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16

MAGNOLIA

I wentin the bathroom at work to freshen up. Rhett was supposed to pick me up from the salon, and I still had no idea where we were going to eat. Not that there were a lot of options to choose from in Cottonwood Falls.

Opening my makeup bag, I pulled out a mini deodorant and perfume, spritzing a little all over. When we were younger, he always used to compliment how I smelled. I wondered if he remembered my perfume like I remembered his cologne.

Then I touched up my mascara and lipstick and brushed away stray hairs that had gotten on my clothes over the day. Releasing my hair from the claw that held it up made my curls fall around my shoulders. I tousled them with my fingertips and sprayed in a little extra hair spray.

Even though I was physically ready, I had to pause and look at myself in the mirror.

All those years ago, I promised myself I would never go back to him. If younger me could see me now, nervous for a date with Rhett, she’d shake me. Tell me to run as far and fast as possible. Part of me felt guilty for letting her down, even though she was me and I was her. Probably something to ask a therapist about later.

But right now, I didn’t have time. Rhonda had left early for a dentist appointment, so I needed to finish locking up the shop.

I left the bathroom, crossing off the list of end-of-day duties, and then stepped outside the store, into the warm evening air.

Just as warm was Rhett’s voice, saying, “You look beautiful tonight.”

I turned to find him leaning against one of the large planters lining Main Street. He had on a pair of light washed jeans and a dark blue button-down shirt, rolled at the sleeves, the top couple buttons undone to show the tanned skin and short hair of his muscled chest.

Fuck me.

My mouth went dry at the sight of him, and I had trouble finding the right words. Even one as simple as hello.

He grinned, getting off the planter and walking toward me with so much swagger it should be outlawed. “Ready for our date?”

I wet my lips, finally finding my voice. “Did we say it was a date?”

He tilted his head. “You, me, dinner? That math equals date.”

“I think you need to go back to school,” I teased.

“They wouldn’t take me back,” he replied, his heart-melting smile on full display. “Come on, let’s get going.”

I followed him toward his truck parked along Main Street, the diesel engine still running. I remembered him telling me all those years ago that it took more fuel to turn the truck off and on than it did just to let it run a few minutes. It was funny, the memories that Rhett brought with him.

He held the door open for me, and I got in. The smell of chicken bacon ranch instantly filled my nostrils and made my mouth water. When he walked around the opposite side, I asked, “I thought we were going out to eat?”

“We are, just not in the diner, where it’ll feel like sitting in a fishbowl,” he replied.

“Good idea,” I said.

“But I did get you an appetizer,” he said, reaching into the back seat. He leaned forward again with a black velvet bag in his hands.

My eyebrows drew together. “The food’s in that?”

He nodded, passing it to me. The insides felt a little hard in my hand. Maybe pretzels? He watched as I pulled the drawstring open and reached inside, pulling out...

A little pink magnetic dick.

“What is this?” I glared at Rhett.

His face was already red with repressed laughter. “It’s a bag of dicks. For that stupid unicorn roar.”

I wanted to roll my eyes at him, to tell him he was stupid, but his laughter was so contagious that soon I was laughing too. I held one up, turning it over in my fingers. “How did you get them to make an exact replica of your penis?”

“Ohhh.” He held his hands to his chest like he’d been wounded. “Why would you do me like that?”