Heartbreak Town (COMPLETED)

Chapter Five

When Renne's alarm woke her early the next morning, she looked around her surroundings and momentarily forgot where she was. It took her a second before she remembered she was still in Montana, but she was heading down to Wyoming to help her dying sister. Sitting up against the headboard of the bed, Renne said her morning prayers, then reached for her phone. She smiled when she saw she had a new text message from Matt. Instead of texting back, Renne dialed his number to call him. He didn't pick up, so Renne left a message.
Sighing, Renne slipped out of bed and made her way to the bathroom to get ready for her long drive down to Wyoming. Once she had everything packed up, Renne headed down to the front desk to check out. Since it was only 5:30 in the morning, it was too early for Renne to eat breakfast at the hotel, so she decided she would just grab food on the road. Plus, she still had leftovers from last night.
     Walking outside, Renne was greeted by the warm June breeze as she unwillingly walked to her truck to finish out the long drive down to Alpine Ridge. The sun still hadn't risen over the horizon yet, so Renne switched on her headlights as she backed out of her parking spot at the hotel. Just as Renne had merged onto the freeway, her phone rang. Looking down at it, Renne saw it was Matt. "Hey babe just left the hotel." Renne answered her phone, putting it on speaker so she could have both hands on the wheel.
     "Sorry I missed your call this morning. I was...makin'...breakfast." Matt said the last sentence strangely.
     Renne groaned. "Matt, what really happened?" Renne asked. She knew her boyfriend was lying to protect her from worrying since she wasn't able to be at the ranch.
     Matt sighed audibly. "I rode out to check the fences in the back north pasture and found that one of the mares in heat got into the pasture with Tex and Ryan."
     "The two stallions?" Renne asked, but she knew which horses on her ranch were geldings and which were stallions. "Which mare was it?"
     "Revival." Matt replied, a slight chuckle in his voice.
     Renne groaned. Revival was known at Healing Hearts Ranch as the escape artist. She was constantly finding ways to get out of her pen. She even figured out how to open her stall door...with the stall window closed. This wasn't the first time that Revival had gotten into the stallion pasture when she was in heat. "How long was she in there?"
     "Hard to say. They were all fine when I checked on them around eleven last night, so somewhere between then and five this morning." Matt mumbled something to someone on his end of the line. Renne knew he was busy, so she tried keeping their conversation short when in reality all she wanted to do right now was talk to him.
     "Okay. Well thank you for handling that. Sorry there are already problems at the ranch." Renne replied. After flipping on her turn signal, Renne looked over her shoulder and switched lanes.
     "It's no problem. You know I love doin' this kind of stuff and helpin' you out."
     Renne heard the smile in Matt's voice. She smiled back. "Thanks. I appreciate it."
     "I know." There was a pause. Renne heard him whisper something to someone again. "Hey, babe, listen. I got to go. Call me when you get there."
     "Will do." Renne replied and hung up. She sighed as she put both hands back on the steering wheel. It seemed like the only thing that kept her from turning around and going back to her ranch...the only place she wanted to be right now.

Renne turned down the last road, that would lead to her childhood home, at 9:57 that morning. Sighing, Renne wondered if it still wasn't too late to turn back now. No, she wasn't a quitter. She had to do this. Slowly, Renne turned off of the dirt road and to the driveway of her grandparents ranch. As she slowly drove down the driveway, she saw that very little had changed since the day she left. The rusty, beat up mailbox was still there, only with more rust; the flowers around the mailbox of the entrance looked as pathetic as they did when she left...Mamaw obviously still hasn't gotten the hint that that kind of flower does not grow well here in Wyoming.
As Renne continued driving down the driveway, the house began coming into focus. The white paint was still peeling off, the wooden front steps still needed some new boards...Renne began to wonder if her bedroom had been straightened or if it was still in the same ransacked mess she had left it in when she frantically left here five years ago. Still creeping along the driveway, Renne pulled up into the open parking space and turned off the ignition. Deciding to leave everything in her truck, in case of the need for a quick getaway, Renne slipped out of her truck, straightened her shirt, then made her way up the rickety wooden porch steps. Taking a deep breath, Renne formed her hand in a fist and knocked on the large front door. Just a few years ago, she was walking into this door without knocking because it was her home, now it was just a place she wished to forget.
     When no one answered at first, Renne thought that could be a sign that she should just leave. Just as she was about to turn and walk off the steps, the door opened slowly. When Renne saw who opened the door, she was completely taken aback. It took everything in her to not run off these steps, peel out of the driveway, and speed down the road, never once looking back...just like she did five years ago.
     Instead of running away, Renne took a step back and felt her mouth open and close like a fish out of water. She struggled to find words to say.
     "Reagan?" The man asked, breaking the ice. His eyebrows pushed together in confusion as he rested a hand on the door frame.
     Renne tucked a piece of hair behind her ear and looked down at her boots. "Hi, Swayde." She replied. How did he get even more attractive in the five years she'd been gone?
     The look in Swayde's eyes was almost unreadable. Renne knew that she had changed in five years, but she knew that Swayde recognized her. She knew he would probably never forget her, just like she'd never forgotten him...despite her desperate attempts.
    Swayde opened the door further as if to let Renne in. She took a step forward to walk in to the house just as Swayde took a step onto the porch. They practically ran into each other. Swayde ran a hand through his trimmed brown hair and chuckled awkwardly as he stepped back.
     Straightening, Swayde pointed to the same rickety porch swing that Renne had spent countless hours on. Her and Swayde had cuddled on it many times when they were dating. Even the creaky, old, wooden porch floorboards brought back memories of her and Swayde. Every time he would drop her off late at night from a date and they couldn't say goodbye to each other...they had shared several kisses on the porch. After a while, Renne had memorized where to step so the floorboards wouldn't creak when she snuck in late after her and Swayde had stayed out past her curfew. "You want to sit?" Swayde's voice asked, almost hoarse.
    Renne looked at the porch swing then back to Swayde. She struggled to find words again. "Uh, I can't...I mean, I should...probably...uh...go talk to Mamaw." Renne finally said. She looked behind Swayde and into the house, hoping he would fall for her excuse.
     "They're at the hospital with Mallory." Swayde replied.
     Renne and Swayde just awkwardly stood there in silence in the porch as they struggled to find something to say. Swayde walked over to the swing and sat down on it, despite Renne's objection. He rubbed his hands together anxiously as he asked, "So how you been?"
     Looking between her truck and Swayde, Renne stood standing as she folded her arms and replied, "Good. You?"
     "Good." Swayde replied simply. "So where do you call home now?" Swayde asked Renne, just trying to be polite and make small talk. They made eye contact for the second time since he answered the door.
     "Montana." Renne replied simply. She wasn't about to share her new life story with this man who was now practically a stranger to her.
    Swayde nodded. "Can I be honest about somethin'?" He looked up at Renne with one eyebrow raised. That look used to make Renne smile, because she thought he looked really cute when he did it, but now it just brought back old memories she wished to smolder.
     "Sure..."
     "I wasn't sure if you'd actually come out here when your grandma called. In fact, I told her to not invite you out here. When we decided you should know about Mallory, I told your grandma to just call and inform you, not to tell you to come out here. That's why I was so surprised to see you when I opened the door."
     "You seriously didn't think I'd come back?" Renne felt herself begin to get upset. She took a step closer to Swayde. "You told my grandma to not even call me?!"
    Swayde sprung up. "No. That's not what I said. I was the one who suggested she call you initially. I told her months ago when we first found out about Mallory's cancer that she needs to let you know, but she refused. She said she didn't want you to think there were strings attached or anythin' if she asked you to come down here. All I said was that after how we left thangs years ago, I would never have expected you to come back here." Renne noticed that Swayde's voice was also raised.
    "I don't even know why I came down here if all anybody is goin' to do is guilt trip me and try to fight with me!" Renne shouted. This was great. Just great! This is exactly what she wanted to try avoiding. She hadn't even been in Alpine Ridge an hour, and she had already managed to reopen old wounds. She wondered to herself why she expected everyone to just be cordial and cool around her.
     Swayde took a deep breath. "You're right. I'm sorry. I guess there's still a lot of hot air between us, huh?" Swayde tried forcing a smile to lighten the mood but it didn't work. Renne cast a glare at him. Sighing, Swayde ran a hand over his brown hair and said, "Let's start this over...let's just pretend this conversation never happened..." When Renne didn't reply, Swayde turned and walked back to the door. He shut it behind him, knocked on the inside as if to mimic Renne's knocking just a few minutes ago, then opened the door. With a ridiculous smile, Swayde greeted Renne. "Hey, Reagan, we were hopin' you'd come. It's good to see you."
     Renne tried to hide her smile but she couldn't help it. Swayde was being overly exuberant to the point of being almost obnoxious. A real smile broke out on Swayde's face now too. His smile was followed by a deep chuckle. When she heard his chuckle, Renne's smile faded. It brought back way to many memories she didn't want resurfacing.
     Keeping her head down, Renne said to Swayde, "I should probably get my stuff."
    "Yeah. Yeah. That's fine." Swayde replied nervously. "I'll help you." Swayde said after a bit and followed Renne to her truck.
When they got to her truck, Renne trekked to the passenger side to grab her suitcase. On the driver side, she heard a deep chuckle. Looking up, Renne saw Swayde's cockeyed grin as he asked Renne, "You still drivin' this ol' hunk of metal?" He ran a hand over the bed of the truck that was now more rust than anything else.
Straightening, Renne nodded her head. The look in Swayde's eyes told her he was reminiscing on all the good times had in this truck from what felt like ages ago.
"I thought you would've gotten a new one by now." Swayde remarked, meeting Renne's eyes.
Truth is, this old truck was the only thing that Renne had kept of Alpine Ridge...that is, besides her memories.