Page 2 of Between Two Thorns

“Just don’t do the crazy Little Mermaid thing where she falls in love with the first guy on two legs, okay?” There was a pleading quality to his voice, like it was any of his business.

“Would it kill everyone to not compare me to Ariel just because I’m a redhead?” Rose bristled.

“You saying you’re not looking to fall head over stupid with some college Chad?”

“No.” Rose gave a defiant tilt of her chin. “His name doesn’t have to be Chad.”

Fred snorted, and she smirked. She really shouldn’t be riling him up. But she also couldn’t just let him start into one of his rants.

“Besides, Ariel fell in love with the idea of a prince charming, at first. “

“How the hell do you fall in love with the idea of someone?”

Rose’s eyebrows shot right up to her hairline as she stared at the epitome of that right next to her. Fred was oblivious as could be.

If introspection was a stripper, she’d be sitting in his lap and he’d be complaining about how girls don’t want to date nice guys anymore.

“It was the idea of a new life, dude. Of adventure, of not being under her father’s thumb. The guy was a ticket to freedom.”

“Please,” Fred snorted. “She just wanted to get fish-laid.”

Rose’s arms were tightly folded across her chest, her jaw set, and her lips pursed in defiance. Her brother’s mocking voice echoed in her head, about how cute she looked when she was angry, because of her damn pout. “It speaks to her limited options that she saw a guy as her only way out.”

Fred interrupted her before she could figure out how not to sound petulant. “I get you wanna do this whole kiss quest thing, which sounds like some before midnight fairy bullshit.” He waved his hand in the air between them, showing that he absolutely did not get it.

The greasy 20-something brunet did not remotely understand how Rose would stare at the gates to Dead Wood Ranch, wishing there was more to her life than the baking sun, the billowing dust, and being the dutiful daughter.

Maybe it was childish, but couldn’t she just have this one birthday wish? After all the years they hadn’t come true...

“Who told you about the kiss quest?”

“Doesn’t matter,” he said, and she could see the edge of his teeth grit in the dark. “The point is…I mean, you know.” He faltered, like his courage failed him all at once, like it always did. A splotchy blush colored his cheeks, patching up his complexion. “...it’s not like there aren’t any boys on the Ranch.”

Rose shut the visor with a snap, cutting off the only light in the truck cabin, plunging them both into a thick, awkward darkness.

Because, just like at the Ranch, there weren’t options. There was just Fred.

And there was the ever-oppressing obligation to settle down, find a husband, and bring him back to Dead Wood forever.

It wasn’t overt. Rose’s father never looked at her and said you can’t ever leave. Walker Woods just liked to emphasize how much he needed his daughter. How they couldn’t get along without her now that her mother was gone. How her brother just didn’t have the same sense of responsibility that she did.

At least he never said Fred was the good guy that would keep her bound to the Ranch forever.

The silence stretched on. Painfully pregnant pause.

Rose had two options.

Tell Friendzone Fred it was a no. It would always be a no. No matter which cologne he wore or what shampoo he used; they only lasted for a week, anyway.

Treating himself better would only mildly increase his date-ablity if he stopped treating women like they owed him.

He should hear it. He deserved to hear it from her. Rose should put Fred in the hole he’d dug for himself—

And face the immediate possibility of being dumped in the middle of the desert with the sun gone way down and the temperatures soon to follow. Rose would be walking around in a tank top when she could see her breath—if she could see at all. Her phone was fully charged on the seat next to her, but could she even get a signal?

What if Fred waited until she was at the bar to abandon her, after a drink or two, surrounded by strangers?

Or she could kick the ‘confront Friendzone Fred on his bullshit’ can down the road.

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