Page 18 of Midnight Surrounds Us

Too long.

“Uhh.”

“What? What does ‘uhh’ mean?”

“I don’t have words.”

“C’mon, Devo. I already feel like I’m in some kinda twilight zone ’cause she finally said yes. I need you to talk me down off a ledge here.”

She sighed loudly into her phone. “Okay, fine. First, fake datin’? I thought you really liked Aubrey.”

“I do. I’ve wanted her since I knew how to want.”

“Okay, so then, why this arrangement? Why not just walk up to her and say, ‘Hey, you wanna go out with me?’”

“She would’ve said no.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Idoknow that.”

“Why would she say no?” Devo asked. “I’ve seen complete strangers throw themselves at you. Why wouldn’t Aubrey wanna jump on the Rye train?”

“Because she’s older than me by more than a few years. And because she already said no once, probably ’cause I’m the annoyin’ little brother of her dead husband’s best friend.”

“Oh shit. You never told me that.”

“Yeah, my oldest brother, Grady Jr., and Aubrey’s husband, Tommy, were thick as thieves their whole lives. Then Aubrey and Tommy started goin’ out when they were in high school.

“I was just a scrawny kid who followed them everywhere they went. But I got older, and I saw the way they were together, and I hated him for it. He treated her like she was somethin’ to stick on a shelf, not a woman. And then they got married, popped out two kids, and I knew my shot with her was gone. I never really had a shot, to be fair. Tommy was it for her back then.”

Slumping back against the seat in my truck, I sighed and tossed my hat next to me, staring across the street at Red’sactualred house.

“I gave up, you know? What choice did I have? I was too young, and she was married. But Tommy passed overseas ten years ago, and then last year, when I came to help you at Uncle Red’s store, well, things looked different.Aubreylooked different, and I thought, or maybe I hoped, I might finally get a chance with her. Of course, then she shot me down.

“But I dunno, Devo. There’s just somethin’ about that woman. I feel like I can’t breathe when she’s near.”

“Wow, Rye. You got it bad.”

“Ain’t that the fuckin’ truth.”

“But why do you think you have to bribe her to get her attention? Doesn’t that demean you both?”

“I wasn’t tryin’ to demean anybody, but I got this money, you know? It’s just sittin’ in my account, and I see the way Aubrey has been lately, like the world has her by the throat. She’s stressed out. I just wanted to help her.”

“That’s chivalrous.”

“Maybe it’s stupid. Maybe I am.”

“Rye, you are not stupid. Don’t you listen to your dad.”

“Yeah, well, that’s what I asked her to do for me. I asked her to date me so I could stuff it in my parents’ faces, so maybe they’d see me as somethin’ other than the baby. So maybe my dad could see that he can trust me to run the ranch. Aubrey’s older. She’s got her own business, and she was married to someone they held in high regard.

“Besides Aubrey, runnin’ my family’s ranch is all I’ve ever wanted. But me and Dad? All we do is butt heads. He don’t trust me at all, and he sure as shit won’t listen to anything I’ve got to say about raisin’ cattle.”

“Damn,” Devo said.

“What?”

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