Page 110 of A Real Goode Time

And then, because he was that guy, Myles played a song he’d written forhisvows, and people were sobbing. Mom, loudly so.

When Jupiter, the appropriately named drummer and officiant, announced they were legally married and would you please kiss the bride already you dumb knucklehead, Myles lifted the veil—an actual, over-the-face veil—and kissed Lexie until people started whistling and clapping.

Andthatwas the beginning of a week-long reception. Party after party, endless amounts of food, and even though neither Poppy nor I were of drinking age, no one really asked and we didn’t make a big deal of it.

It was an amazing wedding and an incredible celebration. I just wished Rhys had been here. I really missed him, and I only thought about him once or twice…every hour.

The receptions eventually ended,and things in Ketchikan settled down somewhat. Although, it quickly became clear that this clan made regular get togethers a quasi-religious thing. Every Sunday, they all gathered somewhere. And during the week, someone was always doing something. I found myself painting a house that Zane was remodeling, and the next day I was filling in as a waitress at one of the bars, and then I was spending a day with Eva, being taught how to paint, and then Poppy and I were borrowing Mom’s car for a trip down to Seattle. I got roped into posing for Poppy, who turned the black-and-white photo of me into a stunning and ethereal piece; I spent a lot of time helping Zane with the remodel, and it turned out getting dirty and building things was quickly becoming my favorite thing to do, and I gradually spent more and more time working with, and eventually for, Zane, working on houses.

And that, of course, made me think of Rhys.

Then I got a letter from him, an actual snail-mail letter—a little over two months after he left:

Torie,

I disconnected my cell phone,and I’m too chicken to call you from the shop landline because hearing your voice would make me miss you even more than I already do. I’m making arrangements. I can’t really say much more so I don’t jinx anything, but just be watching out your window. One of these days, you just might see me.

You knowhow they say absence makes the heart grow fonder? It’s true. I just wish that phrase could express how much it hurts to miss someone this bad.

Love hurts.

I’m on my way,Victoria.

~RJ

RJ.He signed it RJ.

He was coming? He was on his way?

Victoria? No one called me that unless it was Mom when she was either angry or joking.

But I liked it, from him.

The moment I read those words, I rushed to the window of Mom’s guest room where I’d been living…but there was no one out there in the parking lot.

My heart was pounding, though.

He was on his way.

The palpitations became butterflies, and then I was soaring on the wings of hope.

16

Rhys

It was unexpected, when it all came together.

One of my competitors, one of the only other guys in two counties who specialized in engines the way I did, came to my shop one evening. We’d had beers together a few times, but it was always a bit tense, because every job I got was one he didn’t, and vice versa. He was older than me by about ten or twelve years, a guy named Rog—just that, Rog, soft G sound.

He ambled in the open bay door late one evening while I was under my Ford F-100, putting the new exhaust in. I saw his boots, and knew it was him. I finished the bolt I was working on, and then slid the creeper out from under it.

“Hey, Rog. What’s up?”

He had a six-pack of local beer and two cigars. “I was hopin’ I’d find you in a good mood.”

I wiped my hands on a rag. “Eh. Honestly? Struggling with some things.”

He eyed the exhaust parts strewn on the floor. “Havin’ issues with the catback?”