CH 3 - #memories
Rhys
Song: “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do” by Brantley Gilbert
“HEY! WHAT ARE you doing here?” I asked Jackson. He had stopped by one of our family’s B&Bs that I was getting ready for weekend renters.
“I wanted to let you know that Riley is in town.”
“You could’ve texted me.”
“Just giving you a heads-up, man. I figured it’d be shocking if you ran into her because you haven’t seen her since you two broke up.”
“I have seen her but didn’t tell you.”
Jackson jerked his head back in surprise. “When?”
“It was a couple of months ago at Blossom’s Florist. Riley, her momma, Rachel, and Macie were walking toward the entrance as I drove by. They didn’t see me, though. I guessed they were going there to pick out flowers for Riley’s wedding.”
“They were. Rachel told me what their plan was that day.”
I nodded. “Is Riley hanging out with her and Macie right now?”
“She is. They’re supposed to be ironing out the last of Riley’s wedding plans, plus figuring out where they’re going dress shopping tomorrow. They’ve already been twice, but Riley didn’t like any dresses she tried on.”
I glanced around the living room and let out a heavy sigh.
“Sorry. I shouldn’t have told you all that,” my brother said.
“No, it’s fine. It is what it fucking is.”
“Why don’t you meet me at Cheers and Beers later? We’ll blow off some steam.”
“What about Rachel? No hot date with her tonight?”
“Nope. Her sister and Macie have temporarily replaced me.”
“Then I’ll see you around nine o’clock.”
After Jackson left, I finished what I’d been doing and then made a final walk-through in B&B #8 to ensure everything was in place. As I was backing out of the driveway to go home, I remembered I was out of coffee and headed to the grocery store instead.
While returning to my truck with a Community Coffee New Orleans Blend K-cup box, I noticed three young women heading toward the store’s entrance. The one with long black hair and eyes like emeralds made my heart race and my stomach knot up. It was my ex-girlfriend, Riley. She was with her sister, Rachel, who was my brother’s wife. Macie—Riley’s best friend since first grade—was also with her.
I slowed my pace and kept watching the trio, smiling and talking to each other. Then Riley noticed me, her eyes locking with mine and her lips parting. A moment later, she looked away, obviously as shaken to see me as I was her.
“Hey, Rhys!” Macie said, jogging up to me.
I knew she’d done that because it was awkward for Riley and me to come face-to-face again after all this time. Macie wanted to smooth over the situation, but there was nothing to worry about.
“Hey.”
“How are you doing?”
“I’m okay. You?”
“Hungry. Riley, Rachel, and I all are. Wine munchies, you know?”
I nodded while stealing a glance at Riley. She’d come to a standstill a few yards away. Her sister had just walked up and reached out to hug me.
“Good to see you, brother-in-law,” she said, smiling.
I wrapped my arms around her and squeezed her tight. “How are you, sweet one?”
“I’m happy to have my big sister home.”
I nodded my understanding and then looked over at Riley, keeping my eyes on her this time. I could tell she was nervous because she kept standing back and fidgeting with her hands. She also had red splotches on her upper chest and neck.
I learned about that tell-tale sign on her skin when we first started dating in high school. The splotches would also appear whenever Riley was aroused, but that wasn’t the case with her now. She just didn’t know how to be around me since we were no longer together, so I decided to greet her, hoping it’d put us both at ease.
Walking toward her, I held out my hand to shake hers.
“Hey, Riley,” I said.
She slipped her warm hand into mine. It was trembling. “Hey.”
“How’ve you been?”
“Good. You?”
“Hanging in there.”
She gave me a sympathetic smile. “My girls told me about what Trisha did to you. I’m so sorry that happened. It was wrong. Terribly wrong.”
“Trisha was a mistake and one that I won’t repeat.”
Our conversation stopped there and we stared into each other’s eyes. I didn’t know what Riley was thinking but knew where my mind had just traveled. It was the day that Riley ended us out of the blue. Although she didn’t say it before walking away, I wondered if she thought I was a mistake. Hell, I still did. She wasn’t one for me, though. She was the best thing that’d ever happened to me. It didn’t matter that I was unable to keep her.
“Even with all that you’ve been through, you look really well, Rhys,” she said, surprising me.
“Thanks. You look really well, too—but you always have.”
Her hand was still in mine and I didn’t want to let it go. But I couldn’t keep touching Riley because it was making me remember and feel too many things. So I let go of her hand and dropped my arm at my side.
“It was good to see you again,” I said, looking over her beautiful face and noting that she still had the tiny diamond piercing in the side of her nose.
“It was good to see you. It’s been a minute.”
I half-laughed. “Yeah, it has been. Have fun with your girls tonight.”
“I always do.”
“Bye, Riley,” I said, taking a step back.
“Bye.”
I’d just turned around to leave when she said my name.
“Yeah?” I asked, facing her again.
“Take care of yourself. Okay?”
“I will. You do the same.”
Our conversation stopped again and we stared at each other like before. As the seconds passed, I could feel myself being pulled to Riley like a magnet. She still had such an overpowering effect on me and probably always would.
“Hey, Rhys?” Macie said, breaking the trance that I was in. “We’re going to see Ms. Lenora after we leave here. Would you like to go with us and let her predict your future?”
“I appreciate the invitation, but I already know my future. It’s living right here in Cypress Hills.”
I looked back at Riley and she softly smiled at me. After doing the same to her, I told Macie and Rachel goodbye and started walking to my truck across the parking lot.
A few miles from my house on the lake, I dropped my head when Brantley Gilbert’s song “You Don’t Know Her Like I Do” started playing on my radio. The last time I heard it was when Riley ended us.
After watching her drive away, I went over to the swing on my parents’ front porch, sat down, and had the most brutal cry of my life. Thankfully, my parents weren’t at home when all of that happened. I needed to be alone, but afterward, I wanted some company.
I started to call my brother to ask him to meet me at Cheers and Beers, but I decided against it because I felt that directly involving him in what had happened between Riley and me wouldn’t be wise. Since he was married to Rachel, it would’ve put him in an awkward position, and I didn’t want that for him. So I called my buddy, Colton, instead, and he was there to join me in drowning out my pain.
We were sitting at the bar with our glasses of whiskey in our hands and he began criticizing Riley for breaking up with me. He had just called her “heartless and selfish” when Brantley Gilbert’s song started playing on the jukebox. I asked him if he’d ever heard of it, and he said no. It was then that I enlightened him about the song’s forgiving message. Afterward, he didn’t say another critical word about Riley.
He didn’t know her like I did or what she and I had been through. Even though Colton meant well by jumping into my corner, I couldn’t take listening to him or anyone cutting down the love of my life. It didn’t matter that she had torn my world apart.
I pulled up in front of my house and sat in my truck until the song ended. Then I killed the engine and stared at the tattoo on the base of my ring finger. It was a key that went to the heart-shaped locket tattooed on Riley’s ring finger.
Earlier, I glanced at her left hand to see if the ink was still there, and it was. I spotted part of the locket peeking out from underneath Riley’s diamond engagement ring. I knew it was wrong, but I was happy that she still had half of our couple’s tattoos on her skin. As for the key on my finger, it would always be there.