Page 25 of Saved By A Small Town Country Boy

Remedi cracked a grin as she slipped on her seat belt.

Her eyes bored into mine temporarily before I turned back to the windshield.

I backed out the driveway and headed straight to the fair.

Soon as we arrived, I spotted the Ferris wheel going in the air.

It lit up the dark night sky with rainbow colors.

Sugar and sausages covered the air like a heavy weighted blanket as I got out the truck and opened the door for Khali. Remedi rounded the truck where we stood, smoothing out the invisible wrinkles in her dress. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think she was nervous to be here with us.

“I want so much stuff! I can’t wait to get a candy apple,” Khali made known as she skipped toward the entrance. Remedi and I slowly walked behind her, not uttering a single word to one another. The tension is so thick that it can be sliced with a knife.

“Thanks for inviting me out tonight. I really needed to get out of the house,” Remedi said as we approached the ticket booth.

“No problem.” Reaching into my pocket, I pulled out a wad of cash and looked up at the attendant. “Two adults and one child,” I told her.

“And will you be needing tickets for rides or a wristband?”

“You riding anything?” I questioned Remedi. Khali ain’t even have to let it be known that she was getting on rides. She did so every year.

“No. I don’t trust something they pack up like a suitcase and just move around. I’ll rather keep my feet on the ground.”

“One wristband,” I told the attendant.

Removing a couple hundreds from the wad, I handed it over to her and waited for my change. She handed me the wristband first, and I gave it to Khali, who then took it over to Remedi to put on her wrist for her.

We entered the fair, and the first thing in view was a food truck. “You want something?” I asked ’em before we started on our journey. With Khali, there’s no telling where we were gon’ end up.

“Uh, I think all I want is a lemonade right now,” Remedi answered.

“I’ll take one too, Daddy. Oh, look!” Khali took off running for one of the booths that had several teddy bears hanging from it.

“I’ll go with her so she won’t get lost,” Remedi tossed over her shoulder and strolled behind her as I waited in line to order their lemonades.

I stood back, observing ’em as they interacted at the booth with the attendant.

He eyed Remedi and licked his lips. My hand balled into a fist that I quickly relaxed.

She was just making conversation with him out of Khali’s sake.

He handed her a ball, and she lunged it at some bottles, knocking the one off the top.

Of course, that wasn’t enough for her to win a prize.

“What can I get for you?” the woman in the food truck asked, grabbing my attention.

“Let me get two lemonades,” I told her and handed her a twenty.

The fair was far from cheap, that’s why I made certain that I had more than enough cash to do whatever they wanted to while we were here. Khali is known for wanting to ride rides and eating ’til her tummy can’t take anymore.

She handed me the lemonades, and I went over to where Khali and Remedi were. They both were tossing balls at the bottles. I’m not certain what they were trying to win, but they were doing a horrible job at it.

“Aww, man,” Khali said when I stopped behind them.

“Daddy, can you win us one of those big bears up there?” Khali pointed to the top of the wall, where one big bear is a unicorn and the other is a brown teddy bear.

She was already starting out trying to get stuff that I’d have to carry ’round in this heat ’til she was ready to go.

“Here.” I handed both of ’em their lemonades and paid for a couple more rounds of the game.

I tossed the ball and hit the bottle on top, but I’m assuming that I have to knock down all the bottles in order to win the game. Tossing it again, I knocked them bitches straight from up there.

“Yes!” Khali screamed and jumped up and down. She wasn’t leaving here without those bears. I could’ve easily just paid the guy for ’em, but I don’t think they would’ve meant the same as me winning ’em.

I proceeded over to the other game, and on the first try, I knocked those bottles down. “Pick your prize,” the guy said, and Khali pointed at the two bears up top. He pulled ’em down and handed ’em over to her. She gave Remedi the brown teddy and kept the unicorn for herself.

They sipped from their lemonades as we strolled the grounds. The next stop we made was at the petting zoo. I’m not sure why Khali wanted to come over here when she could pet all the animals she wanted back at home, but I let her do whatever she wants.

“Thanks for winning me this bear. No one has ever done anything like this for me before,” Remedi spoke as we watched Khali pet a goat.

“Daddy, can we get a goat!” Her eyes lit up like Christmas when she looked back at me. The last thing we needed was to add another animal to the farm, but of course, I wouldn’t be able to tell her no.

Remedi snickered, probably paying attention to my facial expression. “I’ll think about it.”

“I’m taking that as a yes!” She turned back ’round with the animals.

“You’re beautiful. I’m not sure why you’re single, Remedi.” I continued to stare at Khali, not wanting to look her in the face.

“If I’m being honest, no man has given me a reason to consider a relationship for a long time. I’m single because I choose to be.”

After the petting zoo, I stood outside the restroom while Khali and Remedi went inside. My phone vibrated, and I removed it from my pocket to see what the notification was. It’s a deer running through the woods, sounding off my system.

“Khalif, I didn’t know you were gon’ be here tonight,” Bobbi’s voice grasped my attention, and I slipped my phone back into my pocket.

She’s getting a lil more too fucking comfortable calling me by my name like that.

“Is Khali around? It seems like forever since I last saw her.” She stood there with a cotton candy in one hand and a small stuffed bear in the other.

“She’s in the bathroom.” I nodded toward the door.

They needed to hurry up and come outta there so I could put distance between me and Bobbi.

After she tried to come on to me, I’ve been staying as far away from her as humanly possible.

I ain’t trust her ass no more. Bobbi seems like the type of girl who’ll seduce you and then try to get your ass locked up for sleeping with her. I’m not one to fall for her bullshit.

“Are y’all having fun?”

“Bobbi, can you cut the bullshit? I’m not finna hold no conversation with you like I don’t know yo’ ass mentally ill.”

Her forehead wrinkled. “Ill? What have I done to be ill, Khalif?”

“It’s Mr. Redwick to you, and don’t try to play like you’re stupid.” I heard the bathroom door open behind me, so I cut the conversation short with her. Bobbi rubs me the wrong way now, and I didn’t want anyone to think that we had anything going on.

Bobbi’s head tilted to the side as she looked behind me. “You’re here with her?” Her eyes darted to mine, and she frowned.

Remedi took me by the hand and stepped closer. “Is something wrong?”

“I really can’t believe this,” Bobbi said, ignoring Remedi’s question.

“No, babe,” I replied, and to piss her off even more so that she’d leave me the fuck alone, I pecked Remedi softly on the cheek.

“Let’s go.” We strolled off and found another food truck to get something to eat.

Khali has been complaining ’bout being hungry.

She got a burger and fries while Remedi got a sausage.

I ordered a turkey leg, and we sat down at the first empty table we could find and ate.

Khali ran through her food as if she hadn’t eaten in days and took a few of her tickets to ride this ride that was directly in our view. From my seat, I could see her standing in the line. I didn’t have to worry ’bout her disappearing. She knows not to wander too far out in public.

“Do you smell that?” Remedi asked as she tilted her head back and stared up into the sky.

“What?”

“Smells like rain. Close your eyes and take a whiff.”

“Congratulations. You’ve officially been here long enough where you sound like a real country girl.”

Her eyes popped open, and a small grin stole across her lips.

“Do I really?” I gazed deep into her eyes.

They were the perfect shade of chestnut brown.

She has the type of eyes that one can get lost in.

I’d never fully paid attention to it before ’cause I was trying my hardest to fight it, but now looking at her, I wouldn’t mind getting trapped.

She broke our gaze and finished up her food.

We then got up and went over to wait for Khali to get down off the ride.

After spending another hour out there at the fair, we ended up stopping at one more food truck and getting Khali’s candy apple and Remedi’s funnel cake.

They carried it out to the truck. I opened the door for both of ’em, and they hopped inside.

Remedi stared out the window as I drove her home. My eyes darted to Khali in the rear-view mirror. She’s knocked out in the backseat. I knew that once she got back to the truck, she was gon’ be too tired for anything.

Pulling into Remedi’s driveway, I placed the truck in park and got out.

My mama raised a gentleman, so I wasn’t ’bout to allow her to walk up to that front door alone.

I opened the door and she got down out the truck.

We walked up to the front door and she turned to face me.

“Thanks again for tonight. I really had a lot of fun.”

“Me too.” Getting on her tiptoes, her lips brushed the corner of my mouth.

“See you later,” she said and opened the door.