"Morning, Dad. Here's your coffee," I said, handing him the full mug.
"Thank you, V. You know you don't have to do this for me, right? I'm perfectly capable," he replied.
"I know, but still...," I trailed off.
"Sweetheart, the surgery was last month. The tumor's gone, so is the cancer. I'm okay. Really," he said, giving me a soft smile. I plopped down onto the couch next to him and rested my head on his shoulder. "Oh, and Vance is coming over today. Around noon."
"Really? Why didn't you tell me?" I asked.
"I wanted it to be a surprise. Between you and me, I know he's your favorite brother," he said with a wink.
"Dad, oh my god," I chuckled.
"What? You know I'm right," he replied.
"It's just because he's the closest to my age. Vaughn is seven years older, Vern is five years older, and Vance is only two," I said.
"I know the age of my children, V," he said with a laugh.
"I don't know why you call me that. Doesn't it get confusing with four kids that have names starting with V?" I asked, smiling.
"Hey, the alliteration was your mother's idea, not me," he said.
"What was my idea?" my mom asked, walking into the room.
"Giving your children such similar names," I said.
"They're not that similar!" she exclaimed.
"Sarah, sweetheart, they sort of are," my dad said.
"Oh, hush," she replied. She walked over and planted a kiss on my dad's forehead and then mine.
"What do we want for breakfast?" she asked.
"Donuts," said Dad.
"We don't have donuts just lying around, Kyle," said Mom.
"I can go get some!" I said.
"You sure? I was sort of kidding," said Dad.
"No, let her go. She needs to get out of the house, anyway," Mom said.
"It's hot, okay? Oklahoma summers are godawful," I whined.
"It's barely June. I think you'll live," said Mom.
"It was 110 degrees yesterday!" I complained.
"Go get some donuts. We got up late. Vance will be here in less than half an hour and the store will close soon," said Dad.
"Yeah, yeah. I'm going," I said. I got up off the couch after giving my mom a good morning hug and my dad a kiss on the cheek.
I made my way upstairs to my room and went over to my closet, not feeling the need to go out in my Chanel button-up pajamas.
I pulled on a pair of short ripped denim shorts and went over to my closet, rifling through my shirts. I froze when I saw my tan NEVER hoodie from Sam's merch line and let out a long sigh.
"I thought I put all of my merch away," I mumbled quietly before yanking it off the hanger and shoving it in my bottom dresser drawer, along with the rest of the merch I'd bought from the guys.
I settled on a baby pink playboy crop top and put on my white high top Converse and threw my hair into a ponytail with a white scrunchie. I snatched the keys to my Nissan and my white leather purse off of the hook by the door and made my way outside to my car.
I walked down the long gravel driveway and got into my white car that was stained a reddish brown from driving on all of the clay dirt roads around my house. Our farm, where we had boar goats and rescue Great Pyrenees, was in the middle of nowhere. It was a five minute drive to the closest neighbor and a twenty minute drive into town.
I turned on my car and flipped on the radio, then immediately changed the station when I heard Aryia's music playing. I snapped off the radio after I switched to the second station to hear Kat's music. I let out a long sigh.
"It is impossible to get away from these people," I muttered to myself. I plugged my phone into the aux cord and turned on some Luke Bryan. Being in Oklahoma really brought out the redneck in me.
I started the drive into town, no longer noticing how bumpy the winding dirt roads were. I finally made it after a little over 20 minutes and pulled up to Donut Palace. There wasn't much in the town, a few restaurants, a couple clothing stores, and a Walmart that the town basically functioned around. It was a small town, one of those places where everyone knew everyone and were always up in each other's business. I have to say though, it was nice to constantly see familiar faces rather than only strangers like in LA. It did get sort of exhausting at times, knowing that people were always gossiping. Especially about me.
I stuck out like a sore thumb in this town, my southern accent having faded from living in LA for three years. I was one of the only people who didn't wear clothes from JCPenney or Walmart and sported a full face of makeup. The closest Ulta was 45 minutes away. I walked into the donut shop, which was empty as per usual.
"Hey, V!" said the guy behind the counter.
"Hi, Hunter. How you doin' today?" I asked. My accent had faded, but was slowly returning.
"I'm doin' just fine. Kyle send you in today?" he asked.
"Of course. Who else would?" I asked with a chuckle.
"Fair point. Just the regular dozen?" asked Hunter.
"Yes, sir. Oh, and Vance is coming into town today. Throw in an apple fritter for him, would ya?" I asked.
"Sure thing," he replied. He turned and began selecting donuts out of the glass case. "So, you adjustin' to small town life again okay? It's been what, nearly three months now?"
"Just about, yeah. And I'm doin' alright with getting used to everything again. Lot different than LA, but I'm managing just fine. Lived here for nineteen years, after all," I said.
"Hey, uh, are you busy tonight?" he asked, his back still turned to me. I gave him a small smile that he didn't see.
"I don't have any specific plans, but Vance is coming up from Irving, so I'd like to spend some time with him," I said, grabbing a bottle of orange juice from the small fridge by the counter.
"We're having our beginning of summer bonfire tonight. You remember those?" he asked.
"How could I forget? We'd sneak out every year and try to blend in with the high schoolers until we were high schoolers ourselves," I said, chuckling at the small memory.
"Vance loved those too, you know," said Hunter. Hunter had been two grades above me, one of Vance's best friends since kindergarten. Except after high school and college, Vance moved to Irving, Texas to become a computer chip engineer at Hewlett Packard while Hunter stayed in Alva, managing the small donut shop. Hunter had always had a crush on me, I knew it. He'd just never admitted to it before. In full honesty, I'd liked him too when we were back in high school. We'd hung out a couple times since I'd come back down here, going on little fishing trips and practicing some archery together.
"Well then maybe I'll ask him and see," I said.
"Perfect," Hunter said, turning around with the full box of donuts. I set my juice on the counter and he rang everything up, taking the credit card I was holding out before he asked. "Have a good day, V. I'll see you tonight," he said, flashing me a bright smile and a wink.
"I said maybe," I said with a laugh as I made my way out of the door. I started walking to my car when I heard someone call out for me across the parking lot.
"Vanessa! Sweetheart! How are you doing?" asked Ida. She was an old woman, in her 80s, but was also the town gossiper. I did my best to stay away from her, not wanting to cause any drama in such a small space. However, I also didn't want to be rude. She limped over to my car, leaning on her walking stick.
"Hey, Ida. I'm doing wonderful. How are you?" I asked.
"Good, good," she said. "I just saw your mama here last week. Y'all really like donuts, or do you just like seein' Hunter?"
"Hunter? He's an old friend," I said with a smile.
"Oh, come on. Pretty big city model girl like you, you have to have your eye on someone who's bound to like you back," she pried.
"No, no. I've spent most of my time at home with Dad," I replied.
"Oh, Kyle! How's he doin'? Recovering nicely?" she asked.
"Yes, ma'am," I answered.
"Well, I wont keep you. But you know that Hunter's got it bad for you. He's a cute boy, you should go for him," she said, winking at me. She was right, Hunter was pretty cute. Definitely would have been my kind of guy if I'd never moved out to LA and seen all of the different types of boys I'd been missing out on in this deadbeat town.
"I really should be going, Vance is visiting from Texas and I don't want to miss him," I said, offering a smile.
"Alright, dear. Have a good day, now," she said.
"You too, Ida," I said with a small wave. I got into my car and set the donuts on the seat next to me and the juice in my cupholder, then started the drive back to my house.