2.Reminisce
Sleeping in my old room alone was way more comfortable than I’d remembered. I had a great night’s sleep in my confortable queen bed and it was nice not having to fight for the blankets. When I woke up, I was wrapped up tightly in a cocoon made by the thick comforter my grandmother had made for me when I was little.
I was up before anyone else. I got breakfast started and then pulled out my laptop and sketchpad and started to do some work at the table. I was stuck staring at my sketchpad and tapping my pencil against my chin when Jared walked in. He wrapped his arms around me and kissed the top of my head. “Hey baby. How was your night?”
“Great,” I replied. “How about yours?”
He shrugged and sat with me at the table. “Not all that great, to be honest with you. I missed you, babe.”
I set my sketch on the table and leaned over him with my lips only centimeters away from his. “Why don’t I make it up to you?” I murmured seductively against his lips. I kissed him hard, my tongue fighting with his for dominance. I didn’t even hear anyone else enter the kitchen.
“Gross, that is so not what I want to see first thing in the morning,” Amber whined. “And what is that God-awful smell?”
I sighed and rested my forehead against Jared’s “Good morning, Amber. That smell would be breakfast, thank you very much. I made wheat pancakes, turkey bacon, and rye toast. It’s good for you.”
Amber made a gagging sound. “That just sounds disgusting. Where’d you get this stuff anyway? I know for a fact that we didn’t have any turkey whatever here.”
“I went and bought it, stupid. It’s all organic and healthy. You should give it a try.”
“Ha! There’s a snowball’s chance that that’ll happen. Get me some good ‘ole sausage and black coffee and I’m good. There’s no way any of this crap is going near my mouth.”
“Yuck! What the hell is that?” Christy practically yelled when he and Bobby walked in. By then the rest of the family was there.
“Baylee tried to make breakfast,” Amber teased. “She’s trying to make us all go green. She’s-”
“Amber,” Mom snapped. “We can all give it a try. Baylee-Bug, thank you for making everyone breakfast.”
I smiled and started back on my work while everyone got situated. Jared made me a plate and I multitasked between eating and working. I usually worked while I did other things and Jared was used to me being so scatterbrained. My family wasn’t. “Baylee, put that stuff away and eat your breakfast.”
“Just a second, Dad,” I replied without looking up. “Let me finish this up. Jared, what do you think of this design for the runway?” I shoved my drawing under his nose and he looked it over.
“Is the new Valentino line going to be in the show?”
“Uh, yeah. Why?”
Jared grabbed my pencil and added to my sketch. “You should probably widen the runway. Some of those dresses get pretty big.”
I nodded and took back the sketchpad to make my own additions. I was starting to get glares from my parents so I added a quick scale at the bottom corner of the paper and stuffed the book under my butt. I smiled innocently up at my mom and dad and shoved a piece of turkey bacon into my mouth.
My sister had kitchen clean up after breakfast. I went into the living room with Jared and pulled out my laptop. I quickly hooked up my awesome little portable scanner and uploaded my runway design. All I had left to do was email the sketch so that it could start to get built. The only problem was that I couldn’t access the internet.
“Mom,” I called. “What’s your Wi-Fi?”
“Why what?” She asked.
I rolled my eyes a little and shot a look at my boyfriend. “Do you guys have Wi-Fi? Wireless internet?”
She poked her head into the room and gave me a confused look. “Oh, honey. We don’t have any internet. Christian’s going into town in a few minutes. Why don’t you hitch a ride with him to the bookstore? The boys say that they have free connection over at the Hastings.”
I let out a low groan. Seriously? No Wi-Fi? I so didn’t want to ride with Christian but Bobby was already gone back to his apartment with my parents’ car and Dad was using his truck. I glanced over at Christy and he had his annoying smirk plastered on his face. I groaned and gathered up my stuff. I leaned over and kissed Jared’s soft lips. “I’ll see ya in a while.”
I walked over to where Christian was standing. He leaned up against the wall with his arms crossed, tapping his foot. He smirked down at me again. “What’s the magic word, Baylee-Bug?”
I arched one eyebrow. “Excuse me?”
“The magic word,” he insisted. “Or do you think that everyone is just going to fall at your feet and do what you want.”
I narrowed my brown eyes at him. “Are you serious?”
“Yep,” Christian answered, popping the ‘p’. Ugh, I seriously hated when people did that.
I groaned and rolled my eyes. “Fine,” I snapped. “Christy, would you please give me a ride to the bookstore?”
Christian flashed me a smug smile. “Yeah, sure. I’ll bet your mouth is just burning right now.”
I glared at him. “Shut up. You are such a di-”
“Baylee,” my mom snapped, cutting me off. “Don’t you dare use that kind of language in my house. Your father and I taught you better than that.”
I smiled sweetly at Mom. “I’m sorry.” Her eyes stayed narrowed at me for several long minutes.
Christian slipped his arm around my waist and led me out into the frigid Wyoming snow. I elbowed him hard in the stomach but he just laughed. Damn, maybe I really was losing my touch considering that back in the day I would have been able to make him double over in pain.
As much as I hated having his arm around me I guess it was a good thing because I kept slipping on the icy ground. When we got to his 4WD truck he opened the passenger’s side door for me and helped me climb in before making his way to his side. I watched him curiously as he went around the front of the car. Wow, he was such a gentleman. And so cute, too.
A deep blush crept into my cheeks at that thought and I quickly averted my gaze. Christian quickly climbed in but immediately saw my red-stained cheeks. “What’s wrong?”
I blushed even more. “Nothing,” I lied quickly.
“Bullshit,” Christy accused, poking my side. I blinked; I was a pretty decent liar. “I’ve known you practically all my life, Baylee. I can tell when you lie.”
My jaw dropped and I just stared at him for a few seconds like an idiot. “Well you just suck monkey butt,” I growled for a lack of anything better.
He laughed at my stupid response and turned down to the main road. We sat in silence for the next few minutes of the ride but it wasn’t awkward. In fact, the silence was comfortable and familiar, like my patched quilt had been when I was a child. I stared out the window while the town passed by. A few years back I would have been able to name every building and even a lot of the people but now it all just seemed so foreign to me. A tight knot formed in my stomach as I realized I’d become a stranger in my own world.
It didn’t take long before Christian was pulling up to the curb in front of the bookstore. As kids, we’d spent many days there but I’m pretty sure that I would have actually gotten lost had I been driving. He smiled at me, just like he used to when he would drop me somewhere and I smiled back. “So do you want me to pick you up or are you going to call Bobby?”
“What are you in town for?” I asked. I didn’t like to put people out, even if I was pissed off at them and Christy was no exception.
He shrugged his broad, toned shoulders. “I’m picking up some horse feed for you guys and my horses. I shouldn’t be long but I don’t mind waiting.”
I nibbled on my bottom lip for a few seconds. “Well, if it’s really okay. I’ll only be a little bit so if you can come get me when you’re done with your errands that would be great.”
Christian nodded once and waved at me as he drove off. I don’t know why
, but my stomach was doing annoying little flips as I watched his car disappear down the road. When I realized that my heart was pounding erratically, I mentally slapped myself and stomped into the bookstore. WTF? Why the hell was my body reacting to freakin’ Christy?
I growled under my breath and quickly set to my work, putting all thought so him from my head. I pulled out my laptop and quickly hooked up to the Wi-Fi. The store’s spotty connection made it take forever for my computer to get a signal. The email took so long to send that I decided to go on my Facebook while I waited. The homepage showed pictures of my friends at parties or decorating. One of the girls from work put her status as “cant wait for the xmas party!! its gunna be FAB!” I groaned because I was going to miss the biggest, best party of the season.
Irritated, I exited out of the website and roughly shut off the machine when the email was sent. I put it back in the case and slung it over my shoulder before I went to browse through the books in an attempt to relax my mind. My fingers gently skimmed over the spines and my eyes were half-closed in contentment. It had been ages since I’d actually picked up a real book and my hands itched to hold one again. I plucked a random romance novel off the shelf and started reading it while I paced up and down the isle.
I was almost three chapters in and had completely lost track of time when someone put one their hands over my eyes. Living in Las Angeles, getting blindfolded by a pair of hands isn’t good. I gasped loudly and threw my elbow back with as much force as I could muster, which considering I’d grown up on a ranch was quite a lot.
The person grunted in pain when my elbow connected with their chest. “Dammit, Baylee. That hurt,” Christian’s voice groaned.
I spun around quickly with my eyes wide. “Christy? Shit, I’m so sorry. I didn’t know it was you.”
“Yeah, yeah. I was waiting outside for you but when you didn’t show I figured that you were probably still in your own world. I honestly didn’t expect you to go all Kung Fu Panda on my ass.”
I let out a little giggle. “Get over it, Christy. You scared me. What else was I going to do?”
He pulled the book out of my grip. I immediately started pouting but he grabbed my hand and started leading me toward the registers. “I used to sneak up on you all the time and you never once jumped. How the hell was I supposed to know that you would scare so easily?”
I stuck my tongue out at him and narrowed my eyes. “I’ve been living in L.A. since I was 18. Girls in L.A. tend to be very cautious. It comes with the package of living alone in a big city.”
His grin fell a fraction and a guilty knot tightened in my stomach because I didn’t mean to make him feel bad. I averted my gaze from his face and cleared my throat awkwardly. My eyes landed on the book and I pried it away from him, changing the subject as I skipped ahead. “I didn’t keep you waiting long, did I?”
He shrugged easily. “Only about ten minutes before I decided to come find you. I would’ve waited longer but it was so damn cold. Let’s get your book so that we can go.”
The ride back wasn’t as quiet but it was still pretty comfortable. We talked about the most random things, like the few swirling bits of snow falling, and fought over what station to listen to. Riding in Christian’s truck was like second nature for me, normal. I’d missed hanging out with him like this.
Once I walked through the door, everything changed. Well, ‘changed’ isn’t exactly right. Jared engulfed me in a hug and kissed me hard on the mouth. At that moment, I didn’t care who was watching or if we were acting slightly inappropriate. The man in front of me and my job were the only things that mattered. I stopped being the Wyoming horse rancher that I’d been a few minutes before with Christy and started being the stuck up L.A. bitch I’d been for the last seven years.
“Everything all taken care of?” Jared asked, going back to business.
“Yeah,” I answered very blasé. “The design has been sent and they can call me with any problems. What about you? You’re totally ready for this show, right?”
Jared rolled his eyes at me. “When am I not ready for a show?” he scoffed. I shook my head at his rude comment and for a brief second I seriously considered punching him.
As lunch started to roll around, Amber made sure to keep me far away from the kitchen. Back home I did most of the cooking so it was weird for me not to have something to do. Plus, I was a little wary of what my mom would make.
“You never liked to cook,” my little sister reminded me as she shoved me into the living room. “Just let me and Mama handle it and we’ll call you when it’s ready.”
“You don’t cook either,” I countered.
She flashed me a mischievous smile. “That’s true. But we can’t risk that you’ll go on another power trip and try to feed us whatever that shit was. Go… feed the horses or something.”
“Fine,” I grumbled, shoving my feet into my adorable knee-high brown Chanel snow boots. I was mumbling a sting of curses at my sister as I dawned my jacket, hat, scarf, and gloves. I was still muttering incoherently as I stomped into the cold and across the thin layer of snow to the stable.
The horses inside whinnied when I let the frosty December air inside. I walked right up to a large black stallion, Rugrat. He was one of the fastest, most stubborn race horses in the whole state. And he was all mine. My dad had taken me to a horse auction when I was eleven and let me pick him out. He was a big pain-in-the-ass but my dad couldn’t talk me out of getting him. I was the first person that he actually let train him.
Rugrat, named after one of my all-time favorite cartoons, reared back on his hind legs and let out a loud neigh. I backed away from his stall quickly. “Whoa there boy,” I tried to calm him. “Relax. It’s me, buddy. You remember me, don’t you Rugrat?”
He snorted and started to beat the ground with his hoof.
“You know, he’s just as pissy as his owner,” a voice grunted behind me. Christian was there filling up feed barrels. “I think he’s mad at you for abandoning him.”
I turned back to the big black horse and nibbled at my bottom lip. “Well it’s not like I can keep him in Las Angeles. Besides, he’s a race horse, not a pet.”
Christian leaned up against the stall door. “He missed you, Baylee. You can’t really expect him to forgive you so easily.”
I sighed and leaned against an empty stall. “What would you have done if you’d gone with me like we’d planed? Do you think that Hailey’s Comet would have been as heartbroken?”
He ran a hand through his thick, blonde hair. “I really don’t know what would have happened, Bay. Sometimes I wish that things would have worked out but at the same time I’m glad that I stayed.”
I bit my tongue. “I’m glad things worked out for you,” I said bitterly. I turned my back on Christy and my horse and practically ran back to the house. Things would have been different if Christian had been able to go to Los Angeles with me. Things might have stayed the same if she hadn’t gotten in the way.
I shook my head frantically. I refused to let myself get upset over what had happened when Christian and I had graduated. I’d already gotten over being miserable for leaving my best friend behind. Besides, that was seven years ago and I was definitely not the same girl. I wouldn’t let myself get hurt like that again.
I sat at the table and moved around my food during lunch. I was in a grumpy mood so I was really quite through the whole meal. My mom was the first to notice. “Is something wrong, honey?” she asked.
“Hmm?” I looked up and gave her a small smile. “Oh, yeah, I’m fine. I’m just tired is all.”
She frowned and her forehead became creased with worry wrinkles. “Oh, honey. Why don’t you go lay down? I’m sure that you’re just jet lagged and you woke up so early this morning to make breakfast. You should feel much better after a nice nap.”
I smiled weakly at my mom. “It’s okay, Mama. I’m just really not that hungry.”
“Nonsense,” she snapped. “You go straight to bed. Um,
Jared, can you please take her?”
“I’m fine, Mom,” I tried to argue as I pushed out of my seat. There was no way that I was getting out of her babying me so I decided to just go with it.
Jared pushed from his chair and took my arm. “What’s the matter with you?” he demanded once we were in my bedroom. “You were just fine earlier when you got back from the bookstore.”
I narrowed my eyes dangerously at him. “Sometimes exhaustion hits for no apparent reason. If you’re going got be an ass then just go back to the kitchen and leave me alone.”
His full lips curled up into a smirk. “Oh, I see. You’re PMSing. Fine, go ahead and lay down for a while. But you had better not leave me alone for too long.” He turned his back and walked back out the door. I stuck my tongue out at him like a little kid but he didn’t see it.
I must have fallen asleep without actually meaning to. I woke up curled into a tight ball on my bed with a glass of water on my bedside table sitting next to a fresh chocolate chip cookie. I scrunched up my nose; I know the cookie wasn’t there when I went to fell asleep.
“You’d better hurry up and eat that before I do,” a voice rang out, making me jump a mile high.
I whipped my head toward my desk. Christian was lounging comfortably, stuffing his face with some of my mom’s warm, fresh-baked cookies. “Go ahead. I won’t eat it.”
His eyes widened in horror. “Shit, you really are sick, aren’t you?”
I wrinkled my nose. “No, not really. I just wasn’t feeling my best. Why did you ask, anyway?”
Christy shrugged and his green eyes were mischievous. “Well because you used to love your mama’s cookies. I used to have to hide the tray if I even wanted a chance to get one.”
I grabbed the closest pillow and threw it at him. “Shut up, Christy. I was not that much of a pig. I knew where all your hiding places were and I could have taken the cookie jar whenever I wanted.”
He grinned sheepishly. “You knew?”
I rolled my eyes. “Of course I knew. I came up with more than half of them. Remember? I couldn’t reach the counter so you would steal the jar and I would come up with the hiding spots. You never changed from those places.”
He laughed and I even let out a smile. “Oh, that’s right. You were short.”
He tossed my pillow back and I stared at it for a while, a frown turning down the corners of my mouth. Christian’s mother had made it for me one Christmas and embroidered Bobby’s, Amber’s, mine and Christy’s names on the front. My eyes lingered on the elegant lettering of his name. “What the hell are you doing in here anyway? You sneaking up on me is getting really annoying.”
He shrugged and tossed another cookie into his mouth. “I was waiting for you to wake up. I wanted to make sure that you were okay.”
I blushed. I wasn’t used to having anyone take care of me; Jared definitely wasn’t the type. I tugged on a strand of my brown hair and tucked it behind my ear. “Well I’m fine, as you can see.” I tossed of my blanket and stood up shakily. “You can go now, Christy.”
He took a step toward me and my breath hitched. His face leaned in towards mine and he stared me straight in my wide eyes. “Thanks for the desert,” he laughed as he pulled back with the cookie from my table in his hand.
I let out a deep sigh of relief when the door closed behind him, although a part of me was just a little disappointed.
“Are you feeling any better?” my mom asked when I walked into the living room.
I smiled up at her. “Yeah, much better, thanks. I’m nice and refreshed.”
I went to sit by Jared but he shot me a glare. I wrinkled my brows together in response. “Glad to see you’re better.”
My brown eyes narrowed at him and my voice took on a hard edge. “What’s the matter with you? You couldn’t be a big boy without me for an hour while I slept?”
He scowled at me and scooted a little bit further away on the couch. I didn’t care or get offended. I was in absolutely no mood to deal with his diva antics at the moment. I rolled my eyes and got up from the couch quickly. “Where are you going?” Jared demanded.
“Away from you. You’re not my favorite person at the moment and we both know that I do stupid things when I’m pissed.” I stormed through the kitchen and out into the snow without even bothering to bundle up.