Authors: Ellen Lane,Taylor Young
“Want me to swing by and take you out for lunch?” he asked her.
“That would be nice, but not on my first day. I don’t want them thinking you do everything for me.”
“Everything?” he asked.
“Well, you did sort of get me the job.”
“No, no..I simply recommended you. Something that they will thank me for within due time, I’m sure.”
“Yes, but the recommendation is why I got the interview.”
“Yes, but I had nothing to do with the interview. That was all you.”
“Fair enough,” Lauren said.
They kissed there in the driveway and then parted ways, Lauren going to her car and Riley headed for his. They gave each other a little approving nod before getting into their cars and Lauren felt something stir inside of her. If this worked out—this incredible thing that was still evolving between them—was this what it would be like from now on?
She was excited about the new job and couldn’t wait to cut her teeth on it, but she also found herself wanting him to come with her, to drive her there and see her off. But she shoved that silly thought aside, got into her car and followed Riley down the driveway.
On the way to her new job, in a part of town that she’d rarely ever visited in her life before Riley, her heart was hammering and the butterflies in her stomach were flapping their wings like hummingbirds.
She pulled into the parking garage and after getting only slightly confused as to where she was going to park, she allowed herself a moment to collect herself. She was ten minute early and, she thought, could afford a few minutes to catch her breath and settle her nerves.
It was easier than she thought. This was, in many ways, a start to a new life. She had this new job and a man that seemed to have come out of a fairytale waiting for her when the day came to an end. It was almost too good to be true.
Still, she was incredibly thrilled. The future was waiting for her and for once it was not giving her the stink-eye that so many slim girls and douchebag guys often gave her for being overweight and different. Finally, the future seemed to be beckoning her forward, promising her better things.
***********************************************************
After seven months with her new job, Lauren had stopped thinking about Mr. Farr and the shoe store. Every now and then she would think of her old boss and hope that he was doing well but other than that, the portion of her life where she had worked for him was little more than a blip on the radar. From time to time, Brittany and Shelly would text her to catch up, but they hadn’t actually seen one another in nearly two months.
Most of the reason for this was because Lauren was busy most of the time. When she had started her new job, she had really out herself into it with all of her might. Within her first two weeks there, she had enjoyed getting accustomed to the 9-5 grind and came to really respect and appreciate a schedule that kept her on track. But on her third week, she’d been tasked with her first complicated task, working with a few minor partners of the company that often kept her in the office later than usual. Lauren had found this enjoyable, feeling that by putting in the extra time, she was showing that she had the potential to be one of the company’s best employees.
After four months, her hard work was rewarded and she had been given a promotion. The money hadn’t really changed a lot (although she was still blown away by her ridiculous salary) but the new position of Assistant Director for Local Investments gave her more access to those in charge.
It all went by incredibly fast and there were days when she had worked a full twelve hours that she went home with a smile on her face rather that wrecked with stress. Of course, home was no longer the little apartment she had been living in. Three months into their relationship, Riley had invited her to move in with him and after some discussion, Lauren finally decided to take that step.
She was thinking about all of these things one Wednesday afternoon while sitting on the front porch. She had enjoyed a fairly lackluster day at work and come home a little early just to read and relax on the porch with a glass of wine. She’d made dinner, which was currently in the oven, and the table was set for dinner. She and Riley rarely got the chance to sit down in his amazing dining room and enjoy a meal together and when they did, it made her feel (as cheesy as it sounded) at home.
Lauren wasn’t one to usually look back on her life to try to identify the areas where things had started changing. More than that, she wasn’t one to wax poetic about life’s events. But she’d received a piece of mail today that had her doing just that. She sat with it in her lap as she sat on the porch, waiting for Riley to get home. She’d looked at it several times, studying the cheap little flyer and reading the letter several times. And ever since she’d read it that first time, she’d been caught in the cycle of looking back on her life and trying to see where things had gone wrong and, more importantly, how they had very recently gone right.
A flicker of light caught her eye and she looked up to see Riley’s car cresting the light hill of his paved driveway. She smiled as the car came closer, still unable to believe that she lived here now. Aside from the one jerk in college, she’d never had a serious boyfriend. To know that she was now living with a very serious boyfriend still seemed weird to her, even after having lived here for about four months.
Riley parked his car and got out, carrying his briefcase. His collar was unbuttoned and his tie was slightly askew. He’s been very busy over the last week or so and he had a very handsome amount of five o’ clock shadow on his face. Sometimes when she looked at him, she was overcome by how sexy he was and wondered if she’d ever wake up from what was surely only a prolonged dream.
“It’s always nice to get home and find you already here,” Riley said as he came up on the porch.
“Work was slow today,” she said. “I came home and made us dinner.”
He planted a soft kiss on her mouth and plopped down in the rocking chair next to hers. “You didn’t have to do that,” he said.
“I wanted to.”
It was true; while she wasn’t the greatest cook, she certainly wasn’t bad at it. And besides…even if it was old fashioned, she enjoyed cooking for her man.
After sitting on the porch and sharing details about their day, they headed inside just as the oven timer started beeping. They worked together to put the food on the table—a simple chicken parmesan with a side of asparagus—and saw down to eat.
“Okay,” Riley said. “So I have to ask. What is that?” he asked, pointing to the piece of mail that Lauren had set on the counter as they had gathered up the food.
“Just a piece of mail,” she answered.
“Yeah, but you’ve been clinging to it. Is everything okay?”
“Yes. It’s just my stupid high school reunion.”
“Are you going?”
“You know, when I saw it, I laughed. The idea of going back there seemed ridiculous. But the more I thought about it…I don’t know. It’s almost like I owe it to myself to back there. I’m a different person, in a way.”
“So why the hesitation?”
She shrugged. “I didn’t like many of the people there. It was near the end of high school when I started to gain all of the weight. I got some teasing about that during my senior year.”
“Well, high school kids can be creeps.”
“Oh, I know.”
“When is the reunion?” Riley asked as he started cutting into his dinner.
“Friday night.”
“This Friday?”
“Yeah. Some of my mail is still showing up here late…redirected from my old address. It was sent about two weeks ago and I am just now getting it.”
“I see. That’s short notice.”
“Yeah.”
“I don’t know if it matters or not,” Riley said, “but I think you should definitely go. I think it would be good for you.”
“Oh really?” Lauren said, grinning. “And do you plan on being my date?”
“If you want me to, I’ll absolutely go with you.”
“Um, hell yes I want you to go. I can pretty much guarantee that no woman there is going to have a husband as hot as you. Or, let’s be honest, as rich…”
“Ah, so you’d be taking me as I trophy?”
“No, I meant—,”
“Because I’m totally fine with that.”
They both laughed at this and without even coming to a solid decision, that was what sealed it. Laughing together over something that, less than an hour ago had been causing her distress meant that she’d be going. And now that she knew Riley was going with her, she found that she actually couldn’t wait to go.
***
Thursday dragged on endlessly, not just because Lauren was suffering from another slow day at work, but also because of the knowledge that she and Riley would be taking a road trip the following day. They had not taken a significant trip anywhere ever since the day he had flown her out to the picturesque field from his childhood, so the thought of going away with him was exciting—even if they were only going back to the small rural southern town that she had grown up in.
But the end of the day finally arrived, bringing with it the promise of a road trip with her love and a four-day weekend. And yes, it also brought the opportunity to revisit a place that had once caused her a great deal of anger and depression in order to show how she had grown and what she was now capable of.
She headed home that afternoon, anxious to pack and get on the road the following morning. The drive itself would be about nine and a half hours and the idea of spending that time alone in a car with Riley was glorious.
She sometimes wondered when this giddiness for him would stop. She hoped it never would but surely every intense relationship hits its peak at some point and settled down into something more realistic, right? That’s what she had always thought. But with Riley, that peak seemed to get higher and higher with no leveling out in sight.
Once the packing was done and Riley has made all of the necessary calls to ensure his affairs would be in order at work while he was away, they started getting ready for bed. While Lauren finished up with brushing her teeth, Riley approached her from behind and placed his arms around her waist.
“How are you feeling about tomorrow?” he asked.
“Surprisingly good. I’m getting a little excited.”
“That’s good,” he said, giving her a light kiss along the base of her neck. “I’m excited to be going with you. I’d like to see your old stomping grounds.”
A question touched her tongue, one that she had nearly mentioned at dinner but had kept swallowed down. This time, she let it come out without any hindrance.
“My parents still live in that area,” she said. “If you’re up for it, I’d really like to take you by to meet them.”
He smiled and hugged her closely from behind. “That would be nice.”
“Don’t say that yet,” Lauren said. “Not until you meet them.”
“Whatever,” Riley said. “I am officially excited for this weekend.”
With his arms still wrapped around her from behind she backed into a bit more and grinned. “Yes, I can see how excited you are.”
“Well…that’s a whole different kind of excitement.”
“Yeah? Show me.”
And he did. They started in the bathroom, pressed against the sink and then made their way to the bedroom. As far as Lauren was concerned, it was the absolute best way to start off their four-day weekend together.
***
They left early in the morning, with plans to check into a motel to change into more appropriate clothes to attend the reunion. Ever a stickler for time, Riley managed to turn the nine-hour drive into an eight-hour drive and was boasting like a proud kid when they reached the motel. While Lauren found this cute, she was too busy studying the landscape as they entered her hometown of Brenton, Virginia. The layout of the place was exactly the same, but a hell of a lot had changed in the eight years she had been away.
She’d caught glimpses of it here and there when she would come home for the holidays, but she had never actually watched it roll by from a passenger seat. It was like watching one long pan shot from a movie about the more financially depressed regions of the country.
The tiny little diner-slash-ice cream shop that she had loved as a child had been closed down sometime within the last few years, its windows boarded up because the building was far too old and decrepit to sell. The same was true of the hardware store and the little family-owned craft store. With a population of less three thousand, Brenton had never been set up for major success…and as the economy had struggled and most people purchased things on the internet, towns like Brenton had suffered. In fact, Lauren thought, Brenton was a classic example of it.
As they passed through Main Street and saw the abundance of closed businesses and condemned buildings she found it hard to imagine that the town’s only motel was still standing. Sure, Brenton was located directly in the center of a lot of trucking routes through the south, but it seemed like too small of a place for a motel. Thinking this, Lauren got uneasy for the first time. How would Riley react to holding up in a place as simple and plain as Brenton’s dinky little Sunshine Lodge (the cheesy name for the town’s motel).
“What’s wrong?” Riley asked from the driver’s seat.
“Nothing,” she said. “It’s just getting real now, you know?”
“You going to be okay?” he asked.
She reached over the car’s console and took his hand. “Yeah. I might just need to Velcro you to my side tonight, though.”
“Let me know how you plan to do that and I’d be more than happy to help.”
As he said this, the Sunshine Lodge came into view around the corner. It was just beyond the outskirts of Brenton, as if it thought its seedy rooms were too good for Brenton. Any other time, she figured it would be just as abandoned as any other building in the area but this weekend it would likely be filled for the reunion.
It then occurred to her that she could easily be making far too much of the reunion. Her high school wasn’t exactly the type where the students exhibited school pride. The more she thought about it, the more she thought the chances were good that not that many people would show up. She was beginning to feel stupid for coming herself.
Stepping out of the car and actually placing her feet in Brenton made her feel oddly nostalgic; it was an entirely different feeling that simply driving through the town. Outside of the car, it was like she could feel the memories of her past trying to press down on her.
Three minutes later, they checked into Room 15. The man at the desk had confirmed what Lauren had originally thought: a lot of the rooms had been booked for the reunion. So much for the hope of a small crowd, she thought.
Inside the room, she sat on the edge of the queen-sized bed and looked around. “Sorry,” she said.
“For what?” Riley asked.
“Sorry, that this is the best my hometown has to offer in the way of lodging.”
He chuckled and shrugged. “I’ve seen worse. Trust me. This is…rustic. It’s quaint.”
“You’re too kind.”
He looked to his watch and said, “Okay, so we have two and a half hours. I’m going to grab a shower. Maybe we can grab something to eat before the reunion?”
“Sure,” she said. “But your choices are going to be very limited.”