Page 31 of Come Back to Me

From that first night, I knew she was the one. The one I wanted to spend the rest of my life making laugh. The one I wanted to make up songs about. The one I wanted to grow old with. Bring our grandkids here to swim in the creek. Teach them how to make s’mores the right way.

And now all that is being threatened.

Fuck family obligations.

I close my eyes and chug my beer.

The door opens slowly, and I hold my breath while I pry open one eye and peek over my shoulder. Exhaling at the sight of my pretty girl, an easy smile tugs at my lips. Seeing her in the painted coveralls gets my mind racing about tearing them off her again.

“Hey, Sugar,” I drawl.

“Hey, yourself,” she says softly.

She sits gingerly next to me on the swing.

“What’s she doing in there?”

“Using the restroom.” Giana pulls my hand into her lap, and the simple physical contact rights all the wrongs from moments before.

That’s what she does. She straightens my tilted world. She gets my vision to see clearly. She’s my beacon of sanity.

“So you better warn me now, is she the type of mother-in-law who’d rearrange all my kitchen cabinets? That is, if we had anything worth rearranging.” Giana rubs my knuckles with her thumb, and the pressure of it is reassuring.

My brain hitches on the wordsmother-in-law,and it causes my heart to shift in my chest. It’s comforting. I like the idea of being married to Giana. And more importantly, that she’s thinking about us and the future.

I breathe out a laugh. “She’d be the type who’d hire someone to do it.”

Giana smiles. “Now that, I’m not sure I would mind.”

Leaning in close to her, I press a kiss to her cheek, then nuzzle my nose into her neck. Inhaling her familiar cherry blossom scent while I close my eyes, I can’t help but worry this is a privilege I’m going to lose. Just the thought of going back to the ranch has me spiraling.

The ranch is likeThe Twilight Zone. Once you go there, you’re stuck, you never leave. That’s what happened to my dad. He worked at the Jones Family Ranch one summer, met my mama, and he never returned to his hometown—Maple Ridge, Colorado. Despite his pleading to Mama, saying he wasn’t meant to be a rancher, she fed him the same bullshit she’s feeding me now. That they had family obligations to stay and take over her father’s ranch.

I won’t do it.

Except that there’s a small tug on my heart. My dad never wanted that ranch, and yet he’s stuck there. He’s trying to keepit afloat. Trying not to lose something he’s spent his entire adult years building up.

He’s done a fine job. The Jones Family Ranch is impressive. Over five hundred acres with 250 heads of cattle, chickens, pigs, horse boarding, and hay harvesting. But it wasn’t his dream. And it’s not mine either.

This is. Giana. The cabin. Maple Ridge.

I can’t picture my life any differently. And yet, I know. I gotta go.

The door creaks open, and Mama steps out onto the porch, the wood groaning under her feet. She clears her throat, and both Giana and I glance up. It’s proper for us to stand. Polite even. I can’t undo the Southern manners in me despite the anger seeping through me as a result of her presence.

I stand.

“Giana, thank you for your hospitality.” Mama forces a smile, and Giana stands now and nods, probably not sure what to say. I don’t blame her. “Leonardo, I’ll be at the hotel in town. Here, for when you change your mind.” She hands me a plane ticket.

“I’m not going,” I huff, smacking the ticket against my leg.

Her lips fold, and she turns her cheek at me, waiting.

I roll my eyes and give her a kiss. Then I watch her turn and shuffle down the porch steps, get into what I assume is a rental car, and drive away.

The wood scrapes underneath Giana’s steps until I feel her arms wrapping around me from behind. I pull them in closer, anchoring her to me. As the realization sets in heavy and thick, I inhale a sharp breath. Giana knows I have to go too.

But we don’t talk about it.

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