Exclusively Yours Kowalski Family 1

Chapter One - The One I Left Behind

SLOANE

The first thing I see when I pull up at The Whitmere Hotel is his truck. White. Lifted. Massive Tires. Every accessory he could buy in the state of Oklahoma. And who could miss that custom front bumper with the Whitmere family brand right on the front?  Parked front and center crooked like it owns the place.

Just like him.

My pulse stutters, the breath rushing from my chest. How will this ever work? I learned a long time ago that wanting something doesn’t make it safe to choose. I can’t do this- even after ten years of telling myself I’m over Rhett Whitmere.

I’m over him, I remind myself.

I’m over him in the way his name still feels like a bruise- one I press just to see if it hurts.  It does.

Of course it does.

Sitting in my rental I’m just reflecting back on my drive into Whitmere county, as I marvel at this place. In the morning sun I passed the plains of Oklahoma after leaving the City- there were sprawling ranches and farms before pulling into my hometown. The place I vowed to never return. The town square hadn’t really changed, I noticed as I pulled through. It featured everything that showed the Whitemeres’ owned this county. Each side of the street was aligned with perfectly manicured brick storefronts-  and sidewalks, flower beds that look strategically planned, beautifully decorated store windows displaying their offerings, flyers of local events plastered at each store, and people strewn about doing shopping before heading to their sprawling ranches, headed into the diner, or to dinner at the steakhouse, or a even for a drink at the downtown bar. What hadn’t changed was the gossip and glances directed toward me. Even through these rental car windows- their stares, and I know the comments were lingering in the air heavier than the humidity.

Thank God I made it through the town square when everyone was out and about- I thought to myself. I’d hate for the gossip to travel slowly.  As I look out my window at the massive hotel grounds, it's beautiful. It’s a sprawling hotel. And that’s what breaks me- because it’s everything we once dreamed in quiet margins.