“Yeah, sugar. We can do that.” Creed backs away, holding his hand out for me to take. I do without a second thought. I think when it comes to Creed, I’d probably follow him anywhere.
“Did you do all of this?” My hand is still in his. I’m trying to keep up with his long strides when we make it to the back of his truck, and he lowers the tailgate with one hand. There’s a picnic basket, blankets, and a cooler.
“Yeah, I know how much you love it out here. Had to make quick work and call in a few favors to our moms to make it work.” He’s thought of everything, well, minus a bathing suit for the lake.
“This is amazing.” Our hands untangle for him to grab the cooler and picnic basket.
“Thanks, sugar. Will you grab the blanket?” Creed asks. We’re only a few feet away from the shoreline. I take in the view after I grab the blanket. The sun is beaming, there’s not a cloud in sight, and the breeze has the leaves moving on the trees.
“I still can’t believe this is your slice of heaven.” I’m absolutely jealous. We may be neighbors, but the way our land is laid out, we don’t get this tranquil beauty. Instead, we have man-made ponds, and those may be pretty, but nothing beats the lake.
“You’re welcome to enjoy it anytime you want, sugar. You’ve known that though.” He’s talking about all the texts he sent me. I read them all, saved them even, yet I never responded. Creed may have run away, but I definitely screwed up too.
“Yeah, I guess it’s time we have that talk,” I concede while following him to a grassy spot.
“I’m ready whenever you are, Laney.” I watch as Creed puts everything down, his movement smooth in everything he does. It’s now or never, and the butterflies swirling in my stomach aren’t sure if they’re dreading this talk or excited for us to finally make up.
Nine
Creed
If I thought this could have been fixed with a tussle on the blanket where she’s riding me or she’s on her back, hair laid out, legs wrapped around my hips, that’s what I would have done, but I know Laney like I know the back of my hand. She overthinks, overanalyzes, and she may think I like to run away when the tough gets going. Laney isn’t the victim in this either. Sure, I wasn’t in the state of Texas to set things right, but I never once gave up on her. I’d text her every single day and call her as well, even though she never responded, not one damn time.
Laney helps me spread the blanket out. Neither of us are hungry yet. Her having eaten breakfast only a bit ago, I’m more interested in getting the heaviness out of the way and getting to enjoy the sheer pleasure that is all her.
“You ready for this?” Laney’s hair is down in loose curls, floating with the breeze. Christ, she’s a work of art.
“Yeah, I mean, I guess it’s silly that I’ve been such a raging bitch to you. Especially after you dropped what you were doing and came to my rescue.” I wouldn’t call her that, not at all. I was a dick of epic proportions, and now it’s time for me to apologize.
“Nah, I was an idiot. Fucked up big time. I shouldn’t have left, not the way I did. Hell, I probably shouldn’t have taken the job to begin with. You know me though. Ranch life wasn’t for me, and I didn’t go to school to be a lineman to work on a farm.” I’m rambling, telling Laney shit she already knows. “What I’m trying to say is, I’m sorry. I should have made sure you were okay, that we were solid, but instead I left, leaving you to deal with the fallout.”
“It wasn’t easy, the way you looked at me the next morning. It took me a while to realize it wasn’t me you were scared of, and though I prayed for you to come back, I knew that you were destined for something else than being stuck here forever.” Fuck, she sounds so damn defeated, and I have no one to blame but my damn self.
“Total dick move, taking you the night before I was leaving, worried as fuck that I screwed up your life.” My eyes move to her stomach, conveying my thoughts. “Not being good enough for your family, your brother being my best friend, the list of being a pussy goes on and on.”
I’m not expecting Laney to forgive me right away, but the belly laughing she’s doing sure does make things easier on me.
“I love your form of apologizing. Not going to lie, what you did hurt, and yeah, I had those thoughts too, prayed for them to come true. When they didn’t, it wasn’t easy.” There’s no way I’m having this conversation with us so far apart, so I move Laney until she’s in my lap. I’m pissed as hell at myself for hurting her so much.