Page 7 of Wild and Unruly
“And…” She draws out the word, and I stare at her, confused. Finally, she sighs and takes pity on me. “Female.”
“Um.” I look around the mostly empty road. No one is around us to hear our conversation, but I kind of wish someone was here to clue me in on what we were talking about. “Yes. I guess that is important to me.”
“Me too.”
“You too? You want me to date a girl?”
Annmarie growls, actually growls, and blurts out, “No!Iwant to date them. Me. I want to date girls. Not boys.” She shakes her head, lightly tapping her hand to her forehead. “I mean, a woman.”
It takes me a moment to let her words sink in, and finally…my mouth forms an o shape, and I snap my fingers. “Oh! Oh, okay. That…” I think that over and start nodding my head. “That actually makes perfect sense.”
She frowns at me. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You didn’t want to date me,” I state boldly.
“Right. And?”
“Well, if I was a woman, you’d be all over this.” I run my hands over my chest, and she glares before shoving me in the chest.
“Shut the hell up, and no I wouldn’t. I have standards.”
“Damn, you’re feisty,” I say, keeping my tone light while I look her over. For a moment, she stands there, arms crossed back over her chest and her gaze roaming up and down the street. Her nerves are clearly on edge. “How come you didn’t just tell me?”
She looks back over at me, biting her lips. “I haven’t told anyone.”
“Oh.” Damn. This was actually…huge. I feel weirdly honored, even if she only told me because I pestered her, that she’s sharing this with me. “Why not?”
Annmarie shrugs. “I don’t know. I’m not ready to, I guess.”
“You know your sisters won’t care,” I say, thinking about Thea, Juniper, and even the other two, Ophelia and Tori, who I don’t know all that well but have met a couple of times. “They love you.”
“I know. It’s just…I need to love me first, you know?”
Her vulnerability in the moment takes me by surprise, and I reach out, pulling her into a tight hug. “Hey, you’ve got me, okay? I won’t tell anyone anything.”
“Thanks, Stets,” she says, returning the hug with more ferocity than I expected. It seems that she’s kept this burden to herself for a long time, and I felt bad for how hard I’ve pushed her in the last year or two.
“I’m your friend, Annmarie. And even if you don’t like me like that, I’m always here for you, you know?”
She pushes away from me and sighs. “Okay, don’t make it weird.”
“I can be your wingman. Find you a hot chick to pursue, talk you up to a blonde bombshell. We got this!” I hold out my handfor a fist bump and she sighs, rolling her eyes before stomping back into the bar.
“You seriously need a girlfriend,” she throws over her shoulder, and I throw my hands out to my sides.
“I know!”
As I follow her inside, though, and make my way to the dart area, I realize how easy it was for me to let go of a crush I’ve had for two years. I realize that maybe it wasn’t her I wanted to date per se, but that she was just always the person there.
That would have probably ended badly anyway, even if I was her type. I glance over at her and smile, willing her to give me one back, and she does, nodding her head and putting faith in me to keep my mouth shut.
A wave of emotion comes over me, and I watch CT hug his wife Dani, my brother and his wife whispering to each other, and while I’m happy Annmarie finally told me the truth, that longing that I’ve felt for a partner all these years is still going strong.
3
stetson
Sweat dripsdown my face as I lead my horse back into the barn and tie him to the crossties. It is already getting hot again, and I am hoping, begging, and praying that CT will make it a priority to install some air conditioning somewhere in this barn.
