Julie was shaken awake the next morning at 6am by Tyra. "C'mon Taylor, the sun will be up in a little bit."
"When did you become a happy morning person?" Julie groaned as she tried to turn over and cover her face with her arms.
"It's pretty scary isn't it?" Lyla quipped from the other side of Julie.
"Very funny" Tyra said as she unzipped the front flap of the tent. "You both have 5 minutes to drag your butts down to the dock or I'm draggin' 'em for you." She disappeared outside as Julie and Lyla rolled their eyes at each other. "Quit rolling your eyes and get a move on" Tyra yelled from outside.
"She may be happy in the morning, but she's still Tyra, the Amazon Queen of Texas" Lyla said as she pulled her shorts on and twisted her hair into a ponytail. "Let's go, I wouldn't put it past her to actually drag us down there. You know how Tyra loves a sunrise."
Julie followed Lyla to the end of the dock and flopped into one of the chairs that Tyra had brought down. She watched as Tyra fished a six-pack of Coke from beneath the dock and handed them around. "Okay, you're forgiven for waking me up at the crack of Dawn."
Tyra laughed at her and said "Shut up and enjoy the moment."
The three of them sat in companionable silence as the first rays of light broke over the horizon.
Tyra was wrapped in a blanket, sitting on the end of the dock as she gazed at the sunrise just appearing over the lake. She could feel Landry coming before she could hear him. That didn't surprise her, they had forged a connection in the last year. The only problem was that neither of then seemed to know what to do about it. Tyra silently lifted one side of the blanket and Landry settled beside her and wrapped it around them both. He was quiet for a few moments before he spoke. "Tyra, what are we doing?"
"What do you mean? We're watching a sunrise." Tyra replied.
"Don't be obtuse, Tyra, it doesn't suit you. You know exactly what I mean. We've been dancing around this relationship for almost a year now but I still don't know what you want." He maneuvered himself so that Tyra was wrapped more in him than the blanket, she wasn't getting away easily this time.
Tyra let Landry hold her as she thought about what she wanted to say. "I've been thinking about that a lot lately. I want you, all of you, but I can't ask you to stay here in Dillon just for me."
Landry held her tighter and placed a kiss on the top of her head "I know you can't leave your mom and I would never ask you to. Dillon is good enough for me as long as you're here. When I finish school, I'll be back for good and then I'm never leaving you again. One of these days, you will be my wife."
Tyra tipped her head back to look into his eyes. "Is that a proposal?"
"Do you want it to be?"
Tyra thought about it as the sun burst over the horizon. In that moment she felt that everything was falling into place. "Yeah, I think I do. What are you gonna do about that?"
"How many times have we sat right here and watched a sunrise?" Lyla asked softly.
"Thousands, probably" Tyra said as she let herself be pulled back to the present. "A few of my best moments happened sitting in this very spot. I think I actually have a butt print left in the wood from being here so often. Sometimes when Landry is gone for work I just come out here and think. Ya know, he proposed to me right here, way before we told you guys anything."
Julie wrinkled her nose at her friend. "You just think we didn't know anything."
Tyra tugged on one of Julie's braids as she got to her feet. "C'mon, the guys will be here soon."
Julie looked up at the two girls and told them "I'll be there in a few minutes, I just want to sit here for awhile."
Julie caught Tim's gaze on her as she took a sip of her beer. "What are you grinning about?"
"Nothin' much, it's just good to see you smile" Tim replied as he reached out to tuck a strand of hair behind her ear.
"What are you talking about? I smile all the time." Julie teasingly replied, deliberately missing his point.
"Not so much lately" Tim said with a touch of regret in his voice that made Julie wince with guilt.
"So how are we gonna fix that?" Julie asked with all seriousness. "I like being happy and I like making you happy." She watched Tim's profile in the moonlight as he thought about what she had asked. She watched as he struggled to find the right answer, an answer that was so much harder to find than either of them wanted it to be. She touched his arm with her fingertips and took the cowards way out. "Let's just decide to be happy in the moment and let the future stay the future for now."
"Does that mean we can live for the here and now and enjoy the rest of the summer?" Tim asked and melted Julie's heart with the hope that she heard in his voice.
"You betcha. You are going to attempt to make Jason pull his head out of his butt and I'm going to pretend that I don't know that Tyra is in love with Landry. You are going to mend your relationship with Lyla and we are all going to have a great summer." Julie said.
"Is that all?" Tim asked her as he scooted closer to her.
"Nope" Julie answered. "We are going to remember that we love each other and there is no place that we would rather be than right here on the end of this dock."
"Does that mean Coach will quit looking at me like he wants to boil me in oil?" Tim asked her as he wrapped his arms around her.
"I can't promise miracles but maybe we can get it down to just a few growls now and then" Julie replied with mock seriousness before she dissolved into giggles.
"I'm such a coward" Julie muttered to herself. For about the millionth time she rehashed the conversation in her head and wondered if it had been a mistake. Would it have turned out differently if she had only been stronger? Would it have been worse?
"Don't go down that road Little Taylor, it's just a dead end" Tim's said from behind her. "I should know, I've been on it a few times in the last 10 years."
No one could read her mind like Tim Riggins and all the miles and years between them hadn't seemed to change that fact. "How do you know? I could be thinking about anything" she said as she turned around to look at him.
He didn't reply, he just looked back at her with that irritating, all knowing smile of his. The years had been kind to him and Julie found herself lost in his green eyes for a moment. For the first time in as long as she could remember, Julie found herself at a loss for words and she could see that Tim was having the same problem. She watched him take a deep breath before he spoke.
"Welcome home Julie. I've missed you." Tim held out his hand in an invitation for her to let him help her up from her seat on the end of the dock. "C'mon, there's a couple of guys up there that want to say hello." When Julie was upright he leaned closer and said in a slow drawl " We'll get to the important stuff later."
Julie swallowed the lump in her throat and tried to hide the shiver that his words had given her as she followed him up the dock.
I am so very sorry that it took me fourty forevers to update. I can only beg forgiveness and promise a faster update next. Summer ending is a double sided sword...more time for writing but less time for play. This short one is for bdavisLoVeSlscott, thanks for giving me a prod. On a side note... Check out the Zac Brown Band and their new CD "The Foundation". It is awesome!! Stream it from their website,zacbrownbanddotcom. Jimmy Buffet meets Uncle Kracker, ha-ha.