CHAPTER 25
RILEY
It was after lunch when my phone rang. I was just about to take Bryony to the park. Brady’s name lit up the screen and a smile crossed my face. Just seeing his name made me smile. I was getting too into him. This could end badly, and I could be hurt.
“Hello,” I said, stepping outside away from my family’s ears.
“Hey, what are you up to today?”
“Well, Bryony and I had a picnic in the backyard and now we are getting ready for our outing to the park. I also need to pick Mom up some milk and eggs at the grocery store.”
Talking about my daily routine with him was a little awkward. As casual as I tried to make all that sound, it felt as if I was describing something so foreign to him he wouldn’t get it.
“Sounds like a full day. Not too cold for a picnic with the sun out, I guess,” he replied. It was the kind of response one made when they didn’t know what else to say. He understood nothing of having a kid to take care of.
“What have you been up to?” I asked, trying to change the subject to something else.
“West woke me up to run this morning, then we ate breakfast and watched the game video from Friday night.” He didn’t tell me what he was going to do next. Not that it was my business.
“I haven’t been running in the morning in two years,” I replied, remembering when I had once been on the track team. I’d enjoyed it. Part of me missed it.
“Maybe one morning next weekend you could go with me. That is, if your parents could watch Bryony.”
He wasn’t thinking about the fact that we’d be seen. He forgot that often. “We might need to wait a couple weeks. When we aren’t hiding the friendship thing.”
He was silent a moment. I always wondered what he was thinking when he did that.
“Is that what we are?”
What kind of question was that?
“I’m not sure I follow you,” I replied.
“Friends.”
Oh. We’d kissed. Had that changed everything? Did kissing make it different? I was rusty with the dating thing. Guys confused me in general.
“I’m not sure we can ever be more,” I said. Had he forgotten the biggest barrier that stood between us?
“Why?”
Apparently he had forgotten. So I stated the obvious. “I’m a teenage mom and you leave in six months to live your dream at the college of your choice. Anything more would end anyway. Friends is the safest thing for us.” Or for me. Because when he left, I’d be the one struggling to make life work. He would never know any of that.
“Can we say for now that we will work things out as they come? Because I’d like more of last night. And the day we spent together was the best time I’ve had in a long time.”
My face flushed and my heart fluttered. Brady Higgens liked me. He wanted to see more of me, and he wanted more kissing. I agreed with all of that. The problem was he’d only gotten a taste of me. Just me. Not Bryony, and the two of us were a package deal. She’d always come first.
“Maybe you should give it time before you decide that. You’ve never dated a teenage mom before, I’d be safe to assume.”
He didn’t reply right away, so I gave him time to process. Brady’s life was one of fairy tales. Actual real-life issues didn’t register easily with him. I’d once been the same way. So I understood it.
“Give me a chance to prove to you this could be different.”
That was Brady living in his fairy-tale land. Being around him made me miss that. The not expecting anything bad to happen. But I had been weak then. I wasn’t now. Life had made me tough.
“Let’s just take it a day at a time. No promises. No plans. Just live it.” If I didn’t do this, I would regret it. Possibly forever. Brady was different, and being with him made me happy. I wanted more of how he made me feel. The future was going to hurt, but for now, I would enjoy it.
He sighed and I smiled. This wasn’t what he was used to. Getting what he wanted was easy. I wasn’t being easy. Maybe I’d toughen him up a bit.
“I’ll take whatever you’re offering,” he replied. He sounded let down that I hadn’t promised him the moon. He was used to the moon. He was used to girls chasing him, like Ivy did. I’d seen that just watching from my quiet life, unattached to everyone. Until a few weeks ago, Ivy was always with Brady. I wasn’t exactly sure what had ended that, but he seemed ready to move on.
“Bryony is ready for the park. I need to go,” I told him. It was a reminder to both of us that I had priorities.
“Yeah, okay. Anyway, you think you could get out tonight?”
Asking my parents to watch Bryony again was too much. I never did that. “I put her to bed at eight thirty. After she’s asleep I could ask my parents to listen out for her.”
“I’ll be there at nine,” he replied.
After we hung up I didn’t think too much about it. Because I would only remind myself how much of an impossibility a future with us was. He was a right-now friend. Or he was supposed to be. The kiss had definitely changed things.
“Park!” Bryony demanded, pulling on my shorts leg.
“Yes, it’s time for the park,” I agreed.
She clapped and hurried down the hall toward the front door.
“We are headed to the park,” I called out to my parents, who were in the kitchen.
“All right, y’all have fun,” Mom replied.
“Have you seen Thomas?” Grandmamma asked, walking into the living room behind me.
“No, not today,” I replied. Or ever, I thought to myself.
She frowned. “He’s taken my slippers. He likes my slippers.”
“Which ones?” I asked, thinking maybe I could find them.
“The pink fuzzy bunny ones. He took those.”
Grandmamma didn’t own a pair of pink bunny slippers. At least not in this decade. Or the past six. This was another item she remembered from her childhood. She had asked about them before, and Mom had been here to explain. I didn’t argue, though. “I’ll keep my eyes open for them.”
“And Thomas. Look for Thomas. He needs to eat.”
“Yes, ma’am,” I replied. “I’ll do that.”