trashmouth [r. tozier]

T W E N T Y O N E

Chapter song: Already Gone by Sleeping At Last

July 23rd 1997

IT HAD been eight years. She missed him. There wasn't a day that went by when Ryan didn't think about him.
The broken boy, that was meant for the broken girl. All they wanted was each other, actually that's all they needed.

"Mama!" Ryan's thoughts flooded away, as she twisted to look at the young 7 year old in front of her.

"Hi sweetie!" Ryan said in a calming voice, tucking a piece of her curly dark hair behind her newly pierced ears.

"Lookie!" She exclaimed and did a little twirl.

She has on black overalls, a plain pink tee shirt and over the top was a cream colored Hawaiian printed shirt , leaving it unbuttoned. To top it off, torn up grey converse on her small feet.

"You look so cute pumpkin!" Ryan mumbled and brought her into a hug.

Tatum Ray Jones. Ryan's little girl. On her 19th birthday, Ryan adopted her. Sh knew she would never find anyone who loved her the way he did. So Ryan stopped looking.
She started a family all on her own. Tatum had been with Ryan since she was 4, and she loved her like her very own. Now Ryan was 22, and Tatum was 7. Time flys when you have someone to love.

"Today is special Tay, do you know why?" Ryan asked her while walking outside to their garden.
Ryan watched as she shook her head side to side, and her small feet followed close behind her.

"Well, do you remember me tellin you about Richie?" Ryan questioned the small brown eyed girl.
Biting her lip, Tatum looked down as she kicked up some dirt from their lawn. Ryan could tell she was thinking hard, and she looked up at Ryan.

"No...." her voice trailed off. Flashing her a smile, Ryan grabbed the scissors from her side and snipped away at some orchard stems.

"I'll tell ya when we get over there okay?" Ryan hummed, grabbing the seven detached purple flowers from the green grass.
Ryan was sure she had talked about Richie to Tatum. But she's till young, and didn't understand yet.

"To mommys happy place?" She asked eagerly.

"That's right, now go hop in the car and mama will put these in a pretty vase okay?" Ryan instructed and saw her start to run away. But before she reached the car, Tatum spun around.

"Put 'em in the red one, who ever this Richie guy is- I think he'll like it," She beamed out and ran the rest of the way to Ryan's dirty black jeep.

A small grin snuck its way upon Ryan's lips. Walking up their back porch, Ryan opened the back door. She felt the cool air of the air conditioner hit her face.

Wondering into the kitchen, Ryan placed the black handled cooking scissors back in the knife block. Twisting on her heels, she walked to a tall cabinet. Ryan had to balance all of her weight her my tip toes so she could reach up to grab the vase Tatum was talking about.
It was a beautiful candy apple red color, and some random tribal print painted on it with white.

Slowly slipping the vase under the sink, it started to raise with water. Ryan turned the tap off around the middle of the vase being filled. Then one by one, she stick the orchids in.

Making her way to the car, Ryan saw Tatum patiently sitting in the passenger seat, dancing to some music. Walking over to her window using my free hand, Ryan gently knocked on the warm glass.

"Yes?" She grinned and rolled down the window.

"Back seat," Ryan muttered, and saw Tatum pout slightly.