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“Anyway, I just wanted you to know how I feel. See you tomorrow.”
Rhys gave me one last dimpled smile for the evening, then jogged back to his truck and left. After he turned at the stop sign on my momma and daddy’s street, I went inside the house, leaned my head against the front door, and stared at the ceiling.
“Did you have fun with Rhys?” my momma asked a few seconds later.
When I looked at her, she was walking up to me and grinning.
“I had a blast with him. We kayaked in an incredible area of the lake that I didn’t even know existed. Then, after we got back to his house, we went for an unplanned swim. That’s why I look like this.”
“You and Rhys have always loved the water. Are you two going to see each other again?”
“He’s taking me to lunch at Gallagher’s tomorrow. As friends.”
“Your eyes are shining, Riley Dawn, which tells me you feel more than friendly toward Rhys.”
“I’m all mixed up about it, too.”
“You’re falling back in love with him, aren’t you?”
“I never fell out of love with him, Momma.”
Her eyebrows pulled together. “I thought you did.”
“I just acted like it. I thought it would make my leaving him and Cypress Hills easier.”
“Did it?”
“No.”
“You seem to have fallen straight out of love with Chad. Is that another act?”
“It’s disassociation. I had to step away from my tangled web of emotions about him because I’m not ready to process them. They’re so heavy. But I do still love Chad, although I should hate him for everything he’s done to me.”
“Hate isn’t in you.”
I let out a long sigh. “I still can’t believe it’s over between us. He walked away so easily.”
“He’s trying to walk back to you, honey. The tulips.”
“I could never trust him not to put his hands on me again.”
“Neither could your family and best friend.”
“Why does love have to be so hard?”
“It isn’t when you’re with the right one.”
CH 13 - #twohearts
Rhys
AFTER TAKING RILEY back to her parents’ house and returning to mine, I noticed my ghost had paid me another visit. There wasn’t an overturned glass of water on my kitchen counter like before because I hadn’t left one out. The ghost had tipped over the sugar jar next to my coffee maker this time.
It wasn’t until I’d walked over to the mess that I saw two linked hearts drawn in the granules. I kept staring at them, unable to believe my ghost had chosen that particular symbol. It stood for Riley and me.
On our first Valentine’s Day together, she gave me a gigantic bag of Hershey’s Kisses with almonds because she knew they were my favorite. She also gave me a handwritten love letter, rolled up like a scroll and tied with a red ribbon. I was shocked by what she’d done. No one had ever written a letter to me.
As I read Riley’s, I held back my emotions, trying to make it through to the last page. At the bottom were two little linked hearts that Riley had drawn next to her signed name. When I looked up at her, she told me that they stood for us. Then she explained why she’d written a letter instead of getting me a card: so much more could be said in one.
