"That had to be the best sandwich I have had in a long time, possibly ever." Swyade chuckled, resting a hand on his stomach, plopping his cowboy hat back on his head with the other. 

         Renne chuckled. "I am glad that you liked it. I figured you would." Standing from her chair, Renne took Swayde's hand as they walked out of the diner. 

       "You are right, darlin'." 

       Renne stopped walking for a second to glance sideways at her boyfriend. "Well that is a first. Admitting that I am right. Is your pride okay?" 

       "Wow..." Swayde chuckled with a groan, leaning his head back as he rolled his eyes. Still chuckling, he fetched his truck keys out of his pocket, but Renne squeezing his hand slightly made him turn to look at her. 

        "I was actually thinkin' we could walk around downtown for a while before going back to the ranch, if that is okay?" 

       "Sure!" Swayde stuffed his keys back in his pocket, motioning to the sidewalk in front of them. "Lead the way, darlin'."

       Renne led Swayde down the strip of road that was downtown. In some spots, you could still see the worn red brick that once carried horse drawn carriages sometime in the 1800s. It was an old town that had been built up and built up; the small town atmosphere was almost completely gone, but if you looked hard enough little bits of the old time nostalgia could be found.

       Most of the original buildings had been demolished, or so renovated that the only thing giving away their age was the "established 1903" sign on the door that could barely be made out under the several layers of paint. There were two traffic lights now, and cars drove in and out of town constantly, resulting in traffic, no matter what time of day. It all honestly made Renne miss Alpine Ridge even more.

        "Oh! I know where we should go first." Renne spun around to face Swayde, walking backwards as she said, with a grin on her face, "You need to be introduced to the wonderful world of Popcornapalooza." 

        "Okay you lost me. All I heard was 'popcorn'." Swayde chuckled as he smiled down at his adorable girlfriend who was way too excited about this tour of the town that she had called home for over five years. 

        Renne teasingly rolled her eyes and stopped walking. "Repeat after me...popcorn-a-pa-loo-za." 

        "Popcornapalooza." Swayde repeated back carefully. "Now that I have pronounced it correctly, will you please tell me what it is?" 

         "Only the best popcorn shop in the west. Oh, I'll just have to show you." Renne resumed walking beside her boyfriend, leading him down the sidewalk until they got to the blue painted wooden building. "You ready for this?" 

         Swayde chuckled as they stopped beside the door. "I feel like you are hypin' this up a lot. I should probably get as excited as you are." Glancing into the brightly lit shop, then back to Renne, he grinned. "Alright, let's do this thing." Reaching out, Swayde grabbed the door handle, opening it for Renne. 

        Stepping inside of the bin lined shelf, the smell of fresh, flavored popcorn filled Swayde's nose. Yeah, he was definitely too much of a cowboy for a town like this. He didn't even know that stores like this even existed. If he wanted popcorn, he walked into the local store and grabbed whatever microwavable package that was on sale. However, he knew how much this tour meant to Renne and he wanted to see more of the town that she had lived in for so long. 

          After taste testing nearly all fifty different flavors of popcorn, Swayde and Renne walked out with several bags of popcorn. They had decided to get one for Mamaw and Papaw, and one for each of Renne's nieces and nephew, as well as a few bags for themselves. Currently, Renne was munching on some popcorn from the bag that they had combined some of every flavor. 

        Walking further down main street, Renne popped two pieces into her mouth, but almost immediately spit them back out. "Okay, so maybe mixing all the flavors wasn't such a good idea. Dill pickle and cotton candy is not a good combination. Renne made a disgusted face as she forced herself to swallow the nasty combination of popcorn flavors. Reaching her hand back into the bag, she brought out a piece of orange powdered popcorn. Inspecting it closely, Renne decided it was fit to be eaten. Plopping it into her mouth, she was happy that it was her favorite kind of popcorn: sharp yellow cheddar. 

        Chuckling, Swayde looked over at Renne happily munching on the popcorn. "It's pretty cute how much you love popcorn."    

       She held the bag out to him. "Sorry...would you like some?"     

       Swayde lifted up a hand to his stomach. "No, I'm good for now. I'm still full from lunch, but I can't have any more popcorn for a while....tryin all of those samples in there....phew...I think I'm good for a while, but thank you though. I was actually just going to suggest that we drop off the bags in my truck before we eat it all. Plus, that would keep our hands empty in case we do more shopping." 

    "I knew I am datin' a smart man. You know me so well." Renne chuckled, popping another piece of the sharp cheddar popcorn in her mouth. 

       "Hand it over, darlin'." Swayde chuckled, holding out a hand to take the delicious contraband from his girlfriend. After eating one more piece, Renne twisted the bag shut, wrapping a twisty tie around it to close it. "I still cannot believe that they have an entire store solely made for 'artisian' popcorn." Swayde added, reliving Renne of the multiple bags of popcorn. 

       "Oh, you just wait until you see the candy and pastry store I'm fixin' to take you to later." She waved a teasing finger at him. 

    "Do they have endless samples as well?" Swayde asked, letting out a heavy breath.   

       "Not as many as the popcorn place, but don't worry. I won't make you try any samples there."   

         Arriving at Swayde's truck, he opened the back door, setting the bags of the popcorn inside. Keys in his hand, Swayde locked his truck with a chuckle. "Good. You're going to make me big as a cow by the end of this trip."    

        Ignoring her boyfriend's comment, Renne couldn't help but smile.  "I just find it funny that you just locked your truck....gotta keep that contraband safe, huh?" She shot him a wink before grabbing his hand again, resuming their walk. Swayde rarely ever locked his truck in Alpine Ridge. It was not much of a tourist town, and everyone knew everyone and their trucks. 

        "Where to now?" Swayde asked as they walked slowly down the sidewalks of Main Street. He couldn't help but notice how many more people there were walking down the sidewalk than there was just a few minutes ago. In addition, nearly every parking spot on the street was taken. This town was not big by any means, but compared to Alpine Ridge...Swayde was just surprised that Renne somehow managed to leave here for five years, and be happy while she did so, or at least act like she was happy here. 

       Stopping in front of an antique store, Renne pointed to a small white end table in the window. "Look how beautiful, Swayde!" She gasped, eyes glued to the window display. That reaction answered Swayde's question for him: they were going to shop at the antique store. 

       "Let's go in and check it out." Swayde was already walking towards the door, knowing Renne would ask him regardless. However, as he dropped her hand to grab the door for her, he couldn't help but notice that she hesitated. "You okay?" He asked, pushing his eyebrows together in question. 

      Renne looked down to the ground for a second before looking back up at the door, a partially fake smile on her face. "Yeah. This is my favorite antique shop." She replied, truthfully, walking through the door. Originally, she was going to suggest they keep walking, but the second Renne had heard the doorbell ring once Swayde opened the door, she already knew it was too late to turn around. 

      The cinnamon potpourri smell in the air was still the same as Renne had always remembered. Ignoring that Swayde had walked into the store and was looking at something else, Renne immediately walked to the window display, leaning across the bench to check the price on the cute end table in the window. It would look darling in Swayde's-er,-Mamaw and Papaw's living room. In her mind, Renne couldn't help but chuckle and teasingly roll her eyes at the thought that she was quickly becoming Swayde's interior decorator for his house. First comes the throw pillows and scented soap and candles, then the new lamps and end table decor, next comes the new bed sheets, bed spreads, rugs and towels, then...boom...just like that Swayde's house has been feminized and everyone knows that once the girlfriend starts dropping hints like that, she has essentially moved in already...next comes a diamond ring. 

    Just as Renne had stretched out the length of her body to grab the price tag, she heard an all too familiar voice talking to Swayde behind her.

       "How are you today? Do you need help finding anything?" The female voice has asked, making Renne freeze in her place. In her mind, she wondered if it was too late to turn and bail.

      "I'm good! And I don't think so. My girlfriend was admirin' this end table, and we were wondering how much you are asking for it?" Swayde motioned to where Renne was awkwardly sprawled out over the display. Just as Renne was about to spin around to motion to Swayde that she didn't need an associate to assist her, the pair was standing right next to her. 

      "I was hopin' to sell that piece for $30, ma'am." The voice said, talking directly to Renne. 

      Renne attempted to not let them see her visibly hang her head as she stood up straight, turning around to make eye contact with one of the last people that she was hoping to run into on her trip to town. 

      Before Renne could speak, the woman added, "But for you, it's $20.00." A surprised, but unreadable expression rested on the middle aged woman's face. 

      Renne looked from the woman to Swayde, then back to the woman. "Hi, Mrs. Ramon." Renne nodded, but kept her hands clenched tightly in front of her as she made eye contact with Matt's mother.