Heartbreak Town (COMPLETED)

Chapter Eighteen

     Renne woke the next morning smiling. Reaching a hand up to her face, Renne fingered her lips as she remembered last night. Allowing herself as much time as she needed to bask in the memory of last night, Renne slowly got dressed for the day. Remembering everything that she had to do today made Renne's smile slightly fade at the craziness that was to be expected today, but then she just reminded herself of the kisses that she and Swayde shared last night, and she instantly felt better.

     After getting dressed for the day, and pulling her hair back into a ponytail, Renne grabbed a ball cap as she walked out of the bedroom. Practically skipping down the stairs, Renne smiled as she made her way into the kitchen to grab a couple apples for the horses. Once she was finished with her barn chores, Renne was supposed to head over to Swayde's ranch where he would drive her to visit with Mallory, Doug and the kids. Renne was excited to spend time with Swayde, but also to visit with her sister.

     Chuckling to herself, Renne tried to think of the last time that she felt so dadgum giddy. The last time that she could remember feeling this way was when her and Swayde dated when they were teenagers. Renne vividly remembered the morning after her and Swayde kissed for the very first time; she had felt much like she did now. The thought only made her smile grow. 

     As Renne made her way outside to the barn she checked her phone to see if she had any messages from Swayde; there were none. Renne opened up the barn door after putting her phone back in her pocket. Immediately, she walked to Riot's stall. Opening the stall door, Renne held out a piece of the apple that she held in her hand. The mare quickly ate it, and the other five pieces Renne offered her. 

     With a promise to work with her more once she had time, Renne closed Riot's stall door, and walked to the tack room to prepare the feed for the horses. As she was scooping out some sweet feed for one of the horses, Renne's cell phone rang. There was only one person that it could be, calling at this hour. "Good morning, handsome." Renne greeted sweetly, not looking to see who the call was from.

     "Well, this call might be easier than I expected." The voice on the other end of the line replied, slight sarcasm remained in the statement. "Good morning, pretty girl." It was said in a mocking tone. 

     "Matt?" Renne glared, but knew he couldn't see. Her tone of voice did the glaring, however. 

     "Who did you think it was?" Matt asked, that frustrated tone in his voice that Renne thought was there permanently because she had heard it so often recently. 

     "Not you; that's for sure." Renne's comment dripped with sarcasm. The smile that had been plastered on her face was now turned into a scowl.  Stacking a few of the full feed buckets, resting them on her hip, Renne walked out of the tack room. "What do you want?" Renne set the feed buckets down on the floor in the aisle way of the barn.  

     Matt sighed on the other end. "I called to apologize for our fight the other day. I think that we are missin' each other a lot. Y'know how it is when we are apart. I think that is why we are fighting so much recently." 

     Renne sighed into her phone as she poured the grain into Riot's corner feeder in her stall. "I think it is more than that, Matt." Laurie's words from the other day echoed in Renne's ears. Was Matt cheating on her? She wasn't sure, but for his sake, Renne really hoped he isn't. 

     "I don't know what you mean by that comment, Renne." Matt's words were stiff. 

      Irritated, Renne set down the feed bucket she had in her hand to prevent her from throwing it across the barn. "Matt, I really don't have time to do this right now." Renne didn't even try to hide the frustration in her voice. Her knuckles turned white as she balled her fingers into a fist at her side.