#outer range oc

Rhett’s head snapped up to look at her, like he had forgotten she was there. “What?”

“Y’re lyin’.” Her feet began to move without her knowing, some instinct she didn’t know she had, backing away from him and everything he had just told her. “This’s jus’a prank. V’Very funny.”

Rhett got to his feet, hands on his hips. “I swear t’God, I ain’t lyin’. This ain’t a joke…T…?”

He cocked his head at her, brows furrowed and lips pursed like there was something on the tip of his tongue that he couldn’t quite figure out. Her mouth curved down in a way she knew looked childish but couldn’t help. He didn’t even remember her name. That hurt even worse than the prank. She knew that it shouldn’t. They barely spoke two words to each other in school. They graduated six years ago and she only saw him around town on occasion. They were never friends. They were hardly even aquantinces. But none of that stopped the sharp sting of being forgotten from piercing her heart. 

“Tessa!” she blurted at him too loudly, taking a few more steps back.

At least he had the decency to look guilty.

“Tessa,” he repeated her name with the seriousness of a knife. “This ain’t a prank. Tha — Tha’hole sent us both back’n time.”

“N-No! This isn’t funny…Stop it!”

That was when Rhett made the grave mistake of approaching her. Of reaching out for her with a calloused hand and the soft crunch of his boots in the grass. She bolted from him like some wild thing, turned tail and ran from him as fast as her legs could carry her. In that moment she hated him. Hated him for forgetting her. Hated him for tricking her. Hated him for being so familiar it was heartbreaking. Her legs ached halfway up the hill, it had been a long time since she ran anywhere, but she was determined to get away from there. Away from the cloying blackness that still tried to cling to her skin. Away from Rhett Abbott and his sincerity. Away from the truth that she just couldn’t accept. 

She would never see her family again. She would never see her friends again. The boys at the home would think she was just another person that abandoned them. No one would know what happened. Tears blurred her vision as she reached the top of the hill, her lungs burning as she doubled over to catch her breath. 

This was just a part of Wabang that she wasn’t familiar with. There was plenty of land like that way out in the boonies. Unfamiliar trails, hills, mountains, and fields. She just needed to get her barings. Figure out a recognizable landmark.

Only, she didn’t see one. None of the distant mountains looked like hers. None of the patches of forest. Every bend and curve of the river that cut through the valley below was foreign to her. 

Where was she?

There, nestled against a crook in the river, was a town. A small cluster of buildings only a few miles away. Tessa looked over her shoulder. She couldn’t see Rhett anymore. She wondered if he had given up the trick and was letting her go, back to her parents who were probably already looking for her. She just needed to get to town. Figure out where she was. And call them to come get her.

The two mile trek was refreshing. Gave her time to think. Taking out one of the water bottles in her bag, she sipped at it as she went. Explaining everything that happened was a bit difficult. That black hole. The cold. The dark. That feeling of falling. How never ending it was. What logic could explain that? Maybe she was dehydrated and started halucinating. Maybe the Wyoming fields were playing tricks on her. Maybe Rhett…knocked her out or something? Maybe he ran away of his own accord and didn’t want to be found. This was his way of making sure that didn’t happen. 

Either way, this entire situation was fucked.

The collection of buildings was just up ahead. Tessa fished her phone out of her bag, ready to dial her dad’s number. God, this place reeked of horse shit, it nearly made Tessa recoil as she came to a stop behind a squat house made of slat board. 

“Goodness,” she muttered as she lifted the collar of her shirt to cover her nose.

Then she looked down at her phone.

No signal.

Huh.

It was common to not have cell service way out in the middle of nowhere. A lot of people just lived without or set up starlinks to get at least some way to communicate with the outside world. She just needed to ask around. See if someone would be nice enough to let her use their link. 

Stowing her phone and the now empty water bottle back in her bag, she rounded the corner of the building and out into the main street. Her boots kicked up dust as she came to a sudden, staggering, halt. 

There were horses tied up in clusters up and down the dirt street. A few covered wagons. A pair of women were walking down the road across from her, both of them in big skirted dresses and bonnets. They stared at her with furrowed brows as they passed. Men sat out on porches wearing suspenders and hats, smoking pipes with their feet kicked up on barrels. Tessa turned on her spot in the middle of the road. There was a bank. A saloon. A boarding house. A general store. A barber. Each with a wooden sign and one with swinging doors she only saw in those old westerns her father loved.

No, no, no, no this couldn’t be happening! This couldn’t be the truth!

Maybe — Maybe this was an Amish community? She remembered writing a report about them in middle school. How they did everything old school, wore dresses and bonnets, and rode in carriages. She didn’t remember anything about Amish people living in Wyoming though. Didn’t most of them live in Indiana or something? Maybe they were outliers. 

Yes. That had to be it. One of these people could still get her to a phone. Be nice enough to drive her to a real town with cell service. She just needed to explain.

Tessa tried not to run after those women who passed her, but she definitely wasn’t walking as she came up behind them and tapped one on the shoulder. She whipped around so fast Tessa had to get out of the way of her skirt before it knocked her over.

“Um —” Tessa looked into the woman’s bewildered eyes and gulped around her nerves. “‘Scuse me, d’you happen t’know anyone who could drive me t’the nearest town?”

The woman glanced over at her friend. “This is the nearest town.”

“Wh-What d’you mean?”

“Well, I s’ppose my husband Hector is goin’ t’Colorado Springs come harvest time. But that’s’not for a couple months — n’over a hundred miles away.” Tessa’s vision swayed as she listened to her speak, her feet shuffled as she tried to keep her balance, bile rose in her throat. The woman caught her by the shoulder as she asked, “You alright?”

Tessa shook her head, white spots dancing in her eyes, as she pushed away and staggered to the nearest alley. Her stomach flopped, just in time for her to lean over, hand on the wall, and expel all the water she had drank on her walk. Tears ran down her cheeks as she heaved and spat. 

No running from the truth this time. 

She was back in time. In the middle of nowhere. With no hope of getting back. 

When Tessa was a child, helping her father in the small way she could, a hay bale fell from the top of the stack. Sixty pounds landed right on top of her, crushing her to the dirt floor. A broken arm. A few cracked ribs. A fractured skull. She still remembered what it felt like. That weight hitting her at full force.

She felt something similar now as another bout of nausea ran through her.

The breakfast she had eaten that morning or a lifetime ago joined the water on the ground — and a warm hand was placed on her back. Panting and groaning, she looked over her shoulder to see Rhett standing there, pink cheeked and a horse's reins in his other hand. She hated that he had to see her like this. It made that girl trapped inside her that was still fourteen and had a crush on him want to die. More tears spilled over as she spat out the last of her vomit.

“I…” she tried to speak.

“I know,” Rhett sighed, quiet and resigned, as he moved his hand up and down her back.

She also hated that when he pulled his hand away a whine nearly slipped out of her. Gathering what remained of her dignity, she stood up straight and wiped her mouth with her jacket sleeve. Suddenly, she remembered she was wearing jeans and a carharrt, her hair done in a braid. Those women probably thought she looked so strange.

Oh, God, what was she going to do now?

Rhett pulled at the reins, Tessa’s head tilted to see the horse he led through the alley. A beautiful grulla mare with a short mane but a long, elegant tail. That tail flicked this way and that at the sight of her. And it made her smile. Horses were still the same she supposed.

“Unless y’wanna get caught by one’a them —” He tilted his head towards the men smoking on the opposite porch, who watched them with interest. “Y’better come with me.”

“Where?” she questioned back quietly.

“Not my place. Y’get caught there — quickest way t’get tossed on y’r ass wi’nowhere t’go but the brothel.” He looked around the alley like he was looking for somewhere to go, thinking, his horse nosing at his shoulder.

Tessa swallowed the bile and whatever was left in her stomach that tried to escape just then. Right. This was the 1800s at the most from what she could gather. As a woman she was hardly even considered a person. She had no rights — she couldn’t even vote for God’s sake. Her bottom lip trembled as she leaned back against the wall. 

“Hey, don’worry, al’righ’,” he said with all the sincerity in the world and storm blue eyes crinkled at the edges. “We’re gonna figure this out.”

“We?”

Rhett scoffed with a small smile. “You really think’m gonna leave ya’ll alone? Y’re…Y’re the first piece’a home’ve seen in months.”

“You didn’even’member my name,” she pointed out.

“Tha’s true,” he huffed back, “But I do’member you on the rodeo team. Best barrel racer we had. Y’re friends wi’Laney.”

“Yeah. Laney.”

She would never see her friend again. Never hear her laugh or listen to her gossip or eat her chocolate chip cookies. She felt Rhett take her arm but she couldn’t bring herself to look at him. His fingers curled around her bicep, strong yet comforting.

She wasn’t alone at least.

“Think I know’a place where we’c’n go. Come on.” Rhett tugged at her arm and she let him lead her without protest.

Let him help her up into the saddle. Let him swing himself up behind her and set the horse into a nice walk. Let him put his hand on her waist to stabilize her and she couldn’t even muster up the energy to feel embarrassed. The hike here was tiring. Throwing up was even worse. Her insides felt completely empty but she didn’t feel hungry. 

Rhett knew what he was doing, that much she could deduce. He said he had been there for six months. He must know all the ins and outs of this life by now. How she should act. What she should say. It was better than floundering around on her own, a singal woman in an era where she could be prey to anyone. Little House on the Prairie was on her favorites as a child, but she had a feeling the show painted this time in a better light than reality.

Horses were still the same. Without even really realizing it her fingers had gone into that dark mane, worked through the few knots and smoothed any wayward pieces. She patted the side of the horse’s neck and it brayed happily. 

“What’s her name?” Tessa asked quietly. 

“Rags,” he replied.

“Cute.”

“I-I didn’t name’er that, though. Had tha’name when I bought’er.”

They left the small strip of buildings behind. Furhter down the dirt street there was a large Victorian house that made Tessa raise her brows. The bright yellow paint stuck out like a sore thumb in the green but barren landscape. A rich person’s house to be sure.

“Still cute.” She adjusted in the saddle, every nerve in her body suddenly coming alive when he tightened his grip on her waist. “What um…What year is it, anyway?”

“1886,” he replied bluntly.

Tessa hummed shakily. “This town got’a name?”

“Spencer. Named after some fort’r the river. I’ve heard both.”

Another instinct, she found herself trying to take the reins from Rhett’s hand. Her knees hugging to the horse’s sides firmly as she pawed at his hand to let go. To let her have control. He squeezed her waist tightly, pushing himself to her back impossibly closer. Tears blurred her vision as she feebly attempted to get away from him. Her chest felt tight. Her limbs numb.

“I — I just —” she tried to speak around the lump in her throat. “I wanna go home.”

Rhett sighed into her ear, his grip on her softened. “I know. Trust me. I know.”

She did trust him. Part of her didn’t want to, didn’t want to put all her faith and hope and trust into some guy she barely knew from high school that had a reputation for bedding anything that moved and drinking too much. But what else was she supposed to do? Rhett was right. He was a piece of home.

So all she could do was let go of the reins and relax into the saddle. The Victorian house came closer and closer until Rhett pulled to a stop in front of it. He got down first. Then helped her down with hands on her hips and breath fanning her fast. Her cheeks burned as she glanced up at him in thanks. He tied up his horse then ushered her up the steps to the front door.

Rhett took off his hat and smoothed back his hair. “Keep quiet and follow along, alright?”

“Okay,” Tessa whispered back and it was all she could muster.

A young woman opened the door and smiled at the sight. “Mr. Abbott! How d’you do?”

“Doin’ well,” Rhett replied, hat pressed to his chest. “Ms. Hobbs in?”

“Somethin’ wrong?” she asked, suddenly seeming to realize that Tessa was standing next to Rhett at all, her brows suddenly pinched in worry and confusion.

“Jus’go get’er would ya, Bessie?” he asked firmly but kindly.

Bessie backed away from the threshold and gestured for the two of them to go inside, muttering something about fetching the lady of the house and scurrying away as soon as the door was shut. Inside was lovely. Dark floors and coffered ceilings, a wide staircase and open doorways leading to seemingly infinite rooms. Immaculately clean. Flowers on every surface. There were silver sconces on the walls and woven rugs on the hardwood. Tessa’s mom liked those same kinds of rugs. With character and history and far too expensive but she was a sucker for a handcrafted item. I love her so much, Tessa thought, and I’ll never see her again. 

A weariness down to her bones suddenly overwhelmed her now that she was inside. Her eyes felt heavy, nearly itchy. It felt as if she couldn’t move another inch as she swayed beside Rhett. 

“You good?” he asked quietly.

Tessa blinked up at him heavily. “Tired.”

He opened his mouth to say more, but footsteps began to echo from down the hall behind the stairs, and he quickly shut it again. An older woman with greying hair came around the corner. Her dress was beautiful. Bustled and made with purple silk. Tessa didn’t know if it was dated or not for the time, but she thought the woman looked beautiful. Her smile was large and open as she stretched out her arms to Rhett. 

Ms. Hobbs.

“S’good t’see y’again!” the woman bellowed in a nearly sing-songy way as her hands flopped back down at her sides, Rhett tilting his head in nearly a bow with a small smile. Tessa expected her to speak with some kind of posh accent, but she sounded just like everyone else. “Bessie’s’all in a tizzy when she came t’fetch me. What kinda trouble’ve ya gotten into this time?”

“Well, I — uh — I found her in town and…” Rhett stepped to the side. 

Revealing Tessa to a now very curious Ms. Hobbs, whose thin eyebrows shot up her forehead at the sight. “Good Lord! She’s dressed like a boy!”

“She, um, won’say anythin’ to me. What happened t’her or the like. N’I thought that maybe y’could…Help’er?”

Tessa had to resist the urge to back away or run when Ms. Hobbs approached her and reached out a hand. At the very least, besides the foreign dress and the house and the place and the time, Ms. Hobbs looked kind. Her brown eyes were soft. Her thin, red painted lips, were slightly quirked in a warm smile. Kindness was still the same too, right?

“Oh, y’poor thing, y’look exhausted,” she said, taking Tessa’s dirt stained hand in her own and patting it with the other. “Come, my cook’s started supper, we’ll get y’cleaned up n’lookin’ like yourself again.”

She turned on Rhett with a smile. “My flowerbeds need weedin’, if y’don’t mind occupyin’ y’rself while y’wait, Mr. Abbott.”

“Yes, ma’am.” He nodded his head to her again.

Then Ms. Hobbs was leading Tessa up the stairs by the hand. As much as she hadn’t spoken to Rhett in all their lives, it now felt alien to be parted from him. He was the only familiar thing she had. The only thing she knew. She didn’t want to leave him. Looking back as she ascended the stairs, Rhett still stood with his hat in hand by the hall tree. Watching her walk away. He tried to look reassuring, but Tessa didn’t feel it as she disappeared around the bend in the stairs.

A bath was drawn. A request for an old trunk full of clothes was made. Perfumes, soaps, and bathing sponges were laid out on a table. A folding screen was set up. All while Tessa sat on the edge of the bed and watched, fighting sleep like her life depended on it.

“Just leave your clothes on top of the screen, dear,” Ms. Hobbs said. 

Tessa nodded as she disappeared behind the beautifully painted decopage. An unease and awkwardness clung to her skin as she undressed, knowing that Ms. Hobbs and Bessie waited behind the screen. But the filled tub looked so inviting, steam rolled off the top like tea in the morning, the vapors smelling of the rose oil Bessie had applied. An arm wrapped around herself to spare at least part of her modesty, she shuffled to the water and sunk down to her chin with a sigh.

She didn’t know that her muscles were aching until they began to be soothed. For a moment, as the heat leached into her bones and the pleasant steam curled around her nostrils, she could forget that today even happened. She was still at home. At her parents house that felt like her childhood. Taking a bath after a particularly stressful week at work. Her mother was cooking dinner downstairs. Potato pan rolls and porkchops — Tessa’s favorite. She didn’t fall into a black hole. She didn’t travel back in time. Everything was good — everything was normal.

Until she heard the distinct screech of wood on wood. Opening her eyes, she saw Ms. Hobbs had pulled up a small stool beside the tub. Tessa crossed her arms over herself and tried to make it known through just her face she wanted to be left alone. The older woman sat with legs crossed and an expectant look on her face.She wasn’t going anywhere.

“Now, tell me what happened, dear heart,” she spoke softly. 

Tessa wanted to tell her. Wanted to spill her guts right then and there. But she knew the truth would just get her called crazy or delusional. She didn’t want to think about what would happen to her if she was labeled as such. So instead she turned her attention back to the steaming water with her lip caught between her teeth.

Good thing Ms. Hobbs couldn’t sit in silence for very long. “Y’were travellin’ here as y’r destination, I assume?”

Tessa nodded in reply, too scared of her own voice. Too scared of what she might contradict.

“Was y’r wagon attacked?”

A nod.

“That happened t’my niece n’er husband's caravan. All y’r things stolen, yes?”

Nod.

Ms. Hobbs gasped. “Y’had t’dress as a boy t’keep y’rself safe.”

Another nod.

“Oh, y’really are a poor thing. But — how’d y’end up here? Y’didn’t have to walk, did ya?”

One last nod and Ms. Hobbs was nearly in a fit of tears. Hand over her mouth and clutching the skirt of her dress like it might console her. Bessie handed over the soap with tears in her eyes and Tessa was thankful to begin scrubbing at her skin instead of her soul focus being this. The lie that was her life now, she supposed.

“N’Rhett found you wanderin’ around town. Exhausted n’surely thirsty — oh! Make sure there’s plenty’a clean water wi’dinner f’r our guest, Bessie, please.” The young girl disappeared to perform her task dutifully.

Tessa couldn’t help but parrot Rhett’s name in nearly a whisper. She wished he was just outside the door. Waiting for her. She was in the bath, yes, but every part of her felt naked without him. She wanted to look up into his face and know that everything was going to be okay, that they were going to figure things out, together. 

Ms. Hobbs' face softened out of the corner of Tessa’s eye. “Y’know him, don’t know? Y’didn’t jus’meet t’day.”

“I do,” Tessa answered without really thinking.

Finished with the soap, she was handed some oil she wasn’t familiar with to massage into her hair and rinse with a pitcher of water. As she did this, Ms. Hobbs looked at her with an expression she couldn’t quite read and didn’t really want to. Thinking. Questioning. Putting things together. Bessie returned to the room with a large wooden trunk dragged in behind her. As Tessa continued to absentmindedly wash herself and avoid further conversation, Ms. Hobbs dug through the trunk.

Dress after dress was pulled out. Beautiful pinks, silks, petticoats, hats, bonnets, delicate slippers and button up heeled boots. Everything was beautiful and looked like something pulled straight out of a museum. Riley dragged her all the way to the Wyoming State Museum in Cheyenne once to look at dresses like those. Recreations of settlers cabins and a woman spinning yarn in costume. If only Riley could see her now — the thought made her heart hurt.

Holding up an almost turquoise dress with small berry cluster patterns, Ms. Hobbs clicked her tongue with a nod. “This’ne should fit — sorry it’s a bit out’a style, dear. Bessie’ll help ya into it. I need t’go check on the progress’a dinner.”

She disappeared through the door, leaving the two younger women alone in silence. The two of them didn’t speak. Only the occasional sound of moving water filled the space as Tessa adjusted. But eventually, the water began to make her teeth chatter, so Bessie held up a towel with her face turned to the side. Still, Tessa blushed near crimson as she climbed out of the tub and quickly wrapped the fabric around herself.

A corset was not something that had ever been included in Tessa’s closet. She thought the modern ones that were in style pretty, nearly fairy-like, but were too impractical for her taste and lifestyle. The proper whalebone corset that Bessie laced her into now was intimidating and constricting. Bessie pulled and yanked until Tessa wheeze out a too tight. Tessa got to pick out the shoes, a fine pair of embroidered red slippers that were only a little big. Layer after layer of petticoats and crinoline, the dress was finally slipped up her body and onto her shoulders. It fit like a glove, like it was made for her, even Bessie seemed surprised. 

“I think this’d look lovely, ma’am,” Bessie said in a small voice as she held up a lace collar from the trunk.

Tessa nodded, then added: “Y’can jus’call me Tessa.”

“That’s a lovely name,” she replied, draping the collar around Tessa’s neck and clipping it in place. “There. Rhett’ll think ya look beautiful.”

Brows furrowed, Tessa looked over her shoulder at Bessie bewildered. But the young girl didn’t seem to notice, instead she led the way to the door, saying something about supper being ready soon. Tessa followed dutifully, still mulling over that little comment. Why would Rhett think she looked beautiful? She was going to look different, that’s for sure. In a mirror set up over the wash stand, she was able to catch a glimpse of herself before she left. Bessie had done her hair back in that nice simple braid she had before the bath. But the dress, the corset, the full skirt. She didn’t even look like herself. A completely different person from the one that left her house just that morning to go looking for Rhett Abbott.

Speaking of which, he stood waiting at the bottom of the stairs. His hat hung on the hall tree and his hands freshly cleaned. He looked up as Tessa began her descent and part of her wondered if this is what it would have felt like to go to prom with him. She would have been nervous as she grew closer to him if that were the case. But she wasn’t. Instead, she felt relieved to be back in his presence. Familiar and known.

“Y — Y’look nice,” he muttered, cheeks tinged pink, as she came to a stop before him. 

“Thanks,” she replied softly, hands smoothing over her constricted waist. “Can’really breathe, but, ya know.”

Rhett looked over her shoulder, chin tilted and watching. She heard Bessie’s footsteps retreat further into the house, and once they were gone, Rhett pulled her to the side. “Ms. Hobbs talked t’me outside. I…She made an assumption n’I didn’t deny it.”

“She did tha’with me too. ‘Parently I’s attacked on my way here and got all my stuff stolen.”

“She…She made an assumption’bout me n’you.” He swallowed something thick, refused to meet her eye. “‘Cause y’said we knew each other.”

Her face dropped. She knew she shouldn’t have said that. “What’d she say?”

“That we’re engaged.”

They laid like that in the sun for a while. Studying one another. Remembering what it was like to look the way they did — without the wrinkles and the years of hard work and the greys in their hair. But then thunder rumbled and cracked in the distance. A storm with clouds dark as night was rolling in quickly. They got to their feet with groans that weren’t necessary, it was the easiest thing in the world in comparison with the last two decades of movement. 

“If memory serves,” Rhett said, hands on his hips as he surveyed the land where he grew up. “There’s a huntin’ cabin not far from here.”

Tessa looked over to the dark clouds as more thunder roared. “We better get goin’ then.”

The bag she had when she first showed up was slung over her shoulder again. The one they buried before they added the porch to their house. It even still had her phone, the granola bars, and water. As they walked towards what they hoped was the hunting cabin to shelter from the rain, they sipped at one of the waters.

“How long ya think it’s been since we disappeared?” he asked, threading his fingers through hers and pulling her closer.

“Not sure,” she sighed, “Looked like no one’d added anythin’ to our….Memorials in a while.”

All Rhett did was grunt in reply, and they didn’t say anything more as the small cabin came into view. And the clouds took over the sun. The rain was cool and sudden as it started to downpour. The pair ran, cursing and giggling as they went, to the cabin door. In only a few minutes they were soaked to the bone.

It was unlocked and dark inside. Tessa tested the lightswitch but nothing happened — didn’t bother them in the slightest. There was dry wood piled by the cast iron fireplace and some matches. A fire was easy work and quickly lit. The cabin wasn’t much. Just the fireplace and an old tattered couch to rest on and skin your game.

“Come on,” he grumbled as he pulled her closer by the hem of her shirt, beginning to tug it up. “Gotta get outta these wet clothes.”

They undressed each other languidly. Admiring the toned muscle and smooth skin — untouched by everything they had been through together. There were sure to be consequences. Hard and terrible and painful. Ones they didn’t want to think about right then. Ones that didn’t exist right then in that little cabin in the middle of nowhere. Just the two of them — like it was always supposed to be.

“It’s so dark,” Tessa whispered as she traced the bullrider tattoo on his chest.

Last time she saw that tattoo, it was faded and blurred at the edges. Never retouched and nearly forgotten, hidden under a fine layer of white chest hair. But now the ink was still fresh under his hairless skin. Right. He didn’t get a lot of chest hair until he was in his fifties.

Rhett hummed, calloused hands skimming up her bare sides to hold her ribs in his wide palms. “Y’look s’pretty, sunshine.”

“I thought I looked beautiful before.” She narrowed her eyes up at him and he scoffed. 

“Y’did. No matter what y’re doin’r how y’look — y’re beautiful.”

Even after all this time, even after years upon years spent at his side, Tessa’s cheeks turned cotton candy pink at his words. With her lips sucked between her teeth and avoiding all eyecontact, she pulled away from him and moved to stand in front of the crackling fire. As she watched the flames dance, she heard Rhett’s wet jeans hit the floor then get hung on the makeshift drying rack they made. 

Her breath stuttered in her throat when she felt his presence at her back. Another thing that hadn’t changed but felt so different now that they were like this again. Young and spry and full of life. Everything felt new and strange and wonderful in a way it hadn’t been in years. So when Rhett pressed himself to her back, his erection poking her in the spine, she gasped. 

“Didn’think y’could get shy on me anymore, sunshine,” he whispered, low and husky against the shell of her ear as his hands cupped her ribs again.

“I…I didn’t think it’d be like this,” she muttered back, shivering at the way his lips trailed down her neck.

“Me neither,” he agreed, giving her a squeeze. “Bu’we’re together. That’s all tha’matters.”

“Is it? What..What if…?” 

Her mind was going too fast for her mouth to catch up. Every potential scenario that had plagued her since they started their journey to this cabin. She remembered state police and even the FBI had been brought in for Rebecca’s missing person’s case. What if that had already been done and ended for them? What if her parents had given up hope of ever seeing her again? What if the police wanted answers of where they’ve been? Her entire life had been a lie back home, she didn’t know if she could live another one here.

Rhett shushed her as he pulled her in close to his chest, lips insistent and calming against the crook of her neck and shoulder. His heartbeat was so calm at her back. How could he be so calm about this? How could he not be thinking and wondering and worrying? But she knew Rhett. That wasn’t who he was. He was the steady rock to her choppy shore. Always had been. Always would be. 

“Don’think ‘bout that righ’now,” he spoke softly, “Lemme take care’a you.”

He ran his hands over her then, kneading and massaging her shoulders, her back, her thighs. Tessa sighed as she relaxed under his tough — but something began to wind itself into a knot inside her the more he went on. She felt the simplest graze of his fingers one thousand times over. It felt like she was burning on the inside as he followed the path of his hands with his lips. Her breaths were already ragged at these simple touches, her eyes clamped shut in an attempt to keep herself together. An aching need for him was already pooling in her core, and her attempts to hide it from him were futile. 

She felt him chuckle deep in his throat as she tried to minutely rub her thighs together. It made her shake her head as he pulled her flush against him once more. “Don’make fun’a me.”

“M’not. Y’re just…S’cute sometimes,” he laughed gently in her ear, his fingers slowly slipping between her thighs.

His fingers merely brushed against her clit and her head fell back against his shoulder, giving him the perfect view of her heaving chest. He rubbed small, slow circles on her clit and reveled in the way her mouth fell open and her hands clutched at his forearms lightly. With his other hand, he held her firm against him, slowly grinding his hard cock into her spine.

A giggle bubbled up in her throat. “God…Haven’t felt somethin’ like that in a while.”

“Don’make fun’a me,” he teased as he pushed a finger into her dripping entrance, causing her to jerk against him.

Her slick practically dripped down her thighs as he pushed in slow and deep, curling that digit just right into that spot he knew so well inside her. His palm grinding against her clit in a nearly unrelenting way.

“Rhett,” she breathed out, her head turning only slightly to press a gentle kiss to the base of his neck.

Without a word he spun her around in his arms and kissed her, long and sweet, as he backed her up against the wall beside the fire. Tessa always loved the way he kissed her. Tender and sweet but always filled with a hunger that could never be satiated. Without breaking the kiss, he lifted one of her legs up, holding it up beneath her knee, and slid into her completely. She gasped into his mouth as she broke the kiss, forehead resting against his. The stretch was delicious, like being filled up by him for the first time, and she supposed this kind of was for this body. This version of her, whatever it was. She almost couldn’t stand it as her back arched to try and accommodate him.

“F-Feels different,” she struggled to get out, tongue feeling too big for her mouth.

“Fuck,” he hissed beneath his breath, hand against the wall by her head and lips pressed to her neck. “So tight, sunny, shit.”

The stretch faded, only pleasure remained. Grabbing hold of his chin, Tessa brought him down in a branding kiss. He hummed into her mouth, hugging her as close to him as possible as he drew himself in and out of her. Everything felt heightened, everything felt more, like she was nearly experiencing it for the first time all over again. She drank like fine wine all the beautiful noises he made right into her ear, grunts and groans and half whines like music. Her hands slowly traveled down his strong back until they rested on his ass as he moved, feeling the muscles roll with his thrusts.

There was nothing frenzied or desperate about this, this was slow and sweet and filled with a yearning that neither of htem could really describe. Rhett kept his pace smooth, the two of them quiet as they watched each other. They didn’t know what would happen when they jumped in that hole. In the back of their minds, they feared they would get separated and never see each other again. But they were together, younger. The fear was gone and they wanted to drink each other till the last drop. 

The fire cast a glow in his dark hair, his eyes, the planes of his pink flushed face. His lips parted to take in heavy breaths. Handsome as the day he pulled her out of that hole. The boy who saved her. She smiled softly as she hugged him to her, gently kissing him again as they moved.

But all of Tessa’s sweet, intimate thoughts were pushed from her mind when Rhett’s hand wandered down between their bodies and stroked her overly sensitive clit, sparking something less caring and more primal. She whimpered his name, threw back her head, and let him torture her. 

Just as she was close to the edge, he pulled all the way out and it made some high pitched whine escape her throat.

“Turn around.” His voice was deep and rough, making a surge of need go through her as he looked down at her.

She followed his direction and put her hands on the wall. They were immediately covered by Rhett’s, his body blanketing the back of hers. He wanted to touch as much of her as possible as he molded his skin to hers as best he could. He nudged her legs apart wth one of his, then pushed into her once more.

“Mmm, fuck, Tess,” he groaned into her ear, pulling her earlobe between his teeth.

She couldn’t help the smile that spread across her facce, pressing her warm skin into the slat wood of the wall. The rain had stopped outside, but neither of them could tell. He pulled one of their linked hands down and guided her fingers rub against her breast, making her tease her own nipples for a moment. Then she moaned, loud and wanton into the air, when he slid her hand between her legs, his fingers making her own slide against herself and creating the perfect amount of friction.

“Oh — oh my, God — Rhett,” she panted, the pleasure making her vision go white and forcing her to go on tiptoe.

“Sun-Sunshine, fuck — fuck.” His thrusts became eratic as he neared his climax. “Fuck, I love you.”

That was all it took to make her come, a string of uh-uh-uh’s falling from her lips as she met him thrust for thrust and squeezed around his fingers tight. Her own shuddering orgasm sent Rhett into one of his own. He gasped soft and sweet followed by a near shout, while she threw her head back against his shoulder, her own chest heaving as she came down from her high.

Whispering about being right back, Rhett pulled out of her with a wet pop and a kiss to her cheek. The loss of him made her whine, but then she heard the sound of furniture scraping against the floor and she smiled. Her knees wobbled as she turned to see the couch pushed up in front of the fire and Rhett with a hand outstretched to her.

Despite the lumps and springs digging into their sides, the couch was comfortable. The flannel sheet they were able to find warming as they snuggled up together — a sudden and acute weariness clinging to their bones as they watched the fire for a while.

“Do y’think…” Tessa spoke after a while, voice cracking, then trying again: “They’re all dead, aren’t they.”

Rhett squeezed where he held her hip. “Don’think about it.”

“Hard not’a, bubs, they’re our…”

“I know.” He kissed her cheek with meaning. “I know.”

More silence. Comfortable from years of practice.

“Should we…I don’know…Run away? Start over somewhere else?”

“If that’s what y’want.”

“It’d be easier.” She sighed, thinking for a moment of all that most likely awaited them when they showed back up at the Abbott Ranch. “But I — I want t’see my parents. If they’re still…”

Rhett placed a kiss to her crown, purposeful and powerful. “We’re gonna figure this out.”

It was more work for just one person, driving tractors and pulling wagons and making sure the corn was being fed into the grinder, but he really didn’t mind. Beat having to discuss his life everyone thought was going nowhere fast — including himself most days.

There were some days, however, all by himself on his family’s expansive land, when he could see the beauty in Wabang. See past the dust and the grime and the lingering smell of decay. That Saturday in September was one of them. The morning was bright and clear as he rode his horse, Ace, out at dawn. The air cool and crisp, the grass frosted underfoot. By midmorning, he needed to take his jacket off, the sun shining bright amongst great puffy clouds. The mountains seemed to glitter off in the distance, sway in the rising heat of day. Their snow covered peaks like a promise of the winter that was to come.

It was beautiful, but it was just his life. Green fields, far off mountains, infinite blue sky. A postcard existence — but he knew what it was really like. It was being born and living and dying all in one town and never seeing anything else. It was hard work and back breaking labor. It was stiff joints at twenty-three but no right to complain. It was struggling to make ends meet, eating six to a table crammed in a small kitchen. It was dirt under fingernails and sun damaged skin. It was grinding cattle feed alone with a sprained wrist that ached every time he picked up a supplement bag. 

The trailer filled up at about two and a half tank loads of feed. There was still half a tank left in the mixer, but he could come back for it later. It was past noon, the sun was beating down on his back, and he had been working for seven hours straight. Without so much as a water or a snack to munch on as he watched the supplement and ground corn mix together. Once the feed trailer was stowed safely in the dry barn, Rhett untied Ace from the post and rode back to the house.

Hoping to find a quick bite and not get yelled at for not finishing his job.

Pushing a thing of dip tobacco between his cheek and gums with his tongue, he walked towards the front door. His stomach rumbling as he watched his boots move across the dirt path and through the grass. But when he looked up, he noticed Amy sitting out in the yard. 

She was the spitting image of her mother, Rebecca. Eyes bright and blue with thin, pale blonde hair — cheeks dusted in freckles and teeth crooked, just a little too big for her mouth. Everyone expected Perry’s genes to be stronger, but there didn’t seem to be an ounce of Abbott in her. And for that, Rhett was almost grateful. 

Would have been a real goofy looking kid if she ended up anything like his brother. Or him even. 

Amy was braiding clovers together into a crown, weaving the stems slowly with big eyes downcast. Her little mouth downcurved in a frown. 

Rhett spit out his dip as he approached her. 

“Hey, ladybug, watchya doin’ ou’here?” he asked, tugging his gloves from his hands. 

She set the messily braided clovers down with a sigh then looked back over her shoulder at the house. When she met his eyes, she looked like she wasn’t supposed to tell him. 

But she did it anyway: “Mom and Dad’re fightin’ again.” 

Now that he was listening, he could hear the yelling coming from inside the house. Something about space and how this wouldn’t have happened and needing to get over it. Fragments and sound bites. Another of those things about living in an old ranch house. The walls weren’t good at keeping secrets. 

He grunted, put his hands on his hips. For a second, anger flared up in Rhett’s chest. So this was what Perry was doing instead of helping him with the feed? Arguing with his wife about the same old shit and not making any progress because he was too stubborn to actually listen to her? Then a sort of sadness trickled in with it. 

Amy shouldn’t have to hear that shit, either. 

She was only nine, and already she understood too much about her parents’ feelings towards the Abbotts, the ranch, Wabang, and each other. Already saw and heard too much. There was already something too grown up behind those blue eyes and Rhett didn’t like it. He could remember holding her for the first time when he was just fourteen. Everyone made him sit down to do it because they didn’t trust him and he didn’t know why. Not until Perry placed that little baby in his arms, telling him to support her head. He had never held something so delicate before in all his life, and hadn’t since. Fragile, precious, terrifying. New life — only one week in this world. It made him tear up and he didn’t even know why. 

Eventually, he could hold her while standing, while walking, sometimes even while running. Eventually, he scared the shit out of Rebecca by tossing her in the air, her shrieking giggles making him laugh. Eventually, she could talk and he liked to listen, about bugs and horses and sparkling shoes and pretend princesses saving knights from dragons. Eventually, she was mostly grown up and so was he. 

But Rhett didn’t want her to grow up, not yet. She deserved to stay little, just for a little longer. Making crowns out of clovers and giggling and not knowing what secrets the walls refused to keep. 

“Whaddaya say we go ge’ice cream?” 

“Really?” she questioned, popped up onto her knees with a small toothy smile. 

Rhett chuckled. “Yeah, really. Lemme go change.” 

He tapped her on the head lightly with his gloves as he passed her, making her laugh. And it made him smile despite the anger still bubbling in his chest and the hunger gnawing at his gut. 

When he pulled open the screen door, its loud screech and bang as the old hinges smacked it back against the exterior wall announced his presence before he even walked inside. The yelling suddenly came to a halt. He rolled his eyes as he crossed the entry and climbed the stairs, distantly hearing the argument pick back up in harsh whispers. 

Once in a fresh pair of jeans and an old rodeo t-shirt, beat up trucker hat hiding the sweat slicking his hair, he called out that he was taking Amy into town. No one answered him and he didn’t repeat himself. He just strode right back out into the shadeless yard where Amy stood waiting for him with her hands in her pockets. The corner of his mouth ticked up as he took her under his arm and led her over to his truck.

“Ya missed lunch,” she pointed out as they climbed inside. 

“Might ge’more th’n ice cream then,” he said, starting the engine. 

“So Jiffy Treat?”

“Course.”

The local ice cream shop, in business since 1973. It was nothing special. Just a squat building on the side of the road with a walk-up window and a few covered tables out front screwed into the concrete. It was the place to go in the Wabang heat to cool off. Mostly just sad dads bringing their kids to try and make them feel better about whatever was going on at home.

Rhett never thought he would be one of those sad dads — sad uncle really. 

As the truck shook and rumbled down the gravel drive towards the main road and off Abbott land, Amy quickly snatched up the cardboard box at her feet and set it in her lap. The box had water damage healed over one too many times and a missing corner, but it still did the job alright. Holding an unorganized and haphazardly placed collection of cassettes.

“Which one has the Georgia song on it?” Amy rifled through the tapes, plastic clacking together as she threw them around.

Rhett knew which song she was talking about instantly. “Reba McEntire — uh, lady wi’curly hair — black’n white.” 

It took her a minute to find it, but once she did, she held it up and giggled triumphantly. Rhett told her to put it in as he turned left onto the paved road that led into town, cranking open his window to let in a breeze. He still felt like he smelled like ground corn and yeast. But he wasn’t about to make her wait any longer by taking a shower — or let his stomach continue to eat itself any more than he had to.

With a whir of tape and a few skipped tracks, the opening guitar and piano of The Night The Lights Went Out In Georgia started to play.

Amy sang along loudly, bobbing her head to the beat and missing a few of the words. While Rhett muttered them all quietly, tapping his fingers against the steering wheel. Asking once the song was over for her to rewind the tape and let him listen to the album in full.

“You need t’get a new radio, Uncle Rhett,” she said as she pressed the right buttons. “One y’can plug y’r phone into.” 

He chuckled softly. “I like m’tapes jus’fine.” 

“Y’sound like Gran’pa.”

Amy said it with a laugh, and Rhett rolled his eyes for her to see. But she didn’t need to know that stabbed at something inside him he didn’t like. A beast, locked in a cage. Pacing, waiting to be angered enough to set itself free. 

He didn’t want to be like his dad. 

But apples didn’t fall far from trees in Wabang — inevitable and constant. 

There were a few other cars parked in the small Jiffy Treat lot. Kids in swimsuits either just coming back or going to the swimming hole over in Hayden running around the umbrella shaded tables. The parents chatting with cones in hand. 

Amy jumped out of the truck first as soon as Rhett threw it in park. He was quick to follow after her, already fishing his wallet out of his back pocket. The teenager working the window slid it open with a smile as they walked up. 

“What can I ge’for ya?” she asked, finely manicured nails poised with a pen and notepad.

Rhett ruffled Amy’s hair as he looked over the menu. “Go’head, ladybug.” 

“Can I have a scoop’ve bubblegum with sprinkles, please?”

“In a cone or a cup?”

“Cone, please,” Amy said, then backed away from the window so Rhett could step up. 

“N’ll take two hotdogs n’a thing’a onion rings, please,” he said, thumbing the few bills in his wallet. “N’can I get a cup’a water?”

It did not go out of his notice how the young girl looked him up and down, teeth biting into her lip as she wrote down his order. It made him shift his weight to his other foot, hoping to just get away soon. But her pink blush did remind him of someone — and it made the corner of his mouth raise.

“That it?” she asked. 

“Yep.”

She gave the total with his cup of water and he paid, Amy’s ice cream quickly being called from the other window. Bright pink and covered in rainbow sprinkles. Her smile was ear to ear as she took it with both hands and sat down at one of the tables. Rhett plopped down on the bench across from her and tried not to focus on just how hungry he really was. It was nice under the shade of the umbrella, sun no longer beating down on his back. Birds chirped in the yards on either side and cars rumbled past on the road behind him. He could feel the wind they created whipping at his shirt. It would have felt good if he didn’t worry that if they swerved even a little he was done for.

“R’Mom n’dad gonna get a divorce?” Amy asked as she licked at her ice cream. 

Rhett coughed around his drink of water. “Wha’makes ya say that?”

“Lily Stockton n’my class — her parents’re gettin’ divorced.” She shrugged. “She said they fought a lot. Now she goes t’her dad’s house on the weekends.” 

She didn’t seem sad. But she wouldn’t look at Rhett directly either. Watching the swimsuit kids as they got rounded up by their parents or cars as they drove by.

“Shit, I don’know,” Rhett said after a moment to think, pushing his tongue into his cheek despite having no dip to fiddle with.

That seemed to appease her for the minute, and he was thankful. Because there was always the possibility. He couldn’t rule it out and he always had been terrible at lying to his niece. If they did get divorced everyone would probably be happier save his mother, who would just be heartbroken at her son’s broken marriage. His broken family. They would become a constant prayer request to her church group. Though he doubted she brought up their struggles to them now. Keep things in the family until it bursts at the seams for everyone to see. 

His food got called and he muttered a thank God under his breath as he got up to get it. He didn’t even care to put ketchup or mustard on his hotdogs, he just sat down and started eating. It was hot and fried and delicious. 

As they ate, Amy trying to keep up with her ice cream before it melted onto her hand, an old white Jeep with wood paneling on the sides pulled into the lot. Rhett watched it as he finished off his second hot dog, Amy making some comment about how he always ate too fast. It was a nineties model at the least, though it was hard to say without asking. Minimal rust around the bottom and the paint needed to be redone but that didn’t matter much. Every car looked like a junker in Wabang. Old model trucks with longer beds than any of those 21st century Ford monstrosities could offer. Rhett was surprised at how good the engine sounded though, a nice rumble as it slowed to a stop and cut off completely. A rarity for a car that age in a town like this. 

The back doors swung open first, three boys clambering out and into the sun. They waited patiently by the bumper as the driver stepped out. 

Rhett nearly choked on one of his onion rings.

She looked beautiful. Light brown hair falling around her shoulders and the golden chain of her locket peeking out from a quarter zip with the sleeves rolled up. Her wide smile was like its own sun as she slammed the creaking driver’s door shut and gestured for the boys that poured out of her car to get in line. The smallest of them running ahead to go first. She followed behind. Her eyes big and blue as July squinted in the sun, turning them to slits crinkled at the edges, and Rhett smiled.

He really hoped he would see Tessa Abernathy again. It had been nearly a week since he got to apologize in the fluorescent light of the general store. He just thought, and maybe hoped, he would have more control over his heart rate than he did right then; pounding against his ribcage as he watched her walk and dig through her purse at the same time. Would she notice him? Would she talk to him? He nearly wanted to slap himself. He was never like this around women. Especially women he wanted. He knew all the tricks and he knew all the lines — just to feel something, just to get loved for a night. But this was different. She was different. 

Then Amy suddenly gasped. “That’s Jace!”

Rhett blinked rapidly as he looked back at his niece, feeling like he just got caught doing something he shouldn’t. “Uh — w-who?”

“He’s in m’class — we sit at the same table,” she said, pointing at the smallest boy bouncing up and down in front of the order window. “C’n I go say hi?”

“Sure, ladybug,” he replied.

She didn’t waste a second. Pink ice cream dribbled down onto her knuckles as she raced over to talk to the little boy. He looked just as excited to see her as she was him. Gasping and jumping and pointing to the order window — which was handing down to him a bowl of multicolored ice cream covered in gummy worms. Rhett finished off his onion rings and wiped his hands off on his jeans as he watched them. Happy that Amy was distracted — at least for a little while. That she wasn’t thinking about her parents yelling at each other through thin walls or Lily Stockton or having to spend weekends at her dad’s. That she wasn’t asking him questions he didn’t know the answers to. Instead, she was just being a kid. Talking excitedly with a friend, getting sticky fingers, and eating bright pink ice cream covered in sprinkles. That was what she deserved. To just stay little, just a little longer.

But Rhett stiffened, hot dogs and onion rings sitting like led in his stomach, as he watched Tessa come up to the order window, paying for the three boys’ ice cream. He couldn’t hear what they were saying, but her and Amy were clearly talking to one another. Tessa smiling at the two little kids fondly and making big facial expressions that made him smile. 

Then Amy was pointing at him. Tessa turned her head to look with raised brows. She smiled, wide and stunning and full of a kindness he could nearly see and felt undeserving of receiving. Raising his hand, he waved with a small smile — 

And he had to stop himself from cringing.

He was definitely regretting those hot dogs, and not showering, now as Amy and Jace rushed over to sit on the bench opposite him. Amy saying something about him being her uncle and riding bulls. Jace didn’t seem that interested. Rhett hadn’t even noticed the group of teens that had taken over the table next to them until the two older boys came over and joined them. That just left Tessa, carrying a waffle cone filled with some yellow ice cream, to sit with him at his table. Unable to stop himself, he started fiddling with the paper boat his food came in. Why did talking to her now feel like he was sitting on the back of a bull, the gate about to open and his career on the line?

“Hey, Rhett, how’s it goin’?” she asked as she sat down on the bench at his right.

“G-Good, yeah,” he answered, glancing up at her and looking away. “You? How’s it goin’ with you?”

“M’good too,” she laughed, hiding her smile with her ice cream, then she looked over at Amy and Jace, lost in their own world. “Y’r niece’s cute. Her’n Jace seem t’get along.”

Rhett swallowed thickly. Some part of him wanted to smack himself because he knew talking with her was so damn easy. Even though all his life talking to anyone was a struggle he preferred to avoid. Truth and stories and some secret part of him bubbling to the surface because, somehow, he wanted her to see it and know. But he didn’t want to mess this up. Not again. 

“He — uh — he livin’ in the Home? W-With you?”

“Yeah. He’s’re youngest righ’now.”

“Wha’is he? Nine?” he asked, brows furrowed, finally looking her in the face.

She wasn’t looking at him, and that made it easier. Too focused on Amy and Jace as they talked about school and sports and shows they liked. How she was obviously Spider-Man and he was Hulk. There was a kind of sadness in her eyes though that he had never seen before. One he wanted to fix.

Eventually, she nodded, hand raising to cover her tongue peaking out, licking ice cream from her lip. “He’s a foster. Couldn’even get’im t’say a word when he first showed up. Now look at’im.”

Rhett didn’t fully understand what that meant, but he knew enough. A foster kid. Either his parents were out of the picture or he got taken away from them by the state. Rhett hadn’t even realized he was ripping a fringe into the edge of his paper boat until he had finished an entire side.

“He’s go’somebody good takin’ care’a him now,” he mumbled, watching the side of her face as she ate her sweet treat. “Makes’a difference.”

There was that pretty pink blush that made the freckles on her cheeks stand out. Her eyes sliding over to look at him as she licked her lips again. It made him laugh softly.

She chose not to comment as she glanced down at his unbraced hand. “Wrist feel better?”

“Uh, yeah,” he said as he flexed his fingers. “S’alright.”

“Takin’ it easy?”

“Nope.”

Tessa leveled him with a look and it filled up something warm in his chest. She barely knew him, but she cared. Enough to get mad at him for not resting his injury and rolling her eyes when he laughed and said what? No one in his family had yet to mention it. Even when he took off the brace before he really should have. Even when he winced and clenched his jaw doing certain tasks. It was like it wasn’t even there. That something warm was still there, but beside it was something sour. Tart and bitter to the taste.

One of the boys that came with her walked up to their table. He appeared to be the oldest. Long curly black hair and headphones around his neck — skateboard tucked under his arm. Tall and unaware of the fact. Skin cratered like the moon. His face looked permanently pinched up in anger, bushy eyebrows furrowed low over dark eyes. But when he spoke, he didn’t sound grumpy at all. 

“We’re gonna go’cross the street. That alright?” he asked, pointing to where he and his friends wanted to go. 

Rhett looked over his shoulder. It was just an alley between downtown brick buildings. Someone tried to decorate it once with creeping ivy and string lights and metal benches. But the ivy was now brown, the string lights were gone, and the benches were uninviting — save for a kid with a skateboard. 

Tessa nodded easily with a smile. “Yeah, s’fine. Wyatt with you?”

The teen nodded.

“Alright, go’on. We’re gon’leave n’bout thirty minutes.”

A smile broke out across his face. An unexpected expression for him, but it suited him well. Then he jogged off, back to his friends. Rhett couldn’t help but notice Tessa watching them with her brows pinched together. 

“Wha’s that look for?” he questioned as she turned back to her nearly finished ice cream.

“S’just…” She seemed to wrestle with her words for a second, tongue pushed into the roof of her mouth as she thought. Then she sighed as she looked at him with her head leaning towards her shoulder. “Wyatt’s younger than Colton n’all his friends n’I…I don’wan’im gettin’ made fun of.” 

“That’s jus’life. He’ll be fine.” 

“Still hurts,” Tessa said.

There was something in those eyes like July that Rhett couldn’t really read. Something like too much understanding. Something like experience. Something like Amy too grown up. Again, he suddenly was filled with the urge to fix. To make that look in her eyes go away. To make whoever made fun of her pay for it because she didn’t deserve that. To take her out for ice cream to help her forget. Bring back that kindness in her eyes, at least for a little while.

“Uncle Rhett!” Amy suddenly called, “Should I be Mikey or Donnie?”

Rhett stared at her for a second, brows furrowed — then it clicked. “Oh, like the ninja turtles?”

“Yeah!”

Tessa placed her hand on his arm to get his attention. “We’ve got the ole’eighties show on VHS. Jace’s obsessed righ’now.”

“We, uh —” He swallowed thickly as she retracted her hand, watching her soft as silk hands retreat almost sadly. “We watched the nineties movie together —  few weeks back.” 

“Oh, that’s so fun.” 

“Rhett!” Amy cried, exasperated. “Should I be Donnie or Mikey?”

“Mikey,” he answered simply, not even having to think.

Amy immediately hopped up and struck a pose with her fists posed for a fight. “I’m Michelangelo!”

“And I’m Leonardo!” Jace yelled as he sprang from the bench as well, pulling pretend swords from his back. 

Then they were off. Amy twirling imaginary nun-chucks around as they play fought one another. Weaving around the other empty tables and jumping up onto benches. Rhett and Tessa watched them with laughs on their lips.

“Y’ever — uh — y’ever pretend t’be somethin’ when y’were a kid?” Rhett asked as he looked at the back of her head.

She turned her head over her shoulder, eyes still focused on the kids, as she said, “Used t’pretend I was a fairy. Had a pair’a wings from Halloween I’wore f’r nearly a year.”

Rhett chuckled as he looked down into his lap. He could picture it perfectly. Little girl refusing to take the wings off even if they were bent up and dirty, because she was a fairy. Her parents just giving up and letting it happen. He thought it was adorable — nearly said so but he bit his tongue at the last second.

“I’d wander’round the yard wi’those, uh toy guns? Thinkin’ I’s a cowboy.”

“That’s sweet,” she said as she turned back to look at him with a smile, small and kind.

Her ice cream cone was finished, but there was a glob of yellow on her chin — just beneath her lip. She just looked so pretty. Rhett knew he shouldn’t. After coming so close to ruining whatever was blossoming between them. But before he could really think it through, before he could rationalize, before he could nail down what he should do instead of what he wanted to do — his hand was reaching for her. 

“Oh, you — ya got somethin’...” Rhett said, tucking his forefinger beneath her chin and wiping at the rogue ice cream drip with his thumb. 

Her cheeks turned an even brighter shade of pink, the color going down, down into the collar of her quarter-zip as he made a second pass on her soft skin to make sure he got it all. Eyes downcast as she took a deep, steadying breath. When he finally pulled away, the ice cream was gone, and she looked up at him from beneath her lashes with her lip caught between her teeth.

That same look from that night at the bonfire. Before she practically ran away from him and he was left with a different kind of ache. A different kind of itch. That only she could fill. With her kindness and just right smiles and heart too big for her chest. Regret pooled in his stomach like concrete along with those hotdogs and onion rings. His mouth opened and closed as he wrestled with an apology. But then…

“D’you get it?” she asked quietly. 

“Uh-huh,” he muttered, relief flooding him now, as he licked his thumb clean. “Tastes good.” 

Tessa stared at him for a moment. Thoughts churning behind those big blue eyes and her mouth popped open. Made him smirk as he watched her. She wasn’t running for the hills yet, and for that he was thankful. He no longer felt like he was in the chute, on top of a bull, his career on the line. Instead, he felt like Rhett Abbott talking to Tessa Abernathy. Siphoning off that kindness and maybe giving some out in return.

“It’s, uh — it’s lemon poppyseed,” she finally decided to say and it only made his grin grow. 

“‘Ll have t’try it sometime.”

Then his phone vibrated in his pocket. A text from his mother.

Your dad’s wondering why the rest of that feed hasn’t been stored.

“Ah, shit. We gotta go,” he said, collecting his trash as he rose from his seat.

“R-Really?”

“Yeah, got work t’do.” He fished his keys out of his pocket. “Ladybug! C’mon, we gotta get on home!” 

Amy sighed, but said goodbye to Jace. Once his trash was disposed of, he put Amy under his arm and started the walk back to his truck. Telling Tessa it was nice seeing her and trading reluctant farewells.

Once inside the truck, Amy grinned at him like she knew a secret. 

“What?” he laughed. 

“You like her.”

Rhett felt his face flush. “I — you don’t — I don’t —”

“S’alright. I won’t tell,” she said as she settled back into her seat with a pleased smile.

He started the truck with a huff. “Little shit.”

The ride back to the ranch was easy and quiet. Amy leaning back in her seat with her head tilted towards the window — watching endless green fields roll by. And Rhett caught up in thoughts of Tessa Abernathy with ice cream on her chin and looking up at him through thick lashes.

He supposed he couldn’t deny that he liked her. As childish as the term sounded. At the very least, he wanted to be with her. Get to know her. Talk with her. Pulling from her with such ease that kindness the world didn’t deserve and maybe show her some in return — even if he wasn’t very good at it. It was a foreign sort of urge and an alien kind of weight in his chest. Rhett didn’t like his partners, no matter how long or short they were together, getting too close to him. Seeing all that he was and all that it meant, all the dust and grime and that he was just like everyone else in Wabang. A horse sent out to pasture, waiting to die. Knowing there was better but being too afraid and too caught up in it all to leave. He thought he could leave it all behind once. But then he didn’t, and it brought a shame he still didn’t understand and didn’t want to deal with. He couldn’t get out. And maybe that was why he was the guy that made them realize they wanted to be married, just not to him. 

But then again, Tessa didn’t get out either. And she seemed like one of the only things in this life that hadn’t been touched by the Wabang grime. Shiny and bright and loving this life in a small town.

He might not have deserved a girl like that, but he was willing to try. 

When he parked in front of the house, Amy leaping from the passenger seat and running inside, his dad was waiting on the porch for him. Sitting on the old bench his grandmother thrifted from an antique store. A relic from one of the ancient country churches that closed its doors long ago. His ankles crossed and fingers threaded together in his lap as he watched Amy head inside. Rhett sighed as he cut the engine and opened his door — knowing what was waiting for him once he went up those steps.

He didn’t even make it up one of them before his dad started talking gruffly, “Wen’out t’check on ya ‘while ago…Left all the equipmen’out.” 

“Yeah, yeah — Goin’ back to finish grindin’ now,” Rhett replied, taking one booted foot off the step and putting it back on the ground.

“Where’d y’take Amy?”

“Ice cream.”

“Y’had work t’do.”

Rhett clenched his jaw, ticked it to one side. Adjusted his weight from one foot to the other. Itching to get away so he wouldn’t get in more trouble than he was. But he never had been good at not putting his foot in his mouth.

“Yeah, well, somebody had t’make sure she wasn’t hearin’ her parents’ screamin’ match,” he said, finally looking his father in the face with his jaw set and eyes ablaze. 

His dad stared at him for a moment. Chin jutted out and small brown eyes narrowed. Then he rose from his seat and Rhett straightened, prepared to defend himself. His own fight the walls wouldn’t keep to themselves.

“Just get the feed done.”

Then he turned and walked inside. 

Rhett looked at that old empty church pew for a minute. Mind reeling through everything else he wanted to say. Why does Perry get a day off to have a fight with his wife? Did you even bring any food or water when you came to check on me? If the work wasn’t done would you have even noticed I was gone? 

Prayers to an absent god.

Then he pushed off from the porch step and walked back to the barn.

Listen guys, I have been in this fandom before the whole Lewis Pullman euphoria, when the fandom was dying and dry. I like him a lot, Rhett is a fun guy. And I am SO HAPPY that people come to the fandom!!! This is OCs is his sister tho, I am a Luke girlie all the way.

June Is the youngest daughter of Royal and Cecilia Abbott, the youngest sister of Perry and Rhett.

Was not planned so age gap with her and her brother is a little big.

She is mute, bc of psychological reasons, communicates in ASL.

She is not silent tho, she whistles, claps, makes herself very much known and takes no bullshit from anyone.

Fatal flaw: curiosity, obsessive personality.

Protective of her family AF

Biggest hype woman to everyone.

When she was 8, she went missing for a week: when she got back, she had no memory of what happened and has not spoken a word since (time shenanigans at work)

Went to college for a major in Geology and a minor in Botany. Dropped out when Rebecca went missing.

A menace with a shotgun

Has a mare named Roan who is a bay roan.

Will kick people.

Collects animal bones and puts them together in art projects

Was the queen of mischief with Rhett, they used to sneak out of the house at night from the room.

Has a weird relationship with Perry: wants to be closer with him like they used to as kids, but his situation has changed him.

Amy is her heart, she teaches her to draw and ride together.

June's a daddy's girl, although she's spoiled by both her parents. She just wants to stay home and work on the ranch with them.

has huge ears, huge hair and a huge personality.

Has serious beef with Autumn

Her necklace may or may not be the same as Autumn's due to time shenanigans.

Will punch Luke at some point (he deserved it)

Really she has no problem with Luke or Billy initially (Trevor used to pull her hair tho)

Luke and her are very much acquaintances, to enemies, to forced to work together, to being Orpheus and Eurydice.

Wabang's eclectic granola fashion icon.