Our family farm sprawled thousands of lush, green Kentucky acres under a cotton candy blue Kentucky sky. Lined with thousands of sugar maples, sycamores, and sweetgum trees and anchored by the big white farmhouse in which I’d grown up, there was no place on earth more sacred to me than the Mason Ranch.
“I’m not calling you Coco.” Her snotty new nickname tasted like sour milk in my mouth. “Just so we’re clear. You’re still Dakota to me.”
Her brows met in the middle and her lips parted as if she were going to fire back at me and then changed her mind.
I dragged the palm of my hand across my jawline, drinking in one last good look at her before I threw myself to the wolves.
I wanted to make things right.
I wanted to make up for all the ways I’d hurt her.
I wanted her back. The old her.
And by God, I was going to get her.
I used the pad of my ring finger to dab eye cream over the dark circles that had sprung up overnight. Sleeping in a strange place and seeing Beau the night before had spun me into a heightened state of anxiety that no amount of Ativan, hotel blackout curtains, or complementary chamomile tea could remedy.
“So, how’d it go?” I set my phone on the counter and turned on the speaker as my sister’s voice echoed into the quiet space of my hotel bathroom. “What’s he like now?”
I capped my eye cream and patted on some heavy-duty concealer before squeezing in a few eye drops to whiten the whites of my fatigued stare. “He’s…different.”
“Different how?”
“Assertive? Commanding? I don’t know. I mean his presence sort of sets off this buzz of energy around anyone who comes into contact with him. People go ballistic when he walks by and women literally faint and cry and fall to their knees.”
“Over Beau?!” Addison laughed. I supposed it seemed humorous, given the fact that she’d known him since she was a bratty little teenager and he was my hot, older boyfriend who’d come around and tease her for fun. I envied her inability to see him in this new light of his that shined so bright it nearly blinded me. “Maybe I should start listening to country music now. You know, I never really got into it out of respect for you.”
“Whatever, Addison. You’ve never liked country music.” I laughed, shaking my head as I dabbed on some foundation.
“Neither did you,” she razzed. It wasn’t completely true. I liked Beau’s music, at least back before the stars aligned and people started noticing his talent. He’d performed countless private concerts for me sitting in the back of his truck with his guitar in his lap as we hung out under a starry Kentucky sky. His voice was rustic yet grounded in pure Americana. His mouth and fingers worked in tandem to produce the most breathtaking music my young ears had ever heard, and everything about it was innately effortless. He was special, even back then. “What’s your plan today?”
“I thought I’d stop and get coffee before going over to Beau’s.” I’d do just about anything to prolong the inevitable and buy a little more time. My stomach whirred and my vision blurred at the mere thought of seeing him again. I’d been able to swallow the majority of my nerves the night before – I just hoped I could do it again. And again and again. I just had to make it until Wednesday without letting him seep into the cracks of my splintered heart.
“Let me guess, Daylight Coffee?” Addison’s voice grew muffled before she returned. “Anyway, that’s Wilder. We have a finalization meeting with the bridal florist in a half hour, so I better go. Call me if you need me, okay?”
* * *
My clammy hand slipped from the steering wheel of the rented Toyota to tease the chain of the golden pendant dangling from my neck. Cruising the five thousand strong town of Darlington brought back an overwhelming gush of nostalgia. I drove past Darlington Community High, Becky’s Bakery on Main where Addison had once worked, Daylight Coffee, and the old one-screen movie theater on the square, but I slowed down when I noticed several new and unfamiliar shops and restaurants. Everything was right where I’d left it, but everything had changed.
I turned back and pulled up to Daylight Coffee and strolled inside, removing my dark sunglasses and resting them on top of my head as I squinted to read the hand-printed chalkboard menu behind the bar.
“You can go ahead of me,” I called out blindly when I heard the bells chime on the door behind me.
“Dakota?” a woman’s voice said, drawing my name out slowly, as if she couldn’t believe it was me. I hadn’t thought about my pseudo-celebrity status being an issue in Darlington. Back home in the city, I hardly counted myself as a celebrity. I could strut the streets of Manhattan and be left perfectly alone as long as I avoided Midtown and the tourist trap areas. “Dakota, is that you?”
I spun around, pressing my lips into a cheerful smile and fully expecting to be politely asked for an autograph. Only it wasn’t a fan. Not in that sense. Silky straight hair the color of honeyed amber swung in a lobbed bob across the delicate shoulders of my older cousin, Rebecca. Her hazel eyes crinkled happily as she brought her fingertips up to her crimson lips.
“Rebecca,” I said, forcing a smile and placing my palm across my heart. “Hi!”
“Oh, my Lord, Dakota,” she drawled, wrapping her lithe arms around my shoulders and leaning in for a hug. She smelled like cinnamon potpourri and fabric softener, the way I imagined a stay-at-home mom might smell. “What are you doing back in town? I didn’t know you were coming home. We haven’t seen you in…years.”