happened, and I knew it was after my father had passed. At first, I’d been so triggered by the rumors, by the way that whole town talked about my father like they knew him when they didn’t. But after a while, I started to care less, and less, until I didn’t give a single fuck about anyone but my family.
We trotted along my favorite trail, ducking our heads when the branches of the trees dipped a little too low. I was right about Ruby Grace’s ass rubbing against me, and when she edged back, adjusting her weight for what I assumed was comfort, the fabric of her jean shorts rubbed over the length of my cock in a way that made me bite my lip to keep from groaning out loud.
“So,” I said, trying to spark up conversation that would get my mind off her body touching mine. “What’s got you so stressed out that you’re biting off a nice guy’s head when he offers you a beer?”
I expected her to pop off back at me, but she just chuckled, letting out a sigh on a shrug before she spoke. “I don’t know. Being back home, I guess. UNC felt like my new home, and now I’m back in this place where I’m not sure where I fit in. And my mom is all over me about the wedding, which I know we still have a lot to do with it being only six weeks away. But… I don’t know. It’s summer, it’s supposed to be fun, and I just feel…”
“Smothered,” I finished for her.
She turned a little over her shoulder, and though our eyes couldn’t meet, I knew I’d struck a nerve. “Yes,” she agreed, turning back forward. “Exactly that.”
I nodded. “I’m sure it’s a lot of pressure, being the Mayor’s daughter. And now, getting married.” I debated my next words carefully before speaking them out loud. “Don’t take this the wrong way, because I don’t mean anything by it, but… you’re young. I was surprised when my boss told me I was showing a barrel to an engaged nineteen-year-old.”
“Plenty of people get married at nineteen,” she spouted back. “Especially in Stratford.”
“I know,” I said, soothingly, calming my voice so she could see I wasn’t picking a fight. “I guess it’s just that when I was that age, I didn’t even know who I was, let alone who the person was who I wanted to spend the rest of my life with.”
Ruby Grace fell quiet at that, and for a while, it was just the sounds of the night around us. I thought I’d overstepped again, and I waited for her to push me off the horse or demand that I take her back, but instead, after a long pause, she just sighed.
“I think they just expect me to be like my sister,” she murmured. “Mary Anne loves this kind of stuff — picking colors of flowers, choosing between ribbon or twine, finding the perfect dress.”
I remembered her older sister, especially because she was only a couple years younger than Logan. They’d run in similar crowds, been in similar parties. But, after college, Mary Anne had made her way over to Europe to study fashion design. The town hadn’t seen much of her since.
I wondered if that was part of Ruby Grace’s sense of obligation — the fact that her older sister was gone, and she was here, waiting to fulfill her family’s legacy.
“And I guess a part of me always thought she’d be the one to get married first,” Ruby Grace continued. “That she’d be the one to find a husband like our father and make the grandkids I know my parents want.”
I was nodding, realizing my instinct had been true until she mentioned the word grandkids.
I stiffened. “Are you already thinking about kids?”
“I mean… not immediately, but, Anthony wants to have them sooner rather than later.”
My blood boiled a bit at her statement. “And do you want to have them sooner rather than later? Or at all?”
“Of course, I want children,” she defended. “But, I admit, I thought I’d be much older when I had them. I thought… well, it doesn’t matter.”
Tank neighed, as if he spoke my thoughts before I got the chance. “It does matter, Ruby Grace. What did you think?”
She fiddled with the reins that I’d let her take over. “I don’t know… I just always thought I’d graduate, maybe do a year or two in AmeriCorps before I settled down.”
“AmeriCorps?”
“Yeah, it’s like the