Page 11 of Autumn Skies & Pumpkin Pies

“Really?”

“Yes,” she replies. She looks up at me and before I can overthink it, I wrap my hands around the back of her neck and kiss her under the autumn sky. On the field that calls to my soul the way she does. The kiss that would change my life forever.

TWELVE

Warbee

That night on that football field was the start of everything. When Rocker kissed me under the autumn moon, it was like I came to life. It was unexpected and exciting and like nothing I had ever experienced before in my life. He made my heart happy and it felt safe. Rocker would be my first everything. He was my first real crush, first kiss, first love...every exciting first a teenager can have, Rocker was there, front and center.

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After homecoming, Rocker and I quickly became inseparable. Every chance we got we spent together. He showed up at my granny’s bakery every Saturday morning bright and early. Granny gave him an apron and he’d spend the morning helping the two of us bake all sorts of goodies. We laughed and smiled. We had flour and frosting fights that left the kitchen and us a mess.

Rocker leaned over and gave me a quick kiss on the cheek. It was unexpected, but I was learning to expect the unexpected with him. He was always showing me how much he cared with random gestures, just like this. I look up at him. “What was that for?” I ask.

He shrugs. “I just figured you could use a little more sugar.” Rocker winked at me and I rolled my eyes.

“Wow, I didn’t realize my boyfriend liked to use cheesy pickup lines.”

“Only on you darlin’,” he said, his southern drawl making my heart swoon with his pet name for me. I always hated the idea of pet names, but he could call me anything and I’d go weak in the knees. I was officially one of those girls. Before I had time to think, I dipped my hand into the flour and when Rocker turned back around, I slammed it into his face. He didn’t know what hit him at first. My laughing became uncontrollable as I stared at his now flour covered face. It clung to his hair and navy-blue t-shirt as well. Rocker reached up and wiped the flour from his eyes. “Really? That’s how you want to play this darlin’?”

I giggled. “I think I already won.”

“Didn’t anyone ever tell you?”

Rocker remained silent. I figured he would finish his sentence, but when he doesn’t, I ask, “Tell me what?” I feel my eyebrows pull together in confusion.

“Don’t play games with someone who can play better.” Rocker smirks at me. Just as I’m about to reply, he slams a handful of vanilla buttercream into my hair and down my forehead. My glasses go askew. When I open my eyes, I see Rocker smiling at me as he licks frosting from his fingers. “Wow, this frosting is really good.”

I huff and before either of us have time to think flour, frosting, chocolate chips, and anything else that we can throw at each other is flying around the kitchen. I giggle and squeal while he chuckles. We each hide behind a table in hopes of beating the other. Rocker eventually sneaks around my table, wrapping his arms around my waist and pulling me down on top of him on the dirty floor. He kisses my nose. “We made such a mess,” I tell him in a whisper.

“Why are you whispering?” he asks.

I smile. “I feel like we’re going to get into trouble.”

“Oh...I’m sure we are but it was so worth it.” He licks the frosting from my cheek. I squeal but then we both jump up as we hear the bell ring out in the front of the bakery. My granny was back. There was no hiding all the mess.

When my granny entered the kitchen, she stopped for a moment. Her eyes wide and mouth slack. She took one look at us and began to laugh out loud. “Oh, young love. I hope y’all had fun because you sure have a mess to clean up.” She turns around and walks back out to the front. Rocker and I exchange a look and crack up again.

That was the day I fell in love with Rocker Gordon. It was also the day that I knew he’d break my heart come the start of the next fall. He would leave and I would stay. Rocker was destined for a life outside of Blue Ridge. I just wanted to run my granny’s bakery when she retired. Even though I knew that we would end, and my heart would break, I was so excited for all the adventures in between that I took it all. So, when we said goodbye to one another that next autumn, I knew I’d had the time of my life.

THIRTEEN

Eleven Years Later

Rocker

Istand on the fifty-yard line of the field in the stadium that has been my home for the last seven years, ever since I graduated college and was drafted in the NFL. I always knew this day would come, that my career would end. I just never thought I’d barely be twenty-nine when it did. The air is crisp with autumn and the changes that come with it. My life is in an autumn phase, everything is changing, and I have to learn to accept it. I take in the stadium as I slowly spin in a circle with one deep breath, I walk away from the only thing I’ve ever known.

As I climb into my truck and start it up, I remind myself that even though I’m not a player anymore, I’ll still be involved in football. Coaching the varsity football team at my high school was something I always wanted to do, I just didn’t expect it to happen so quickly. I wasn’t all that shocked when I got the call from Principal Thomas offering me the head coaching job. My dad had already told me what he had heard through the grapevine of town gossip, one of the joys of living in a small town.

Oddly, enough I’m looking forward to being back home. The slower pace, farmer’s market on Saturday mornings, home owned diners to eat at, and people who smile when you pass them on the sidewalk. That’s how Blue Ridge, Georgia was, and I never knew how much I’d miss it until I left. As a kid, when you’re growing up, you often dream about bigger and better things but once you get out of the small town you realize just how much you loved it after all.

It’s late when I finally pull back into Blue Ridge, but immediately that sense of comfort comes over me. There really is no place like home. I cut the air conditioner off and roll my windows down as I slowly make my way through the quiet streets, not much goes on here, but there’s nowhere else I’d like to call home. Eventually, I find the log cabin I purchased on the outskirts of town. It’s odd to say that even in the dark, the pictures I saw online don’t do the cabin justice. It’s surrounded by trees and if I listen closely, I can hear the water just behind. Luckily, it’s furnished so I unlock the front door and climb the stairs before collapsing into the bed. As I close my eyes, I try to mentally prepare myself for my first day as a coach and not a player. Sleep finds me, but not before a familiar pair of hazel eyes find me. I haven’t thought of those eyes in a few years, but I guess being back in Blue Ridge would remind me of the girl I let get away, Warbee Carter.

Warbee with her sassy, smart mouth, red hair, large rimmed glasses with hazel eyes behind. A small splattering of freckles covering the bridge of her nose. She was everything to me once upon a time. Warbee was the girl I considered giving it all up for, but then she stood on the same field where I first kissed her and let me go. At times I was angry and heartbroken but now I get it. She knew I’d never be happy without trying to achieve my dream. She was the bigger person out of the two of us.

In my sleep, she finds me. We’re standing in her grandmother’s bakery. I’m helping her close up the shop for the night. As I mop the floor the music on the speakers plays softly. I can hear Warbee humming along as she sways to the beat while wiping down the counters. You Save Me by Kenny Chesney comes on and I know it’s her favorite right now. I watch her for a moment as the muted lighting makes her red hair look darker and her skin even more porcelain than normal. She’s so damn beautiful and she doesn’t even know it. My heart beats a hundred miles a second when I look at her. I’m truly in love with her.

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