Epilogue #3
“It’s a long story,” Harper said, on a chuckle as she pulled out onto the highway.
“I got time,” he said.
“Well, there was this horse that broke out of its enclosure when I was about eight years old. It found its way onto our property and I was...”
Clay listened intently, to every word she said, but didn’t register a single one.
He heard her voice, he watched the animation in mannerisms as she spoke about the thing she loved most, and he fell a little more in love with her than he’d been yesterday, and the day before that and the day before that.
How he’d ever get the courage to tell her how he felt, he didn’t know.
But for now, this was enough. Sitting beside her, breathing in her scent, listening to her tell him about one of the things she loved most in the world, this was good.
~~~
Much later that night when the celebration was wrapping up and all the food was being packed away, Cruz filled two paper plates with food, and a third with desserts, wrapped them in foil, and quietly left the trailer park.
He walked down the highway in the darkness, carefully holding the food filled plates, in front of him.
When he was right across from the store, he quickly crossed the street and went right into the store.
Julia looked up from where she stood wiping down the counters. “Hi! I thought y’all were having a party today?”
“We did. It’s winding down now and everybody is packing up leftovers and getting ready to go home.”
“Oh, okay. Was it fun?” she asked.
“It was. Had a lot of fun. Thanks for working today so we could all be together.”
“It’s no problem. Casey was here until just a little while ago, and it was a slow day except for people coming in for gas.”
Cruz smiled and walked over to where she’d just finished wiping off the counter and tossed her disinfectant wipe into the garbage can. “I thought you might be hungry,” he said, placing his mountain of foil wrapped plates in front of her on the counter.
“Oh, my gosh! That’s a lot!” she said, laying her hand on the top of the plates.
He smiled shyly. “I wanted you to have enough for now and for later. And there’s dessert in there, too. Plus I didn’t know what you liked, so I brought you some of everything.”
Her expression softened as she looked at him. “That’s so sweet. Thank you, Cruz.”
“You’re welcome.” He stood there awkwardly for a few moments, then kind of wandered over toward the door. “I guess I should be going.”
“Are you going back to school tonight?”
“No, we’ll be going back tomorrow night. I usually ride with Sebastian.”
“Are you taking the same classes he is?”
Cruz snorted a laugh. “No, I’m in Pre-law. He’s just partying.”
Julia laughed along with him. “So, you want to be a lawyer,” she asked, when their laughter died down.
“Well, I want to be a judge, maybe a senator one day. But I have to be a lawyer first.”
“I’m not surprised. You always were so smart in school.”
He canted his head slightly. “You knew who I was in school?” he asked.
“I was a couple of years ahead of you, but yeah. I noticed you. You were always so kind to everybody. And always won all the scholastic awards.”
He smiled at her. “I didn’t know that.”
“What, that I knew who you were?”
“Yeah. I wish I’d have known.”
“Oh, yeah? Why?” she asked, fully aware that they were both flirting now.
“I might have asked you to a dance or something. You probably wouldn’t have gone, though. You were a couple of years ahead of me.”
She looked at him for the space of about two heart beats. “I’d have gone with you.”
“You would have?” he asked.
“I would have,” she said, nodding as she looked directly into his eyes.
Cruz smiled shyly at her.
She smiled back.
“I hope you like your food,” he finally said.
“I’m sure I will,” she said, pulling the foil wrapped stack of plates a little closer.
Cruz opened the door and walked outside, standing there for a few seconds before walking away.
Julia felt a little disappointed that he hadn't asked her out, but hey, flirting was obviously going on. Maybe he would eventually.
The door opened and she looked up as Cruz stepped back inside. “Hey,” he said.
“Hey.”
“Would you like to maybe go somewhere with me sometime?”
“I would very much like that,” Julia said.
Cruz grinned like an excited kid. “Good. I guess, I’ll, I’ll call you.”
“Do you know my number?” she asked.
“Oh! No. I don’t.”
She tore off a piece of receipt paper and wrote her number on the back of it and held it out to him.
He quickly walked over and took the paper out of her hand like he was afraid she’d change her mind if he didn’t take it from her soon enough. He looked down at her number, nodded to himself, smiled and tucked it into his pocket.
“I’ll call.”
“I’ll answer,” she said.
Cruz laughed, and waved nervously. “Bye.”
“Bye,” she said as he went back outside.
Julia stood there at her counter for a few moments, still smiling to herself as he walked out of sight. “Wow!” she finally said, then went back to cleaning the store so she could close up for the night.
The End, for now!
Thank you for reading the first book in the Riley’s Pride, Second Generation Series.