You had to show him who was boss, but you had to be careful about it.
“Since he’s such a vindictive SOB, Major lets Caleb step into the stirrup, then takes off running and kicking.”
“Is Caleb okay?”
“He won’t go near your horse anymore, but he’s fine. Just a few bruises.” Dwight shook his head. “You spoiled that horse rotten. Now he only loves you, barely tolerates me, and bites, kicks, or bucks when anyone else looks his way.”
“But he loves me,” I said with a shrug and a grin.
Dwight shook his head. “Damn horse,” he muttered.
Ava started screaming again. Mom bounced her up and down and hummed louder.
Devin held out his arms. “Need me to take her?” His exhausted tone said it was the last thing in the world he wanted to do.
“I’ll go give her a bath and see if that makes her happy,” Mom said. “There’s some leftover stew in the fridge if you get hungry.” Mom walked out of the room with Ava, the crying getting quieter as she headed upstairs.
Devin leaned his elbows against the counter and put his head in his hands. “I’m so tired of the crying. And I’m worried about Anne. She won’t listen to me, but I think she needs to talk to someone before the depression gets worse. It’s like it was after Levi.”
Dwight patted Devin on the back. “It’ll get better, son.”
Devin sighed. “I don’t know how much longer I can do it.” He looked at me. “Maybe you’re right to keep your anti-marriage stance. I love Anne and the kids to death, but marriage is a lot harder than I thought it’d be.”
“Funny, all I heard at Stephanie’s bridal shower was how wonderful marriage is. I think it’s one of those grass is always greener on the other side things. No matter what you’ve decided, you always wonder if something else would’ve been the better pick.”
I would know. I’d been thinking about the greener grass all day.
Grownup Fairy Tales Case Study: Gil/the perfect guy from romance movies
My Age: 17
Yes, I realize this breaks the mold a bit. It’s not a prince or princess story. But really, Gil broke the mold. And it happened to be around the time I’d moved on from Disney movies to romantic comedies. These were the kind of stories that could
We’ve all seen the chick flicks with the amazing, cute guy friend. Somehow, the girl doesn’t realize how amazing he is or that he’s head over heels in love with her. Sometimes it’s the guy who doesn’t realize he’s in love with his best girl friend. There are several variations, but they all end with discovering they love each other.
After the whole debacle with Sherman, I was crushed. It was hard to see him at school, especially since he and Tabitha were playing tonsil hockey in the halls all the time. He’d hurt me, and as dumb as it was, I kept thinking up scenarios where he’d realize he was a fool for losing me, and how after a long period of him making it up to me, we’d get back together.
It didn’t happen. In fact, I don’t think he thought twice about me—which stung even more because it meant he never cared about me at all. I hung out with my brothers and their friends a lot. We spent a lot of time at Margie’s, the local diner. The guys kept me from moping around. In fact, when I tried to mope, Drew or Devin would tell me to stop being a girl and suck it up.
January of my junior year, Stephanie moved to town. We had a class together, and we instantly hit it off. Even then, people commented on how much we looked alike. Steph was into fashion, too. Before long, I was spending most of my free time with her.
One day when I was outside brushing down Major, Gil walked up to me.
“Hey, Gil,” I said. “I think Drew and Devin had to go get parts for the John Deere, but they should be back soon.”
“I wanted to talk to you, actually.”
Annoyed he wasn’t getting all my attention anymore, Major reached his head around and bit at Gil.
I put my hands on the side of my horse’s big head and looked him in the eye. “No biting, Major!” I held up the bucket of grain. “You want this?”
He whinnied, leaning for it.
I swung it back. “Then no biting.”
Major hung his head like he was the most picked-on thing in the world.
“Sorry,” I said, turning to Gil. “What’s up?”
Gil leaned on the fence. “You haven’t been around much since you met your new friend.”
“It has been nice to have someone in my same class—not to mention getting a little girl time in.” I set down the bucket of grain. “Stephanie and I aren’t doing anything tonight, though. What’s everyone doing later?”
Gil sighed. “I don’t think you get it.
I looked up, meeting his gaze. “Wait, are you saying…?” I wasn’t sure I could finish. Not without making a fool of myself.
Instead of answering with words, Gil stepped forward and kissed me, a soft kiss that caused my pulse to skitter. “I like you, Darby,” he said when his lips left mine. “I’ve liked you for a long time. I kept waiting to make my move, thinking I’d say something next time we were alone. But then I waited too long and you stopped hanging out with us. Anyway, think about it. If you just want to be friends, I hope things won’t be awkward between us.”
I finally got past being stunned and really saw Gil for the first time. With his curly, black hair and big brown eyes, he was definitely cute. Then I thought about the way he always checked on me when we were out as a group—how he’d been there to pick me up the night I watched Sherman cheat on me. I’d never thought of any of my brothers’ friends as possible boyfriends, simply because we’d been close for so long. I thought that to them, I was just an annoying girl.
“Do it again,” I whispered.
“What part?” Gil asked.
My heart was pounding so hard I could feel every thump. “The kissing part.”
He grinned, then pulled me into his arms and kissed me again, one kiss after another, until they merged together and made the world spin.
The rest of the guys weren’t sure what to think about Gil and me as a couple. It took them a little while to adjust, but before too long, they all got used to the idea. Steph and Drew started dating, too—though they only lasted a month. Things were tense between them for a couple weeks, but then they got over it. They had to. That’s the curse and blessing of small-town dating.
On warmer days, Gil and I would go to the pond to relax or swim. One day he got out his pocketknife and carved our initials in the tree. He told me he loved me, and I returned the sentiment. About a month later, under the shade of that same tree, Gil and I lost our virginity together. He was thoughtful and careful and checked on me afterward. I’d been a little scared it would change everything. It did in a lot of ways, but not in the way I’d worried. Things between us couldn’t have been better.
Then he graduated high school and our relationship suddenly had an expiration date—he was going to college in California, and we agreed that the long-distance thing would be too hard.
We spent the entire summer together, soaking in every spare minute we could. The night before he left for California, we went to our usual spot near the pond and said our good-byes. I did my best not to cry, but I shed a few tears. Okay, a
When the sun dipped low in the sky, all but disappearing, Gil stood and extended his hand to me. “You ready to go back?”
I shook my head. “I’m going to stay here.”
“I’ve got to go. My parents are waiting.” He bent down and kissed me. The kiss was filled with love and sorrow, an accumulation of an almost yearlong relationship and more than three years of friendship. It left me hollow and full, all at the same time. “Good-bye, Darby. I love you.”
I didn’t bother holding back the tears anymore. “Love you, too.”
I thought it was the end of the world, and for a while, it was.
When Gil came home for Christmas break, he and I spent three blissful weeks together, everything the way
