Southern Attraction

by Kaylee Ryan

  As I sit here on the front steps of my childhood home, I think about what they’ve said. There are bars in Chicago; with my experience, I can find a job easy. I’ll never find another Jamie. I miss her so damn much.

  “I think I’m going to drive up there,” I tell them.

  “Sounds like you have a plan.” Dad nods his approval.

  “Yeah, Liv can handle things until I know for sure.”

  “We’re here too. You go to her and let us know what you decide to do. We’re behind you no matter what. Always,” Mom says.

  “I need to go.” I stand and head toward my truck.

  “Michael,” Mom calls out. I stop turning to face them. “Be careful.”

  I nod and race to my truck, not bothering to waste time going home. I can buy clothes when I get there. I’m going to have to come back here and settle things, if that’s what we decide to do. I just… I need to get to her. I need her to fill this giant hole in my chest. The one that’s been there since she drove away from me a week ago.

  Traffic is surprisingly light for a Saturday. I’m about halfway there and need to stop for gas. I decide to text her.

  Me: Thinking about you.

  She replies immediately.

  Jamie: I miss you, Michael.

  Me: You decide when I can come and see you?

  Jamie: I’ll look at some dates and get back with you.

  Me: I love you.

  Jamie: Love you too.

  I place my phone back in the cup holder and put the truck in Drive. I’ll be there in a few hours. I can’t wait for the look on her face when she sees me at her door.

  Finally, I pull into her lot, park next to her car and grin. Grabbing the flowers I stopped for at the local market, I run into the building, run to her.

  I reach her door and my heart is racing like it’s ready to beat out of my chest. I don’t know if it’s because of the run up here or the fact that I’m laying eyes on her for the first time in a week. Maybe it’s because, if she’ll have me, I know I’ll never have to leave her again. Taking a deep calming breath, I knock on the door.

  “Coming,” she calls out. When she pulls open the door, she gasps and covers her mouth. Tears immediately start to fall. “Mike,” she breathes. “What are you—”

  I cut her off by handing her the flowers. “I miss you, Jamie.”

  She nods and holds the flowers against her chest. “Come in.” She steps back, allowing me space to enter her apartment.

  Boxes. I see boxes everywhere. “Are you moving?” I ask her.

  She nods, tears still streaming down her face. “I didn’t know.” I walk to the window and look outside. How did I miss that? Are we farther apart than I thought? Can things change that much in a week?

  “Where are you going?”

  “What are you doing here?” she asks at the same time.

  “You first,” I say.

  “I’m not happy here anymore.” She shrugs.

  “I came for you.”

  “Me?”

  Turning, I face her. “You. I can’t breathe without you, Jamie. There are plenty of bars here in Chicago, and with my background I can get a job at any of them. If you’re not happy here, we’ll get another apartment or buy a house just outside the city, whatever you want.”

  “You came here for me? What about your family, Mike’s Tavern? You can’t give all that up.”

  “I can and I will. I don’t need all that, but I do need you.” Hands on her hips, I pull her into my chest and bury my face in her neck. “I need you,” I repeat softly.

  I don’t hold her nearly long enough before she’s pulling away and leading us to her couch. She takes a seat and I sit next to her, facing one another. Reaching out, I tuck a strand of hair behind her ears. “I missed you.”

  She smiles. “You know why I’m not happy here?”

  I shake my head.

  “I miss you too. I realized that I’m not really home unless I’m where you are.”

  I let her word sink in. “So, you said you were moving?” I question, working it out in my head. “You were coming to me?”

  “Yeah.” She smiles. “I’m coming to you.

  “I can’t let you do that. Your dream job.”

  “Funny how life works. The job isn’t what I thought it would be. Then again, my heart isn’t in it. I left my heart in Kentucky.” She takes my hand in hers. “I was going to leave here in a few hours and drive all night. I wanted to be there at your doorstep when you woke up tomorrow.”

  “What does this mean?”

  She laughs. “It means I’m moving to Kentucky. I need to find a place to live, but Whit has always said I can stay with her, and Liv offered—”

  “You can come back to our place.”

  “Our place?”

  “Yes. It doesn’t feel like just mine anymore. I see you everywhere. It’s lonely without you.” I lean in and kiss her. “Are you sure, baby? You sure this is what you want?”

  “Positive. My parents want to travel, so they won’t even be here. I never let myself work it out the way I should have. I kept thinking that one of us would have to give up something to be together, but I was looking at it all wrong. I’m getting a lifetime with you. No job is worth that.”

  “That’s why I’m here. I came to the same conclusion.”

  “Your situation is a little different. You have roots. My job is just that—a job. It means nothing if I can’t come home to you. I already have a lead in town. Mr. Warren called a college friend of his and put in a good word for me. I meet with him on Monday.”

  “In Kentucky?” I ask her.

  “Yes. It’s about twenty minutes from your place, so not a bad drive.”

  “Our place.” I lean in and kiss her again.

  Pulling away, her green eyes are sparking. “Please tell me you drove the truck.”

  “I did.”

  “Good. We can hopefully get it all in one trip. My lease is up in two months, so I’m just going to let it go. I’m leaving the furniture for the next person. It was all secondhand anyway.”

  “We can go buy new furniture. Anything you want.”

  “I like your house the way it is. Maybe some paint, a pillow or two.” She winks.

  “Our house,” I remind her.

  “Our house.”

  “We’re really doing this? You’re moving to Kentucky? You’re moving in with me. Not just for a few weeks, but for a lifetime?”

  “We’re really doing this,” she assures me.

  I kiss her quickly and then stand from the couch. “What’s left to do? What can I help with? Do you need more boxes? What do you want me to do?”

  She laughs. “I’m pretty much packed. I was going to hire movers to bring it to me, but since your truck is here, I think we can get it all. I just have to clean out the kitchen and pack it up. Then I’ll be done aside from the toiletries I’ll need tomorrow.”

  “Yours are still at home, in the shower where we left them,” I tell her, heading toward the kitchen.

  “What are you doing?” she giggles.

  “Packing the kitchen. I’m ready to get you home, where you belong.”

  “Mike,” she calls out.

  “Yeah, babe?” I ask, sticking my head around the kitchen door to look at her.

  “I love you.”

  “I love you too. Now get off your ass and let’s pack.” I shoot her a wink and head back to the kitchen. I want to be on the road early in the morning.

  I’m bringing my girl home.

  Mike insisted we go to bed as soon as we had the house packed. We were both exhausted from packing and fell right to sleep. As soon as the sun peeked over the horizon, he was waking me to soft kisses to my shoulder.

  “Wake up, beautiful. We’re moving today.”

  I smile as I roll over.

  “Up you go.” He smacks my ass and climbs out of bed. “The car is loaded, we just have to load the rest in the truck and pack up your last-minute items.”

  “So
why are we up so early?” I ask him.

  “Because I’m taking you home, to our house, to our bed, and we’re unpacking all of your stuff. Today,” he adds as an afterthought.

  “Today?” I laugh.

  “Yes, today. I want you there. I want you settled. I want your things mixed with mine, your presence all over our house.”

  How can I disagree with that? “Fine, I’m up,” I say, holding out my hand and letting him pull me from the bed. “Hey, where’s your stuff?”

  “I didn’t pack anything. I was at Mom and Dad’s and left there to come here. I didn’t bother going home first. Now go shower. I’m going to start loading the truck.”

  Thirty minutes later, I find my living room bare of boxes. I wheel my last suitcase and set it by the door. Mike is on the couch, scrolling through his phone. “You’ve been busy,” I say, sitting next to him.

  “Everything’s loaded.” He grins. “Just need you to do a final walk-through to make sure you didn’t miss anything.”

  I nod and stand, taking my time going through my little apartment, making sure anything of great importance has been packed and loaded. “That’s it.”

  “Good, let’s go. I’ll follow behind you.”

  “So bossy,” I tease him.

  “Sorry.” He kisses me. “I’m just really excited that you’re coming home.”

  I follow him to the door and take one last look around. “Let’s go home,” I tell him.

  “Is Whit coming?” I ask. We’re on our way to his parents’ house for Sunday dinner. Apparently he called David on the way home and told him to arrange for them to move it later.

  “Yeah, I told Dave to call Aaron and tell him to have Whit there, but to not tell her why. She doesn’t know you’re with me.”

  “Yay, I get to surprise her,” I say as we pull into his parents’ drive.

  I climb out of the truck and take his offered hand. Mike leads us inside. “Anyone home?”

  “In the kitchen,” Liv replies.

  “Hey,” he says, pulling me to stand beside him. They all turn to say hello and Whitney screams.

  “Jamie!” She rushes toward me and wraps me in a hug. “What are you doing here?”

  I look up at Mike. “I live here,” I tell her, never taking my eyes off him.

  “You live here?” she repeats.

  “Yeah. You see, there’s this great guy who was willing to give up his legacy for me, and I decided to follow him home.”

  “What about your dream job?” she asks hesitantly.

  My eyes are still locked on Mike. “Dreams change.”

  “I can’t believe you’re really here.” She hugs me again.

  “Come on now, it’s time to eat,” Aaron says, pulling Whit away. “Let her breathe, baby.”

  “Welcome home, sweetheart,” his dad says, passing us to get to his spot at the head of the table.

  “Do you need any help?” I ask his mom.

  “No, dear, this is a celebration for you, to welcome you home. You go sit. I’ve got this under control.”

  Mike squeezes my hand and leads me to my chair. Within minutes, the table is full of chicken and dumplings. His mom winks at me and I can’t help the laughter that bubbles out. This is my life, my extended family, and I couldn’t be happier.

  Dreams change and love grows. Life gives you twists and turns, and it’s all up to you how you handle the curves. Me, I gave in to the attraction of a kind southern man who showed me what it was like to be loved with everything in him. My dreams changed and so did his, and together we formed a bond, a love like no other.

  And it all started with some good old southern attraction.

  It’s been six months to the day that Jamie moved home. I will never think of it as anything but just that, her moving home. Since then, we’ve settled in. Liv and I share duties at the bar and it’s thriving. Jamie got a job at the local attorney’s office and she loves it. It’s a small firm, much like the one she worked at with Mr. Warren in Chicago, and it suits her. She comes home to me every night. On the nights I’m at the bar, she stops in and we have dinner together in my office. I couldn’t be happier.

  Well there is one thing….

  I look at the clock. It’s Sunday afternoon and I’m sitting on the front porch, waiting for her to come home. I talked Whitney, Olivia, McKinley, and Lexi into taking her shopping. I needed her out of the house for a couple of hours. David and I just got back from our super-secret mission. Not really secret, just from Jamie.

  When they pull into the drive, the girls are all laughing. Jamie’s carrying a few bags, which is good. The girls made it believable. She waves goodbye, and McKinley beeps her horn as she pulls out of the drive.

  “Hey, babe.” She bends to give me a kiss.

  “How was shopping?”

  She holds up her bags. “I bought a few things for work. I got you a couple shirts too.”

  “Sounds like you had a good time.”

  “We did. Liv said no dinner this week?”

  “Yeah, Mom and Dad had something going on.” I keep my answer vague. I asked them to not do dinner. Instead, if all goes well, we’ll be meeting them out tonight with the rest of the gang to celebrate.

  “Let me take those for you. Then I have something to show you.”

  She looks at me skeptically like she knows I’m up to something. Of course she can see right through me; she’s the only one who ever could. Taking her bags, I leave them on the kitchen table and hand her the blindfold. “Here, put this on.”

  “What?” she laughs.

  “I have a surprise for you.”

  She shakes her head with a bright smile and slides the blindfold over her eyes.

  “I’ve got you,” I promise, grabbing her hand and leading her to the garage. I open the door and bring her to the table near the back wall. “Open.”

  She opens her eyes and blinks a few times to adjust to the light. I can tell the minute she sees him. Her eyes light up and grow wet with tears.

  “Mike, is he ours?” she asks, opening the crate and pulling the puppy out, cradling him against her chest. He basks in her attention and licks her hand.

  “That depends,” I tell her.

  “On what?” she asks, never taking her eyes off the puppy.

  “Read his tags, then tell me if we can keep him.”

  She’s focused on reading the tag and I drop to one knee.

  “Will you marry Daddy and be my mommy?” she reads, choking on the final words. Turning to look at me, she glances down when she notices I’m no longer standing.

  Pulling the ring out of my pocket, I hold it up for her. “This little guy”—I reach out and scratch under his chin—“is just the first of many things I want to give you in our lifetime. I want to share every day with you. I want to make babies with you, and I want to grow old with you. James Lynn, will you do me the incredible honor of being my wife?”

  Tears stream from her eyes and her smile is blinding. She manages to drop to her knees while still holding our wiggling golden retriever puppy. “Yes,” she says, smiling through her tears. “A thousand times yes!”

  She lets the puppy go and holds out her hand. I slip the two-carat round solitaire onto her finger. It’s a perfect fit. “I love you, Jamie,” I say, kissing her softly.

  “I love you too.”

  The puppy is rooting between us, trying to get some attention. “You need to name this little guy,” I tell her.

  “I’ve never had a pet. I have no idea how to do this,” she says.

  “You don’t have to decide today. I’m leaving the decision up to you. In the meantime, we need to take him out to use the bathroom, and then we have dinner plans.”

  “We do?”

  “Yeah, we’re meeting everyone at Outback.”

  She laughs. “Okay, I’ll be quick.” She attaches the leash that’s on the table beside the cage and disappears out the side garage door.

  I pull my phone from my pocket and send a text to my future i
n-laws, my parents, and our friends.

  Group text: She Said YES!

  I power off my phone, not wanting all the replies. I know they’re happy for us.

  I’m standing in the backyard waiting for the most adorable puppy ever to do his business while staring at my engagement ring. Engagement ring! I’m getting married. We’ve traveled a long road to get here, but I wouldn’t change a single mile. I love our life.

  Finally the puppy does his business, and I take him back to his cage. Mike is there waiting on me. Once we have the new addition to our family settled in, we decide to take my car to dinner.

  Pulling into Outback, I notice all of our friends’ cars. It’s a bittersweet moment that I wish my parents were here to witness. I miss them like crazy.

  Hand in hand, we walk inside and are immediately greeted by the hostess. “We’re here for the Wallace party,” Mike tells her.

  She smiles. “Congratulations! Right this way.”

  I’m smiling so big my face hurts just from the well wishes of a random stranger. It’s hard to believe this is my life. Our life.

  Rounding the corner, I see the whole gang. Much to my surprise, my parents are in the back corner, sitting next to my future in-laws. I turn to my fiancé. “How did you?”

  “I knew you would want them here. They missed you, and it was time our families officially met. What better day than the one we agree to spend the rest of our lives together?”

  I know we’re in a crowded restaurant but I don’t care. Going up on tiptoes, I kiss him. Not just a peck on the lips either. I put everything I’m feeling into it: the happiness, the laughter, and the love I feel for him.

  “Is this what the next sixty or so years are going to be like?” I ask him.

  “Better. Each day it gets better, Future Mrs. Wallace.”

  “I like the sound of that.”

  “Me too.” He kisses my temple. “Now we have guests to greet.”

  I take a seat at the table, surrounded by our friends and family, and my heart is full. Never in my wildest imagination would I have guessed that visiting my best friend would lead to meeting the love of my life and the start of what I know deep in my soul is going to be a long and happy life together.