Know Me Well (Wishful 3) - Page 73

That was because Riley had been the one to pack the majority of them back when they’d sold the house.

“Randy always was the organized one,” Matthew remarked.

“Of course he was. Until he set foot in a kitchen. Then don’t you dare ask him the difference between a whisk and a colander.”

“How did you and Randy meet?” Autumn asked.

Riley watched Sharilyn’s face soften in that way it only ever did when she talked about her father.

“It was our own little fairy tale.”

Autumn perched on a barstool and propped her chin on her hands. “Ooo, tell. I love fairy tales.”

Sharilyn smiled over at Riley. “This used to be one of Riley’s favorites.”

Feeling a bit of a pang at the thought, Riley smiled back at her. “Still is."

“We met at a wedding. My college roommate got married on the beach down in Gulfport. Randy was already in the Air Force at that point, and he was on leave. Just wandered right on into the reception looking for a party.”

Riley laughed a little, as she thought of her rakish, reckless father crashing a strange couple’s wedding reception.

“I didn’t even realize he wasn’t a guest when he started talking to me. We talked and danced all night, saw the bride and groom off, and talked some more. And we were still talking and walking on the beach when the sun came up. He walked me back to my hotel and told me he had to be getting on back to base. Then he thanked me for an amazing night, and he kissed me. One of those knock-you

r-socks-off, toe-curling kisses.”

“Best kind,” Autumn agreed.

“Anyway, he told me to think of him and then left me standing there, completely senseless. It wasn’t until I’d showered and fallen into bed that I realized we’d never even exchanged last names. Of course, he was long gone by then, and I had no way of tracking him down on base, so I went home the next day just heartbroken.”

“Obviously that’s not how the story ends.”

“I thought it was. Didn’t hear a thing from him for six months. Then one day he was just waiting for me outside my English lit class, leaning against a tree in his dress uniform. There is nothing so breathtaking as a man in military dress uniform.”

Riley looked over at Liam. “True thing.”

“I’ll keep that in mind.”

“And what did he say?” Autumn asked.

“That he was sorry he was late. He’d gotten called overseas and it took him a mite longer to track me down than he’d originally planned. I told him as far as excuses went, that one was pretty good. And he asked if I’d thought of him. Well, of course, I had. All the time, even though my girlfriends told me I ought to forget about him. His buddies all had pictures of their sweethearts tucked into the cockpits of their planes, so they’d always be with them when they flew. He said he had a picture of me. Here.” Sharilyn tapped her heart. “And he’d carried it with him wherever the road had taken him since we’d parted.”

“Damn, that’s romantic,” Autumn sighed.

“Right? I certainly thought so. And when he held out his hand in that ‘Do you trust me’ kind of way and said, ‘Are you up for an adventure?’ I took it. Forty-eight hours later, I was Mrs. Randall Gower.”

Autumn went brows up. “You eloped with a guy you’d known for like two days?”

Sharilyn shrugged. “When you know, you know.”

“Randy knew. Talked about you the whole time we were deployed,” Matthew said. “Kept saying how he was gonna track you down when we got back and marry you. We thought he was nuts. Then he came back with you in tow. Gotta say, we were pretty jealous of his good fortune.”

Her mother grinned. “I remember he used to say if you wanted something good out of life, you had to stop waiting around for it to fall in your lap and go after it with everything you had.”

Because she felt odd hearing her mom reminisce about her dad with someone else, Riley headed on outside.

Autumn followed her back out to the truck, grinning. “I think I smell a romance.”

“You do not,” Riley snapped.

Tags: Kait Nolan Wishful Romance
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