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“I have. Do you want to know what I picture?”
I nodded as my heart pounded.
“I see a beautiful ring on your left hand, you with my last name, and us making a home together,” Rhys continued, his eyes welling up like mine. “That’s what I want. It’s what I’ve never stopped dreaming of.”
CH 32 - #fireworks
Riley
Song: “Sin So Sweet” by Warren Zeiders
RESIDENTS OF CYPRESS Hills lined the sidewalk on both sides of Main Street as the Fourth of July parade began. Watching it with Rhys, Macie, my sister, momma, daddy, grandpa, Jackson, Rob, and Janice made me think about all the other occasions we stood here, waving little American flags, celebrating our country’s independence.
When the parade ended, we all went to my parents’ house. They planned a last-minute backyard cookout after I told them yesterday that I was coming back into town for the weekend. My girls and I were in the swimming pool, the men were by the grill, chatting, and my momma and Janice were in the kitchen, undoubtedly catching up.
They’d been best friends since high school. Once they graduated, married, became pregnant, and gave birth to Rhys and me four months apart, they paired us up, saying we were meant to be together. When Jackson and Rachel came along, they said the same about them.
After I ended things with Rhys last year, the relationship between his momma and mine was strained. They never stopped being friends, but they didn’t get together like they used to. However, seeing them today—smiling and laughing—their friendship had been fully restored. As far as my daddy’s relationship with Rhys’s daddy, though, there never was a strain between them. Difference between men and women, I supposed.
“So…” Macie said, looking at Rachel and me. “I met someone.”
“What?” I asked, surprised.
“I met someone.”
“What’s his name?”
“Noah Landry.”
“Where’d you meet him?”
“At Papacita’s in Longview on Tuesday.”
“And we’re just now hearing about this?” my sister asked.
“Because I wanted to see if anything came of my meeting Noah.”
“Something obviously has, so tell us more!”
“I was eating lunch with Abbi, one of my new coworkers. Noah was sitting alone at a table next to Abbi and me. I’d already noticed him—”
“Meaning what?” I interjected.
“How fucking hot he is, that’s what. He could be Henry Cavill’s twin. I ain’t even lying.”
“Oh my gosh.”
“Anyway, his waitress accidentally knocked over his glass of water, which went all over Noah’s table, his lap, and the floor. I grabbed the extra napkins off my table and hurried over to help clean up the mess.”
I grinned. “Did you dry off Noah, his table, or the floor first?”
“Noah, of course! I patted down his thighs the best I could while his waitress and another employee hurried to dry the table and floor.”
“Did you not pat down Noah’s crotch? It must’ve gotten wet, too.”
Rachel snorted, and Macie pushed her off her float and kicked me off mine. We popped back up above the water and laughed our heads off while Macie’s face turned redder than I’d ever seen it. This told me how much she liked the new guy in her life.
“In all seriousness, you’ve got to tell me how Noah reacted to what you did,” I said, swimming over to Macie and hanging onto her float. “It seems like it would’ve been awkward for him.”
