getting a speeding ticket. The only thought in his head was how he was going to manage being a father at eighteen. And how was he going to explain it to his family, and more importantly to her family. He’d swooped in and robbed their only child of her innocence and destroyed their expectations of a respectful and opportunistic life. He blinked, and tried to shake the thoughts out of his head. What was he just doing? Right, still looking for that lighter. How long had he been driving? Liz’s house was only ten minutes away. It seemed as if he’d been looking for that lighter and recounting the last year of his life for the last hour. He needed a smoke before he picked Liz up, to calm his nerves and get his head together. He looked ahead to take in the traffic. No one on the road in front of him, only a delivery truck parked in an alley a few hundred yards up. Well at least he had no traffic in his favor. Someone was looking out for him in that regard, even if only to give him a quick second to look for the lighter. He took his eyes off the road and put his full attention on the glove compartment. It was a bright orange lighter, it couldn’t be that hard to spot in the second he had before needing to concentrate back on the road.
         “There you are you bastard!” He looked back at the road just in time to see the truck in front of him.