Page 250 of Love in Riverbend
“I guess it helped that Justin didn’t know either. Sounds like my brother’s not the type of ass who tells the whole world. Point for him, right?”
“We’ve talked about it, something we hadn’t done…ever.”
“I hope you made him grovel.”
That makes me smile. “I didn’t make him, but he’s done a good job. I’m scared to believe him. That’s why we agreed to pretend to not be involved.” I sigh. “I don’t want to have to face you or the rest of Riverbend if he hurts me again.”
“You both knew the other was going to be here?”
“Yeah. I mentioned that I was headed down here, and he told me Justin asked him to come down.”
“When?”
“This morning.” My eyes grow wide as soon as the answer is past my lips.
“This morning,” Devan says a bit too loudly. “Is that…because you two were together since last night?”
Covering my face with my hands, I lean forward.
“You were!” she shouts excitedly. “Does that mean there’s been a second or third time?”
“Fourth,” I confess through the protection of my hands.
We both startle and turn at the slamming of the screen door. Jill steps inside with two reusable grocery bags, overflowing with wine bottles and a plethora of snacks. “I’m here. What did I miss?” She sets the bags on the kitchen table and looks at me. “I brought wine and snacks in case we have a broken heart to mend.”
Devan looks at me, and we both giggle.
“Oh shit,” Jill says. “Not a broken heart?”
I shake my head. “Not yet.”
“Okay, reason to celebrate. We can drink to being happy and childless. That birthday party was torture.” She turns to Devan. “Your nieces were there.”
“They’re not torture.”
“They are when they’re part of a twenty-five-kid-strong gang of squealing, screaming children high on sugar and jacked up on party games.”
I stand. “It sounds like Jill needs the wine.” I look around the now, unfamiliar kitchen. “I don’t even know where your wine openers are anymore.”
Soon, we all have a glass of wine and are sitting in front of Devan’s fireplace. It is the original fireplace, made by her grandpa or great-grandpa when the house was first constructed. Honestly, it’s pretty cool that the Dunns have had this home in their family for so long. It makes me understand what Ricky was saying about being glad that his dad sold the farm to Justin and Devan.
It’s still in the family.
Outside the windows, snowflakes dance in the air. There aren’t enough to cover the ground, but enough to remind us that it’s winter in southern Indiana. Inside their home, the fire is warm and comforting. Sitting on a love seat, I bend my legs beneath me and listen to Jill go on about the birthday party.
It’s right as she starts to lament spending the night at the Blakelys’ instead of with her parents that she looks at me. “Wait, why am I talking?”
Devan and I laugh.
“What’s happening with you and Ricky?”
“Crazy, wild sex,” Devan volunteers.
“I never said it was crazy or wild.”
This time, it’s Jill’s screech that threatens to break our wineglasses. “I need a play-by-play on how you went from hating him to wild and crazy sex.”
Twisting the stem of my glass between my fingers, I think about the last twenty-four hours. “I suppose I haven’t hated him as much as I said. I hated what he did or didn’t do.”
