Page 4 of Dear Blue Jean Cowboy
“Is there anything we can do right?” I ask.
"My only accomplishment in her eyes is Devin, but god forbid the day he acts out in the slightest. I'll never hear the end of it." She snaps her fingers. "Oh, and Carl. For some reason, my husband hasn't disappointed her yet, but there is still plenty of time for that."
“At least you got married.”
I regret saying the words out loud the moment they leave my lips. The bright pink elephant that's been following me around the moment I crossed the town line appears, and it's eager to hash out the past.
“Forget I said that,” I say.
“You should probably know that he still lives in town. He works on his family’s ranch.”
“I know.”
Nora doesn’t say anything else. She knows what talking about him does to me. She was there to pick up the pieces of my heart when the happiest day of my life was taken away from me.
"Let's go get some coffee at the bakery, and maybe we can check out the Farmer's Market afterward."
I nod, not trusting my voice as I push down the memories of the past in my mind. I've been running for so long that I thought that coming back here, I'd be able to handle it, but the torrent of emotions that are hitting me feel like it's going to take me under.
RHETT
I want to say I don't know Dani managed to convince me to build the sound stage for the festival, but as the youngest child in the family, all she had to do was complain to our parents, and now here we are.
“I’ve drawn out a map of the town center, so you can get an idea of where everything is going to be on the day.” Dani hands me a sheet from her binder.
I look it over, half expecting it to be a crudely drawn map, but it's surprisingly detailed. It looks like she wants the sound stage near the gazebo. I turn to look in the direction of the gazebo but freeze when I see Diana sitting on the steps with her sister, Nora.
It feels like time slows, and the noise from the town all around me is turned down. All I can focus on is Diana. She looks even better in person than in the photos of the gossip magazines.
We were only seventeen the last time I laid eyes on her in person. She's a woman now, with curves and a confidence that the Diana I once knew didn't have. My body reacts to her in a way that it hasn't for a woman in a long time. My heartbeat increases at the sight of her tongue dipping out and licking her bottom lip. I watch, unable to take my eyes off her, as she smiles at something Nora says.
“That’s her,” I hear Dani whisper behind me.
It's as if suddenly, all my senses have returned to normal, and I flinch at the barrage of sounds around me.
“We need to go.” I turn towards my sister.
Dani tries to step around me, but my arm shoots out to stop her.
“I was only ten the last time I saw her. I don’t think that she’d remember me if I walked up and started talking. You have to introduce me to her.”
“I really don’t.”
"Come on. You know you want to talk to her." Dani pushes on my arm, but I don't budge.
“I said no,” I whisper. And even though I’m talking in a hushed tone, Dani can hear the seriousness in my voice.
“Fine.” She lets go of me, hurt evident in her expression. “Forget I asked you to do anything to help me.”
It's incredible how quickly she seems to forget that I was already in the middle of the last favor she asked me to do. But somehow, I still feel guilty the instant she walks away. I know how important it is to Dani to make this summer's festival the best it can be. And even if it might shatter my heart again to be face to face with Diana, I'm willing to do what I can for my sister.
“Wait,” I call after her.
She’s already smiling when she turns around, and I’m already regretting this on so many levels.
“I will introduce you to her. That’s it.” I point at Dani. “It’s up to you to convince her to participate in the festival. Agreed?”
“Would it kill you to—”
