“I'm not that fragile. You just said so yourself. You said I could go stay at that bed and breakfast alone if I wanted. There's nothing wrong with me. The police have cleared me, the doctors have cleared me, and you've cleared me. I know what I want.”
She sighs. “And you want Rye Rough?”
“You just said he was a good guy.”
“Heisa good guy, but he's also a bit of an ass. I'm saying that off the record, of course.”
“What do you mean, a bit of an ass?” I ask her. I trust Leila. The last few hours she's been nothing but kind and gentle and warm. She's a good person. She's devoted her life to making sure other people feel safe when they're in a vulnerable situation.
“He's just kind of sharp.”
“Really?” I frown. “With me he's been nothing but gentle.”
Leila smiles. “Maybe you bring out the best in him, Prairie Jones.”
* * *
Driving up to his cabin,I feel a different kind of nerves. Rye looks over at me and we both feel it. I know we do.
“You finish the burger?” he asks with a grin.
“It was gone two miles ago,” I say with a laugh. I reach into the paper sack and eat more salty fries.
Rye got me the meal I wanted, which was a chocolate shake, French fries, and a hamburger from the diner. I guess they’d closed but they opened for him because he insisted somebody fry me up some potatoes and make me a shake. I guess his reputation for being an ass had its perks because it got me the one meal I was craving all this time.
I was surprised to see the news reporters swarming the urgent care when Rye I walked out, but now we’re back in the woods, driving up the dirt road to his place, and I feel like we are in our own little cocoon.
He and I together.
“I'm so glad you wanted me to wait for you. I didn’t want you to feel pressured but the thought of leaving you—”
“No,” I say, clutching his hand as he puts his truck into park. “You're the only one I wanted to be with. I was thinking about our kiss all day long.”
It's pitch dark out and his cabin is in the middle of nowhere. It's like we're the only two people in the whole wide world.
“I was thinking about that kiss too,” Rye says. And for a moment, I think he's gonna give me another one.
But then big flood lights come on. And I see people on his front porch.
“Who's that?” I ask, startled.
“Shit,” he growls, “that's my parents.”
“Your parents?”
“It's all right,” he says. “I bet they just wanted to make sure you were okay. They’re good folks, I promise.”
I nod, remembering what Leila said at the hospital. Red and Annie were some of the best people she knew.
We get up to the porch and he tosses my food wrappers in an outdoor garbage pail. “What are you doing here?” he asks his parents as we walk across the decking.
“Well, we just wanted to make sure what we heard was true,” his mom says as we enter the cabin. It’s obvious they’ve already been inside. If his family is as close as Leila suggested, they probably have a spare key.
“I brought some food,” Rye’s mom says. “I heard from Tammy down at the urgent care that you were going to have some company here for a night at least.” His mom looks over at me, smiling. “Well, I knew the state of your cupboards and your refrigerator. And I thought, well, Prairie probably could use some good meals, so I decided to stock your fridge before you got home.”
“Thanks, Mom,” Rye says. “And Mom, Dad, this is Prairie. Prairie, this is my dad Red and my mom Annie.
“Good to meet you, Prairie.” Red steps forward to shake my hand. “I know you've both had a long day,” he says, looking at Rye.