Page 78 of Let It Be Me
We are gathered here today. I scowl at the screen and delete those five words. Kamryn and Mason’s wedding is in a month and I’ve yet to start on my speech. Plus, I still have yet to figure out what to get Riley for his birthday.
The blinking cursor terrorizes me. What can I write that I haven’t already said to them?
A key turning in the door gives me an extra form of distraction as Riley comes home from practice. Pixie trots to him as the door closes and seeing him melt for the ball of fur warm my heart. Plus, men who like cats are sexy as hell.
I tap my finger on the edge of my laptop and swing my legs back and forth sitting at the bar while I eavesdrop on Riley’s conversation with Pixie. Even though I call him a distraction, I’m hoping he’ll be able to spark some sort of motivation in me to write this speech.
His arms wrap around me and he places a kiss on my neck. “Huh,” he starts and I drop my head back against his shoulder. “It’s um, an inspiring speech you’ve got written.”
I close my eyes and a mix of a laugh with a groan comesfrom my throat. “Don’t start. I’ve written the same five words and deleted them every time thinking they’d spark something else.”
“Blue, how long have you been sitting here?”
“Since you left for practice.”
Riley moves around me and closes my laptop. “Nope. This won’t help you.”
“Riley, their wedding is in less than two months. I need to get this written. Not to mention, I still have to get ordained.”
“Sarah Jane, sitting here and staring at this blank page and hoping that the words will write themselves is not productive. What you need to do is get outside.” He pulls me off the barstool and waits for me to get shoes and a jacket on. “Actually, put your other boots on. We’re gonna go for a drive.”
“Really?” I ask, barely able to contain my excitement.
“Yes,” Riley starts and leads us both to the bedroom where our stuff is. Since he was under strict orders to not ride his motorcycle at the start of the season, with it winding down I’m guessing Riley got the okay to ride. Or he doesn’t care and is doing this for me because working remotely has given me less reason to get outside. But once that cool air hits my face, it’s like I can breathe again.
I follow Riley to where his bike is parked behind his Range Rover.
“You had this planned the entire time. Didn’t you?”
“I was hopeful.” He says with a grin.
We get our helmets on, taking care to make sure they’re secure before he pulls the bike away from his spot and starts it up. Holding his hand out to me, I take hold of it and swing my leg over, settling behind him. The purr of the engine sparks an untamed feeling that’s indescribable.
I lean forward and wrap my arms around Riley’s waist before he’s pulling out of the parking garage and headed towards the interstate. I have no clue where he’s going and I don’t care. Getting out of the apartment is exactly what I needed. My brain is finally free from the blank page that had been taunting me for the last four hours.
The further we get away from the city, the less muddled my mind is. It’s like now I can picture what I want to say at Kamryn and Mason’s wedding. We head west for hours but it only feels like a few minutes. Riley taps my leg and lets me know we’re planning to stop soon. The exit he takes looks like it leads to nowhere. But I trust him.
He pulls off on a secluded stretch of road and stops when we get to a lookout point. Ahead of us is miles of green and the sun shining down on us. Riley stops and cuts the engine leaving us in an eerie amount of silence save for the birds tweeting and cawing in the distance. He holds his hand out for me and I grab it to hop off the bike. Once he’s off, I place my helmet on the seat and walk towards the edge.
I’m murmuring my speech when Riley hands me his phone to type it out. He doesn’t have to say anything more. My fingers fly over the screen as I type my speech into the Notes app. I stop right before I get to the vows and the repeat after me section of my speech. Walking over to Riley, I slip his phone into his back pocket and wrap my arm around his waist.
“All done?”
“I am. Thank you, baby.”
“Of course.”
“How do you know about this place?” I ask after a while when I still hear no sounds of other cars.
He places a kiss on the top of my head and moves me tostand in front of him. His arms wrap around my chest and I feel treasured when his arms are around me. “I found it my senior year in high school and I’d come here once a month just to get out of the house. You’re the first person I’ve brought here.”
“I’ll keep it a secret.”
Riley’s hand drops from around me and he comes back with his phone in front of us. I see him scrolling through his music app and pulls up Ed Sheeran.
“Dance with me, baby.”
I turn in his arms and link mine around his neck. We sway to the music about how he can still fall as hard in love at twenty-three. That line makes me smile and I see the same expression reflected back at me from Riley. We sway and turn to the music with the forest and wildlife our only audience. Our moves are in sync and I follow his lead as the song bleeds into the next.
