“Don’t take offense, but did you even enjoy your year off? Because, by the sounds of it, it seems like all you did was work.”
I turn to meet his eyes. “I did. Yes, I worked a lot, but I chose to. Sometimes, I’d get a day off during the week to do whatever, but I like to work.”
“Well, you’re the first woman I’ve ever met that actually admits liking to work.”
I can’t tear my gaze away from his anymore than he can mine. “I’m not like most girls, Wesley. I’m just me.”
“I’m beginning to see that.” His eyes hold an intensity that I’ve never seen before in anyone.
“How did you find this spot?” I steer the conversation in a different direction.
“Before my cousin died, we would ride out together to this exact spot. Colt loved it out here, especially at night. He knew he wasn’t gonna live to really grow up. We would sit on this rock, and he would tell me how he felt he could reach Heaven from this place. We were close. More like brothers rather than cousins. I was older than him, by two years, so we practically grew up together.” I can tell by the somberness in his tone that this is extremely hard for him to talk about.
I sit up and reach out to rub his shoulder in sympathy. “You don’t have to tell me anything else if you don’t want to.”
He tilts his head toward me and his eyes find mine. “I want to, though. It helps me remember him.”
When I want to remember, I just look back into the past. I don’t talk about my parents; it’s too hard, but I nod for him to continue. A few unspoken minutes pass by as I wait for him to finish his story. “A week before he died, we came out here. We talked about football, and this girl named Carli that he had a crush on. And out of nowhere, he said, ‘Wes, when I die, don’t be upset. When you’re missing me, or you wanna talk, just come out to this spot and I’ll be here with you.’ He said it was the closest to Heaven I’d get ‘til I made it up there myself. It’s like he knew his time was limited. So every time I wanna talk to him, or feel close to him, this is where I come.”
“He’d be proud of you,” I whisper.
“I don’t know about that, but thanks.”
“I do. That’s what I’d like to believe my parents would think about me anyway.”
“Your parents?” he asks with an inquisitive look.
“They died when I was twelve.” I don’t look at him. Instead, I let my eyes wander over the landscape below me.
“How?” His voice is soft and for some reason I want to tell him, but not right now.
I shake my head before looking at him. “I don’t really like to talk about it, but thank you for sharing this piece of Heaven with me.”
He nods, letting the subject of my parents go. We sit for a while longer as the silence and the heaviness of our confessions swirl around us. It’s not stifling, like I have an itch to get away, but it’s content.
“You ready to head back?” Wes asks, pulling me out of my daze.
“Yeah.” I look up at him with a smile as he stands in front of me with his hand outstretched. As he takes my hand in his, a rumble of thunder cracks through the sky above us. The loud sound brings a wide smile to my face. I take a deep breath, my eyes flutter close, and I breathe in the smell of the rain that’s coming as it wraps all around me. Wes gently guides me down the stairs from the top of the boulder.
As soon my feet hit the grass, I yank my hand free from his grasp.
He turns to look at me with an incredulous look. “Come on, Kenleigh. It’s about to rain.” Wes interrupts my moment of quiet.
“I know.”
“Well, don’t just stand there. Let’s go. The thunder’s getting louder,” he yells over another loud crack.
“Is the big, bad bull rider afraid of a little rain and thunder?”
His eyebrows lift and a look of challenge glitters in his eyes. Slowly, he lifts the lantern between our faces, opens the door that protects the wick, and says, “Last chance.”
“Don’t need it.” I cross my arms across my chest, and pop my hip out, with a look of defiance on my face. I lean in to look up at him through my eyelashes and take a deep breath before blowing out the fire. As soon as darkness cocoons us, thunder bursts loudly and lightning brightens the sky above like a strobe light. I turn to make a run for it, when, suddenly, I’m lifted off my feet and flung over Wes’ shoulder. Laughter erupts from me with each bounce of his step as he takes off running in the direction we came from.
“You think this is funny?” He shouts above the thunder. His question only makes me laugh harder when the bottom falls out. Raindrops the size of nickels instantly soak us to the bone. The lace of my cream-colored dress sticks to my back and thighs. Parts of my hair lay plastered to my face as I hang upside down. I push up with the heels of my hands, and dig into his lower back as I shout, “Let me down! I can run you know!”