Page 14 of Brett and Rowdy
And boom. It was like traveling back in time. They were sitting at the Huddle House, teasing each other over the food, and he was breathless just like he always had been in high school.
This damn man did it for him.
Now,look at that. There were more surreal things in the world besides walking into your twentieth-class reunion with the mother of your child, who you’d never actually had sex with.
Go figure.
Rowdy could tell just from sitting next to Brett that the man had gotten bigger. He remembered them as being of a size. He could admit he was not a tall man—if he stretched real high andhad his boots on, he might be five foot seven, maybe—and the simple fact was, he weighed a buck and a quarter soaking wet.
Sitting next to Brett, he felt little.
Interesting.
“So are you going to go to the ’80s prom?” That was Crystal, who he wasn’t sure he remembered. So he just kind of pretended like… well, he didn’t know. He didn’t know what he was pretending. He was just trying to be nice.
Ashley chuckled softly. “No, no. One, I don’t remember the ’80s, and two, Rowdy’s not a big dancer, apparently. Now I know tomorrow’s the big picture moment, then there’s the tour and a basketball game.”
All of which he thought he’d just skip. He didn’t need a yearbook. He couldn’t see it. And while he had been known to play a solid game of beat baseball, basketball was not on his to-do list.
“Oh, come on,” Crystal wheedled. “It would be fun. We could dress up. I got one of the Choose Life shirts. And then I got some neon headbands and the whole thing, I’m so looking forward to it.”
“If you want to go, lady,” he told Ashley. “You go for it. I’m totally willing to hang out at the house, have a beer, and put my feet up.”
“There’s going to be awards, Rowdy.” Crystal was fixin’ to get on his last nerve. “That’s cool.”
“Yeah, I could go for the person who’s the most blind now. Oh no, wait, the person with the best seeing eye dog.”
Ashley chuckled. “No, Rowdy, you and me, we’d be the ones with the oldest kid.”
“And the newest graduate?” He shook his head and grinned. “Lord have mercy.”
“I didn’t mean to—” Crystal started, sounding shaky as leaves on a tree.
“Don’t apologize,” Brett grumbled. “They’re just trying to make you feel bad.”
“No, we’re not.” That wasn’t part of the deal, and Rowdy wasn’t going to listen to shit. “We were just making ourselves laugh. It had nothing to do with her or you.”
“You didn’t wanna come here? Why did you even show up?”
“Okay, Brett, don’t be tacky.”
Oh, he didn’t think so. “Because Ashley asked me to. I’m here for my girl’s graduation, and to take her home with me to the ranch. That’s it. I didn’t come to make any trouble.”
“Oh, bullshit,” Brett snapped, and the temptation to slam the man’s head down into his food was huge. “The way you two rolled in, you were here to make trouble.”
Rowdy felt Ashley’s foot touch his leg, and he kept his face calm. “Last time I checked, I was an adult, and if I want to go to a high school reunion with the mother of my child or anybody else I fucking want to? It is my right. I don’t have to ask your permission to show up here in your town. I was invited.”
Theassholewas implied.
Ashley kicked him this time, and it wasn’t as gentle. “Y’all be nice. I invited Rowdy because I thought it would be fun. Y’all know full well that I got trashed quite a bit while I was here in my senior year. I just wanted a little of what was coming to me. Rowdy is doing me a favor. He doesn’t even remember anybody from this town. He was only here for a year and a half. But I don’t intend for y’all to be evil to him. He was good to me when lots of others weren’t.”
He got ready to ask Ashley if she wanted to leave when Brett sighed. “You know what, you’re absolutely right. It’s been twenty years. You did shock the hell out of some of these people, and it was glorious.”
Ashley giggled softly. “That was the point. I wish that bitch Deidre was here right now. I’d just…” She stopped, obviouslycalming herself down. “Oh, I don’t know. But I missed my chance earlier.”
“I bet she’s at the bar.” Brett chuckled, the sound dark. “You know… we could stop and get a beer afterward, the four of us.”
“You’d want to do that?” Ashley sounded about as surprised as he felt.
