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Rhett
“I mean, you rocked “I mean, you rocked it.” Sunny does her best air guitar impression again. “I didn’t know you had it in you.”
“I guess I didn’t either to be honest.”
“You don’t like to lose?”
“I’m sick of losing.” I correct myself. “I’m sick of giving up before I have a chance to lose.”
We each took a side of a booth a Dean’s. Sunny leans back against the wall, legs stretched out in front of her, playing with the straw in her strawberry shake. Dean was closing up, but thankfully he let us come in while he’s closing down in the back.
“Well, you had a group of girls willing to throw themselves at you.” She points her straw at me. “And you ran out for a milkshake instead.”
“Like I’d know what to do with any of them anyway.” I swirl my straw in my own milkshake. “I don’t know the first thing about women. Buying a horse at auction, sure, no problem. Finding a hay supplier, I’m your guy. Talking to beautiful women, I’m a mess.”
Sunny squints like she’s been asked to solve a hard math problem. “So, you’re calling me ugly?”
My stomach drops. “No, gosh no. Sunny, you’re gorgeous. That’s not what I was saying.” I start to backpedal even faster but her high-pitched snicker lets me in on her joke.
“Oh, that’s too easy! I knew I could frazzle you.”
Dean watches us from behind the counter where he’s closing down the register, but he doesn’t say a word. At first, I feel like he’s surprised to see me with someone, but it’s the someone I’m with that seems to have his attention.
“It doesn’t take much.” I try to laugh it off, but Dean’s undivided attention puts my nerves on edge. “Almost done? We should probably get back. Neither one of us will get up in the morning.”
She sips the last of her shake, the straw rattling with the remnants. “Oh, come on, Rhett. You’re basically a rockstar now. You should stay up until at least midnight, don’t you think?”
I glance at Dean, but he’s moving toward the phone on the wall. Sunny slides her glass across the table to me. “Fine. Let’s go back to the ranch. I’ll return to my life of horse poop and servitude to the equine class.”
I know I should laugh, but my instinct tells me I have to convince Dean not to make that call he’s about to make. “Dean, I’ve got our dishes. Want me to wash them up?”
The old man stops mid-step as if I’ve overloaded his thinking. “Would you? That’d be great, Everett.”
Trying to think a step ahead of him, I toss my keys to Sunny. “Can you warm up the truck? I won’t be long.”
Her brow creases inward for a second, as though she understands that something changed in the last couple minutes. She starts to cast a glance over her shoulder toward Dean, but I shake my head to tell her not to. Without objection, she makes her exit for the truck.
When I glance back to Dean, my stomach twists. Cell in hand, he was planning to take her picture. Something is horribly wrong.
“I’ll get these washed up really quick, Dean.” I hurry behind the counter, headed for the sink. Dean shuffles behind me but doesn’t say a word. I make quick work of the dishes, dunk them in the sanitation water once they’re scrubbed clean, and I leave them on the rack to dry.
“Okay, all set.” I grin at Dean like I’ve got a big secret. “I better get back to my date, huh?”
“Your date?” He frowns. “I haven’t seen that girl around here before. Is she new in town?”
The cleaners from closing burn my nostrils. I hate lying. These fluorescent lights will betray me, I know it. I remember living at Manna Meals, Beckett and Evan used to try to make me practice lying. They said it would make it easier to get by in life. Right now, I wish I’d paid better attention.
“You mean Ruby Filcher? You didn’t recognize her?” Ruby was the only red head in my whole high school. My only hope is to make the old man believe Sunny has lived here her whole life.
“The Flickers… I thought Ruby moved away.” Dean crosses his arms over his chest. “Her parents died a year ago, didn’t they?”
Why does he have to have a mind like a steel trap? Yes, of course they did. It was a tragedy. Ruby came back for the funeral, but she was gone in a week.
“She’s come back to tie up some lose ends. She’s been back about six months now.” I’m careful to make it longer than Sunny’s been here, just in case that’s his next argument. “I’m surprised you didn’t know.”
“Oh, I knew.” He waves me off like I’m the old fool, not the bonehead trying to gaslight him. “I didn’t recognize her with that new color of hair, that’s all. And I didn’t know you were dating either.”
“It’s new.” I feel sick to my stomach. “I better get back out there or she’s gonna wonder.”
