“You’re not mad then?”
She shakes her head. “No, this is truly incredible. Brilliant.”
Brilliant?
She walks around her desk and opens her arms to me as she gets closer with each step.
Is she?
Lilly wraps me in her arms, making me melt into them immediately. I want to cry. This is how good a hug this is. And Lilly initiated it? She must sense how much I needed it, how much I needed to know she was happy with the results.
With whatIdid.
“I know how much work this was. I’m proud of you, Riley,” she says. Her praise is worth more than any medal. Any award. Who needs to be valedictorian when I can have my oldest sister be proud of me for once?
Proud.
She’s proud.
I sniffle.
“Okay, this is when I’m done,” Lilly adds, holding my shoulders and smiling down at me. We might be the same height, but I feel tiny next to her. I may complain that she’s overbearing and overall too strict, and she might be after all, but she’s also so strong and awe-inspiring. She does so much for this place and our family, and I could never carry it all as effortlessly as she does. I just wish she was happier.
“I have to get back to work.”
I nod, walking backwards with a smile that will be impossible to erase once I get out of here. Lilly is proud of me.
“And Riley?” Her voice whips my eyes to her immediately.
“Yes?”
“Thanks again!”
I hum in agreement, skipping out, feeling like I’m ten feet tall. All I want to do is run and tell Dom, because he might be the grump next door, but he’s also the one person I have here I can talk to.
I think of all the times I relied on someone else, mostly Saylor, the former best friend, but talking to Saylor would mean asking her about racing, and that’s a sore subject in all senses of the word, opening the door to more hurt from both sides.
Only the whitelight of the moon beaming through my window and the growl of my stomach are indicators of how long I’ve been here painting. It’s a little past nine, and I haven’t stopped since this morning. Looking for Dom ended up being a crapshoot. He wasn’t anywhere I thought I could find him, so I’ve been waiting for him to show back up so I can tell him about today.
Now, I’m hangry, so I’m calling it quits on the painting, satisfied with my progress today. When the idea sparked of painting the ranch, I knew it was going to take time, not realizing it would take me a whole day just on the sky.
It’s alright, though. I have all summer. The great thing about making a giant pot of soup is that there’s plenty left over. I grab my bowl and a spoon and sit in the rocking chair, taking the night in. I don’t know how I ever got bored in this place when there’s always so much to see.
I’m lost in thought and my soup when high beam truck lights interrupt me. Dom’s back. It’s so late, even for him, so I hope everything’s fine.
I’m sure it is. It’s not like he owes an explanation or anything. And, oh my God, maybe he has a girlfriend in town or something, and that’s why he was out late the night I came back and ran out of gas.
You silly girl, Riley. You thought he might be interested? As if. He probably has some thirty-year-old woman with their shit together and a regular job who keeps him warm on nights like this.
His job is tedious and long, so no wonder he doesn’t see this mystery girl often, but I’m sure he has one. I’m positive.
He’s walking as if the world is heavy on his shoulders, though, eyes droopy, with dark circles under them.
“Well hello, cowboy!” I startle him, but he smiles lazily at me. I’ll take it.
“Riley.”
Don’t ask him about where he was.
