Chapter 1 #2
I know I sound like a kid in a candy store, asking for one of everything, but I’m genuinely curious what she’s got up her sleeve.
She sighs dreamily and rallies, her palms pressing to the counter to help her lift up. She twists, looking over her shoulder at me. “We’re going for a ride over to the pond and having a picnic.”
It’s simple and straightforward.
I love it. A whole day with Allyson all to myself.
That’s not what I say though. “Little cold for swimming, ain’t it?” That’s an understatement. The water is probably barely fifty degrees, and that’s when the spring sun’s been beating down on it all day. “We could just stay here where it’s warm enough we don’t even need clothes.”
Allyson spins in my arms, my soft cock leaving the haven of her pussy and I groan in disappointment. Even spent, I’d rather be inside her than not.
“Go get cleaned up and dressed,” she says, all queen of the house again and making me love it. “We’re leaving in ten minutes or Lollipop is likely to start eating the side of the house.”
Lollipop is a new horse Sophie talked Luke into rescuing, a supposed runt that his original owners didn’t want for some damnfool reason.
He’s a good one, or at least he will be once Luke gets done training him.
Lollipop started out a bit mannerless because his last owners didn’t teach him good habits, but Luke has made great headway with him, and Allyson has taken a liking to the pretty boy.
And Lollipop is a pretty horse, with flanks creamy as butter and dark legs. And he goes all soft and heart-eyed when Allyson scratches along the black stripe on his back. But he is still a nibbler and very well may take a chomp out of the house if we leave him waiting too long.
“I’ll be ready in five, don’t let that monster eat the living room from the outside in.”
Allyson
I hope he gets it. I hope he thinks it’s cute. I hope he doesn’t think it’s stupid.
My mind plays on repeat as we ride across the fields towards the pond behind the Bennett homestead.
It’s not too close to Mama Louise’s, a few acres away and over a rolling hill that places the pond at the bottom of a small valley, making it seem like a private country paradise.
Usually, it’s James and Sophie’s secret spot, but they helped me arrange everything today so I know they’ll leave us alone.
I hope he gets it. I hope he thinks it’s cute. I hope he doesn’t think it’s stupid.
It’s not negative self-talk, not really. It’s just that today is major and I want it all to go perfectly. This will be a story we tell each other around the fireplace fifty years from now, and the planner-perfectionist side of me hasn’t left anything to chance.
Except Bruce’s reaction.
I wrap my arms around his waist tighter, giving his wide berth a good squeeze. He pats my hands with one of his, enveloping me. “You okay?” He’s quiet, sensing there’s something going on with me but giving me the time and space to open up when I’m ready.
We’ve gotten so good at this. At talking, at being together, at being…
healthy. It wasn’t easy, and it didn’t always happen the first time.
I still gave him shit, making him pay for mistakes he didn’t make when I’d get scared at just how big my feelings for this man truly are and how vulnerable that made me.
But he’s been nothing but patient with me, usually kind but sometimes forceful when he needed to be, not letting me duck away from us.
It makes me feel free. He makes me feel free, safe in the cocoon of his strong arms and endless love.
Which is why I’m not really nervous about Bruce’s reaction. I’m excited. That’s what this buzz of butterflies in my belly is… anticipation.
We’re almost there, so I start the story I planned on telling.
“You remember when we first met?” I press my cheek to his back, the memories washing through me. I’d been a young girl, on the verge of a life-changing moment and not even knowing it. All I’d known was absolute horror at the prospect of giving a speech in front of my whole class.
“Speech class?” The vibration of his answer feels good against my cheek and I smile.
“I was so nervous and no one was listening- “
“I was listening to you.” He sounds offended, as if I dare question that he hangs on my every word.
To his point, he pretty much does. He’ll listen to me rant about how inaccurate Law and Order is, and how ridiculous Judge Judy is, even though I still binge watch every episode of both of them. They’re my guilty pleasures.
“Okay, so you were listening to me wax poetic about saving the ducks. But no one else was. I think that’s when we started falling in love.” I sigh dreamily, lost to the happy times of our youth before everything went wonky. Before everything got back on track.
Bruce snorts. “I was already half in love with you, that’s why I was listening to you talk about baby ducks.
I started falling in love with you on the first day of school when you walked into that class and sat down like you were holding court.
Blonde, blue-eyed cheerleader with a smile for everyone…
you fucking blew my mind. I pretty much started jacking off to mental pictures of you that night. ”
I make a noise of displeasure, but really, I’m blushing and pleased at the vulgar compliment. “Uh! So crude! I’m trying to be sweet and romantic here, and you’re ruining it.”
He drops his voice down low and grumbly, knowing exactly what it does to me. He’s not playing fair at all. “You didn’t mind me being crude a little while ago in the middle of your dream kitchen.”
“Well, that speech was when I started falling in love, and that’s a sweeter story, so I’m sticking with it.” I dig my chin into the bulky muscle of his shoulder, daring him to disagree. He merely grunts, so I take it as a win. “And that was when you asked me out too. Today’s that anniversary.”
I’m trying to time it just right.
We crest over the ridge, the pond stretched out below us, surrounded by its grassy drop-off shore and filled with… yellow rubber ducks.
Bruce’s barking laughter peals out loud and joyful over the hills of the ranch, and I revel in its lightness. My brutal monster of a man cracking up so hard he’s got tears leaking out of his eyes.
“What the fuck, Al? Did you fill the pond with ducks for our anniversary?” He’s twisting in the saddle, trying to see me and the pond at the same time.
I laugh too. “I did. I thought it’d be cute. Do you like it?” I’m grinning like a loon, not even needing his answer because I know he does.
“Come here.” Bruce’s voice has gone soft and frayed at the edges. He grabs my waist and pulls me to the front of him, my legs straddled backwards over his but Lollipop doesn’t even stumble a single step.
Good boy, Lollipop, I think, and then Bruce wipes every thought from my mind with a kiss.
His lips melt over mine, sweet and soft but deep with history.
He’s the boy I fell in love with so long ago, but he’s more than that.
I’m the girl he fell in love with so long ago, but I’m more than that now too.
Somehow, who we became is who we were always meant to be, twists and turns and all that just adding depth to the flavor of our love.
When we come up for breath, Bruce presses his forehead to mine, his palm heavy on my neck as he looks deep into my eyes. “I love the ducks. And I love you, Allyson Tannen. Always have, always will.”
Tears try to fall, stinging and burning at the corners of my eyes.
For so long, I cried at night, full of fear and doubts, until I almost gave up on caring and was empty inside, too much of a husk to cry.
But now… every tear I cry is of happiness because of the man in front of me.
He makes me so damn happy, makes our son so happy, and is the true love of my life.
“I love you too, Bruce Tannen. Always have, always will.”
We kiss again, not for the past, and not even for the present. But for the future, because it holds so much possibility now.
“What are we gonna do with a couple hundred rubber duckies, baby?” Bruce sounds like he’s still a little in shock at my crazy gift.
“Save them, of course,” I declare. “I’ve already got plans for them.”
He lifts one dark brow, probably trying to figure out what closet he’s going to store them in because he’d do that for me, no matter how crazy it sounds.
“Until July at least. Then we’re donating them to the town festival for their duck pond game. Every kid’s a winner.” I wave around invisible pompoms and smile, knowing he didn’t see that coming at all.
“Thank fuck! Though maybe we can keep one as a souvenir if you want?” He presses his lips together and nods like he’s making a big concession for me.
My big, gruff and growly cowboy has a sweet, romantic side and he wants that duck for himself, sure as the sun’s gonna set tonight, but I’ll let him blame me for it to save face.
I already know what a big teddy bear he is.
“Sure, we can keep one. Maybe we’ll paint a heart on it, put it on your nightstand so you can remember the day you asked me out and started falling in love with me.
” I raise a brow pointedly and he smiles.
“That sounds real nice, Al. That was such a great day, the start of us.” He places a sweet kiss to my forehead and Lollipop starts to wiggle. “Oops, guess we’re wearing out our welcome. Let’s get down to the pond and have lunch, let this guy roam a bit.”
I hug Bruce tight, putting my head on his shoulder and he hitches me up higher so I’m basically straddling him and not resting on the saddle at all.
This is not the way to ride a horse, it’s ridiculously awkward, a bit painful, and if Luke saw us, he’d probably cuss a blue-streak that we’re destroying Lollipop’s training, but I’m not letting go of Bruce right now, so we carefully and slowly meander towards the pond.
We’re going to celebrate where we began. And to celebrate where we are. And even though it was rough as fuck, to celebrate the road in between that brought us back together.