Tailgates and Whiskey

Chapter 9

Sunday came faster than it should have. Despite the circumstances, the past few days had been exciting.

She wore a black button up shirt with her jeans.

Her brother was back in his suit, this time it was a black suit. Faelyn in a beautiful black dress, Layla in a black dress as well.

The rest of the town wore similar clothing as Hadley. Except most of the older women and younger girls were in black dresses.

She stood beside her mother and brother, watching the priest speak.

The frosty air was biting at her nose and cheeks. She could see her breath in the air.

The wind slightly messed up her hair. It was a grey day. The clouds were grey and heavy.

She glanced at Cade, who stood beside his father. They made eye contact, and the priest's words drowned out.

She was leaving with her brother on Tuesday.

Her mother stood at the microphone, letting out a sigh.

"John, was my first and only love. I never saw him coming, he just kind of walked into my heart like he always belonged there, took down my walls and lit my soul on fire."

"I first met him at a fair. God he was annoying. He claimed he fell head over boots at first sight. I never would've thought a city girl like me would have chosen a blue-collar daddy's ranch boy." She paused.

"I think some people are just inexplicably bonded. Drawn by forces beyond their own comprehension, they have no choice but to gravitate toward one another. Destined by fate to keep crossing paths until they finally get it right." She took a deep breath.

"And gosh, did it take us ages to get it right." She laughed, shaking her head and wiping away a tear.

"I remember his wedding vows as if they were yesterday, gosh they were beautiful."

"You were an unexpected surprise, the defining moment. The collision of stars that slammed into me hard and sent my neat little world plummeting into the ocean. I never expected it to be you, you know? But it is you. It's all you. And now there's no looking back."

Hadley walked up to her mother, who sat on the porch in her rocking chair. She held a letter in her hand, tears falling from her eyes.

"Mama, what's that you're reading?" She asked, sitting against the wooden pillar connecting the deck to the roof.

"A letter your daddy wrote me, a month after we met."

"Read it to me." She asked, wrapping her arms around her knees, trying to conserve warmth.

Her mother took a breath, reading the letter.

"My love, Anna

I keep thinking of how much I love talking to you. How beautiful you look when you smile. How much I love your laugh. I daydream about you on and off, replaying pieces of our conversations; laughing at funny things you said or did. I've memorised your face and the way that you look at mine. I catch myself smiling again at what I imagine. I wonder what will happen the next time we are together and even though neither of us know what the future holds, I know one thing for sure, you're the best thing that's happened to me."

Your love, John Miller."

Hadley smiled at her mother.

"Your father wrote me that when we first broke up. That was when I knew." She sighed.

"And yet I still ran from him, scared as ever. And then we married. Had your brother, then you. Argued more, and fell out of love."

"But clearly not completely, considering dad kept you around. He still sat on the porch with you, watching the sun set. Still kissed you. Still danced with you. No matter how much pain he was in." Hadley mumbled.

"You and Cade remind me so much of me and your father. You two will last forever, Hadley."

"Mama...I'm moving." She spoke. "I'm moving in with Jackson."