Chapter 24
Chapter Twenty-Four
Now
Ryland
I t’s been a very productive week. Wednesday, I oversaw the construction happening over at the local apple farm. Thursday, I finished up the master bedroom at the Wiley farm, then Raine and I picked out the paint colors for each room and primed all the walls together. Friday, I took Earl out to dinner after work to fill him in on the renovations. After I finished up on Friday, I called and invited Raine to come with Annabelle and me to the Spring Festival that’s happening downtown today.
I place Annabelle on my shoulders once we reach the heart of downtown to help search for Raine. Taupe-colored two- and three-story buildings sit on both sides of the street, and in between them is a line of colorful food trucks, small businesses set up under canopies, and a stage that is standing at the end of the street.
I walk to where Enchanted Petals is located and see that they have a ‘build your own bouquet’ booth. I let Annabelle pick out her own bouquet, which is made of every pink flower she can find. Then we work together to create a bouquet for Raine, choosing an array of wildflowers.
“Oh, she’s going to love it, Daddy!” Annabelle squeals as we pay the worker.
Annabelle begs to be lifted back onto my shoulders and I can already feel the soreness spreading into my muscles, but I want to enjoy this while I can before she is too grown. A mix of eighties country and rock is blasting from the speakers nearby, and I dance to the music, sending my daughter into a fit of laughter as I bounce her on my shoulders.
Downtown is already packed. The whole town shuts their businesses down after three p.m. to make sure that everyone is able to attend the festival. Although the small businesses are technically working at the festival, it’s the best way to kick off the tourist season, which is usually from spring until the end of summer. The local lake brings in a variety of people. I’ve noticed the traffic picking up over the weekend as everyone is returning to their lake homes or renting the local Airbnbs.
I catch Luke in his work attire, looking grumpier than usual. He despises this time of year. Our small town doesn’t normally have a lot of ruckus going on, especially since Luke has joined the police force, but the tourists bring in some crime for him and his team to deal with. I slap a hand to his shoulder in greeting. He tenses up at first, but he lightens up once he sees that it’s Annabelle and me.
“Uncle Luke!” Annabelle shouts as she wiggles against my shoulders, and I gladly place her into his arms and roll my shoulders back to relieve the strain. “Look at the flowers Daddy got me.”
“Well, they’re almost as pretty as you are, Princess.” He gives her a bright smile, and she melts into him as she wraps her tiny arms around his neck.
“You’re such a softy.” I chuckle and shake my head.
He shrugs. “Only for this one.” He places his fingers into her armpits and gives her a tickle.
“How’s work?” I ask, already knowing what he’s going to say.
He huffs before placing Annabelle back into my arms. “I hate summer.”
“Uncle Luke, you said a bad word!” Annabelle shrieks, and my smirk grows, especially when Luke slaps a hand to his mouth, his eyes growing wide, as he plays into her accusation. Annabelle is oblivious to actual bad words because she rarely hears them, but to her, hate is on her bad list.
“I mean, I dislike summer. Very much. Like the most ever.”
A flash of red weaves through the crowd until Olivia bumps into Luke’s shoulders. “Faye Grady and Mrs. Calaway are having a heated argument over by the mac and cheese truck. It's pretty epic! You might want to go take care of the situation before the mess gets worse.”
“Gets worse? Are you kidding me?” Luke grumbles and jogs away from us.
Just then, the song “Pour Some Sugar on Me” by Def Leppard starts playing over the speakers, and I’m pretty sure the song is inappropriate for this crowd. However, Olivia lights up next to me and starts clapping with excitement. She sings, “Pour some mac and cheese on me!” and I burst out laughing. She stands on her tippy toes, peeking over to where I assume Luke is heading, and says, “This song is perfect for the fight. I hope someone is recording it.”
“I might need to take Annabelle somewhere else,” I admit through my laughter.
“But I love mac and cheese,” she admits in my arms.
Olivia reaches over and takes Annabelle into her arms. She gives me a wink and points over toward Honey and Tasty, where I see Raine standing, observing jars of honey. “Mind if Auntie Liv takes this little squirt over to the bouncy houses for a bit?”
“Daddy, can she please?!”
As if I could say no to those puppy-dog eyes Annabelle has learned to master, thanks to her Uncle Zane. “Alright, but when Aunt Liv says it’s time to go, you can’t argue with her, okay?” Annabelle nods her head quickly, practically tossing her bouquet toward me to hold onto, before waving her arms in excitement.
“Let's go!” Annabelle squawks and jumps down from Olivia’s arms to grab her hand and tug her toward the courthouse where the bouncy houses are set up. I smile, thankful for this found family Annabelle and I are blessed with, before I turn my attention back to Raine.
Instead of walking toward her, I grab my phone from my pocket and send her a quick text.
Did you make it to the festival yet?
I watch her pull her phone from her back pocket and take in the brightness of her smile as she reads my message. Her thumbs go to work in texting me back.
Raine
Yes, did you?
Yup. I’ve been here for a while now. I’ve been searching for this girl I used to date in high school.
Raine’s smile grows, but she tries to hide it by biting her bottom lip. I remind myself that slow and steady wins this race, and I’m all about winning when it comes to Raine. I plan to ask her this evening what she wants to do after the renovations are done to see where we go from here.
Raine
Oh yeah?
Yeah, but there’s this woman wearing a pair of tight blue jeans and a pink floral top that has me distracted .
She snaps her head up and begins searching through the crowd until her eyes land on me. And boy, do I love how she beams as soon as they do. It’s as if time slows down, just for a moment, etching in a private moment for just the two of us. I’ve been trying to ignore the gravitational pull between us, as if it was never severed from the past. But as I watch her jog toward me, her dirty-blonde curls bouncing around her, I know there is no way I can ignore my feelings for this woman.
Who am I kidding? I never could ignore them in the past either.
Once she reaches me, I wrap her into a hug. Having her in my arms feels just as natural as it did back when we were dating. There is something magical about being at the Spring Festival. I can’t help but give in to the temptation of touching her, treating her as if she’s mine again. I know we still have some big discussions to cover before we can define what we might be to each other now but it can wait until later.
So much time has already passed between us, and right now, I want to focus on being in the moment with her.
I pull back to hand her the bouquet of flowers. “From Annabelle and me,” I say, and her smile widens before hiding behind the flowers as she gives them a sniff.
“They’re beautiful. Thank you,” she replies, searching the crowd behind me. “Where is she?”
“Olivia took her to the bouncy houses.”
“I was looking forward to seeing her. Speaking of Olivia, me and her had dinner at Matty’s Meats yesterday,” she says and leads us into a walk.
“Yeah? Is it still as good as you remembered?”
She smirks, raising a brow at me. “Even better. Especially since I saw what looks to be a pretty recent photograph of a certain someone who made the Matty’s Meat Lover’s wall of fame.”
I chuckle, remembering how sick I felt after finishing that massive burger. I was surprised my face wasn’t green like a cartoon character in the photograph. I haven’t been able to eat a burger since because, once I got home, I threw up every bit of that meal. But I’m not about to admit that to Raine.
“I finally finished the whole thing.”
She smirks and adds, “You puked afterward, didn’t you?”
“Yup.” I chuckle, shrugging my shoulders like I’m not embarrassed to admit it. “The family and I eat there often in honor of Pops. I don’t know how he finished the burger back then and didn’t get sick. Do you remember that?”
She laughs, shaking her head, before she replies, “How could I forget the moment he became a superhero to us? The fact that he ate ice cream afterward still blows my mind.”
Oh, how Pops would love to see this sight right now. Raine and I, hand in hand, looking at each other like we did when we were lovesick teens. He knew how much I loved her back then and always said he had hope that one day we’d find our way back to each other.
“The man was one of a kind,” I add, feeling the familiar pang in my chest as I’m reminded that he’s no longer here with us.
Raine bumps her shoulder into mine as she adds, “So was your Nan. I still watch The Golden Girls from time to time, especially when I think of her. In a way, the show makes me feel close to her.”
I’m not sure why that little piece of information causes my heart to do a backflip, but it does. I know how important my grandparents were to her. Knowing Raine still thinks of them means a lot to me.
“I kept that red Honda of hers for years until I finally had to upgrade to the car I have now. Oh, and the old film camera she gave me…do you remember it? I still use it from time to time.”
I stop in my tracks unintentionally. Hearing her admit to keeping a piece of my Nan with her throughout the years makes me wonder if she kept pieces of me too. Or did she toss them all away when I chose to let her go? I inhale, attempting to steady my heart, realizing that our conversation about that night might need to happen sooner than I’d like it to.
But not today , I remind myself. You can enjoy this day with her.
However, it’s hard to do when the past stays lurking around us, waiting for a moment to pounce and tarnish what we’re slowly working toward. We stay quiet for a moment, our hands still clinging to one another, as we look everywhere but at each other.
“This place has changed so much,” Raine says, finally breaking the silence.
I smile down at her. “Let me show you around.”
We spend the next hour moving from store to store that line both sides of the street. We taste-test goat milk fudge and caramels from Soap and Hope. Raine picks out a few gardening books from Covewood Literacy, and even though I’m not a big reader, I end up getting a few coffee table books about classic cars. Raine practically squeals when we walk inside Covewood Botanicals, and she sees their elderberry syrup and walls that are lined with glass bottles of homemade spices and herbs.
We both pick up a few articles of clothing from Lakeside Connections Boutique, some locally inspired candles from Covewood Candles, and end up at The Groovy Bean for vanilla-cinnamon lattes—her choice, not mine. However, it’s surprisingly delicious.
She bumps her shoulder into mine, wiggling her eyebrows as I look down at her. “I told you it would be yummy.”
“If you say so.” I smirk at her before searching the crowd for the next place I want to take her. I point across the road to the brick building on the corner. She follows my finger, and once her eyes land on MJ’s Diner, another squeal leaves her.
“Oh, I was hoping to go there today! Olivia says it’s one of the only places in Covewood that has stayed the same. Although, the outside looks freshly painted, and the sign has been updated.” She grabs my hand, and we make our way through the crowd.
I place my hand onto the gold handle and open the black door for Raine to step inside. A small bell chimes from above, and a waitress behind the counter welcomes us. Raine steps forward, her head turning in all directions to take in the diner. I step around her until I’m standing in front of her.
My eyes flow down her face until they land on her pink lips, watching as they part and whisper, “Whoa.” I swallow back a lump that found its way into my throat, the past once again pressing against reality. Being here at the diner with Raine is causing a wave of memories to hit me. “It’s updated but yet the same.”
She walks past a booth, her index finger tracing the dark wood of the table until her hand spreads against the brown leather seat. The walls, which used to be a dark red, are painted a burnt orange. However, the walls toward the front of the diner and side remain exposed brick. They’re decorated with old newspaper clippings, pictures of the building from when it was a lawyers' building, as well as the Loveitt family through the generations.
Several booths line against the windows and walls, and the middle of the diner is filled with round wooden tables and black metal chairs. In the center of each table is a small vase of fresh flowers that they change with the season and LED candles that create a warm atmosphere.
“It still feels like a scene from a romance movie,” she whispers, more to herself, but I hum in agreement. “I used to stand behind the counter and wish I could photograph people. Couples would come in and get cozy in the booths, as if this place helped to melt away the rest of the world, leaving just the two of them together. Or the families that would fill the space with laughter, sharing funny stories while they enjoyed their meal. I loved how happy everyone seemed to be when they came into the diner.”
“They still are,” a cherry voice chirps from behind us.
We both twist around, and Raine drops her shopping bags to the floor and gasps in surprise. “Stef!”
I try to remember the spunky version of Stefanie from when Raine worked here a decade ago. She still looks familiar, but parts of her have changed. She looks healthier now, no longer has bleached hair, and stopped wearing eyeliner that looked like it was applied with a wide-tip Sharpie. No one looks the same as they did ten-plus years ago.
“Raine Wiley!” she says, a smile lighting up her heart-shaped face, holding her arms out in a welcoming way. Raine moves quickly, wrapping her arms around Stefanie, and she practically bounces with joy.
“Oh my goodness! You’re still here? How’ve you been?” The words fly out of Raine’s mouth.
“How long do you have?” Stefanie laughs and points to a nearby table. Raine looks back at me, silently asking if this is okay, and I toss an encouraging smile her way.
Stefanie was never one to tell a quick story. I remember the nights I would be sitting in a booth, waiting for Raine to clock out after her shift, and share some interesting debates with Stefanie. She would start explaining something and then somehow end up sharing another story before turning it back around to the original topic. However, today, she only keeps Raine for twenty minutes before people from the festival start making their way into the diner for a meal.
Raine swaps numbers with her, promising they can catch up while she is in town, before she makes her way back to me. “Sorry about that.” She shrugs her shoulders shyly.
“No need to apologize.”
“Downtown Covewood looks so different now, and yet, walking back into this place feels like being back in the past.” Her lips turn up into a sad smile .
It does something to my heart. Before I can think of what I’m about to do, I place our bags onto the floor to free up my hands. I take a small step forward, the toes of our shoes tapping with the movement, and slide my hands up her jawline until they find her hair. Raine’s eyes flutter, and I want to kiss her so badly.
Instead, I tug her close until her head lands against my chest and wrap my arms around her. The fact that the bad memories overpower the good ones for Raine causes this protective force to wash over me. Ten years later and all I want to do is keep Raine happy and secure.
“I know what you mean,” I whisper into her hair before pulling back, retrieving our bags in one hand and taking hers in the other.