Have sex in the shower
Have sex in a hot tub
Have sex in a public place
Have sex in a restroom
And I was worried about not being able to get her dancing on Montana out of my head … Now, that seems trivial.
Trying to force the memory of what I’ve just read out of my head, I gently fold the paper up and turn to Cherry. Her brows draw in, dark eyes shining wildly as she watches me turn. She worries her lip again, the dark red so stark against her white teeth. Hesitantly, she takes the paper from my hand as I pass it over. Her fingers only faintly brush mine yet still leave a tingling sensation in their wake.
‘Please don’t judge me,’ Cherry begs.
I rub the back of my neck. ‘What? I wouldn’t—’
‘Um, yes you would!’ she barks out in a laugh, slapping me on my upper arm. There’s the Cherry I know. ‘You and the guys always make fun of me. I put my hair in space buns one time in high school and you all called me Princess Leia for weeks!’
Her sweet giggle instantly goads my own laugh out.
I hold up my hands. ‘Okay, you got me there … I’m, um, guessing tonight’s behaviour has something to do with that?’ I nod towards the list she’s now stuffing into her back pocket.
‘Maybe,’ Cherry groans, leaning back against the counter beside me. I shuffle a few inches away. The neon lights give her skin a scarlet glow, the sensuous kind that I’d love to capture with my paints, as opposed to the pen and napkins I usually have to revert to. Speaking of, I wonder what happened to the one I left on the bar earlier…
Her chest deflates on a sigh. ‘I … I asked Montana to make me a bucket list of things to do before I graduate. To try and make me feel a bit more confident. And that I haven’t wasted the best years of my life.’
‘Bestyears of your life?’ I repeat, crossing my arms. ‘Cherry, you’re so young. You’ve got your whole life ahead of you.’ One that I’ll eventually no longer be a part of.
‘Yeah.’ Cherry smiles softly, though it barely reaches her cheeks. ‘But that’s what they say about college. Because after that, you have to be a serious adult and don’t have time for as much. I’ve got one year left before that’s my fate and I just … I feel like I haven’t done any big, cool things yet, you know?’
I think back to summer nights at rodeos and fairs when Cherry would always have to leave before the rest of our group, fear of a seizure from tiredness hanging over her. Or that time when I came back to the Hensleys’ house to stay with Wyatt after one of Sawyer’s bull-riding competitions, only to find Cherry on the couch in the dark with her prom dress beside her, the seizure she’d had only a couple of days before already decided to be too serious to risk junior prom for her. Everyone had thought almost a year with no seizures meant things were finally looking up for her; if anything, it only made her parents monitor her harder.
‘Eh, I thinkbig, cool thingsare a little overrated,’ I suggest.
‘What?’ Cherry’s hair tumbles over her shoulders as she shakes her head. ‘But that’s what everyone always says on their death bed – that they wish they’d done more big, exciting things with their life. That they’d lived it to its fullest.’
‘Oh yeah? Did you interview every person who’s ever died?’ I jest, receiving an expected eye roll in return.
But if anyone knows about needing to make the most of life because it could get cut short at any moment, it’s me. When you’ve spent enough days at the hospital watching your mom’s health deteriorate, that reminder sticks with you. And now I have another reason to lie awake in bed tonight, heavy memories suddenly clambering to the surface of my mind. Great.
I shrug, trying to push the thoughts away. ‘I don’t know, I kind of think life is about the slower, smaller moments. The little things that are easy to pass over but actuallyadd together to make life worthwhile. That’s what my grandfather said to me.’
That he wished he’d focused more on the little moments with my mom before she got cancer. Savoured them, as opposed to taking them for granted. Like I try to do whenever I’m with my friends. Including Cherry – especially since Wyatt told me she’s got her heart set on finding a job anywhere other than Willow Ridge. It’s also why I love working at the bar. Even if I’m not always drinking with the rest of our group, they’re still here, with me.
‘Okay …’ Cherry’s eyes ignite. Unexpectedly, she pulls herself up onto the bar, letting her long legs swing beneath her. ‘I have my topic for our closing argument – life should be about doing as many big, crazy things as possible. For or against?’
‘It’s almost two in the morning, Cherry,’ I groan, rubbing a hand across my face, even though I did miss doing our usual closing time game tonight. ‘Andyoustill need to drive home.’
I know she’s a night owl like me – one of the only reasons the Hensleys don’t mind her doing the odd late shift considering her epilepsy – but even I’d like to be in bed soon.
Cherry just presses me with her twinkling stare. If I ever got the privilege of painting her, she’d be a canvas of deep reds and midnight blacks, topped with bright white for all the little moments of light she brings to the world.
‘For or against, Duke Bennett?’
Still, there’s no point in me trying to fight her, I’ll always give her what she wants. ‘Fine,’ I sigh. ‘Against.’
‘Perfect.’ She grins, biting down on those cherry-red lips again. ‘I go first, then. I think you need to do big, meaningful things that push you outside of your comfort zone so that you can feel confident.’
‘You’ve been spending too much time with Rory,’ I tease, alluding to Wyatt’s wellness influencer girlfriend who he runs a ranch retreat with.
