Tornado

After lunch, I dropped Zachary and Ryder back off at their office. Ryder kissed me before getting out, promising to take me to a good dinner after what happened in the office. I cried on the way back to the restaurant. To see him so heartbroken, so worried….

Zachary told me Amy would be coming out in two weeks and I was excited to meet her. I had looked at her artwork on Ryder’s wall and, though I didn’t tell him, I looked up her online portfolio. I went onto Amazon on my phone before I got out of the car and found a perfect art kit. It would make a good gift for when she got here.

“Is Ryder okay?” Lisa asked as soon as I got over to them.

“He is now,” I answered with a sigh. “I got him to calm down and bought him some lunch.”

“What happened?”

I pulled her to the side and told her quietly. “I don’t know how to comfort him, Lisa,” I said, watching as a group of guys cleared some of the wood to the side. “I have no clue how to talk about it.”

“My mother was bipolar,” she said. “The best thing you can do is just offer a shoulder to cry on. Speaking of which, my dad called me.” I stared with wide eyes. “I know.” She kicked at the ground. “He wants to meet with me and Jennifer on Saturday. Is it okay if I don’t come?”

“Of course it is,” I said without a second thought and she smiled. “You just have to tell me how it goes.”

“I promise. Wait. Today is Friday, isn’t it?”

I looked at my phone. “Wow. Yeah, it is.”

“Are you staying the same amount of time?”

I nodded and we went over to help with the wood. “I have nothing better to do with my time. I’ll make sure the volunteers know they don’t have to stay. I’d like the staff to, though, if they’re willing.”

By the time the day was over, the rubble was completely clear and we all cheered. I grinned and put my hands on my hips to survey how much room we had. One of Lisa’s construction friends came up to me.

“We should measure it again,” he told me. “From the end of the property and all the way to the road,” he added, handing me one end of the large tape.

“Why all the way to the road?”

“That way you can decide if you want the building to be bigger or smaller.”

I nodded. “Makes sense.”

After doing measures, we had about an acre of land to work with.

“I’ll go home and adjust the blueprints accordingly,” I said, making notes on a small notepad he gave me. I tucked the pen behind my ear. “I didn’t realize how much room we actually had.” I turned to all the volunteers. “You guys have been amazing. Thank you so much for all your help!” They cheered again. “Now that the rubble is clear, the next part is all logistics so we won’t be doing anything this weekend. We will be starting up again on Monday, though. If anyone has any experience in construction and is still willing to help, I would greatly appreciate it. I don’t know the last thing about building.”

Everyone laughed then began to disperse. I stretched and, once everyone was gone, I took a picture of everything. I had been taking pictures throughout the week. I intended on framing them and posting them in the restaurant. I wanted to make sure everyone knew how much the community did for me.

I walked home. It was cooling off again, something Oklahoma always did around this time of the year. Storm clouds were rolling in but I could tell they were benign. Before I got to my apartment, my phone rang.

“Hey there,” I said, smiling at Ryder’s name.

“Hey. Get dressed. I’m taking you out to dinner tonight.”

He hung up before I could object and I grinned. I rushed through a shower and changed into a pair of dark blue jeans, a David Bowie t-shirt, and my heeled boots. Ryder arrived just after I finished my makeup.

“I hope I’m not too casual,” I said, gesturing at my shirt.

“Nope. You’re perfect.”

He led me to his car and I admired the black and red Mustang.

“I got it yesterday,” he said. “It has some hail damage so I got it for a discounted price. For me, if it runs then I’m fine with a few dents.”

I held his hand as he drove. He seemed to be in better spirits as we pulled into Cattleman’s – an upscale steak restaurant. I stared with wide eyes.

“How in the world did you get reservations?” I asked. “This is the best of the best!”

“Zachary pulled some strings,” he said, helping me out of the car.

We walked into the restaurant and the hostess’s eyes lingered on my shirt. I tried not to roll my eyes. Everyone was either in t-shirts, too, or loose fitting work shirts. Some had untucked their shirts after a long day at work. We were seated at a table in the back and Ryder pulled out my chair. I looked at the menu, forgetting about how pricey the food was.

“Order anything you want,” he said when he saw the look on my face.

“Are you sure?”

“Positive,” he smiled.

I grinned back and ended up ordering a 6 ounce sirloin. While we waited, he told me about the rest of his day.

“I worked a lot of numbers,” he said. “We needed to make a spreadsheet of all the people who came in and another for those we had to transfer to other hospitals.” He looked around. “But it seems things are getting back to normal.”

I nodded. “We bounce back quickly from crises.”

“I can see that now.”

“The rubble is completely gone now,” I grinned and he beamed. “Now I just need to go over the blueprints again. We have an acre of land!”

“Sorry but I’m not sure if that’s a lot or a little.”

“For a plot of land in the city, it’s a lot. I think I’ll make the restaurant a little bigger this time around, though.”

Our food arrived and we ate in silence for a while.

“Can I ask a personal question?” Ryder asked and I nodded. “You never told me about your father. Why not?”

I shrugged and took a drink. “There’s really not much to tell. I didn’t know him very well when he died. I know my mom loved him a lot, though. She’s convinced it was murder but….”

“You think it’s something else?”

“I think he was either sick and didn’t tell us, or he was… tired of his life,” I finished, not wanting to be blunt.

He held my hand briefly. His eyes were sad and I smiled a little.

“Thanks again for this morning,” he said and I shook my head.

“Of course. Never be afraid of asking for help from me or Zach, okay?”

We left not long after. It was probably best; the restaurant was filling up fast. When we got to my apartment, I took him inside and poured some of the wine we didn’t finish from the first time I cooked him dinner. We sat on the couch again and turned a random movie on. I couldn’t focus on it, though. I kept looking back at Ryder.

“You’re missing the movie,” he said slyly and I blushed.

“Sorry.”

I looked back at it but he pulled my face to look at him. His eyes were burning with something I couldn’t interpret. He kissed me, taking my wine glass and put it on the coffee table. Before I knew what I was doing, I was straddling his waist. He ran his hand into my hair and I deepened the kiss, pushing his jacket off of him. My shirt was missing in seconds and I gasped as his lips grazed my collarbone. He kissed down to the top of my bra and I pulled his head back up and kissed him roughly.

I was on my back quickly and I ripped his tie off. I wasn’t sure how we got here, but I didn’t want to stop. All the emotions and tension that we had experienced this week were overwhelming. We both just wanted to forget. And that’s what bothered me.

He was trying to unhook my bra when I stopped him. He looked confused.

“Why are we doing this, Ryder?” I asked and he sighed, putting his head on my shoulder.

“You’re right,” he whispered.

I wrapped my arms around him.

“I want you,” I told him. “But I want you when it’s the right time.”

He kissed my neck. “The same goes for me. I guess I just got caught in the heat….”

I closed my eyes. I shimmed out from under him but turned so I was facing him. He wrapped his arms around me, too, and rested his chin on the top of my head. I snuggled close, enjoying his cologne.

“You should wear this cologne all the time,” I said and he chuckled.

“It’s actually deodorant.”

“Eh, whatever. Just wear it forever.”

He laughed and kissed the top of my head. “If you insist.”

“Yep.”

He pulled the blanket I kept on the back of my couch over us and we were both asleep within minutes, our movie completely forgotten.