Supernova Souls - Ryan Upchurch

-55-

—
"I love it."

Delilah ran the tips of her fingers across the chrome grille towards the headlight, mesmerized by the beautiful machine staring back at her through unclouded eyes. Or, headlights, technically.

The lights died out and the engine shut off, leaving the truck to quiet it's mechanical hum down and rest. Her eyes shot up towards the light windshield, where three men sat.

They were all squeezed together inside of the single cab Chevy like it was one of those tiny clown cars that holds fourteen people. It didn't take her more than a few seconds to realize that they were none other than Vinnie, Zach and Sam all crowded together shoulder to shoulder.

They drew a true laugh out of her when they all got out, tripping over each other while their voices mixed together, due to them all talking at the same time. Zach cussed and Sam mumbled a prayer, probably asking God to shut his son up. Vinnie on the other hand was greeting Delilah and Ryan with a big smile on his face.

He was the only one not getting trampled by a teenage boy on his way out of the truck, though. Makes sense he was the only one being all sunshine and rainbows.

Then again, he was always happy.

He was a sunshine and rainbows kind of man.

Zach was the first to reach Delilah, Vinnie the first to meet Ryan. Sam stayed back against the truck, pretending to be fascinated by the new look though he really just didn't want to talk.

"Hey-"

Zach waved a dismissive hand, looking over his sister with a distasteful look. "Yeah, hey, hi, how ya doin'? Good? I don't care, let me see her. Where is she?" He didn't give Delilah a chance to answer a single question he threw at her.

Delilah crossed her arms and shifted her weight to one leg. The ground felt unstable beneath her, and wet from the storm that only rarely ceased. "Inside. With Deardorff, Stone and Austen."

"That's gonna change as of now. She's my niece, not theirs." Yeah, right. It was an effort not to roll her eyes at his dumbassery.

"Technically she is Austen's niece." Ryan butted in.

Zach glared at him. "Not no more." With that, he strode off towards the house. She watched him trip over Waylon, who appeared out of nowhere and ran straight into his knees, then turned back towards Vinnie and Ryan.

She couldn't not laugh at him.

Waylon barked his hellos and ran up to Ranger. Ranger bit Waylon on the ear and they began chasing each other around the yard at a pace Delilah couldn't even imagine running at. Zach, hearing Delilah laugh at him, turned around and yelled, "the hell are you laughing for?!"

He walked backwards. She eyeballed a tall tuft of weeds behind him. "You're gonna fall."

"No I'm n-"

He fell.

Mary Jane looked up at her in true mother fashion, a disapproving look in her eyes. Delilah scratched gently behind her ears in silent agreement and shook her head at the other dogs. They've switched to running in circles around a towering pine tree with down hanging branches.

Every tree was starting to lose its leaves, most already baren. The grass was dead and crunchy, more pale yellow than the usual vibrant green. She admired the scenery and hung out with MJ, who came to be her favorite dog since she permanently moved into Ghost Ranch.

Oh, and Silver's youngest pup.

Sam was willing to let Delilah take her home, since there was already an overflow of fluffy babies in his house. He loved dogs, and most of them would end up going hunting with him and being babied for life, but there had to be a limit.

Austen got one of the puppies, too, and Ryan got one of the bigger males for a hunting dog since Waylon and Ranger refused to go. Cadi, of course drove down to Tennessee specifically for one two-colored puppy Delilah sent her a picture of. Ethan wasn't as happy when she brought it home since he knew he'd have to clean up after it, but after a few days he warmed up to her and Cadi sent her a picture of the two on the couch, cuddled up.

Delilah barely listened while Vinnie and Ryan talked trucks, her boyfriend listing off the modifications done to it, Vinnie butting in to ask occasional questions that to her really didn't matter. What mattered was that she had a running version of Ole Glory back and all to herself.

                                         —
Later that evening after everyone left Ghost Ranch, when the inside of the house was still and serene, the outside light and quiet, Ryan came up beside Delilah while she was in the midst of baking more treats—her new favorite fixation besides reading and drawing— and suggested that once all was done, they take Ole Glory out for a nighttime drive.

Delilah leaned into his side and breathed in the scent of self-rolled weed and pine, the one that was solely his, and thought about his question.

She rested the hand that wasn't covered in flour atop his. His fingers dug into her hip, dragging a thoughtful sigh from her. That man could turn from the most patient person ever to the most impatient within a moment given the situation.

But what about Elain?

She hadn't realized she'd said it aloud until he answered, "she's with your family for the night."

Right. She forgot about letting her go back home with Zach and Sam. And Vinnie, since he was temporarily staying there in her old room to be a little closer to them.

"Where would we go though? We ain't got nothing to do in Cheatham County."

"I've got a few ideas," he said, tracing lazy patterns over the sweatpants of his she stole.

She hummed. "And where would that be?"

"If I told you, it wouldn't be a surprise."

"Not even a little hint?"

"No."

"Fine, then." Delilah moved away from him, taking her mixing bowl and whisk with her. They made noise sliding across the counter that drew an annoyed huff from her.

Ryan bit back a laugh and asked if she wanted his help, and after a long moment, she reluctantly agreed. Things would go a lot faster with his help.

If she didn't end up killing him for the unnecessary jokes he made while they cooked.

Or, while she baked and he watched and said the most stupid things and asked dumb questions that, for a moment, made her wonder if he was high.

His eyes were normal and he was acting fine, just saying stupid things.

Ryan being Ryan, as usual.

                                        —
It only took an hour to finish baking those brownies together, and now they were sitting on the cooling rack with a warm steam rolling off of them. They smelled delicious, like luscious chocolate and marked the room with that scent.

Delilah smiled at the fresh baked goods on the counter top and slipped her floury hands in her pockets. Ryan looked down at her, grinning when she met his eyes.

She didn't have the time to ponder what that look meant before he was swiping a brownie. It burnt his fingers before it fell back down onto the rack.

Ryan blew on his fingers to ease the burn. She wheeze laughed at him and he shot her a withering glare that only made her laugh harder. He shook his head at her and dropped his hand once he deemed it fine, then said, "Babe, I get it, okay? If you keep laughing that damn hard you're gonna die."

It took her a few seconds of wheezing and awkward silent stares for her to recover.

Ryan inclined his head towards the bedroom. "Let's go."

Delilah nodded and headed off towards the bedroom to go pick out her outfit. As soon as she passed over the threshold and into the carpeted floor, she could've sworn she heard him cuss again.

If he's taking that brownie again, she thought, she hoped it burned his damn fingerprints off.