CH 22 - #surprise
Riley
“HOW DO YOU feel?” Rhys asked as he was buckling me into Black Betty.
“Happy.”
“All of this feels right, doesn’t it?”
“Yes.”
“My mom and dad are on Cloud Nine. They’ve missed you a lot.”
“They said from the start of you and me dating that I was the daughter they never had. I’ve never heard them say that about Rachel.”
Rhys canted his head to the side. “They love her, okay? Your sister is an amazing person. But you’re you . Your personality is akin to my parents’ personalities, and I believe that was the beginning of the connection between you and them. Rachel’s personality is reserved.”
“I’ve never mentioned what we’re talking about to her, but I have wondered if your mom and dad’s affection toward me has ever hurt her feelings.”
“I wondered the same thing and talked to her about it one time. She said she has all the Silverman she needs in Jackson.”
I chuckled. “Sounds like Rachel.”
Rhys looked over my face. “Would you mind if we ditched our plans to go out to eat and let me cook something for us at my house?”
“I don’t mind at all. What’s on the menu?”
“Shish kabobs.”
“Steak or chicken.”
“Both.”
“Do we need to stop by the grocery store?”
“Yep, but it won’t take long.”
“Let’s go.”
Shish kabob ingredients purchased. ? A last-minute watermelon purchased because it sounded good. ? Rhys held my hand on the way to his lake refuge. ? Not wanting this weekend to end. A thousand ?s.
Back at Rhys’s house and having just finished unbagging the groceries in the kitchen, I began washing the bell peppers, mushrooms, and zucchini squash while Rhys prepped the meat.
“What the…” I said, staring out the picture window above the sink. Then I felt Rhys come up behind me, wrap his arms around my waist, and lean the side of his head against mine.
“Surprise, mia bella. It’s yours.”
I looked up at Rhys. “When on earth did you get it?”
He grinned. “Friday.”
“But you worked all day.”
“I made time.”
“You didn’t have to get me a hammock!”
“I wanted to.”
“It wasn’t out there this morning, so how did it get here?”
“My brother. After I bought it, I took it to his house and told him my plan to surprise you.”
“Boy, you did.”
“Do you want to go see your hammock up close?”
“You know I do.”
“Then come with me, ma’am.”
Down on the ground where Rhys’s pit fire was located and surrounded by tree stump stools, and now, my sweet gift, I couldn’t stop smiling. “This hammock is more than big enough for both of us,” I said.
“Want to try it out?”
“On my gosh, yes!”
Within seconds, Rhys and I were stretched out in the most comfortable hammock I’d ever been in.
“What do you think?” he asked.
“I absolutely love it! Thank you so very much!”
“You’re welcome. But there’s one more thing that I got for you.”
He pulled his cellphone out of his shorts pocket, blocked me from seeing what he was doing on the screen, and then looked at me, grinning from ear to ear. “Ready?”
“I hope so.”
The second I heard music start coming from the direction of the patio, I buried my face in Rhys’s chest and squealed, “Oh—my—gosh! You did not!”
“I did halfway.”
Not understanding, I looked up. “What do you mean?”
“I got the speakers on Friday, too, and Jackson installed them while you and I were at my parents’ house earlier.”
“Rhys, all of this is too much.”
“No, it isn’t. I enjoy making you smile.”
While Rhys and I ate the shish kabobs at his patio table, he streamed a music station called “Backroads Radio” through the newly installed speakers. Our dessert was half the watermelon. We wiped it out with spoons and a shared saltshaker, giggling as juice dripped down our chins.
“Come here to me,” Rhys said, patting his lap.
I got up from my chair, stepped over to him, and plopped down on his thighs, facing the lake like he was doing. He wrapped his arms around me, and I rested my head against his.
“I don’t want you to leave tomorrow,” he whispered.
“I don’t want to, either.”
“Are you spending tonight with me?”
I sighed. “As much as I want to, I should spend my last night in town at my momma and daddy’s. I hope you understand.”
He squeezed me tighter. “I do. Would you be willing to go to church with me in the morning?”
I turned my head to look at him. “I would.”
“It’ll feel like old times, too.”
“Rachel told me that you stopped going after I ended us.”
“I did. Although my parents, yours, Jackson, Rachel, and Macie would’ve been there, I couldn’t bring myself to go because I couldn’t imagine sitting on our old pew without you beside me.”
“That’s exactly why I haven’t been since last year. Thankfully, my family has understood and never pressured me. Not even my grandpa. He’s going to love seeing us at his church again.”
“Does he know about you and me?”
“That we’re back together?”
“Yes.”
“My daddy told him.”
“Do you know what he had to say about it?”
I smiled. “That God answered his prayer.”
“He answered mine, too.”