Renne let out a sigh as she stared at the numerous open tabs on her computer and all of the papers strewn all over the breakfast bar counter top in the kitchen. She heard someone come into the room behind her, but didn't think anything of it until the person wrapped their arms around her chest from behind, dropping a kiss on the side of her head.

Turning her head, Renne saw that it was Matt. With a smile, Renne placed her hands on his forearms around her chest, leaning back into him.

"Workin' on wedding stuff?" He asked, resting his chin on her shoulder as he looked at her computer screen.

"No, I'm workin' on stuff for the ranch." She turned to stand up, walking into the kitchen to get a drink.

"You're still letting me pay for the financial stuff, right?" Matt rested his hands on the counter top, watching Renne get some apple juice from the fridge.

Pouring the juice into two glasses, Renne walked back to the counter, handing Matt a glass. "Well, some of it, but it is my ranch." A small smile pulled on her lips. "Don't worry, though, I am very much lookin' forward to working on stuff for the wedding as soon as I am finished with this."

"Good. You know that my parents are goin' to pay for everything, and they have told me repeatedly to tell you to get whatever you want. They want the day to be perfect."

Renne sipped on her drink, leaning against the counter. "That's very sweet of them, but I'm not going to let them pay for everything. I can pay for stuff, too, you know. You're not the only one carrying the finances, Matt." There was an unexpected slight edge to her words. Matt, and his family, were very wealthy, and although Renne had a little money, she was broke compared to the Ramon family.

"I know, but-" Before Matt could finish, Swayde walked into the kitchen.

"You ready to go, Reagan?" He asked, not looking at Matt.

Renne looked between Swayde and Matt, then back to Swayde. "Uh, yup. Matt, can you please just leave all of my stuff here? I'll finish up when we get back."

"Sure." Matt replied with a firm jaw, becoming tense since Swayde walked into the room. "You'll be back by supper, right?" Matt asked.

"Yeah." Renne leaned forward, kissing Matt's cheek. "See ya."

Swayde walked Renne to his truck. Once inside, he asked, "How's the wedding planning coming along?"

"Honestly? The furthest we have gotten is that it will be at Matt's church in Montana." Renne let out a chuckle as she buckled her seat belt.

Instead of responding, Swayde just nodded his head, continuing his drive to his ranch. He was thankful that Renne was willing to lend a hand to help him with some two person jobs on his ranch, but he knew that too soon she would be married, and back in Montana. That being said, he had to enjoy every moment with her that he had left.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"Don't you think that I should get you home? You told Matt that you would be home by supper." Swayde suggested after all their tasks were finished for the day.

"Swayde, I'm 24. If I decide to have supper here, it's fine." Renne smiled as she pulled out some leftovers from Swayde's fridge. "Plus, we need to eat up these leftovers and if we were to have supper at Mamaw's, we won't eat for another hour or so, and I'm famished."

"You don't think Matt will be upset at us if you have supper here?" Swayde asked, worriedly, standing between the kitchen and the back door.

"I will just tell him that it was my idea, and it should be fine." Renne looked at Swayde. "Why are you so worried about this? Just come sit down and eat." She chuckled, placing some food down in front of him.

Swayde let out a deep breath, taking a seat at the small kitchen table.

Immediately after he finished eating, Swayde wiped his mouth on his napkin, standing up from the table, taking his plate with him. "Alright, I should get you back now."

Renne followed Swayde's lead, walking outside to his truck after taking her dishes to the kitchen.

When Swayde pulled into Mamaw's ranch, he saw something and made a joke about it, making Renne burst out in laughter. "You've been silent the entire ride here, and that's the first thing that comes out of your mouth?" Renne laughed as she got out of the truck, walking towards the house.

"Hey." A voice called from the porch. Matt walked down the porch steps to wrap an arm around Renne's waist, dropping a protective kiss on her temple. "Well it looks like you two had fun." He said, almost sarcastically to Swayde. Turning back to Renne, Matt added, "I missed you at supper tonight. I thought y'all were fixin' to be back by then." There was an accusatory tone to his words.

Swayde rolled his eyes and began walking into the house, but something in him snapped. "Relax, man, Reagan isn't a teenager anymore, so she doesn't have a curfew. She's plenty old enough to make her own decisions, including who she hangs out with, and for how long." Shoving his shoulder into Matt's as he walked past, Swayde mumbled, "You're the last person she should be answering to."

Swayde had said the insults calmly, but Matt wasn't going to let him say that stuff without paying for it. "What did you say to me, man?" Matt grabbed Swayde's arm, making him turn around.

"You heard what I said." Swayde smirked, jerking his arm free from Matt. That's when Swayde snapped. He wasn't one to yell, but Matt brought that side of him out. "You have no right to waltz over here, criticizing Reagan for not coming home when you wanted her to. She trusted you, and you cheated on her. She needed support when she made this trip down here, but you were too selfish to come with her!"

That's when Renne knew she had to step in. Running to Swayde, she put her hands on his chest, pushing him back from Matt. "Swayde, stop. Please. I've never seen you like this. You're scaring me." As she said the words, she could feel Swayde's pounding heartbeat under his tight muscles. Part of her knew that she should probably be saying these things to Matt, instead of Swayde, but she wasn't sure why she cared so much about how Swayde reacted. She was leaving here with Matt in a few days. He was her fiancee...right?

Swayde tore his glare from Matt to look down at Renne. He smiled an almost eerie smile. "It's alright, sweetheart. I won't tell him about the kisses we shared, the long talks we had, that we made out...twice...or that you told me you still loved me or th-"

"Swayde!" Renne shouted. She reeled her hands back off of Swayde's chest and slapped his cheek hard. Before Renne could yell at him for telling Matt their little secret about what happened between her and Swayde, Matt lunged forward and punched Swayde. Swayde hardly faltered under Matt's hit. Renee was pretty sure that Matt's words hurt worse then the punch.

"She loved me first!" Swayde shouted at Matt, acting like he hadn't just gotten punched, and slapped.

"That's not true. She's always loved me." Matt says.

Swayde chuckled and turned to Renne. "Tell him Reagan. Tell him about us." Swayde stood firm.

Renne, hurt, turned to Matt. She put her hands on his chest, lifting one to rest on his cheek. "It's not true, baby." She whispered, just to protect her and Matt's relationship.

Swayde turned to Renne, scoffing at her lie. "Seriously? Tell him, Reagan. If you don't, I will." After staring at Renne, knowing she wouldn't say anything, he turned to Matt. "You know that she kissed me the other day? She still loves me, Matt, I'm sorry, but it's true." Swayde looked between Renne and Matt. The confused look on Matt's face was priceless according to Swayde. "Well, since she isn't going to tell you, I guess I have to. We used to date. We were going to get married after she graduated college."

Renne let go of Matt and turned to Swayde. She shoved both her hands into his chest. "Stop, Swayde!"

From his spot behind Swayde and Renne, Matt said, hurt, "Is that true, Renne?"

"Renne? Her name is Reagan." Swayde says. He mumbles, "Sure know a lot about her, for supposedly loving her."

"I do love her. If she loved you, she wouldn't have left this crummy, God forsaken town years ago. Clearly you did something horrible to make her stop lovin' you. She would never cheat on me, or come back to some scum like you." Matt growled, only inches from Swayde.

Swayde was not one to throw fists at anyone, but some tense cord in him snapped, and so the fight of flying fists began. Renne, no longer wanting any part in this, turned to walk away, holding her head in her hands as she let the boys fight while she tried to sort out her thoughts to think of a solution.

Eventually, Renne walked back over to where Swayde and Matt were still fighting each other. She squeezed herself between the two men, putting a hand on each of their chests and pushing them away from each other. "Stop. This is unnecessary. Just knock it off!" She shouted louder than the insults the guys where throwing at each other. The air around the trio fell quiet; the only sound anyone could hear was the heavy breathing, fueled by anger, between Swayde and Matt.

Renne turned to Matt, running her hands up and down his chest and shoulders. Both of his hands were still in fists at his sides and his breathing heavy. "Matt, hey, look at me." When he still didn't look at her, she reached up to caress his cheek with one hand. This wasn't the first time that he had gotten into a fist fight with a guy over her, and Renne was afraid it wouldn't be the last. "Matt, it's okay. Don't listen to him." She whispered so Swayde couldn't hear.

Finally, Matt looked at Renne, and she saw his left eye, lip, and cheek bone starting to swell and turn black and blue. Swayde had gotten him good. "Is it true?"

Renne ran a hand through Matt's short, brown hair as she looked into his eyes, searching for an easy way to answer him. She looked over her shoulder to where Swayde was standing, with his back to them and a hand on his hip. His other hand was on the back of his neck, rubbing it as if to keep his hands busy so he didn't lash out on Matt. "It doesn't matter, Matt." Renne said, defensively, turning back to Matt.

Swayde turned around at that moment. "Reagan, seriously?" He asked, upset. Renne turned sideways to look still Swayde partially. She still kept a hand on Matt's chest in case they decided to go at each other again. "Come here." Swayde said through a clenched jaw. He grabbed Renne's wrist and softly yanked on her.

"What are you doin'?" Renne asked, pulling her wrist back.

"I need to talk to you in private. Please come over here." Swayde said, trying to stay clam, knowing this fight wasn't her fault.

Renne looked between Swayde and Matt. Sighing, she walked the five feet over to where Swayde was. "What do you want?" She asked angrily, throwing her hands on her hips.

"I thought we both agreed that we were goin' to tell him." Swayde said, purposely loud enough for Matt to hear.

"We did...I know, but now's not the time. And we were goin' to tell him together, and not like this." Renne put her hands out for emphasis. Her voice was too quiet for Matt to hear.

"Let's just tell him now and get it over with." Swayde said, turning to go, but this time it was Renne who yanked on his arm, keeping him back.

"Please, Swayde, now is not the time." Renne pleaded.

Swayde hesitated a moment. "Fine." He said with a tight jaw.

Renne walked back over to where Matt was still angrily standing. "What is it that y'all had to tell me?"

"Nothing. It's nothing, babe. Don't worry about it." Renne let out a breath, waving a hand in the air.

"Please tell me that he was lying about everything he said. Please, baby, tell me he was just sayin' those thangs because he was mad, and not because they really happened. Please." Matt pleaded with Renne, grabbing both of her hands.

Renne looked deep into Matt's eyes. "I wish I could..." She said, her voice quiet.

"You...are you seri-" Matt scoffed and turned away, but he quickly spun back around. He started walking over to Swayde. "You little..." Matt growled, walking closer to Swayde. "Makin' a move on my girlfriend while I was away. Actin' like she's yours. I don't care how 'in love' y'all were before, but she left you, Swayde. She's moved on to me. She's done with you. She loves me." Matt said the words as if he was trying to convince himself more then he was trying to convince Swayde.

Swayde ignored Matt, and said to Renne, "Are you goin to tell him, or am I?"

"Swayde, please." Renne said quietly, tears beginning to rise in her eyes.

Swayde took a step closer to Renne, but said to Matt, "She may have left me years ago, but she still loves me. She told me so. And I'm sorry, Matt, but everything I have told you is true. Reagan and I both decided we were goin' to tell you about it together, but she is still in love with me..." Pausing for a second, Swayde took the time to look between Matt and Renne, then back to Matt. "Maybe if you had been a better boyfriend to her, she wouldn't have run back to me. She deserves the best, Matt, and you know what they say: 'let the best man win.'" Swayde was smiling an eerie smile. Renne really really wished that she could tell Matt that everything that Swayde was saying was a lie, but she couldn't because it was all true...every last word of it...even the part about Matt not being as good a boyfriend, or man, as Swayde.

"I can't believe this, Renne." Matt said. "Are y'all for real right now? Why would you kiss him? Why would you tell him you still loved him, even though we were together?"

"We weren't together at the time, Matt. I would never cheat on you. You and I were broken up at the time." Renne said the truth, defending her actions, as if that would make them okay.

"Do you still love him? Are you in love with him?" Matt asked, a tear falling to his cheek.

"If she didn't still love me, and if we weren't still in love, she wouldn't let me do this." Swayde replied to Matt for Renne. Before Renne could say anything, or even defend herself, Swayde wrapped an arm around her waist, pulling her up to him. He met her lips and wasn't surprised when Renne welcomed his kiss, by leaning into him, kissing him back. Renne forgot that there was a fight goin on, that anybody was watching...that Matt saw. It was like it was every time that Swayde kissed her...magical...she forgot about everything, but this time, something in her snapped and she realized what she was doing.

Renne quickly pulled back from Swayde as he leaned in once more to kiss her. "Don't you dare ever do that to me again!" Renne shouted. She wanted to punch him, but couldn't; her knees were too weak from his kisses to have enough balance to throw a good punch.

The look on Swayde's faced showed utter surprise. "Reagan, I thought we talked about this...tell Matt what you told me, that you still love me."

"Well, you thought wrong." Renne lied. She suddenly felt overwhelmed by all of the crazy emotions that were flaring. "I can't do this anymore!" Renne said. Not looking at either of the men, Renne ran inside and straight up to her bedroom, right past the confused and worried look on her grandma's face once she got inside the house.