A Moment in Time (Adult Rucas AU)

Chapter One

Everything was going according to plan, that is if the plan was to run away from home because life had become too complicated to actually stay there and work. For Riley this was her life all of a sudden, she needed to leave New York after her life took a turn for the boring. She couldn't understand it, her family was great her life had been great, but she didn't feel like she was ever going to be happy with everything. So she talked to her mother about what she was feeling and her mother suggested to go to her great-grandmother's house in Texas, and since her Uncle Josh lived down there with his wife Riley would have family nearby to talk to while she figured out what she wanted from her life.

The complicated part of her life, was the easiest to handle, her now ex-boyfriend, who had saw fit to cheat on her and then tried to use it against her. She remembered him saying that it was her fault, that she didn't do enough in their relationship. Except they lived in her apartment, on her paycheck, as he did nothing day after day but blamed her constantly for everything. She couldn't take it anymore and walked out, but he didn't move out and she didn't want to deal with any of it anymore. She put her place up for sale and asked her mother to pack everything up, as well as making sure that he was out of the place before Riley came back from Texas.

Now she was sitting in a convertible that she rented driving into a small Texas town that looked like something out of a card catalogue. She wondered if she could get any work done while she was there, if she could find her muse again after all of the bullshit she had endured over the last month. The center of town was about the size of grapefruit compared to living in New York, but somehow the smallness of it all made her feel peaceful. There was no way her ex would find her there unless someone read her work and knew who she was.

Following the directions her mother had given her she drove pass the center of town towards where there was long strips of land and no one around. She almost missed the turn onto her grandmother's house, an old farm that had seen better days. The grass was overgrown, the house sorely needed a paint job, and the barn looked like it was missing a wall on the side. She pulled up to the front of the house and saw someone she hadn't seen in years smiling back at her.

"Riley," her Uncle Josh said as he walked down the steps towards her. His dark hair was cut shorter than she remembered growing up, and he was dressed in a police uniform. He was the young sheriff in town, she remembered because he was so happy when he got the promotion at such a young age.

"Josh," she said rushing out of the car to meet him, hugging him close even though the summer heat was making itself known. "How's your life going? Any baby news?"

"No and don't bring it up with Maya, she's still convinced that the baby is going to pop out like the alien movies, even though she's only five months along."

Riley remembered that the two of them wanted to be surprised when it came to the baby's sex, and they refused to talk about it, but since it was their first child they were also afraid that everything that could go wrong would.

"No worries," she said smiling. "Is everything set up?"

"Mostly, I got the water, and electricity running, and most of the rooms were aired out, since we rent out the place during the winter months, but the a/c is busted," he said trying to smile and failing miserably.

"I'll pick one up, I can afford it anyway," she said hoping that she could do it before she died from the summer heat. "Do you work today?"

"Yeah, but Maya wanted you over for dinner later."

"Don't worry I'll be there, let me get settled in and I'll come over around five, just send me some directions so I don't get lost."

"That's physically impossible, this town is the size of a walnut compared to New York."