To Not Let Go

Chapter Seventeen

        "That had to be the best sandwich I have had in a long time, possibly ever." Swyade chuckled, resting a hand on his stomach, plopping his cowboy hat back on his head with the other. 

         Renne chuckled. "I am glad that you liked it. I figured you would." Standing from her chair, Renne took Swayde's hand as they walked out of the diner. 

       "You are right, darlin'." 

       Renne stopped walking for a second to glance sideways at her boyfriend. "Well that is a first. Admitting that I am right. Is your pride okay?" 

       "Wow..." Swayde chuckled with a groan, leaning his head back as he rolled his eyes. Still chuckling, he fetched his truck keys out of his pocket, but Renne squeezing his hand slightly made him turn to look at her. 

        "I was actually thinkin' we could walk around downtown for a while before going back to the ranch, if that is okay?" 

       "Sure!" Swayde stuffed his keys back in his pocket, motioning to the sidewalk in front of them. "Lead the way, darlin'."

       Renne led Swayde down the strip of road that was downtown. In some spots, you could still see the worn red brick that once carried horse drawn carriages sometime in the 1800s. It was an old town that had been built up and built up; the small town atmosphere was almost completely gone, but if you looked hard enough little bits of the old time nostalgia could be found.

       Most of the original buildings had been demolished, or so renovated that the only thing giving away their age was the "established 1903" sign on the door that could barely be made out under the several layers of paint. There were two traffic lights now, and cars drove in and out of town constantly, resulting in traffic, no matter what time of day. It all honestly made Renne miss Alpine Ridge even more.

        "Oh! I know where we should go first." Renne spun around to face Swayde, walking backwards as she said, with a grin on her face, "You need to be introduced to the wonderful world of Popcornapalooza." 

        "Okay you lost me. All I heard was 'popcorn'." Swayde chuckled as he smiled down at his adorable girlfriend who was way too excited about this tour of the town that she had called home for over five years. 

        Renne teasingly rolled her eyes and stopped walking. "Repeat after me...popcorn-a-pa-loo-za." 

        "Popcornapalooza." Swayde repeated back carefully. "Now that I have pronounced it correctly, will you please tell me what it is?" 

         "Only the best popcorn shop in the west. Oh, I'll just have to show you." Renne resumed walking beside her boyfriend, leading him down the sidewalk until they got to the blue painted wooden building. "You ready for this?" 

         Swayde chuckled as they stopped beside the door. "I feel like you are hypin' this up a lot. I should probably get as excited as you are." Glancing into the brightly lit shop, then back to Renne, he grinned. "Alright, let's do this thing." Reaching out, Swayde grabbed the door handle, opening it for Renne. 

        Stepping inside of the bin lined shelf, the smell of fresh, flavored popcorn filled Swayde's nose. Yeah, he was definitely too much of a cowboy for a town like this. He didn't even know that stores like this even existed. If he wanted popcorn, he walked into the local store and grabbed whatever microwavable package that was on sale. However, he knew how much this tour meant to Renne and he wanted to see more of the town that she had lived in for so long. 

          After taste testing nearly all fifty different flavors of popcorn, Swayde and Renne walked out with several bags of popcorn. They had decided to get one for Mamaw and Papaw, and one for each of Renne's nieces and nephew, as well as a few bags for themselves. Currently, Renne was munching on some popcorn from the bag that they had combined some of every flavor.