Melody Man
11
KISS ME
SIXPENCE NONE THE RICHER
“How was practice, Sugar?” the Colonel called out to Ginny, meeting her with a welcoming hug as she walked from the warm kitchen into the family room. The house smelled of baked apples, sugar, and pot roast, but her daddy smelled like home.
“It was long and hot,” Ginny whined, feeling sticky with sweat. “I’m gross.” She’d come right from practice, after stopping at the grocery store for vanilla bean ice cream at her mama’s request, and would be counting down the minutes until she could go home for a shower and bed.
Her dad pulled away but sniffed her hair as he did and let out a long whistle. “Whew, girl. You’re right. You stink to high heaven.”
“Alright.” She pushed him away, laughing.
“You smell like a hot gym bag left overnight in a dirty creek.” The Colonel chuckled and pulled her shoulders under his arm, leading her to the front porch where her family waited. “You smell like Dakota during thedark years…”
“I do not!” She swatted at his belly but hugged him tight all the same. When he giggled, not unlike her big brother, it made her miss Dakota all the more. “You’re incorrigible, Colonel.”
He kissed the crown of her head. “And you’re beautiful, Sugar. Now, your mama did a thang. Prepare yourself.”
“What thing?” Ginny asked, stepping out onto the porch and surveying the landscape.
Her sisters and their husbands all sat around the covered porch, lounging with drinks in hand and deep in some lively conversation. Caroline stood in the middle, waving her hands around and nearly losing her drink in the dramatics of her storytelling. Griffin, of course, stared at her as if she’d hung the moon and laid a hand on her waist to keep her from toppling over in her excitement.
Ginny laughed to herself but then froze when Caroline moved slightly to the right, being pulled into her husband’s lap and snuggled into oblivion—ick—and another figure came into view beside her mama.
Ryan.
Ryan caught her eyes and then stood, shoving his hands into his loose fitted jean pockets. And…
Why did everyone look newly showered but her?!
Before she could settle on the fact that the man she’d wanted to make out with in the corner of an elementary school only days before and who she’d also called a stiff-necked fart face at practice earlier in the evening—RyanI was craving cookiesHood—stood newly showered, quite at home on her parent’s porch, and obscenely attractive with wet hair and his dang glasses framing his beautifully chiseled, unshaven face, Ginny’s attention was pulled to the two figures running at full speed ahead.
Davey and Theo barreled into her in greeting, hugging her legs and waist as if they hadn’t seen her in years. She scooped Davey up in her arms and bent to kiss Theo’s sweet cheek, something she knew her nephew would likely not allow for much longer.
“Ewww. Aunt Ginny!” Predictably, Theo swiped her kiss away with a sweaty hand. “Kissin’ is gross!”
“No way! Kissin’ is the sweetest." She turned her attention to Davey, whose blonde curls always seemed to be stuck to her face. “What do you think, Davey Baby? Is kissin’ icky?”
“NO!” she yelled, excited. “Mama and Daddy kiss lots and lots.”
Ginny blanched and spit out her tongue. “Yuck… maybe kissin’ is gross. Give me one and help me decide?”
Davey grabbed Ginny’s face with her chubby hands and kissed her square on the mouth, and then pulled away with a sweet, toothy grin. “Good?”
“The best,” Ginny said, booping her niece’s nose and setting her back down.
When she looked up, she found Ryan still standing, unaware of the hawk-like eyes of her sisters studying his non-movement. Ginny’s mama looked akin to an evil villain, stroking her fingers down her beloved, obese cat, Gus, while her eyes brimmed with delight.
The Colonel cleared his throat, garnering Ryan’s attention where he quickly regained composure, unstuffed his hands from his pockets, and righted himself back into the wicker seat he’d inhabited before Ginny’s arrival.
“There’s my baby girl,” her mama gracefully slid from her position, tenderly setting Gus in the chair as if he were treasure of great value—and not a feline dictator who’d made most of their lives miserable but would rank in the top three things Joan Remillard would save in a fire. “We’ve all been just hankerin’ for you to get home. Haven’t we?” She looked along the porch but rested her gaze on Ryan.
“Just hankerin’,” Lake echoed, saving Ryan with laughter in his voice. He was cleanly showered, too! What in the world was going on? “Thought you’d stick with the socks, huh, Gin?”
Ginny looked down at herself. She’d worn an oversized Good Start t-shirt, running shorts, and tall highlighter-pink soccer socks with the phraseWho runs the world?andGIRLS!printed across them. Her hair was barely hanging in the scrunchie she’d haphazardly thrown it up in before running into the grocery store. And, she could confirm, shedidsmell like Dakota’sdark yearsof teenagedom.
