“So you weren’t listening. My phone died. I don’t understand how this happened.”
I pick up the wrench from the ground. The one I believe was making an effort to keep the door from shutting all the way. The one that broke and took the ability for anyone to open the door from the inside with it.
“Ah, I see. Do you think it broke a long time ago, or did I do it? Because if I have to tell Lilly that I didn’t deliver the eggsandI also broke the coop, she’s never going to let me do anything.”
She probably did break it, but I don’t have the heart to tell her as much. “Don’t sweat it. It broke a while ago. I can fix it.”
“You are seriously the best. I don’t know what I would have done without you.”
“Probably play loud music at the crack of dawn without a care in the world.”
She smiles, finally, all colors returning to the world. “You are simply insufferable.”
“Resourceful? Yes, I am. Do you need a ride back?” I ask. Riley looks around until her eyes crash with Buck, and her demeanor shifts again.
“Nope. I’m gonna run.”
“You’re never going to make it to town in time if you don’t let me take you.”
Her eyes are trained on the horse, not payingmeany attention. She looks almost scared, but there’s no way Riley, chaos personified, is afraid of the most docile horse I’ve ever met.
“I don’t do horses.”
“You own a ranch.”
“So?”
“You also offered to feed them for me in exchange for savingyou last time.”
She shakes her head. “It’s a long story. But seriously, thank you. I’m gonna head back now.”
She rushes past Buck, not looking back. This interaction leaves a sour taste in my mouth, and I can’t pinpoint why.
My hands graze Buck’s reins, climbing on so I can finish what I needed to do today—and then go take a cold shower and try to forget about Riley Banks invading my senses.
Again.
12SWEET AS HONEY
Riley
Grumpy cowboy rescues:four.
Riley:zero.
I can’t even think straight.He seems to be at the right place at the right time, but he’s saved me more in these few days than any other person in my whole lifespan combined.
The drive into town is as easy as it’s ever been. Second nature to me, like no time has passed. I take a deep breath at my first stop, East Dove Market. Memories threaten to flood through me the way the river rises after a storm, and I don’t like it. There’s not much I can do to stop them either. It’s easy to repress everything, to file it away in a cabinet titledTo Never Speak About Againin the attic of my mind. It’s up there with the cobwebs, at the end of the spooky hallway where all my childhood nightmares that cametrue live, never to be pulled out again. It’s the only way I can stay afloat.
But when I step through the front doors of the market, fresh fruits and veggies stacked high to the right, jars of homemade jam from the local farm to the left, and a very smiley Ms. Debbie in the far back behind the register, I’m brought right back to happy days holding Dad’s hand and sneaking a lollipop I’m sure he paid for every time, just so I could feel like I could get away with mischief. I’m brought back to a simple life I always wanted to run far away from, but that ended up completely and irrevocably the thing I regret the most. Not the life, but always feeling like I wanted more, until one day, it all disappeared. That’s when I realized how much I actually had.
You never know what you have until it’s gone for sure.
“Is that Riley Banks I see?” Ms. Debbie asks, stepping out from behind the register and opening her arms to welcome me in.
“Hi, Ms. Debbie. It is me.”
“Well, look at you child, all grown up. What is that over there? You brought me goodies?”