Page 42 of Barbed Wire Fences
Chapter 13 – Rhett
“Hey,” Jael says, giving a shy smile as she walks in front of where I’ve been standing over the Ford truck that I’ve been working on rebuilding this summer.
She wraps her little arms around my waist and squeezes me tightly to her chest. My hands fall to her waist, and I hold her, breathing in her sweet scent and planting a kiss on the top of her head.
“Missed you today, baby.”
It’s June now, and high school graduation is officially behind us which means nothing to do but spend time together before Jael goes off to school at the end of the summer. The past few weeks have been a blur of carefree moments, days wrapped up in each other’s arms and nights spent in my bed.
We haven’t talked about what her leaving for school in Virginia means for us—what comes next—but I can’t say that I want to. Things have been easy between us. Hell, they’ve been the easiest they’ve ever been with any girl I’ve ever liked.
After graduation night, when the hats flew, our names were called, and the diplomas were handed over, something shifted inside me. Maybe it was the night that I took her virginity—heard those soft, innocent moans slip from her lips as she melted beneath me, felt the way her body fit so perfectly in mine, or maybe it’s been a slow burn since the moment she blew in to town at twelve years old. But I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her. Not just about the way she makes me feel, but about what she means to me.
I didn’t know what to do with that, though. At first, it felt like just another summer fling—one last chance to be reckless before life pulled us in different directions. But a week after graduation, I found her and asked about her summer plans, throwing out the idea of spending time together before she leaves.
She didn’t hesitate to agree, and we didn’t bother slapping any labels on it. But every afternoon, when her mom leaves for work, she shows up at my trailer, slipping into my world like it’s where she belongs.
We fill our days with the simplest things—watching TV, throwing together random meals from the meager ingredients we can scrounge up from both our kitchens, floating lazily on blow-up floaties in the lake.
The afternoons stretch out, the sun beating down, the world feeling smaller around us. And then, when the sun sinks below the horizon, we end up in Jael’s bed or mine, where I find my place inside her, savoring the way she feels beneath me, like we’re made for each other.
We both know that there’s an expiration date looming, plans to go our separate ways come August, but I can’t shake the feeling that there’s something more here. Something deeperthan the fleeting nature of summer. Something built on years of friendship, mutual attraction, and now, a bond that feels like is growing stronger by the day.
I’m not sure what it means yet, or if it’s even something that can last, but for the first time in my life, I feel like I’m holding onto something worth keeping.
“What are your plans for today?” I ask, planting a kiss on her pretty pink lips when she tilts her face up to mine.
“I’m volunteering at the hospital. Trying to get some more hours in before I leave in August. The head nurse said it’ll help if I come in with some experience for my classes when I apply for the nursing program.”
“That’s smart.”
“What about you? Any big plans?”
“Going to visit the community college. They opened a vocational school over in Meadowbrook. I’m not sure which trade I'd like to pursue, but I want to discuss my options.”
She nods. “That sounds perfect for you. You’ve always been so good with your hands.”
“I’ll show you how good I am with my hands later,” I tease, then kiss her hard, because she’s one of the few people who’ve always seen me and never pressured me to go to college and pursue the traditional path like some business degree and an office job that I know I’d hate.
“So, I’ll see you tonight then?” she asks sweetly.
“Yep. Come on over when you get off. I’m working on that abandoned boat we found on the other side of the shore. I might be able to get it up and running so we can take it out tonight.”
She grins before spinning on her heel. “See you then, Rhett.”
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Later that night
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“I can’t believe you got this old thing to work?” Jael says, smiling as I reach around the back of the hull, pulling out two soda cans and a box of pizza.
“You doubted me?”
“No, but the thing did look like shit.”
I chuckle. “Here, I swiped this pizza from the baseball game the pee-wee league left over this afternoon.”
