Page 49 of Whiskey Weather
“It is,” I whisper.
“I’ve never wanted anything with anyone else so badly in my life, Iz. You have to know that. I can’t paint a perfect picture for you, or predict that everything will work out exactly like I want it to.” He shakes his head and takes a deep breath. “But if knowing I want you this much is good enough for now, then we’ll cross every bridge together when we get to them.”
My jaw is on the floor, I’m sure of it. I don’t think I’ve ever heard him string that many words together at a time to get his point across. His bold promises settle into my brain, and I know right then and there that they’ll never leave me.
“Where’s my quiet cowboy, and what did you do with him?”
I expect to hear his familiar chuckle, but his expression remains serious.
“I can’t hold back when it comes to you.”
And just like the view through my camera, when a shot finally begins to make sense to me, the whole world shifts into focus.
Epilogue
Ledger - Two Years Later
Sarabeth
You’re late.
For?
Sarabeth
Be so forreal right now
The souper bowl party
I smirkwhile reading my niece’s text. She takes this day so seriously that I couldn’t help pretending I didn’t know what she was talking about.
My truck rolls to a stop in front of the house at the ranch, and I put it in park. The soup I brought is sitting in the passenger seat with the seat belt wrapped around it like a small child.
I don’t know why any of us in the family continue bothering to bring an entry to Sarabeth’s “Souper Bowl Party”. She wins every year.
I type out another quick reply to her before heading inside.
I’m here, genius.
Sarabeth
Okayyy well hurry up. We’re waiting and I need to fill out the label for your entry before the taste testing starts
As I retrieve the goods and walk in the front door, I immediately have half a mind to turn right back around and go home. The entire house is filled to the brim with family members and ranch employees.
I turn my body to the side so that I can pass through several groups of people in orange and blue football jerseys. Their hands are full of red Solo cups and paper plates full of appetizers. The pre-game show plays loudly on the big screen TV in the living room, and the kitchen island is littered with steaming pots of various soups.
The Cole family is a social bunch, and I love them. But somehow, the extroverted gene skipped me. Thank god my wife is already here, or I’d be in for a long evening of quiet nods and checking the time on my phone.
It’s been a week since she left for her latest trip. As much as I miss her when she’s gone, I’m damn proud of her and wouldn’t change a thing about the life we’ve built together over the last couple of years.
After we got married, we quickly settled into a routine together. I love our quiet life when she’s home, but I think the summer season is my favorite. That’s when I take time off and travel more with her.
There’s a corkboard map in our living room at the cabin that details everywhere we’ve been together. We put stars on the places we’ve been and yellow dots on the uncharted spots wehave our eye on. I look forward to every one of them, and life with her has a perfect balance of quiet and adventure that I never knew I craved so badly in a relationship.
I’ve grown accustomed to our little patches of time away from each other, but that doesn’t make me any less feral to find her and kiss her stupid as I weave through the crowd and set my soup in the only clear spot on the kitchen island.
I narrow my eyes at Fletcher’s chili. Cheater.
