Small Town Girl (19 page)

“I went with yellow diamonds because
they’re bright and happy,” he said. “That’s what you’ve brought into my life,
Brynn. Happiness.”

“Thank you,” I said as I looked up into
his intense, dark eyes.

His face immediately softened as he
leaned in for a kiss.

“This means a lot,” I whispered. “I was
so upset when you left. I didn’t mean to make you so mad.”

He placed his hands along both sides of
my face and shook his head. “I shouldn’t have taken off like that.”

I scooted closer to him as he wrapped his
arms around me and held me tight.

“When do you have to leave?” I asked him.
“I don’t want you to go.”

He glanced at the boldfaced watch on his
wrist. “In a couple of hours. I don’t want to go either.”

The stubble from his five o’clock shadow
tickled the sides of my face as he turned to kiss me once again. I was going to
miss his kisses, his touch, and the way he made me feel like I was the only
girl in the entire world.

He stood up, scooping me up in his arms,
and carried me back to his bed.

“Piper,” I called out at the airport the
following Friday. “Over here.”

Piper looked like a lost duck amongst the
throngs of travelers in the middle of LAX. The second she saw my face, a smile
spread across hers.

She ran up to me and threw her arms
around me. She’d never been so relieved to see me before in her life. Traveling
to big cities bothered her just as much as it bothered me.

I couldn’t help but notice how much Piper
stood out compared to everyone else out there. Her ill-fitting jeans combined
with her makeup free face and an old, faded t-shirt was not something you’d see
every day in L.A. I’d gotten so used to my new look that I’d forgotten we once
shared the same knack for that small-town-ignore-the-trends attitude.

“Everyone here is so…skinny,” Piper said
as she gazed around. “And beautiful.”

“Yeah, it’s different from Rock River,
huh?” I asked. “I’m used to it now though. Everyone always looks incredible.
It’s like no one ever has an off day. People get dressed up to go to the gym
and the grocery store here.”

“You look like you could still stand to
gain a few,” she
sighed
as she looked me up and down.

“Oh, stop,” I replied. “I’m healthy.
That’s all that matters.”

We trekked to the baggage carousel and
waited patiently for her luggage to come around.

“I have a car waiting outside to take us
back to Hudson’s,” I said.

“A car?” she asked. “Like a limo?”

“A Town Car, but yeah,” she said. “I
still don’t know my way around the city yet. I’d have gotten us lost. The
traffic here is insane.”

By the time the driver dropped us off at
Hudson’s
,
it was early afternoon
. There was a sweet breeze in the air
that rustled the leaves on the trees and the sun was still shining high in the
sky.

I wheeled her luggage inside, like a good
hostess, and watched her face as she took in the beauty that was Hudson’s home.
I wanted to relive that experience through her, as I’d never forgotten what it
felt like to set foot into the lap of luxury.

“Oh. My. God,” she said as she ran her
fingers along the marble counters. She did a complete three-sixty as her eyes
took in all the sights. “And he has a pool?”

I laughed. “Of course he has a pool. Want
to go outside for a bit and sit by the waterfall?”

“Um, yeah,” she said as she headed
towards the sliding glass doors.

I pulled two glasses from the cabinets,
filled them with ice, and poured in some of Flor’s famous lemonade.

“Here you go,” I said as I took a seat
next to her.

“This is beautiful,” she said as she
admired the grotto and the greenery that surrounded us.

“I swim out here just about every day,” I
told her. “It’s like a dream come true. Now you see why I don’t want to come
back to Rock River? I’m living in paradise. Literally.”

Piper said nothing as she continued to
stare at the falling, splashing waters.

“Don’t get me wrong, Rock River will
always be home,” I said. “But nothing can compare to this.”

She was still quiet, and I feared she
thought I was trying to make her jealous. It wasn’t my intention at all.

“You should think about leaving Rock
River,” I said. “There’s so much of life we haven’t experienced because we were
stuck reliving our glory days. Afraid to leave our comfort zones.”

She shrugged. “I like Rock River.”

She
wasn’t
understanding
my point, but that was okay.

“How’s Luke doing?” I asked. I couldn’t
help myself. I was curious, and I did still care.

Piper turned towards me, her face
twisted. “Why do you always ask me about him?”

“Because I want to know,” I replied. “I’m
not allowed to ask how he’s doing?”

“I just don’t get why you still care,”
she said. “You’ve clearly moved on.”

“Just because I moved on doesn’t mean,
I’ve suddenly stopped caring about how he’s doing, Piper,” I huffed. “He was my
best friend for a long time. I’ll always care about him and wonder about him.
I’ll always love him.”

I wanted to ask her why she’d been so
protective of him lately, but I knew that would’ve started World War III. She’d
been oddly defensive lately, and I didn’t want to go there with her. Not then.
Not when she’d just arrived and I was looking forward to spending some quality
time together.

“Do you love Hudson?” she asked as she
took a sip from her cup and crunched on some ice.

“I honestly haven’t thought about that,”
I said.

“You’re together every day,” she said.
“You uprooted your entire life. You don’t know if you love him yet?”

“Doesn’t love take time?” I asked. “I’m
not trying to rush anything.”

She squinted at me through the corner of
her eye as if to
say
“come on” and laughed.

“Yeah, you didn’t rush anything,” she
smirked.

“Okay, I get your point,” I replied.
“I’ve known him, what?
Five, six weeks now?
Everything
is still so new, but yeah, I think I’m really starting to fall for him.”

I tucked one strand of hair behind my ear
and the glistening, yellow diamonds caught Piper’s eye.

“Um, what is that?” she said as she
reached over and grabbed my right hand, examining the ring.

“Oh,” I said. “This. Um, he got it for me
before he left. It’s a symbol of our relationship. It’s not an engagement ring
or anything like that.”

“Mm, hm,” she said as she studied it. “So
it’s like a promise ring?”

“I don’t know,” I said as I jerked my
hand back. “It’s just a symbol. Let’s not complicate things.”

“Didn’t Luke get you a friendship ring
once?” she asked. “What happened to it?”

I smiled fondly. “We were wrestling
around in one of the barns and it fell off my finger. Never did find it.”

“And he didn’t get you a new one?” she
asked.

“Of course not,” I said. “His cheap ass?
No way.”

“I guess that makes sense,” she said. “I
think every dollar he’s ever earned has gone towards land or something.”

I wondered how she knew that, but I
figured maybe I’d mentioned it to her before that he’d been saving his whole
life to build up a farm of his own.

“So do you talk to Luke a lot now?” I
asked.

Piper looked nervous. “Probably more now
that you’re gone. Yes.”

“You two used to hate each other,” I
mused.

“Yeah,” she said. “We did.”

The space between us filled with an
awkward silence.
 

“So, what do you want for dinner
tonight?” I asked, changing the subject. “Flor can make us whatever we want. Or
we can order in.”

Piper shrugged. “I don’t care.”

“She makes really great fajitas,” I said.
“And they’re healthy. We can go for a swim in a little bit if you want?”

I just wanted things to be the way they
used to be with Piper, and if that meant dropping the subject of Luke when we
were around, then that was fine. For some reason, she was developing some sort
of bond or friendship with Luke and becoming protective over him. I was quite
certain she was just as protective of me around him as well. That’s how Piper
was with the people she cared about. Protective.

Still, I couldn’t help but feel that I
was now an outsider.

***

Piper and I relaxed by the pool after
Flor’s amazing fajita dinner. We were filled to the brim and buzzing from our
icy cold, homemade margaritas.

“I should probably call Hudson,” I said
as I glanced down at my phone. “I haven’t talked to him all day.”

“So you guys talk every day when he’s
away?” she asked.

“Yep,” I said as I stood up and grabbed
my phone. “I’ll be right back.”

I went inside the house and shut the
sliding door for privacy.

“Hey,” Hudson said as he picked up in the
middle of the first ring. I loved when he did that.

“Hi,” I said sweetly. “How was today?”

He grunted and sighed, and I imagined him
throwing himself down on the bed of his hotel room and kicking off his shoes.

“Long,” he said. “Too long. One more week
and I’ll be home.”

“I can’t wait,” I said. “Want to
FaceTime?”

I fluffed my hair and positioned the
phone to a flattering angle before pressing the FaceTime button.

The instant he saw my face he smiled. “I
miss you.”

“I miss you too.” I smiled.

“God, I just want to pounce on you as
soon as I get home,” he said, his lips curling into a mischievous smirk. “The
things I want to do to you…”

“I suppose I’ll let you have your way
with me when you get back,” I teased.

“How’s Piper liking everything so far?”
he asked. “Is she blown away yet?”

“She’s getting there,” I said. “So far so
good. We’re just really trying to reconnect. I think she’s still a little
bitter about me leaving Rock River.”

“Ah,” he said. “Give her more time.
She’ll get over it. The wound is still too fresh.”

“I hope you’re right,” I said. “I should
probably get back out there and hang out with her.”

Hudson pouted. “I guess.”

I heard a door knock coming from his end
of the line and watched as he turned towards it.

“Who’s that?” I asked.

“Must be the food I ordered,” he said.

“They didn’t feed you on set?” I asked.

“I felt like ordering room service
tonight,” he said.

I watched him climb up and head to the
door.

“I’ll talk to you later, okay?” he said
as he flashed a smile. “Text me goodnight.”

“Okay,” I said as I ended the call.

I couldn’t help but wonder if it was Ava
popping by, but I quickly forced that vision out of my head. I stared down at
the canary diamonds that circled my finger and clutched my hand to my heart
before heading back outside to Piper.

“That was quick,” she said.

“He had to eat his dinner,” I said. “So,
since you’re only in town until Sunday, was there anything you wanted to do
tomorrow?”

Piper sat back and shook her head.
“Whatever you want to do.”

“Do you want to go shopping?” I asked.
“Hudson left me with his black Amex…”

Her lips curled into a smile. “You’re
bad.”

“I can see if his hair and makeup people
can squeeze you in tomorrow. Give you the full Hollywood glam treatment,” I
said.

“Like what you got?” Piper huffed. She
was suddenly getting snippy with me again. “No thanks.”

I was slightly offended by that. “Oh,
okay. Just thought it might be fun.”

“I don’t think you realize how different
you look now,” Piper said, as if my new look was offensive to her. “When you
came back home the other weekend, you were the talk of the town. It was all
people were talking about for days. And when we see those pictures of you
online. You don’t even look like the Brynn Dawson we all know.”

“I’m sorry you feel that way,” I said. “I
had to fit in here. I hope you understand that. I’m still the same old me on
the inside.”

“Are you, Brynn?” she asked. Her eyes
welled with tears.

“Yes, Piper,” I said. “I am.”

We sat in silence, each of us fuming like
two petty high school girls.

“I don’t want to fight with you,” I said,
finally breaking the silence several minutes later. “Either we can make this
weekend fun or we can sit here and play these games and you can keep acting all
weird around me.”

Piper huffed and dropped her shoulders as
if she’d been defeated.

“Fine,” she said.

“I don’t like this tension between us,” I
said.

“Neither do it,” she admitted.

“I miss my best friend.”

“Me too.” Piper’s response wasn’t all that
convincing. I realized I was the one who had moved away, but it went both ways
and I had done all the reaching out since I’d moved away. I only talked to her
when I made the effort.

“I haven’t made any new friends out
here,” I lamented. “But I guess I spend all my time with Hudson.”

“Maybe you should branch out a bit,” she
said. “Go out and meet new people.”

“Easier said than done,” I said. “Hudson
always has plans for us. We’re always doing stuff. Never a free moment.”

“He does seem a little possessive,” she
said.

“I never said that,” I replied, a bit
offended. I refused to believe he had a possessive bone in his body. He just
liked spending time with me.