Love at First Sight

by Kelly Elliott

  He smiled. “You’re sure? I figured you pictured a country wedding growing up.”

  “Yes, when I was little, but I let that dream go a long time ago.”

  The night I told Rip I wanted more from him, to be exact.

  Easton tilted his head and regarded me for a few moments before he said, “Okay. Then somewhere halfway. I’m sure we can find a beautiful venue to exchange our vows. Now we just need a date. My mother will be hoping for a wedding close to Christmas.”

  “Christmas?”

  “Yeah, she loves decorating for Christmas and thinks a Christmas wedding would be amazing.”

  I smiled as I thought of Rip’s mom Kristin. She was fanatical about decorating for Christmas. Trees started going up at the end of September and it was all set up by the day after Halloween.

  “That’s seven months away, Easton. And don’t you think I should be the one picking out a theme?” I said, hearing the doubt in my own voice.

  “You can pick out the theme. And, what if it is seven months away?”

  “Well, I mean I don’t think we can plan a wedding that quickly.”

  “I think we can. Besides, I want you in Houston so I can be with you. If that means we have to hustle a bit more to plan a wedding, then we will.”

  My mouth dropped slightly as I let his words settle in. Immediately a clock started ticking in the back of my mind with the timeline he envisioned.

  “Did you want a long engagement, Chloe?”

  “Yes. No, wait. My goodness you just asked me only moments ago and now we’re talking about a wedding in seven months in a location I don’t know, and I haven’t even told my parents. Easton, you have to slow down a bit.”

  He leaned forward and took my hands. “I’m sorry. I’m just excited is all.”

  “I am, too, and still a bit shocked. Things between us felt like they were ending only a few days ago and now we’re…engaged.”

  He nodded. “It was just stressful with the end of school, I get that. I’ve been busy and not giving you the attention you needed.”

  If only I had believed that were the reason. Maybe we truly were growing apart. Or maybe I was letting those old feelings resurface now that I was heading home. What would I find when I got back to Oak Springs?

  Rip. And he would probably be dating someone.

  I closed my eyes. It’s time to move on, Chloe.

  “Let’s finish up and then go back to your place. Has Alyssa already left for Oak Springs?”

  Picking my fork back up, I nodded. “Yes. She and Mike left earlier today.”

  “Perfect. It will be me and you alone for the evening.”

  “I only have a blow-up mattress left at the apartment.”

  He winked. “That’s all we need to celebrate.”

  I waited for the warm feeling in my belly to consume me like it used to when we first started dating. But nothing came. And that filled me with something I couldn’t put a name to—anxiety or maybe dread. I think I was too stubborn to admit what I truly felt. But excited wasn’t it.

  Rip

  DIGGING THE HOOKS into the hay bale, I picked it up and tossed it onto the back of the trailer. The faster I moved, the more my mind stayed busy.

  “Rip, this isn’t a contest. Slow the hell down before you hurt yourself,” Trevor called out.

  When I wasn’t working for my brother Jonathon, I was helping Trevor, Mitch, and Steed out on the ranch. Knowing Chloe was fixin’ to be home any day had my stomach in knots. The last four years had been a living hell for me. Chloe tried to act like that fight never happened, but I relived it every damn day since she walked out the door. Regret was my new best friend, seated alongside whiskey.

  My heart slammed against my chest as I fought the urge to tell her how much I loved her. My mind wouldn’t let my heart win.

  Her face looked defeated as she said, “I see. So you’re not in love with me enough to be with me, but love me enough to keep me by your side all the time. Then why did you keep me so close all through high school?”

  “Chloe.”

  “No, Rip, there were so many times I looked into your eyes and it felt like I was looking into my own soul. I thought you wanted to be with me.”

  Fuck, if she only knew how much I wanted to be with her. Make her mine. Take her to my room and spend the next week in there with her, learning what she liked, learning the sounds she made when we kissed, when we touched, when we made love.

  Then she laughed. It wasn’t her normal, sweet, warm-my-insides laugh. It was cold and meaningless.

  I looked at her, willing myself to tell her the truth.

  Chloe turned from me and tossed her hands into the air out of frustration.

  “I can’t believe this. I had it all wrong.”

  “Chloe, no, you didn’t have it wrong. It’s just…”

  She spun around and shot me a glare. Anger filled her eyes and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do to take it away. I knew I was ripping her heart out.

  “You want me all to yourself, and no other man can have me. Not even you. Is that it, Rip?”

  Guilty, I glanced at the floor.

  “I’m going to ask you once more, and if your answer is still no, I will never bring this up again.”

  My eyes met hers. “Chloe, don’t do this to me. You sprung this shit on me our first fucking day in College Station.”

  “Do you want something more than friendship, Rip?”

  Yes! Fuck yes! I’m scared shitless! Give me a minute to process this!

  My silence was her answer. She made her way over to the sofa, grabbed her things and headed to the door.

  “Chloe. Chloe!”

  Alyssa stopped me before she walked out the door. “I thought I knew you, Rip Myers.”

  The door shut, and I nearly let my legs buckle.

  “Do have any idea what in the hell you just did, Rip?”

  I didn’t even bother trying to hide the tears that slipped free.

  “I just let the most amazing thing in my life walk away from me.”

  “Rip, go after her. Take a chance, damn it. If it doesn’t work out, you won’t lose her as a friend.”

  My feet stayed planted in the same spot until Mike shouted my name.

  “Rip! Go!”

  Moving as fast as I could, I ran out the door and tried to flag Alyssa down, but they were driving off.

  I was too late.

  Leaning over, I dragged in a few breaths, and each one burned like hell. When I finally managed to walk back into the house, I caught Mike’s eyes.

  He shook his head and walked away. It was the last time we ever talked about what I’d done.

  “Rip? Rip!”

  The shout pulled me from the memory. I found Trevor staring at me. “Sorry, I got lost in a memory of something.”

  He gave me a look that said he understood. “You need to take a break? You’ve been busting your ass all morning.”

  “No, I’m good.”

  We normally used the machines to gather up the hay bales, but Trevor thought some manual labor was needed today. It was an unseasonably cool day for May and it looked like a storm was fixin’ to blow in. I was still sweating my ass off, though. Of course, I’m sure my hangover wasn’t helping.

  “You boys in the mood for a party?”

  I looked up to see Steed on a horse.

  “What kind of party?” I asked.

  “A welcome home party for Chloe.”

  I wiped my brow and smiled. “She here yet?”

  He returned the smile, but something wasn’t right. It was almost like he couldn’t look at me. “She’s about an hour or so away. Mom, Paxton, and Waylynn are cooking up a feast. Alyssa and Mike will be there. I know Chloe would love to see you there, too, Rip. Especially since y’all haven’t seen each other in a few months.”

  I nodded. Our friendship had survived that dreaded day. Only because Chloe chose to pretend it never happened. She still came to all my games and cheered me on. She came to parti
es with me as long as Mike and Alyssa were there. Anything that would keep us from ever possibly being alone. It was hard because I had tried like hell to get Chloe to talk to me. To talk about that day. I needed to tell the truth. She had come out of nowhere and admitted her feelings. To say I’d been scared shitless was an understatement. I tried for three months to talk to her about it before I finally gave up.

  Then I met Heather. She had come on to me pretty hard one night at a party, and I had been truthful with her and told her I was in love with Chloe. She knew the whole story and didn’t care. Heather and I hit it off and dated for a while. She was the girl I lost my virginity to. She was the girl who made it her mission to make me forget about my first love. It would never happen, and she and I both knew it. We hooked up off and on over a few years. It never amounted to anything. It was just physical. I couldn’t do more than that, not when my heart was already owned by one girl.

  Heather was Chloe’s cue to move on and start dating, as well. She dated a few guys here and there. One she saw pretty regularly for a few months, and I knew that was the guy she lost her virginity to. It nearly gutted me when I overheard Alyssa telling Mike that Chloe had finally had sex with someone. I walked away, almost physical ill. Then she met that asshole, Easton. I fucking hated the guy from the moment I met him. They had been dating for almost a year. Their relationship was one of the reasons I busted my ass in an attempt to graduate early. I couldn’t stand to see him hanging on her. Kissing her. Touching her. I had to get away from College Station as soon as I could.

  I balled my fists even now just thinking about the asshole.

  “Rip? You’re going to pop a vein. Jesus, what are you thinking about?” Steed asked.

  My eyes bounced from Steed to Trevor and back to Steed. “Nothing, sir. Sorry. Yeah, I’ll be there. What time?”

  “Six.”

  “We’re almost done so we’ll have plenty of time to get there,” Trevor said.

  After Steed rode off, I went back to grabbing the bales and tossing them onto the trailer, faster and harder than before. I was pretending like each hale of bay was that dickhead, so my energy knew no bounds.

  “Stop for a second, will ya?” Trevor said, pulling off his gloves and tossing them onto a bale. “Sit down.”

  I did as he asked, taking the time to reach for my water.

  “I have a feeling I know what you’re going through.”

  “What do you mean?” I asked, wiping the sweat off my brow with my shirt sleeve.

  “If I had to guess, I would say you got scared.”

  I laughed. “Trevor, what in the heck are you talking about?”

  “It was Chloe who told you how she felt and you told her you didn’t feel the same. Am I right?”

  My smile faded.

  He nodded. “But you did feel the same, didn’t you?”

  Swallowing hard, I took another drink of water.

  “Steed didn’t want to tell you because he knows it, too.”

  With a confused look, I asked, “Knows what?”

  “That the two of you should have ended up together. That one of you most likely felt too afraid to move past friendship.”

  “Steed thought we should be together? He said if I ever kissed his daughter he was going to twist my balls so hard I would talk like a girl the rest of my life. I was just a kid when he told me that shit, so I believed it.”

  Trevor’s head tossed back in a laugh. “Oh, man. I’m going to remember that one for Aurora. With her being a freshman in high school, I know the boys are coming.”

  I slapped Trevor on the back. “Hate to break this to you, but I’m sure she’s already had her first crush.”

  He gave me a look that made me tremble.

  “Okay, well, should we finish up?” I asked.

  “No, I wasn’t finished. Like Steed, there were a lot of us who thought you two would end up together. But I think you need to be prepared for tonight, Rip.”

  “Why? What’s tonight?”

  “Easton will be with her.”

  My stomach felt like someone had forced me to drink lead. I swallowed hard and tried to shrug it off.

  “Well, they have been dating for a while, so it would make sense that he came home with her to celebrate her graduation.”

  He nodded. “I just didn’t want you to be caught off guard when you saw him.”

  I stood, finished off my water, then put my gloves back on.

  “If Chloe is happy, then I’m happy.”

  Trevor stood. “Is that why you get lost in a bottle of whiskey every week at Cord’s Place?”

  Glancing over my shoulder, it was my turn to shoot the dirty look. “I’m good, Trevor. Like I said, I’m happy for Chloe.”

  “You dating anyone?”

  With a half shrug, I replied, “I haven’t in a few months. Don’t mean anything.”

  We worked for a few minutes before I said, “And I did feel the same. She totally caught me off guard, and I wasn’t ready for it. I mean, I was, but I also wasn’t.”

  He nodded. “I get you, believe it or not. I understand what you’re saying. Let me give you one piece of advice, son, then I’m going to let this go. If you love her, if you want more than friendship with her, you better put your fucking fighting gloves on and be ready to take it to the mat for her. Don’t let her walk away this time.”

  I stared at him. He knew something I didn’t. When he went back to work, I stood there another few moments. His words settled into the middle of my chest.

  Take it to the mat for her. Don’t let her walk away this time.

  I shook my head and got back to work. With each hay bale, I tried to think of some reason I couldn’t be there tonight. In the end, I knew I had to be. It was Chloe, after all. And I wanted to be there to welcome her home. Easton or no Easton.

  I’m ready to fight for her.

  Chloe

  I STOOD IN the middle of my room and smiled. It was familiar and made my nerves ease up some. Daddy had moved us into one of the guest houses on my grandparents’ ranch when we’d moved to Texas. My Aunt Waylynn and Uncle Jonathon also lived on the ranch in another house that they had remodeled and expanded after they adopted Liberty and Hudson. Liberty was fifteen and Hudson thirteen. Liberty was a mini-me of my Aunt Waylynn. She had no issues telling you how it was, or least how she saw it.

  Easton was staying up at the main house on the ranch, which was owned by my granddaddy and grammy. He was only staying for tonight, then heading back to Houston early in the morning. When Easton asked to stay at my grandparents’ house, I was confused. Maybe he thought my father would want it that way. I didn’t argue, though.

  “Getting settled in?” my mother asked me from the doorway.

  “Yes.”

  She walked into the room and smiled. “Chloe, are you okay? You seem so distracted.”

  I reached into my pocket and pulled out the diamond ring I had slipped off before I got out of my car. I knew Easton was wondering why I hadn’t announced it right then and there, but I needed to take a few moments to myself before I started to tell my family.

  My mother gasped as she watched me slip it onto my finger.

  “Easton asked you to marry him?”

  I smiled and nodded.

  Then she frowned. “You said yes?”

  “You sound disappointed.”

  “No. I’m…in shock, sweetheart. He’s not…”

  I raised a brow. Was she about to say he wasn’t Rip?

  Clearing her throat, she went on. “I mean, he lives in Houston and…”

  Her words stopped short when it hit her. Covering her mouth, she turned away so I wouldn’t see her cry.

  “Oh, Momma, please don’t cry.”

  “I’m happy for you, sweetheart, it’s just…I need a moment.”

  And this was why I hadn’t broken the news right off the bat. I knew what was going to happen.

  “I know.”

  She faced me, taking my hands in hers. “I am happy fo
r you, if you’re happy. Are you happy? Are you sure about this? You haven’t been dating him very long, and just a few weeks ago you said you thought things were ending.”

  I drew in a deep breath. “I am happy. I’m feeling a bit torn. I love Easton, and I want to, well, I want to marry him.”

  Her head tilted to the side. “I feel like there is a but in there somewhere.”

  “There is. Like you said, things seemed off with us, but maybe it was the stress of school ending and knowing we were going our separate ways. And if I marry him, I’m leaving home. For good.”

  She drew me into her arms and hugged me. “Oh, Chloe Cat. You have to do what is right for you and your heart. Have you told Alyssa? Rip?”

  I drew back and looked at her. “Only you know so far.”

  “Well, this is a shock, and if it is truly something you really want, I’ll support your decision.”

  The doubt in her voice was palpable.

  I nodded. “Daddy is going to be so upset. All those plans we had for me working with him on the ranch. I’m letting him down.”

  “No! You are not letting anyone down. You are living your life. Your father knew there was always the chance you might do something different. Will he be upset? Of course, not because of the job, because you’re our daughter and the thought of you moving away…”

  Her eyes filled with tears again.

  “I need to tell Daddy. Easton wants us to announce the engagement at the party tonight.”

  Wiping her tears away, a look of worry crossed her face before she forced a smile. “Okay. We can do that. All your friends and family will be there. It will be the perfect place. Do we have a date?”

  “Easton wants it close to Christmas.”

  “Christmas! That’s only seven months away!” she shouted.

  “I know. We did decide we would have the wedding somewhere between Oak Springs and Houston. I just don’t know where.”

  She narrowed her eyes at me. Had she heard the disappointment in my voice?

  If I was being honest with myself, I had always dreamed of having my wedding here on the ranch. This was where my life started all those years ago, and this is where I wanted my life to start with the man I love. I guess I’d have to move on from that dream as well.