The truth was, I had no idea how she was taking things. She refused to speak to me when I took her home and got her into bed.
Ty turned around and started walking backwards. “You may want to give her some space. I know Van and she can’t take stressful situations. She will hold it all in and then eventually explode and you definitely don’t want to be around for that. It is the scariest shit I have ever seen.”
I pulled my hat off and took a deep breath. I had seen her mad, but not like he was describing, although I knew they had some pretty heavy fights in the past. “Thanks for the warnin’.”
“Seriously dude, be careful. It’s scary!” I watched Ty walk into the house and started to head back to my truck.
Savanna was probably still asleep. I would make her some tea and convince her that we could get one of the other barns ready in three days. We would make it work. Things were going to be okay.
Chapter 4
Savanna
After Colt carried me upstairs and left to go deal with the aftermath of our newest catastrophe, I got up and went downstairs. I started looking for my medication and couldn’t remember where I had put it. Knowing him it was on some shelf somewhere. He sat everything up high on account of him being so darn tall.
When I couldn’t find the medicine, I headed straight to the liquor cabinet. If anything could calm my nerves it was Colt’s private whiskey stash. I say private because he kept it hidden from everyone else. I happened to be excluded from the everyone else part since I was his lady.
I was so upset about the barn. All of my dream wedding plans were ruined. How could this have happened to me? I don’t remember doing anything to piss off God or anyone else. I attended church regularly; I was a good girlfriend and fiancée to Colt. I always tried to live responsibly. It just made no sense.
I knew Colt was mad, especially when he had to rush back out of here. Sometimes I think he knew to avoid me when I got mad. I guess from being an only child my whole life, I had this complex that everything had to go my way, all of the time. When it didn’t, well let’s just say that I wasn’t the nicest person. I had tried to be better, even to ask for forgiveness and guidance from up above, but my temper was something fierce.
With the whiskey finally in my grasp, I opened the cap and took a giant gulp. It burned from the first moment it hit my throat and I cringed at the kick it had as it went down. My stomach instantly began to warm and I giggled knowing that soon I wouldn’t care about anything. I wasn’t normally one to drown my sorrows, but nobody at this ranch could relate to what I was going through.
A knock at the door startled me. I took the bottle and hid it behind the couch cushion as I walked over to answer the door. Sam, our dog, went flying for the door. “Get down girl.”
She sat next to me wagging her tail in anticipation of who could be on the other side. The deliveryman stood there with a package in his hands. “Hello there. You don’t have to sign. Just wanted to say hello,” he said as he handed me the package.
“Thanks. Have a good day.”
He always seemed to give me googly eyes when I answered the door. I wondered if he had secret relationships with some of his regular delivery addresses. Since Ty had cheated on me, I assumed that every man, except Colt, had shady secrets. I don’t know why I always kept Colt on some pedestal, but it worked for my happiness that I liked to keep us in.
I plopped myself back down on the couch and pulled out my hidden whiskey bottle. I was able to have already knocked off a quarter of it. The small box sat in my hand and I began opening it. Low and behold were photo books of Ty and Miranda’s service that I had ordered with one day shipping. As I grabbed the first photo book, I feared what I would see as I looked down at it. Since I had designed them I knew that the pain would rip through me as I saw that decorated barn on the cover. Ty and Miranda were standing in front of it, with Bella in both of their arms. Their picture perfect moment captured just hours before it turned to rubble.
The page creaked as I opened the book for the first time. Page after page I studied the background and not the people in the images. In each one I could see Colt and Conner’s hard work. Every little detail had been perfect for our big day. I grabbed the second book and took another three swigs of soothing liquor. There were pictures of the whole service; close ups of the alter Colt had built for us, the wooden dance floor that they stayed up late making level. It was all there in colorful photos.
I closed the book and stared at the cover again. They were so in love, so happy with their day. I took the book and chucked it across the room. A picture of a deer went crashing down to the floor, shattering upon impact. I pulled my knees up to my chest and buried my face into my hands. The tears poured out and I wasn’t fighting them. It wasn’t fair that they got to have my day. I knew it wasn’t their fault, but it still wasn’t fair. In some prissy pathetic way, I just wanted that perfect wedding to happen.