Chapter 27 – Ainsleigh
twenty-seven
AINSLEIGH
Asmile hadn’t left my face all day. After Gentry and I talked yesterday, I felt lighter, happier than I had since I’d left.
I put my hand in the back pocket of my jeans and fished out the note that I found this morning. The other reason I couldn’t stop smiling today.
Sometime this morning before I woke up, Gentry had come into my room and left a note in the shape of a butterfly—he used to leave notes in the same shape in my locker every morning. Just a simple little saying on the inside to make my day brighter.
This morning’s note read:
Meet me at the confession tree at six.
Have a great day, butterfly.
Gentry
The day seemed to drag and fly by at the same time, if that made sense.
I didn’t know what confessions he’d had for me today.
I thought we’d made some pretty steep confessions last night.
Apparently, he had something else he wanted to tell me.
I was nervous, but excited at the same time as I clocked out for the day.
I didn’t know if I should ride Sparkle or walk, but ultimately, I decided to walk.
I didn’t know how long we’d be at the tree, and I wanted to make sure I gave her a good brush down before I left for the day.
I walked Sparkle back to the barn and into her stall as I gathered her brush.
“You’re such a beautiful girl,” I said to her as I began brushing her coat.
She nodded as if she understood. I swear this horse understood more than people thought she could.
“I wonder what he’s got on his mind. What do you think, girl? Is it going to be good or bad?”
Of course, she didn’t respond as I contemplated the conversation Gentry wanted to discuss.
I finished brushing her in silence as I reveled in my thoughts.
Walking out of the stall, I shut the door and hung up the brush.
“I love him, you know. I never stopped. I’m scared of what our future holds. I’m scared that he hasn’t forgiven me for leaving him behind, even though he says he has. I’m scared to be happy and have it all end.”
Admitting those thoughts aloud made me realize just how nervous I was for tonight.
“I’ll see you in the morning, pretty girl,” I told her as I held out a couple of sugar cubes.
She graciously took them from my palm as I leaned forward and kissed the star-shaped patch on her forehead.
I quickened my steps as I went into the house to quickly shower before it was time to head out to meet Gentry.
After I showered and threw my hair up in a ponytail, I pulled on a pair of my favorite denim jeans with a baby doll halter top. I pulled on my pair of white cowboy boots and put my phone in my back pocket before I set off to meet Gentry.
As I walked down the path, I settled my nerves. It was just Gentry. I might not know the man he is now, but I know him. There was no need to be nervous.
The tree came into view along with the man who caused my heart to race even four years later.
He sat on a checkered picnic blanket, pulling items out of a basket.
A smile formed on my lips as I stopped and watched him fret over setting up.
The last item he pulled out of the basket was a vase with a single red rose.
My smile widened at the way he thought of everything to make our date as perfect as it could be.
I took the final steps toward him and alerted him of my presence.
He stood and walked over to me, grabbed my hand, and led me over to the most perfect picnic.
I pulled my phone from my back pocket and tossed it on the blanket so I could sit comfortably.
“You thought of everything,” I said as I took in all my favorite finger foods.
He had watermelon and a saltshaker because who didn’t love watermelon with a dash of salt.
It brought out the sweetness, and no one could tell me otherwise.
There was a container with chicken tenders and another with potato wedges.
This man still remembered all my favorite foods all these years later.
My heart swelled at the thoughtfulness he’d put into our date.
“Anything for you, butterfly,” he said as he handed me a piece of paper shaped into a beautiful butterfly.
“You can’t open and read that until later,” he said as he finished opening the rest of the containers.
“Now you have me intrigued, and I want to open it now,” I joked as I toyed with my ponytail.
“Later,” he insisted as he opened a can of soda and handed it over to me.
I rolled the can of soda between my hands as we sat in comfortable silence.
“Dig in,” he said as he sat back and took a bite out of the honey mustard covered chicken tender.
“Any confessions today?” I mumbled as we both took bites of our food.
“I can tell you're nervous. Don’t be. I don’t have any confessions today. I wanted us to be alone and away from prying eyes. No one will bother us out here. Plus, I have an ulterior motive for bringing you here,” he said with a smirk.
“Oh, and what would that be?”
He turned to the side and pointed his finger. “You see that spot right over there?” he asked.
“Yeah, what about it?” I questioned. My eyes furrowed trying to figure out what he was getting at.
“That’s the same spot I saw you for the first time. My fourteen-year-old self knew you’d be important to me someday the second I saw you chasing the butterfly in the field.”
I swooned at his words. I vaguely remembered that day, but I was off in my own little world, not seeing Holden and Gentry as they walked around the property tossing a football back and forth to each other. But here he sat, remembering our first meeting as if it had occurred yesterday.
“How’d you know?”
“My heart fluttered in my chest the second I saw your blonde hair swaying in the breeze. When you turned around and smiled, laughing at Holden, your smile lit up my life like nothing else had in the entire world. I often laid in my bed at night, especially when the nights were hard, and the image of your smile would ease every bad moment,” he confessed.
“I never knew that,” I whispered as I sat my drink on the blanket and reached out my hand, caressing the top of his.
“A man needs to keep some things to himself,” he joked as he tossed a grape up in the air and caught it in his mouth.
“Speaking of hard nights, how’re you doing with your parents being gone?” I hated to ask and ruin the moment, but I wanted to be there for him the same way he’d been with me.
“I’m okay.” I went to say something, but he held up his hand. “At first it was hard. I’d just lost you, and then my parents said horrible things before they just left. I had no one and nowhere to turn. Thankfully your dad found me when he did. If he hadn’t, I don’t know where I’d be today.”
“I’m glad my parents were there for you. I’m sorry I brought it up. I don’t want to ruin our date with heavy conversations, but I just wanted you to know I’m here if you ever want to talk about it.”
“It’s in the past, butterfly. Let’s just enjoy our date,” he said quickly as he looked down at the blanket then back up at me with a smile. He turned his hand over to link our fingers.
We sat there, holding hands and eating with one hand without a care in the world. When we finished eating, we packed up the containers and put them back in the picnic basket.
“Let’s play twenty questions,” he recommended, as he sat with his back against the tree, his legs splayed out in front of him. He patted the spot in between his legs, and I willingly went over to him, my back to his front as I nestled my body against his, relishing being in his arms.
That game could be fun, or it could lead to hard topics. Only time would tell.
“Is this your way of getting me to open up?” I joked.
“Maybe,” he replied, kissing the top of my head.
“How do we decide who goes first?”
“You go first since it was my idea.”
I mulled over in my head what I could possibly ask him that I didn’t already know, but something that would keep the game fun and light, not heavy and draining.
“What’s one item you can’t live without?”
“That’s a tough one. Only because I never really took stock in materialistic items. I couldn’t when we moved around so much, often leaving a lot of our possessions behind. I’d have to say my wallet.”
“Why?” Most things in a wallet could be replaced, and it was an odd thing to say.
“Nah uh. You don’t get two questions in a row. It’s my turn,” he said with a laugh.
He got me there.
“What’s your first question?” Nervously, I pulled my lip between my teeth as I waited for him to ask his first question.
“What was your ideal Friday night at college?”
I was shocked that he didn’t pick a harder question.
“Enjoyin’ pizza under a fluffy blanket while watchin’ a movie.”
“Interesting. Your turn, beautiful,” he replied as he rubbed his fingertips up and down my arm.
“Why’s that interesting?”
“Is that your question?” He laughed.
“Uh, no. Can we make a rule that we have to explain our responses or somethin’? Getting more information out of you is like pullin’ teeth?” I said with a laugh.
“Not how this works, butterfly. What’s your question?”
I didn’t even know what else to ask. I mulled it over for a moment before I finally thought of something.
“Why’d you keep that letter?” I hated bringing up something heavy, but I couldn’t understand why he’d want the constant reminder of the pain I caused.
He swallowed hard before he responded.
“It was a part of you, a part of our story.” I frowned at his admission. So much pain was laced in his voice as I held my breath and waited for him to elaborate. Only he didn’t. He moved on to the next question.
“What’s your favorite board game?”
I took his innocent, carefree question as a hint that he wanted to keep the mood light.
“That would be Clue.” I laughed at the memory of me and my brothers playing as kids and the three of them getting mad that I’d always beat them.
He was too quick to ask questions. It didn’t give me a chance to think of my next one.
“Night owl or early bird?”