Rydin' the Storm Out (2 page)

Joci looked up at Jeremiah. “I do believe I see some sparks flying.”

“Yep. We’ll see what happens from here. They sure seem to be paying a lot of attention to each other,” Jeremiah smirked.

They both chuckled and followed Ryder and Molly out the door.

Joci had not only fallen in love with Jeremiah at the Veteran’s Ride this summer, but also with an old orange 1937 Ford Pickup with an oak box and oak box rails. Jeremiah had asked the old guy who owned it if he could rent it for the wedding. He told Jeremiah he would be happy to rent it to him, but he would prefer it if Jeremiah just bought it and took it off his hands; he’d been thinking about selling it anyway. Jeremiah was excited when he found out the old truck was for sale. Joci was about to find out that Jeremiah not only bought the old truck, but he’d bought it for her. Molly couldn’t wait to capture Joci’s surprise in pictures.

“Okay, line up alongside the truck for a few group pictures,” Molly directed. Everyone else in attendance knew what was coming. Jeremiah lifted Joci into the box of the truck for a few photos. The boys all took “gangster” style pictures with the truck, making everyone laugh.

“I’d like some pictures with Joci sitting in the driver’s seat,” Jeremiah said. He kneeled down in front of her for a few photos, then he reached into his pocket and pulled out the truck keys, with a tag attached, and wrapped in a ribbon. He held them up to her with a smile stretched across his face. Joci looked at the keys, carefully taking them in her hand, and reading the tag—“
Something old. I love you Joci – Jeremiah
.”

Joci gasped and threw her hand up to her mouth. Molly snapped picture after picture as Joci’s face ran through a gamut of emotions from confusion to understanding, surprise, and happiness, and finally to love—overwhelming love.

Joci sprang from the truck and jumped into Jeremiah’s arms as he swung her around and whispered in her ear, “I love you Jocelyn Sheppard, with everything I have in me.”

“God. I love you Jeremiah, so much. Thank you. Is it mine? Is that what this means?”

“Yes, baby, it’s your wedding present.”

“Oh my God, Jeremiah, it…it’s perfect.”

All who stood by watching were clapping, cheering and wiping tears from their eyes as they watched. Except for Ryder, he was watching Molly.

Once all the pictures had been taken, the wedding party and guests headed to the reception hall. Molly began loading her gear into her car, taking deep breaths to get her emotions under control. She was captivated by Ryder, in a big way, but she had no business getting lost in a man, even this gorgeous man. No way!
Focus Molly, just focus
.

At the reception, Molly took pictures of the wedding party eating dinner, dancing, the bride and groom’s first dance, cutting the cake, throwing the bouquet and throwing the garter. Now she was done. She loved her job, but after taking thousands of pictures today, she was wiped out. The day had been both emotional and energizing. She packed up her gear and slipped out the back door to go home.

The drive home was a blur. All she could think about was Ryder. He was possibly the most handsome man she had ever met. Her heart beat faster just thinking about him now. She wanted to get home, pour a glass of wine, and look at her pictures.

She walked into her kitchen and set her camera bags on the counter. She pulled her disks out of her bag and fired up her tablet. She could download the pictures onto her tablet while she jumped into the shower, then she would sit and enjoy looking at Ryder.

As soon as Molly got out of the shower, she blew her hair dry and threw on a robe. She poured herself a glass of wine, grabbed her tablet, and sat on the sofa. She started browsing through the pictures. Joci was pretty easy to please, but these were going to make her ecstatic. All Joci wanted was to camouflage her injuries. She had been in a bad motorcycle accident about five weeks ago. They had just learned that Joci was pregnant, so it had been a very stressful time for their family. She didn’t lose the baby and was recovering, but her right arm, shoulder, and her collar bone were severely damaged. Her right hip wasn’t broken, but badly and deeply bruised. Her slight limp was noticeable when she was tired. She still couldn’t lift her right arm up, and was supposed to be wearing a soft cast, but refused to for the wedding. She had asked Molly to make sure she didn’t look injured in the pictures. She didn’t want to look back on this day and remember the accident; she wanted to remember the day she became Jeremiah’s wife.

Molly stopped on the first photo of Ryder. Her breath caught in her throat. Jesus, he wasn’t just beautiful, he was perfect. His shoulders appeared larger than they probably were in his tuxedo but still broad. He was tall, nicely built, and freaking handsome. Wow! He had a slight smirk on his face and those blazing green eyes were staring right at her. She looked at that picture for a long time, finally making herself swipe her finger across the screen, moving to the next picture. There he was again. And again, and again, and again. She had taken tons of pictures of him. No wonder JT and Gunnar had been smirking at her all day.

Molly fell asleep on the sofa holding her tablet, looking at Ryder. Would anyone ever capture her attention like he had?

***

Ryder kept his eyes on Molly all night. He wanted to ask her out. He wanted to ask her to stay. He just couldn’t. He thought she was interested. Every time he looked at her today, she was looking at him. Watching the pulsing in her neck unnerved him, imagining he was doing that to her. It was maddening, wanting to approach her and not being able to. At the church, he could talk about the pictures or the wedding. Now, though, wanting to ask her out, he just couldn’t. Women always approached Ryder, he never had to approach them. He didn’t know what to do now. It sure didn’t help that JT and Gunnar were making fun of him at every turn. Jerks.

Ryder looked over to see Molly slip out the back door with her gear. He waited, hoping she would come back in and have a drink, but she never came back. Fuck! The remainder of the night, Ryder visited with his family. He had always enjoyed spending time with his cousins, so he walked over to a table where a bunch of them were sitting and joined them. His mind was elsewhere though. It was on a beautiful, dark-haired woman with bright blue eyes.

Ryder woke up with a headache. After Molly left the wedding last night, he began drinking away his irritation. He was irritated with himself for not having the courage to ask her out. He hated being shy. He always had. There wasn’t a lot he could do about it though, it was just him. Neither of his brothers were shy. None of his uncles were shy. His biological mother sure as fuck wasn’t shy. Why the fuck did
he
have to be shy? He could pep talk himself all damn day long, but as soon as it came time to ask a girl out, he froze. He had mentioned this to Joci one day when she was home recovering from her accident. Jeremiah hadn’t wanted her home alone for those first few weeks, so they had taken turns staying home with her.

“When the right girl comes along, Ryder, you’ll be willing to move heaven and earth to get to know her. You’ll see. In the meantime, maybe write things down in a notebook.”

“What things?”

“Well…How you feel. A conversation you would like to have with someone. It might make you feel like you’ve already had that conversation and the person won’t feel like a stranger. I do that when I’m frustrated. I’ll write a letter and then tuck it away. I never send it, but I feel like I’ve gotten something off my chest.”

“I hate writing. Maybe. I’ll think about it.”

Well, if last night was any indication, his mom was wrong. He didn’t have the courage to ask Molly out. He’d never reacted to a woman like he had to Molly. He was twenty-six-years-old and he didn’t want to wait until he was forty-five to find his soul mate like his dad had. After listening to Jeremiah go on and on about Joci these past few months, Ryder wanted that now. He hated being alone. He hated going out with his brothers and watching them leave with women. The only time he left the bar with a woman was when she was bold enough to approach him. He had been approached enough in his time, but it was just sex and the next day, he moved on. He had nothing to talk about with these women and there was nothing about them he cared to know.

Molly he wanted to know. He wanted to know what she liked and what she did on a day-to-day basis. He wanted to watch her eat and laugh and sleep, and he wanted to watch her face while he fucked her. That’s what he wanted. When he saw her packing up last night, he just couldn’t make himself go and talk to her. So fucking frustrating.

***

Molly woke up with a stiff neck. She slept on the sofa all night, holding on to her tablet with a picture of Ryder staring at her. Was she a fool? He hadn’t asked her out, even though she thought he was interested. He was probably used to women throwing themselves at him. Well, she wasn’t going to throw herself at anyone. She was going to do her job and move on. She would spend today working on the pictures and culling out the bad ones. Then, she’d call Joci and let her know the pictures were ready for her and they could make arrangements for getting the pictures to her. After that, Molly would move on from Ryder Sheppard.

Molly got up and made herself a cup of coffee and began looking through the pictures with a photographer’s eye, not through the eyes of a silly girl with her first crush. She wasn’t going to make the same mistakes her mom had.

***

“Hey there, you look sad. What’s up?” Joci asked Ryder.

“Nothing. Everything. I don’t know mom. Fuck, I’m frustrated.” Ryder’s jaw clenched as he sat forward, elbows on his knees.

Joci sat on the sofa next to Ryder. They had finished opening gifts at Emily and Thomas’s house. Ryder snuck off to the living room. Joci was tired and had slipped away to the living room to rest for a little while and found Ryder sitting there by himself.

“Aww, now you have to tell me what’s up. You can’t leave me hanging.”

Ryder let out a long breath and sat back.

“Remember when you and I talked about me being shy and you said when the right woman came along I would move heaven and earth to get to know her?”

Joci smiled. “Of course, I remember.”

“You were wrong. Last night I couldn’t bring myself to ask Molly out. I watched her pack up and I wanted to go over and ask her out so bad, but I just couldn’t do it.”

Joci reached over and patted Ryder’s knee. “Yes, we saw the sparks flying. Timing is everything you know. Don’t put so much pressure on yourself. Maybe last night wasn’t the right time. Did you write it down?”

“No. I got drunk instead.” Ryder smirked at Joci.

“How’d that work for you?” Joci smirked right back.

Ryder scraped his hands through his hair. “Dammit, I hate being me sometimes.”

“Aww, honey. Don’t be so hard on yourself.”

They sat quietly for some time; he didn’t bother to respond. Joci leaned back and closed her eyes. Ryder did the same. His head still hurt a little and he didn’t feel very social right now. Sitting here quietly with his mom felt good.

“There you two are. What’s up?”

“Boy everyone’s sure being nosy today,” Ryder snapped out.

“Excuse me?” Jeremiah snapped back. “All I asked is what’s up? Everyone else is outside or eating in the kitchen.”

“Geez, never mind.” Ryder stood up and walked out of the room.

Joci looked at Jeremiah and smirked. “He’s mad at himself for not asking Molly out last night. And, I think he’s a little hung over.”

Jeremiah nodded. He sat down next to Joci on the sofa. “Well, who knew he would be so moody?”

Joci laughed. “If you’re correct and this little bump I have is a girl, you’ll get all kinds of moody in about thirteen years or so.”

“Oh my God, what have we done?” Jeremiah grinned. “If you’re by my side, I can handle anything.” Joci laid her head on Jeremiah’s shoulder and closed her eyes. “I love you, Jeremiah.”

“I love you, too, babe.”

Joci’s phone rang. Jeremiah helped her reach into her back pocket for her phone. Having put her soft cast back on, she was still a little clumsy trying to do that herself.

“Hello…Hi, Molly. How are you?” Joci looked at Jeremiah and smirked.

“Absolutely, when do you want to get together? Yes, we’ll be back next Saturday. Why don’t I call you a week from tomorrow and we’ll take a look? I’m excited to see them. Thank you for being there yesterday. Yes, we’ll have a great time. Talk to you next week. Bye, Molly.”

“Well, if Ryder can’t come up with the courage to ask Molly out while we’re gone, maybe we can work something out when we get back. If it’s meant to be, it’ll happen.”