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I look at Sunny, still laughing, tears rolling down her cheeks, face turning red. Teeth clenched shut, words hard to understand, I say, “I wasn’t supposed to eat the outside, was I?”
She shakes her head no, but a little snort echoes inside her hands. She leans forward into her knees, shoulders shaking from her laughter. Taking the moment, I grab for a napkin and spit the wad of chewed bean out. Balling it up, I shove it under a discarded plate, happy to be rid of that vile creation.
“I was trying to tell you.” Sunny sets her hand on my knee as though she has to steady herself. “But you just—Chomp!” She mimes throwing the bean in her mouth and falls into another fit of laughter. Watching her laugh, it becomes contagious. As much as I try to fight it, I can’t. She falls against my shoulder. I lean on her and we laugh until our stomachs hurt.
It’s been a long time since I laughed like that.
Chapter 12
Sunny
E
Edamame didn’t go so damame didn’t go so well, but calamari was better. Dad used to say anything tastes better fried. And to my credit, if I’d known he had something against green beans, I might have steered clear of the edamame.
“What about pets?” Rhett leans back against the cushion considerably more relaxed than he was when we arrived. “You have a dog or something?”
“I don’t. My step-brother has a chocolate lab named, Presley.” Rhett only smiles, knowing he doesn’t have to remind me that I didn’t answer the question. “And I have a cat named Ladybug.”
“A cat?” The thought seems to amuse him. “Never pegged you for a cat girl.”
“I wasn’t, but Lady was a stray and she used to hang out around the barn. I grew up with her always being there. Before I knew it, she was my favorite.” It’s impossible not to smile when I think of her slick calico coat and the spots on her back that earned her the name a six-year-old me gave her. “I have a horse too.”
“You should have led with that one.” Despite everything going on around us, Rhett’s attention never strays. “What kind?”
“A paint, a gelding name Picasso. He’s sixteen this year.”
“Famous painter. Clever.” He shifts on the couch a little, but only to bring his arm along the back. “You had him long?”
“Most of my life and all of his. You know how it is. Other kids get a Playstation, you get a horse for your birthday, or a saddle, or new reins.” She shrugs. “I know what it’s like to grow up with a cowboy father, that’s all.”
“One track mind, right? Life in a saddle.”
“Or at least with horses.”
“Is that what you want to do?”
Somehow his questions have moved from innocent to a whole lot more serious, but I still don’t feel like he’s fishing for anything more than I’m willing to give.
“I don’t know. When I was younger, yes, I wanted to do what he did. I planned to take over.” I think about all the years I trailed after him, watching, learning, doing whatever it took to impress him. A sharp pain twists in my gut. There’s still too much heartache down that path. Too many mistakes. Too many bad choices. “Then I grew up and saw that the world was so much bigger than the ranch and I started to wonder what else I could do. I think it crushed him though. Our relationship was never the same.”
Rhett stays quiet, letting me talk my way through it. Considering all the landmines I need to dodge; I appreciate his patience. “And now, being here, I’m remembering all the things that I love about it, and I find myself wondering if I was wrong to leave it behind.”
He waits a minute before he says, “When you changed your mind, what triggered it? Why did you tell him you wanted something else?”
I know the answer, but I think about the repercussions before I tell him. I don’t see anyway it would give me away, and it feels good to talk to someone. “My mom died when I was really little. Cancer, I guess. It was just me and dad for a really long time. I don’t remember my mom at all, I was too young. I was homeschooled, so I didn’t see many other people, but I learned ranch life inside and out by the time I was eight. He was my whole world back then.” I can’t look at Rhett, not when he’s staring at me like I’m perfect. If he knew the truth about me, that look would falter and fade. “He remarried when I was thirteen. My stepmom, she adores him, but she’s not one for ranches or dirt or anything like that. I was pretty rough around the edges back then. An old cowboy had raised me, and it showed. She made it her job to refine me, teach me how to be a lady, and show me what the world had to offer.”
“We went to museums and operas and beauty salons, anything but the ranch.” I shake my head. The thought of it all makes my heart ache. “Dad was so happy, just seeing me be the girl my mom would have wanted. Charlene filled in the rest of what I was missing, and I think that’s when I started to think about life off the ranch.”
I realize my misstep the second his eyebrow twitches. I used her name. Pressing my lips together, I calculate the risk. It shouldn’t matter. There’s no way he would know her, but I have to be more careful.
“You talked about a stepbrother. Just one?”
I appreciate the way he doesn’t poke at the hole I made in my armor.
“Two stepbrothers. Both older than me.”
Rhett smirks. “That explains why the guys don’t bother you, and why you’re used to having protectors around.”
