CH 20 - #hereandnow
Riley
Songs: “So High School” by Taylor Swift and
“Small Town Boy” by Dustin Lynch
I HAD JUST spritzed on some perfume when I heard the doorbell ring. The butterflies in my stomach started fluttering like crazy because Rhys had arrived to pick me up and take me to the pasture party.
While hurrying downstairs to greet him, I told my parents I’d get the door. When I opened it, Rhys dazzled me with his smile and canvassed my body with his eyes.
“My God, you look like…” he said, cutting his sentence short.
“Like what?”
“My girl. You’re breathtaking, Riley.”
“Thank you.”
“I love how you did your makeup and curled your hair. I love your tied-up T-shirt and seeing your pierced belly button. I also love those cut-off blue jean shorts you’re wearing and your cowgirl boots.”
“As the saying goes: ‘You can take the girl out of the country, but you can’t take the country out of the girl.’”
“Nope, you can’t.”
Rhys looked me over again, and then I had my turn to check him out.
“Do you know what you look like to me?” I asked.
He glanced down at his navy blue Henley, tan cargo shorts, and Nike sneakers. “Um, myself?”
“You look like my boy. My handsome high school sweetheart. My sexy-as-fuck quarterback.”
And there came Rhys’s bright white, dimpled smile once more. “Does my looking like this make you happy?”
“Yep. It also turns me on.”
“Good to know.”
I glanced over my shoulder toward the living room. My parents were still relaxing and watching TV.
“Would you like to greet my momma and daddy, number seven?” I asked.
“My football jersey number.”
“Do you still have your senior year jersey?”
“Sure do.”
“Good to know.”
“And yes, I’d like to greet your parents. It’s only proper that I do—but I want to do something else first.”
Rhys stepped through the doorway, gently cupped my face in his hands, and pressed his warm lips against mine, breathing me in like I was him. Then he pulled back and gazed into my eyes.
“What are you thinking?” I asked.
“That this night will be another one for the books.”
As Rhys and I walked to his truck, he reached for my hand, held it for a few seconds, and then let it go. “Sorry. It’s automatic for me to do that. I know you’re not ready to be open about us,” he said, cutting his eyes over at me.
“Actually, I am.”
I smiled and grabbed his hand. He immediately stopped walking and pulled me back to him.
“Riley, there’s no rush.”
“I know, but I’ve been thinking about everything, especially the past year. We should’ve been together all that time, and I won’t waste any more of it acting like we aren’t together now. I no longer care what the folks around here might think about us.”
“Does this mean you’re officially my girl again?”
“Yes.”
Rhys’s eyes filled with tears, and his chin quivered like mine. Then we wrapped our arms around each other and kissed as we stood on my momma and daddy’s walkway.
Everything in our lives had already changed so much since I’d come back into town, and it had just changed again. Rhys and I were journeying into the unknown, but I was up to whatever lay ahead. I knew it would be one hell of an adventure.
Like always, Rhys opened the passenger-side door for me when we reached Black Betty, but this time, I gasped after he had because a bouquet was lying on my seat.
“Oh my gosh,” I said, picking it up. “Rhys, you didn’t have to do this.”
“I wanted to.”
“The daisies are beautiful! Thank you so much for them.”
“You’re welcome. I kept them in here, thinking that if you didn’t want anyone to see them, you could enjoy them privately for a little while. I was going to take them home with me later.”
“Nope, they’re staying with me.”
“I’ve got a bottle of water and an extra-large mason jar in my back floorboard for your flowers. That way, they won’t wilt.”
“You’re always prepared.”
“I try to be.”
Rhys helped me into his truck, buckled my seat belt, and then got in on his side and cranked the engine. “I need to ask you something before we leave,” he said.
“Okay.”
“The perfume you’re wearing is the one I gave you on our last Christmas together, isn’t it?”
I smiled. “Yes.”
“I smelled it on you when you first came to my house. I couldn’t believe you still wore it.”
“I tried a couple of others after moving to Fort Worth but came back to Love Story.”
“Why?”
“Because it’s like you’re with me whenever I wear it.”
“That’s why I still wear the cologne you gave me on our last Valentine’s Day together.”
“I wondered if that was why.”
As Rhys drove through the open gate leading to the land behind Jackson and my sister’s house, I giggled when I saw all the pickup trucks parked around the yet-to-be-lit bonfire. It was one more déjà vu moment to add to my list since being back in Cypress Hills this time.
Rhys had just parked beside Jackson’s truck when my girls appeared outside my window, waving and jumping up and down with excitement.
“BFF!” Macie said, hugging me as soon as I stepped out. Then Rachel joined in.
“Look at you two dressed all sassy!” I told them. They had on colorful spaghetti-strap summer dresses that hit them mid-thigh and their cowgirl boots.
“You’re one to talk about being dressed all sassy!” Macie chuckled, giving me a once-over. “Damn! I’ll bet Rhys about passed out when he saw you.”
“We both liked what we saw.”
I looked at Rachel. She was peering over my shoulder. “Rhys got you daisies,” she said.
I nodded.
“I thought y’all were just friends,” she continued.
“We’re more now.”
My sister covered her mouth, but I could still see her smile.
“We’ve been waiting for this to happen,” Macie said, happy tears in her eyes.
“I know.”
“You are glowing all over.”
I glanced down at myself. “Am I really?”
“Oh yeah! You’re floating a few inches above the ground, too.”
“It certainly feels like it.”
“Are you nervous about you and Rhys?”
“Yes. Being in a long-distance relationship is going to be challenging.”
“Give me a break! Y’all aren’t that far apart. Heck, you could come home every weekend, or he could go to Fort Worth.”
“We’ve already talked about him coming to my duplex next Friday.”
“I know his work schedule is pretty flexible, so he could probably arrange to stay longer, like until Monday or Tuesday. You two could have an extended weekend together.”
“I would love that.”
“You might be a little sleep-deprived and a whole lot sore, but I think you’d agree it would be worth it.” Macie shimmied her shoulders at me.
“Stop!” I said, feeling the red in my cheeks. “Y’all, come on and help me unload everything.”
Per pasture party protocol, everyone brought snacks and drinks to share. Rhys more than covered it for both of us by getting several party-size bags of Ruffles Potato Chips and Nacho Cheese Doritos, plus three dozen fresh-baked chocolate chip cookies and a case of bottled water from the grocery store. His YETI cooler—full of ice, a new bottle of Jack Daniel’s whiskey, four bottles of Josh Cellars Sauvignon Blanc, and a stack of Solo cups—was in the backseat, along with the snacks and water.
“Jackson and I will get that,” Rhys said, walking up to my girls and me.
Macie grinned at him. “We appreciate it.”
“No prob.”
“You surely look happy, Rhys.”
He glanced at me. “I am.”
“We all are for you and Riley.”
Macie and Rachel hugged him while Jackson hugged me. Then, the handsome Silverman brothers set the snacks, water, and cooler on the tailgate of Rhys’s truck. I didn’t have to say a word. My high school sweetheart opened a bottle of wine, poured some into a cup, and handed it to me.
“Would y’all like some?” he asked my girls. They said yes.
When he was done fixing their drinks, Jackson told Rhys to help him light the bonfire. Before they walked off, Rhys kissed me. Afterward, he rubbed the tip of his nose back and forth across mine and smiled, making me do the same. The moment he and Jackson were out of hearing range, Macie turned me.
“Rhys just made a statement by kissing you in front of everyone out here,” she chuckled. “He essentially said, ‘She’s mine!’”
“I know, and I love it.”
“Do Momma and Daddy know how serious things have gotten between you and Rhys?” Rachel asked.
“Yes, and they’re happy about it.”
“I knew they would be.”
“So, BFF, I must know if you’ve received anything else from Mr. Douchebag.”
“I received a text from him this morning. He wanted to come to Cypress Hills today to talk to me, but I told him no.”
Macie huffed. “What will it take for him to see that his efforts toward you are pointless?”
“He’ll eventually get the message. It’ll likely be when he and I have our final talk. It’s got to happen.”
“What is there to talk about?”
“I want to tell him exactly how much he hurt me, and not just physically. It was emotional, too. Then I’m going to return my engagement ring to him. I also need to get my stuff from his house.”
“Do not return that ring. Sell it and buy something that you really like.”
“I can’t do that.”
“You are way too fucking nice.”
“Macie, I cannot wear a new ring, necklace, or whatever, knowing I bought it with the money I received from selling my engagement ring. Chad’s negative energy would still be tied to it, so no.”
“I get it. I don’t like it, but I get it.”
“Sister, stick to your plan about Chad. I’d do the same thing,” Rachel said, tapping the rim of her cup against mine. Then she, Macie, and I began chatting about our friends from high school who’d come to the pasture party.
Some were hanging around their vehicles, while some were walking around visiting with others. I planned to catch up with them, but not yet. I was enjoying leaning against the tailgate of Rhys’s truck while stealing glances at him over by the bonfire with Jackson. They’d just got it going.
“What are you doing tomorrow?” Rachel asked me while grabbing a chocolate chip cookie.
“Going to see Grandma.”
“Do you want me to go with you?”
“Thanks, but Rhys already offered. Afterward, we’re going to stop by his parents’ house. They asked him about seeing me before I head back to Fort Worth.”
“Then you should know they still have pictures of you and Rhys on their walls.”
My mouth fell open. “You’re kidding.”
“I’m dead serious.”
“Trisha must’ve hated that.”
“Rob and Janice weren’t concerned about her. They never liked her but tolerated her for Rhys.”
“Wow.”
“I mentioned the pictures because I didn’t want you to be shocked when you saw them.”
“I appreciate you telling me. And I like that Rob and Janice kept them up. Is that bad of me?”
“No!” Rachel and Macie said together.
Rhys and Jackson began walking in our direction with the bonfire smoking behind them. They had just reached us when someone hollered their names. It was Glenn Smith. He was standing several yards away, holding up a football and smiling.
After Rhys graduated from high school, Glenn became the varsity quarterback. Rhys had mentored him the previous year, and Jackson later played for him.
“You boys up to having some real fun this evening?” Glenn yelled.
Rhys and Jackson looked at my sister and me. We waved them off, telling them to go. Jackson pointed at the flattest part of his pasture, but before Rhys headed to it with him and Glenn, he grabbed his ballcap off the dashboard of Black Betty and put it on backward while looking at me. He knew how much I’d always loved the way he looked with it that way. He was my country boy and jock all in one.
As he took off running to the far end of the pasture, several other guys who’d once been part of the Cypress Hills High School athletic program began running toward it, too. All of us not participating in the game walked in the same direction and stood on an invisible sideline, watching the guys in their huddles on the makeshift football field. Then, the masculine display of athleticism began.
With the players in their positions, Glenn hiked the football to Rhys. He took several steps backward and torpedoed the ball into Jessie Weaver’s hands. As Jessie made the first touchdown, I looked back at Rhys and saw his smiling blue eyes looking at me. I pointed at him, clapped my hands, and twisted my hips, being his cheerleader again.
The light-hearted game continued for about a half-hour. After Rhys and the players on his team won, everyone started walking back toward the bonfire, except for me. I waited for Rhys on the invisible sideline.
As he approached me, he took off his ballcap and ran his fingers through his sweaty blond hair. It was so easy for me to imagine him wearing his high school black and gold football uniform and holding his helmet.
“Awesome game! I’ve always loved watching you play, Silverman,” I told him.
He didn’t say a word. He just kept looking at me with a mischievous grin on his face. The moment he reached me, he pulled me into his arms, slid his right hand down to my ass, and squeezed it. Then he kissed me, but not the way he had earlier. This time, it was deep, wet, and delicious.
Rhys still had his hand on my ass, his lips on mine, and his long velvety tongue in my mouth when someone started blasting “Small Town Boy” by Dustin Lynch on their car’s speakers.
“Timing, my small-town boy,” I said, pulling back to look at him.
“Great timing. Are you my ride or die, like the song says?”
“Forever. Are you mine?”
“You know I am. Dance with me?”
“God, yes.”