Jennie
Lisa catches up with me, with her own chest quietly rising and falling. "It's okay. For a ranch." She glances down and adds, "You realise that we're standing on train tracks."
I turn my eyes down with her. She's not lying, underneath our feet stand the bare, skeletal bones of abandoned train tracks. Whatever train used to run here, this route has long been forgotten and is now overgrown with tall weeds.
I grin and take a step back. "Stand over there." I say, pointing to the other side of the train track.
She does and looks at me expectantly.
"It's perfect." I beam. "She's the city girl. He's the country boy. They'll get married on opposite side of the tracks."
When Lisa gets it, her lips press together in grim amusement. "Well played, Jennie."
I step over the tracks and nudge her with my shoulder. "So you admit it. It would be a beautiful place for a wedding."
"It would. If you can cut down the weeds, tame the overgrowth, and put up a podium."
"We've got a week. God built the world in seven days. Anything's possible."
"You're hopelessly optimistic. One day, someone is going to pop that bubble that you live in."
"Someone like you, Ms. Prickly Pear?" I turn around, perch my elbows on the fence, and look out along the property. "This wedding will make a romantic out of you yet. I see piles of fall leaves. Torch lights when the party runs late. The bride and groom dancing barefoot as fireflies flicker around them."
"Just try to keep the expenses to a minimum." Lisa sighs. "My purse strings are already weeping."
I narrow my eyes at her. "Okay, now I'm confused. Your purse strings?"
"Yes. Mine." She turns around now so she's side by side with me. "I'm financing the wedding."
My mouth nearly hits the ground. "You? But you hate weddings. And happiness. And Bambam."
"Yes." she agrees. "But I love my sister. I promised her a long time ago that I'd give her whatever she wants, no matter what." The fading sun casts a light, orange glow around Lisa's profile. In this light, she looks almost human. There are soft flaws in her face, worry lines in her forehead, a too-tight jawline, and a darkness that lingers in her irises. She's like an old, salty ship that has weathered the beatings of tremendous storms and survived on sheer stubbornness alone. But there's a warmth to her too. Underneath all that dogged determination, she loves her sister. She would do anything for her sister, even if it means setting aside her own ego.
But it's a double-edged sword. She would do anything to protect her. Even if it means that she has to be the jackass who broke off the wedding in order to save her sister from what is, in her mind, a sure-fire disaster.
I get it. I do. The road to hell is paved with pretty, glittering intentions.
"You're a good sibling." I tell her.
"I never break promises."
"Don't you?" I grin. "Because I remember you once telling me that you were going to nail me nine ways to Sunday, and then..."
"You ran."
"Well, if you were truly like a fairy tale character, nothing would have stopped you. You should've chased me down on a white horse."
A grin twitches at the corner of her mouth. There it is. Her smile warms her whole face, and I ache to bring it out of her more. "My steed was in the shop."
I sigh dramatically. "Excuses, Ms. Manoban."
Her fingers catch my chin before I can pull away, and she draws me toward her. We're close, suddenly, barely inches apart, and my lips part as my breath hitches. Those eyes. They're deep, intense, and they sparkle like the sunset on a still lake. "Late is better than never." she murmurs.
I'm stuck. I can't move. All my limbs freeze in place as Lisa lands a kiss on my mouth. Her lips are plush and warm, but her kiss is like her words, bold, powerful, and to the point. She parts my lips with her tongue, and I feel myself grow incredibly weak.
