CH 18 - #confession
Rhys
I WOKE UP startled. Thankfully, it didn’t disturb Riley. She still had her head on my chest, sleeping soundly, and I still had my arms and legs wrapped around her, holding her as close as possible to me.
I could hear birds singing outside my bedroom windows and see traces of sunlight coming through the sheer curtains. When did Riley and I fall asleep last night? That wasn’t supposed to happen. What was she going to do when she woke up? Should I wake her? No, I shouldn’t. I was going to let her keep resting. There was nothing we could do about her daddy knowing we were more than friends.
Looking at Riley again, I smiled. Having her here with me like this was worth everything—even upsetting Mr. Martin, although I strongly sensed that he wasn’t in the least. He knew my intentions toward his daughter were pure and right. They always had been and always would be.
Riley began to stir, but I didn’t move or say anything because I wanted to see her reaction when she realized she’d spent the night with me. Three, two, one, and her eyes opened. Then she surveyed my bedroom and looked up at me.
“Good morning,” I whispered.
“I stayed here all night.”
“I didn’t intend for us to fall asleep.”
“Neither did I, but I’m glad we did.”
“What about your daddy?”
“I’m not worried about him anymore.”
“You changed your tune about that.”
“I needed to. It is my life, and really, I feel like my daddy is fine about us. He loves you just as much as my momma does.”
“And as much as my parents love you.”
“That makes me happy to hear.”
I ran my fingertips across Riley’s cheek. “It’s true. You’re the daughter they never had.”
“Like you’re the son my momma and daddy never had.”
“Sounds like you and I are a match made in heaven.”
“Yeah, it does.”
“Would you like a cup of coffee?”
“Please.”
“Still take yours with a teaspoon of sugar?”
“Why wouldn’t I?”
“You living in a big city and all, I didn’t know if your coffee preference got fancy and you like caramel, whipped cream, and stuff like that now.”
Riley shook her head no. “To me, the way I take it is fancy.”
“Give me a kiss, and I’ll get your java.”
“Even with this morning breath of mine?”
“It’s never bothered me. Does mine bother you?”
“Nothing about you bothers me.”
After Riley kissed me, I got up and looked over my shoulder at her, stretched out across my bed with her long black hair wisping across my pillow.
“What is it?” she asked.
“It’s just you.”
We smiled at each other, and then I headed to my kitchen. When I walked into it, I did a double take at the picture window above the sink.
“Riley, come here! You’ve got to see this!” I hollered.
She was by my side within seconds, staring at the two linked hearts drawn in the moisture outside the window.
“Your ghost?” she asked.
“Yep.”
“Unbelievable, yet so believable. I’ve got to take a picture of this.”
“Then text it to me.”
“And you text me the one you took of the sugar hearts on your counter.”
“Deal.”
Riley ran down the hallway to my bedroom to get her cellphone off my nightstand. When she returned, I noticed her worried look.
“What’s wrong?” I asked.
She held up her cellphone. “Chad texted me. He wants to talk to me in person.”
“When?”
“Today, here in town.”
I cleared my throat. “What do you want?”
“I don’t want to see him or hear his voice. I know a final talk is coming between us, but I’m not ready. When I am, I’ll return my engagement ring to him and get my things from his house.”
“I didn’t realize you’d been living with him.”
“I hadn’t. Over the past six months, I just left some of my clothes and stuff like that.”
I nodded, trying to reel in my quickly growing irritability about Chad contacting Riley. “Okay.”
“Until I leave on Sunday, all I want to do is spend time with my family, Macie, and especially you.”
“Then I suggest you let Chad know that in so many words. If you don’t, he’ll probably show up unannounced again.”
“He better not.”
“His track record speaks for itself, so I’d bet on him coming here either today or sometime over the weekend if he doesn’t get a reply from you.”
Riley searched my eyes and finally nodded. “I’ll text him back.”
She walked into my living room, sat on the couch, and began typing her message. I had just finished fixing her coffee and mine when she came up behind me and tapped me on the shoulder. I turned around and handed her cup to her.
“Thanks,” she said.
“You’re welcome.”
“Chad isn’t coming to Cypress Hills today or any day ever again.”
“How do you feel?”
“I just hope he’ll leave me alone from here on out. I ripped him a new one and should’ve done that after he sent me those flowers. If I had, I probably wouldn’t be dealing with him now.”
“What flowers?”
Riley’s eyes grew big. “Oh yeah. I didn’t tell you about them.”
“When did Chad send them?”
“On the day you saw me driving down to the bayou. My little ritual was throwing Chad’s vase of white tulips into the water. I didn’t want them, just like I didn’t want the cards I received from him yesterday. They were in the stack of mail that you laid on the kitchen counter at my momma and daddy’s.”
I took a deep breath, trying to reel in my irritability again. It was about to get the best of me.
“You’re angry,” Riley said, looking over my face.
“Not at you. Chad.”
“I’m sorry about all of this.”
“So am I. The asshole has a knack for ruining good moments between you and me.”
“Only if we let him.” Riley pointed at the picture window. “Look at what your ghost did for us this morning. I think she loves us and wants us to be happy.”
Hearing her say that made me smile. “I appreciate your positive spin on things.”
“I love you.”
“I love you.”
“Now, for my picture. I’ve got to take it before those hearts disappear.”
She took a sip of her coffee, set it on the island, and then captured the image on her cellphone while I stood back and captured hers on mine. Riley was beautiful anyway, but especially in the morning light.
“Okay, I’m texting the picture to you,” she said, glancing over at me.
“Mine’s on its way to you.”
After our exchange, I asked Riley if she was hungry. She was, but she didn’t have time for me to cook breakfast. She wanted to get back to her parents’ house before they left for work so she could talk to them.
“Have you changed your tune again?” I asked.
“No, this is a respect thing. I want to tell them good morning, that you and I fell asleep last night, and that’s why I didn’t come home, and then wish them a good day.”
“Let me know what they say.”
“I will. Would you mind if I freshened up before I leave?”
“Of course not.”
Riley had been in my main bathroom for a few minutes when I peeked around the doorframe at her. She looked at my reflection in the mirror, and then I walked up behind her and took the brush from her hand.
“That’s my job,” I said.
As I began brushing her hair, I thought about how many times I’d done it and braided it. Riley used to love it whenever I messed with her hair and still did because her eyes were closed, and she had a soft smile on her lips.
“How’s that?” I asked.
She inspected the job I’d done and then turned around. “It’s wonderful.”
“I do my best.”
“Would you do one more thing for me before I leave?”
“Name it.”
“Take off your T-shirt.”
“Because you want to take it home with you?”
“Yes—like I used to do.”
I pulled my T-shirt over my head and handed it to Riley. Then she took a whiff of it.
“Smells just like you, Silverman,” she said, her eyes shining.
“I hope that’s a good thing.”
“You know it is. I’ve always loved your masculine scent. And guess what.”
“What?”
“I still have the last T-shirt I got from you last year.”
“I figured you threw it away.”
“Never. When I moved to Fort Worth, I slept in it every night until your scent was gone.”
“How long did that take?”
“Eleven days.”
I kept looking at Riley while trying to decide whether or not I should tell her what I still had of hers. It was more than one item.
“Guess what,” I said.
“What?”
“I still have every one of your Valentine’s Day letters. They’re in a box on the top shelf of my bedroom closet. Here,” I said, pointing at the floor. “Along with your letters, I also have our ticket stubs from all the movies we went to, our trips to Six Flags, Schlitterbahn, and Sea World, plus the George Strait and Jason Aldean concerts.”
“Rhys…”
“There’s more. I still have every lucky feather that you gave me before each football game, the Mardi Gras beads from the first parade we went to together in town, copies of our junior and senior prom pictures, dozens of others of you and us that I printed from my cellphone, a box of Lemonheads that you didn’t finish, and strands of your hair that I found in Black Betty after you broke up with me. I even have your pregnancy test. You asked me to throw it away because you didn’t want to risk your parents or sister finding it, but I had to keep it for myself.”
Riley’s eyes were brimming with tears.
“Should I not have told you about all of that?” I asked her.
Her answer was throwing her arms around my neck and kissing me.