Vote Then Read: Volume I

by Carly Phillips

  And I can’t let my fears and insecurities stop me from having them. Mauro is a good man and if he says that he cares for me, I have to trust in that. The same way he was trusting me not to hurt him.

  I realize now that there are no guarantees in life. The best any of us can do is try. And if we fail, well…at least we had our moment in the sun. It’s better than withering away to nothing in the shadows.

  The three of us head out of the house to the garage where Lauren’s Fiat awaits.

  “Your parents are so great to buy you this car, Lauren.” Apparently, Vanessa is still pretending we’re in high school. “My dad told me no car until I’m eighteen. I’ll get him to cave though.”

  The three of us continue to make jokes like we really are sixteen again and living with our parents.

  “Did you know that all the Bianco brothers are going to be there tonight?” I ask because now that I’ve figured out what’s going on, the outfit I saw Cristian in earlier at his apartment makes more sense. He was wearing his jeans halfway down his ass with a brown belt and plaid shirt. Totally ten years ago.

  “Whatever. The only one worth anyone’s time is Mauro. You should totally talk to him tonight, Mad.” Vanessa nudges my shoulder.

  “I don’t know, I think they all have their own redeeming qualities,” I say.

  “Luca can suck my tit. He’ll never have a chance with me. He’s so cocky and thinks he’s great at everything he does,” Lauren says.

  I raise my eyebrows at her.

  Finally, we arrive at the same place high school bonfires were held ten years prior and Lauren parks on the grass.

  There’s a bonfire roaring in the middle of the field between two sets of trees. People are scattered over the grass, Solo cups in hand, laughing and having a good time.

  “Party time!” Vanessa hollers. She wasn’t there originally when I begged Lauren to go home, but I wish now that she were.

  We all file out and I’m not sure how he managed it, but everyone acts like they don’t know why we’re there, barely giving us a glance. Searching the area, I spot Mauro talking to a group of guys.

  A smile crosses his lips, his eyes flowing over my body like it’s the first time he’s seen me.

  I blush, of course I do, and shake my head at the absurdity of this entire situation.

  He’s wearing what he wore that night minus the backward hat which I’m kind of happy about because I love his hair so much. Oh and he’s added his letterman jacket, though it’s a little snug now with all his muscles.

  “Come on, let’s get a drink.” Lauren tugs me the other way.

  We head into the woods where the conversations we pass consist of topics like kids, date nights, and save the dates rather than SATs, parents, and midterms.

  Lauren fills her cup but makes me leave mine empty. I’m surprised Lauren remembers or maybe she’s going off of what I told Mauro about that night.

  Regardless, I end up on a log in front of the fire. As I watch the flames, I assume he’ll appear across from me and our eyes will meet.

  “Do you mind?” his voice says from next to me and my body hums with the awareness of him.

  I look up and his smile is so wide I’m ready to throw myself into his arms, begging him to forgive me for my stupidity and take me back to his apartment. I just want to go back to where we were.

  “No,” I say, playing my part although he’s changed the script.

  He sits down and sips his beer. “I’m Mauro.” He holds out his hand.

  “Madison.”

  “Nice to meet you.” He stares ahead. “I saw you earlier with your friends.”

  “Yeah, we’re sophomores. You’re a senior right?” I can’t help but smirk at him.

  He nods. “I am. You want some M&Ms?” He pulls a bag out of his letterman jacket.

  I smile wide. “My favorite, how did you know?”

  He pours some in my hand. “I didn’t. They’re my favorite, too. Kind of cool the way they’re our initials huh?” He pops a few into his mouth. “I heard they’re great with cheesecake.” He winks at me.

  “Really? I’ll have to try that sometime.” I bump his shoulder with my own.

  “Maybe we can try it together?” His thigh presses to mine and the cage to the butterflies in my stomach is opened. How can he still have this effect on me?

  “Are you not drinking?” he asks, noticing me flipping my Solo cup around.

  “No, I’m the driver.”

  “Great, I’ve had a few, not too many but I shouldn’t drive. Do you mind giving me a ride? You can drive my truck.” He pulls his keys out of his jacket.

  “Sure, let me find my friends to let them know.”

  “Cool. I’ll wait by the truck. It’s over there.” He points off into the distance.

  We both stand and he steps closer to me, tucking a strand of hair behind my ear. “Thanks for this.”

  “You’re welcome,” I croak out because I’m torn on wanting to finish this scene to see what else he has planned and jumping him right now.

  “Hurry, okay?”

  I nod and he steps back until he disappears into the darkness.

  God, I miss him already.

  Turning around, I survey the crowd to find Vanessa and Lauren. At first, I spot no one and I’m about to tell Luca who’s pretending to arm wrestle someone to fill Lauren in for me. Then I see she’s the one standing behind Luca’s competitor screaming at him to kick Bianco’s ass.

  I head over to her and tap her on the shoulder. “Hey, can you get a ride home? Mauro just asked me if I could drive him home.”

  “Um, no you agreed to be my DD. The hell if you’re going off with that shithead.”

  Luca stands up. “That shithead would be my brother.”

  “Okay, funny guys. This didn’t actually happen so I’m driving Mauro home. Lauren you have your car and I played the game, so…thanks.”

  They both smile at me but quickly narrow their eyes at each other again.

  “I was kidding.” She hugs me. “Go get him, Mad,” she whispers in my ear before releasing me.

  Luca places his hand on my shoulder. “Give him hell and I mean it. Don’t make it easy on him.”

  I smack his hand and walk away from them, looking around for Vanessa, but when I don’t see her, I figure Lauren will tell her and so I head toward the truck, walking faster the closer I get.

  Just like that night ten years ago, he’s leaning on the passenger side waiting for me. This time he isn’t swaying or looking like he might throw up.

  “Thanks for this, Madison.” He hands me the keys.

  “Mauro,” I say being done with the game, but he places his fingers on my lips.

  “We need to play the song.” He leans forward, his hands on either side of my face and he closes his eyes. “Just listen to the lyrics of the song, okay? It says everything I want to on this night.” He kisses my forehead and then releases me.

  I climb into the driver’s seat, a little intimidated by the size of his truck. Once we’re on the road the song, “Chasing Cars” by Snow Patrol starts to play. The lyrics speak so much to my heart and the two of us. The irony that it played ten years ago when we were strangers to one another isn’t lost on me.

  By the time I’m pulling up to his parents’ house, tears are falling down my face.

  “I’m so sorry, Mauro,” I choke out.

  He takes the keys out of the ignition, gets out of his car and then opens my door.

  “Come on. Let’s go to the park.”

  He entwines our hands, his callused palms giving me comfort and letting me know that he’s already accepted my apology.

  We walk across the street. The park equipment is newer now and a locked fence surrounds the outfield.

  “Well, we’ll have to do this a little differently this time around.” Mauro releases my hand and climbs the fence. “Come on.” He waits for me as I do my best to get over the fence without flashing him. Not that he hasn’t already seen all of me.
>
  “We’ll pretend the fence wasn’t there.” He laughs, taking my hand again and guiding me to centerfield.

  He sits down first and pats the grass next to him. I silently oblige and we both lay back in the grass.

  “Do you know what you want to be?” he asks, staring at a sky that’s littered with stars to wish on tonight.

  “I’m not sure. What about you?”

  He rolls on his side. “I want the trifecta—the house, the family, and the career. Hopefully one day I get it.”

  “I’m sure you will. You’re a pretty great guy.”

  He slides closer, his hand touching my cheek. “I have a vision that in ten years I’m going to meet a woman who will change my life forever.”

  “Really? A vision?”

  He chuckles. “Yeah, I think she’ll look a lot like you.”

  “Weird, I had the same vision of you.”

  Our eyes lock, blue on blue, and the feelings that pass between us without words feel more powerful in this moment than anything the world can throw at us.

  “Can I kiss you?” he whispers.

  I nod, swallowing down my excitement, my joy of finally being able to kiss him.

  He’s hesitant at first like he was the first time our lips met, but the fire, the time apart quickly consume us and he rolls me onto my back. His thigh separates my legs as our mouths claim one another.

  Finally, I’m back to where I feel like I fit—with Mauro.

  Peace travels through my body even as my arousal pulsates out of control.

  “Man, that’s some kiss. Will you come to my bedroom?”

  I smack his shoulder. “A little forward don’t you think?”

  He nibbles at my neck. “What I want to do to you can’t be done in public.”

  I place my hands on either side of his face and pull him away from my neck so that he’s looking at me. “Take me home, Mauro.”

  “I love those four words,” he says, springing to his feet and hauling me up with him.

  We rush to get back to the truck, him driving this time instead of me. I’m so busy staring at him the entire ride I don’t even pay attention to the time it’s taking to get to his apartment.

  “You didn’t have to do all that,” I say, my hand in his as the song plays on repeat.

  “I did. It’s how that night should have gone.” He stops at a light and he bends over to kiss me. “I’ll forever regret those ten years I missed out on with you, but I’m not going to dwell on that if I’m lucky enough to have an entire future with you.”

  The light turns green and he accelerates and I’m still unable to take my eyes off of him.

  “We’re home,” he says, parking by the curb.

  I move to open my door.

  “Hey, that’s my job.” He quickly takes the keys out of the ignition and exits his truck, and I look out the window.

  We’re not at my house and we’re not at his apartment, we’re at the flip house.

  He opens my door, asking for my hand then leading halfway up the walkway and taking both my hands in his.

  “Why are we here?” I ask.

  “Because this is where I want to start our life together. We gutted this place and pieced it back together at the same time as our love for one another grew. I only want to stay here and build a life with you until this house is overflowing with kids, pets, and grandkids.”

  “You want to move in together?” I can barely push the words past the growing lump in my throat.

  “This is our home. It’s not just a house, it’s what brought us together, Madison, and I want to finally give you the happily ever after you deserve here. What do you say?”

  I stare up at the house that reminds me a lot of myself—good bones, a little disastrous at first, but now with some love and attention, the best parts of it are clear to see—inside and out.

  “I say…yes!” I jump up in his arms and he catches me, circling me around.

  “I love you, Madison.”

  “I love you.”

  “M and M forever,” he says and leans in to kiss me like a seal to all my wishes coming true.

  Epilogue

  Mauro

  It’s been three weeks since we moved into our home. I love the sound of that—our home.

  Next week is Thanksgiving and we thought about hosting—strike that—Madison wanted to host, but that isn’t going to happen. My ma likes to cook and I’m not having my family, aka Luca, mess up our new home.

  We’ve been looking for another property to rehab together, one that will hopefully be on the cheap since we didn’t end up pulling our money out of this one, but in the end, it was worth it. We built this home together.

  Madison’s car pulls up along the curb since we’ve yet to get the detached garage we weren’t thinking about adding when it was a flip property. Lucky for us the parking isn’t terrible on this street.

  I hide behind the doorway of the bathroom and hear her turn the key in the lock. She enters and flips the light switch that doesn’t work.

  “Damn it, we couldn’t have blown a fuse. Where is he when I’m stuck in the dark?”

  I flip on the switch of twinkle lights, the same ones I used the first time we made love. I’m hoping she’ll see the rose petals lining a pathway for her to follow and take the hint. I peek around the corner.

  “Mauro,” she sighs, her hand covering her mouth.

  I’ll never grow tired of my name falling from her lips.

  She walks down the pink rose petal path, dropping her purse, jacket, and bag of groceries on a chair as she goes.

  Stopping at the dining room table, I see tears prick her eyes from the glow of the real candles I’ve set along the table, illuminating the words I’ve spelled out with custom-made M&Ms.

  The message is short. Two simple words that hold the key to my happiness.

  Marry me?

  I emerge from the bathroom and she looks at me, her eyes pouring with love. I already know what she’s going to say.

  “It’s so quick…”

  “No, it’s not.” I round the dining room table I ended up refinishing for us. “I don’t want to waste any more time. I want us to be married. I want you to have my name. I want to see your belly swell and watch our kids grow alongside you. I want the bath time, the goodnight stories, the scraped knees. The learning to ride a bike, building a snowman.”

  “I’d love to be Mrs. Mauro Bianco.” She smiles and I grab her, swinging her around, my lips finding hers.

  “You’ve made me so happy.”

  Her feet fall to the floor as I lower her.

  “How did you do this in M&Ms?” she asks, placing one on her tongue.

  “Hey, you can’t eat the ones I used to ask you to marry me.” She laughs into my chest. “I had to use M&Ms, they’re our candy.”

  I pick up one from the bowl I set beside my question, holding it up for her.

  “Maddie and Mauro.” She sighs again and I put it in my mouth. She steps closer and wraps her arms around my neck. “You’re too romantic, you know that, right? How will you ever top this one?”

  I kiss her, and unlock her hands from around my waist, falling down onto my knees and grabbing the ring box from the chair on the table. Taking out the one-carat diamond with white gold band, I present it to her, sliding it on her left hand.

  “It’s perfect,” she says, gazing down at her hand.

  “It was a hard decision, but I thought simple and classic like my girl, worked best.”

  She presses her lips together and I think she’s trying not to cry.

  “The best part is that now everyone knows you’re mine.”

  She falls to her knees, her hands cradling my cheeks. “I’ve always been yours.”

  “And I’ll always be yours,” I promise.

  I brush my lips along hers.

  “Pinch me, Mauro?” she asks once I have her laying down on our hardwood floors.

  “I’ll do more than pinch you, baby.”

  “I mea
n it. Tell me this is real?” Her fingers massage the back of my head.

  “It’s real. We’re in love and we’re going to live happily ever after.”

  “I couldn’t love you more,” she whispers like it’s a secret between the two of us.

  I lay on top of her, kissing her neck. “Words I’ll never grow tired of hearing. But just so you know, I love you more.”

  Then before she can object, I crash my lips down on hers, swallowing down her moans.

  What fun is marriage without a couple fights over who loves who more?

  Later that night, I’m eating a row of M&Ms off my fiancée’s stomach, when my phone rings.

  I’m not on call so I won’t be answering it. Whoever it is, has lousy timing.

  The ringing stops and starts right back up.

  “It must be important,” Madison says, sitting up and ruining what I had planned once I passed her belly button.

  “Stay there.” I point to her and she giggles, falling back down to the mattress, three lonely M&Ms right above her small patch of hair.

  I reach for my phone, seeing Cristian’s name.

  “This better be important because I’m…”

  Madison’s knee nudges my ribcage and I stop talking. She’s still shy about giving my brothers any confirmation that we’re sleeping together. Pretty sure they’ve figured it out.

  “A call came through,” he says.

  “Another warehouse fire?” I ask and Madison sits up, the M&Ms falling off her body.

  There are still no leads on who is setting the fires, but the one that almost took my life was found to be arson as well.

  “No.”

  “Okay, Cris, stop fucking around so I can go back to eating M&Ms off my fiancée.”

  “First off, way too much information. Second, congratulations. She decided to ruin her life and accept your proposal?”

  “Did you call me to piss me off?”

  “No, like I said, a call came in tonight. It was Mom and Pop’s house.” I jump up from the bed, throwing Madison’s clothes at her as I try to locate my own from the pile on the floor.

  “Ma?” I ask.

  “She passed out and she’s on her way to the hospital. I’m on my way over from the station, said I had to leave for a family emergency. Luca’s doing the same. I’m sorry to ruin your night with Maddie. We tried to wait and see, but when the paramedics decided she needed to be checked out at the hospital, we had to call you.”