Page 67 of Forever Fallen

She listened faintly as she thought back to her wedding at the airport and how different she and Ryan had been in those moments. They barely knew each other, bickered easily, and had skipped the rings… nearly skipping the moment to kiss the bride, if it hadn’t been for his aggressive moves.

No, her wedding had not been the greatest. The last two weeks however had changed her mind significantly about him. He was so gentle once you got past the façade he presented.

“I think she picked pink roses and white lilies for the flower arrangements too,” the woman was blabbering on. “We are all supposed to wear pink or white with pink highlights. I had to go buy a new dress for this…”

“I’m sure you’ll look beautiful,” Sophie replied immediately.

“Could I borrow my wife,” Ryan said from nearby, interrupting the conversation as Sophie looked up. “I know you just got here, but we have tickets tonight and dinner is already made. Might I suggest, if you are in town having a little fun, that you visit the Flyboys airport on the south side? They’ll take you up and give you a tour, allowing you to get some excellent photographs or footage for the lucky couple…”

“Ohhhh, I like that idea. Thank you! Yes, we were going to head out and return later,” the guest replied.

“The keys to the front door are on your keyring,” Sophie began, looking at Ryan curiously.

What tickets?

He held out his hand to her, nodded, and made their excuses as he practically pulled her from the living room outside onto the porch.

“Ryan, what is going on?” she hissed immediately. “Don’t you think we should stay here?”

“Why? They are renting a room and truthfully? They are using us because I’m pretty sure you aren’t supposed to have two, three, and even four guests per room – and they do. They’ll get dinner, talk, and then retire because of the wedding tomorrow. It will be fine.”

“What were you talking about ‘tickets’…” she began as he pulled her towards the car, his hand holding hers.

He turned to her, stopped, and smiled softly.

“Will you go out with me?” he said quietly, his warm eyes holding hers. “I was thinking this morning that there are a few things that I would like to do differently and dating you is one of them.”

Sophie sucked in her breath, stunned – and touched.

“I thought maybe we could see a movie and grab something for dinner, just the two of us?”

“I would love that…” she admitted, feeling suddenly shy and completely aware at how sweet this was of him.

Putting her hand in his, he pulled it to his lips and kissed her knuckles tenderly, before opening the car door for her. Sophie slid into the seat and watched him as he walked around, marveling at how handsome he was… and at how lucky she was to have met him.

Ryan got in the vehicle and grumbled for a few minutes about the tiny egg of a car, before smirking at her knowingly. He put an arm around her seat to look over his shoulder behind them, as he backed out. They chatted idly about nothing, making small talk, and headed towards Tyler where the nearest movie theater was.

Yonder was such a tiny blip on the map that it still surprised her that she had actually met him… because she would have never imagined that such a small town would actually have a private air strip – yet somehow?

The team of men made it work.

Pulling into the theater parking lot, she held his hand as they walked towards the front of the building and selected a movie together. She laughed as she realized Ryan didn’t have tickets at all – but was using it as an excuse to get her away from everyone else.

They did just like any other person, buying the extravagantly priced popcorn and a large soda to share, before taking their seats.

Ryan lifted the arm between the seats… and she smiled at him in the darkness, realizing he wanted to cuddle during the movie. As they sat down, he put an arm around her shoulders as she held the popcorn for the two of them.

Smiling up at him, she realized that she had never been happier than she had been in the last few days. It was like they’d been out of sync, and then something skipped, allowing them to fall right into line perfectly.

“I love you…” she whispered. “Thank you for asking me out.”

“Thank you for coming,” he replied tenderly, kissing her temple. “I love you too, my beautiful bride.”

She nodded, feeling her eyes sting slightly at such tenderness from him and realizing that these beautiful moments would have to hold her over for months to come.

The screen began to play before them as they settled in, sharing a snack, bumping hands in the dark while reaching for the popcorn at the same time, and just being playful with one another.

Ryan was a person that obviously loved holding hands and touching her. The entire movie, she found herself fascinated with the way he would trace her fingers softly, lace their hands together for a moment, or slide his hand along hers, just to feel the contact of their skin.

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