Page 9 of Dear Blue Jean Cowboy
Sincerely Yours,
Diana
“What are you doing?” Rhett’s sleepy voice asks behind me.
I turn and hold up the letter for him to see. “You got this?”
It takes him a moment to register what is in my hands. I can tell the moment he realizes what I'm holding when his brow furrows.
“Where did you find that?”
I point to the box. “In there.”
“Why are you going through my stuff?” he snaps at me.
“And why are you avoiding my question?” I snap back. “Why didn’t you ever say anything if you got this letter? Why didn’t you come after me?”
I’m so angry that the paper starts to crumple in my grip.
“I did,” he finally says.
“What?”
"You were gone by the time I read it. My parents had me on lockdown too. Beau was the one that found it. I got in my truck, and I drove across the country to see you. But when I got to your aunt's house, you weren't home. A neighbor told me that you were playing at a coffee shop in town."
The memory of those first few days of arriving in Tennessee flash in my mind. I was so numb at the loss of losing Rhett that I did something so out of the ordinary for myself. I started playing in coffee shops around town. The rush of adrenaline on stage was the only thing that could break past the heartache that was consuming me.
“I went to find you at the coffee shop, but when I walked in, you were already on stage.” He runs his hands over his face. “I’d heard you play before, but I never heard you sing. You always you used to say—”
“I’ll leave that for the professionals,” I finish for him.
He nods. "But your voice was something else. Everyone in the audience that day could tell that you weren't meant for open mic gigs. You were meant for something so much more. I knew your talents as a songwriter were going to take you far, but you had a whole new future ahead of you. I didn't want to hold you back."
“Why didn’t you let me decide?”
He shakes his head. "I loved you so much that I couldn't take the chance that you'd hesitate for even a moment. You needed a clear path to turn into the woman and star you've become. I was only going to complicate things."
“It’s not fair that you took that choice from me.”
“You’re right. But I’ve lived with that decision every day since.”
"So, is that what tonight was to you? Some last hurrah with the one you let getaway."
"No," he says, closes the distance between us and pulling me against him. "Tonight was a chance to right the wrongs of the past. Mistakes were made. Time was lost. But we've been given a second chance."
“What are you saying?”
“I’m saying that I loved you then. And I love you even more now. I don’t ever want to let you go.”
The constant knot of heartache in my chest that I've held on to for so many years unravels, and I finally feel some relief.
“I want that too,” I say with a sob.
Rhett holds me tight against him as I let go of the tears I’ve been holding onto for so long.
7
RHETT
