Page 146 of Love in Riverbend
He scoffs. “Now.”
“But not before he came back to Riverbend?” I may have been in Muncie, but small-town news has a way of finding those with a stake in our hometown.
“No, I wanted to kill him.” He grins. “I did punch him.”
I stifle a laugh. “Because you saw Kandace hurt?”
He nods.
“Don’t hurt me, Justin Sheers. We can work out or maybe we won’t. Just don’t hurt me, and you won’t lose Ricky.”
Justin cups my cheek and moves my face closer. “I don’t want to hurt you, Devan. I want to make every damn dream you have come true. I want to hold your hand when we walk, to give you the strength you need to be the best you and get that same in return.”
He lands a soft kiss on my lips.
I’m thinking about telling my family.
“Tomorrow,” I say. “I think I know a way to make it go over better. If I’m right, you can come back to our house for dinner tomorrow.”
He looks worried. “Are they going to make me eat hot sauce…you know some hazing thing?”
My laugh fills the air. “No, that hot sauce is horrible.”
“It is.” He lifts my hand to his lips. “I’m laying it all out on the table. I want to do more than tell you how much I like you. I want to show you like I did tonight and more. I want to show you what your kisses do to me.”
I nod. It’s what I want too.
“Speed?” he asks.
“Let’s make it through being official, and then we can get back to your dick question.”
He smirks. “My dick is the one asking.”
It is also still hard beneath his jeans. I again lay my head against his chest and stare out at the sky. Even though the sun isn’t fully set, the moon is out, low on the horizon. “It’s more common to see the sun and moon at the same time than for the moon to be alone.”
“Most visible during a full moon,” he says.
We go on talking about the moon and its rotation as if it were a normal subject. And with Justin it does feel normal. I like that he can converse about things I like, things my friends often call boring.
“That night,” I say, “the one of our first kiss, you asked me if I could see the man in the moon. It’s a good thing I didn’t bore you with the topography of the moon’s surface and what makes the illusion of a face visible.”
“It is. If you would have, I would have been a goner.” He holds me to his front. “I am, Devan. I’m a goner.”
“Tell me about what you do.”
“I plant seed, tend to crops, harvest, sell, and do it again.”
“You make it sound so exciting,” I say with a laugh.
“It can be.”
Again, I turn to see his handsome face. “I know that. I lived with it all my life. Real farmers do more than what you just said. It’s a respect for the land, for what it can give us and what we need to give back. I think my dad started my love of science.”
As the dark ink of night bleeds over the colorful hues of the setting sun, Justin and I gather up our picnic, what’s left of our food and wine, and take it to the truck. It’s as we’re nearing the middle school that I ask one more time. “Are you sure you’re ready to be official?”
“I’m beginning to think that you’re the one who isn’t.”
“No, I am.”
