by Megan Green
My spine stiffens.
Wait…he’s not…
Oh.
My.
God.
Joey seems to pick up on my realization because he smiles nervously. “Don’t worry. This isn’t a proposal. Not yet anyway.”
The air rushes out of my lungs. Even though I have no doubt that Joey is my future, I’m not prepared for that. Once we get college out of the way, then we can start talking about things like marriage. And mortgages. And…babies.
My heart skips a beat at the thought of children, realizing that what I thought was still a long way down the road is in fact right around the corner. I think back to how fast the last four years have flown by. College will be over before I know it. And then what? Will I be ready for what comes next?
My gaze falls back to Joey kneeling before me, his lips curling up into a soft smile when our eyes meet. And my fear evaporates. No matter what the future might hold, I know I’ll be fine. As long as I have Joey by my side.
I tug on his hand, trying to help him to his feet. I’m still not sure where this all came from, but now that I know he won’t be proposing, there’s no reason for him to stay down there on the floor.
He resists though, his face draining of color again. “I’m not finished yet.”
I squeeze his hands in mine, keeping my eyes fixed on his, so he knows he has my full attention.
He nods. “I love you so much, Nichole Hadley. You’re it for me. You make me so damn happy that, sometimes, I feel like I’m going to burst.”
I smile. “Ditto.”
He chuckles softly before his face falls. “I have something I’d like to give you. Something I’d like you to wear.”
He drops a hand from mine and reaches into his pocket.
“Joey…you said—”
He cuts me off, “It’s not an engagement ring. Trust me, when the day comes when I propose to you, you’ll know it. It won’t be on the bedroom floor of my parents’ house.”
He takes my left hand in his, slipping something onto my fourth finger. I watch in absolute confusion, but there’s a mix of joy in there as well.
“What this is, is a promise. A promise that everything we’ve ever wanted will come true. A promise that, someday, I will be replacing this ring with one more deserving of your finger. And a promise that I will come back to you.”
I stare down at the ring, its tiny diamond glinting in the overhead light. A lump forms in my throat, and I can feel the tears burning my eyes when his words register.
“Wait, what? Come back to me? What does that mean?”
And I can tell by his demeanor that this is the reason for his nerves. What he’s about to tell me is the reason his hands are shaking and his face is devoid of color. I thought it was because he was nervous over my reaction to this ring. But, looking at him now, I know I’m wrong.
And I know what he’s going to say before he even opens his mouth.
I push his hands away from me, twirling around in anger, and I stalk across the room. “No.” The word is hard and unforgiving.
I can’t believe he would do this to me.
He’s at my side in an instant, trying to pull me against him.
I shove him away, unable to even look at him. “Please tell me you didn’t, Joey. Please.”
When he’s silent for a moment, I finally give in and glance over my shoulder at him. The second my eyes meet his, I know I’m right.
“Nic, I had to. You don’t understand. Going to college, getting a degree—those aren’t things I want. I’m so thrilled you’re doing them. I want you to follow every single dream you’ve ever had. But I can’t keep pretending that mine are the same. I need to do this, Nic. It’s who I am. You wouldn’t believe the weight I felt lift off my shoulders the second I stepped out of that recruiter’s office. It just felt…right. I finally feel like I’m doing what I should be doing. I feel like I’ve found my place in the world.”
“And that place is away from me?” I shriek, feeling like my chest is tearing in two. The ache there is unbearable. I press my hand against my heart, hoping that, if I keep hold long enough, it might prevent it from shattering completely.
“Never,” Joey whispers, sitting down on the edge of his bed, his head coming to rest in his hands. “Don’t you know how hard this is for me, too, Nic? The thought of leaving you terrifies the hell out of me. But the thought of living a life I don’t love, carrying on with a plan that I don’t want, spending the rest of my years in a career that I hate…I just can’t do it, Nic. I’d never ask that of you. So, please, don’t ask it of me.”
“You didn’t ask me anything, Joey Roberts! That’s the problem here. You knew how I felt about this. And you went ahead and did it anyway without even a second thought as to how I would feel. How it would affect me.”
He springs up off the bed, his jaw clenching in anger as he strides toward me. “Do you hear how fucking selfish you sound? I, I, I. Me, me, me. Jesus Christ, Nic,” he says with an exhale, pushing his fingers into his hair and pulling gently. “You’re acting like I’m running off to be a fucking porn star or something. I’m dedicating my life to serving our country. To fighting for the freedom that allows you to do things, like go to college, get a good job, or hell…even fucking vote. It’s because of our nation’s military that you even get to do any of those things. Because of people like me who are willing to risk it all to ensure you’re able to live the life you want. How in the hell can you not respect that?”
I shove at him, pushing him away from me, and I dart for the door. A small part of me, deep down, agrees with what he’s saying. I should be proud of him for wanting to do something so noble. So selfless. But the larger part of me can only feel hurt. And, unfortunately, the larger part of me squashes every bit of that niggling small part that’s telling me to calm down and listen. That we can work this out.
I reach the door, the light from the window once again reflecting off the ring on my left hand.
I stop.
Turning to Joey, I look down at the ring before raising my eyes to his. He looks at me hopefully as my right hand twists the ring around my finger.
“I hope you find whatever it is you’re looking for, Joey.”
Pulling the ring from my finger, I slam it down on the nightstand before flinging open the door and running out of the house.
Joey doesn’t follow.
The next morning, I’m awoken by the sound of a jackhammer. I crack open an eye, and the pain that hits me is so blinding that I realize the jackhammer I’m hearing is actually in my head. Lifting my right hand to my head, I press it against my temple, trying to dull the pain.
After a moment, I try again, slowly lifting my eyelids, and I look around the room.
Where am I?
Joey groans next to me, rolling over and throwing his arm around my waist, trying to pull me against him.
But the second his fingers touch my skin, I know.
All thoughts of my headache disappear as I jump out of bed. Scurrying across the floor, I stare in horror at the bed.
Owen Black’s sleeping face stares back at me.
Swirls of last night come flashing back to my mind.
My argument with Joey.
Arriving at Alex’s party.
Alcohol.
So much alcohol.
I was so angry.
And, while I was in my drunken stupor, Owen was so sweet, listening to me as I cried about what Joey had done.
Owen leaning in and kissing me.
Oh God…
What have I done?
I’ve kidnapped Cade.
Okay, not really. But I told Nichole he was coming with me today. No ifs, ands, or buts about it.
Cade and I need some man time.
Cade begged and pleaded with her the second I’d asked, which was totally my intention, because it made it impossible for her to say no.
So, as of ten minutes ago, Cade has been buckled into the passenger seat of my truck, grinning at
me as I finish telling him what I have planned for the day.
“Do you think she’ll like it?” I ask when I’m done.
Cade brings a finger to his lips, tapping it against them, as if he’s deep in thought.
“No,” he says simply.
My shoulders slump in defeat.
He giggles. “I think she’ll love it.”
I reach across the seat, giving him a playful shove. “Not cool, little dude. Not cool at all.”
He beams at me, his eyes glowing with anticipation.
He clambers from my truck when we pull into my driveway. Rushing around to my side, he waits for me to get down. He’s impatient, dancing from foot to foot.
“Okay,” I say, clapping my hands and rubbing them together, “let’s get started.”
The sun is setting as I pull into my driveway for the second time today. This time, Nichole is in the passenger seat after we dropped Cade off with Mario for the night. Nichole was nervous about leaving him overnight, but Mario shooed her away, insisting she go and enjoy herself for once and not worry about anybody else.
I wholeheartedly agreed.
Nichole has been worrying about others for far too long. It’s time she did something for herself for a change.
That was what prompted this entire idea.
Cade spent the afternoon helping me get everything ready. And though I knew he was disappointed that he wouldn’t be here to see her face when she saw it, I knew he was just glad that she was finally going to get an evening she deserved.
The fact that I agreed to videotape her reaction so that he could watch it later helped persuade him. I just need to make sure I remember to turn it off, or poor little Cade is going to get a whole lot more than he bargained for.
I have plans for Nichole tonight.
Big plans.
I smile to myself at my terrible double entendre. I glance over at Nichole, grateful that she hasn’t noticed the stupid smirk on my face.
I hop out of the truck and run around to help her down. The second her feet touch the ground, I press her back against the door, my mouth closing over hers in a fiery kiss.
“I’ve been waiting to do that all day,” I whisper in her ear when I finally pull back.
She smiles, a faint pink hue tingeing the rounds of her cheeks. “Well, I’m glad you didn’t waste any time,” she says coyly.
“I’ve wasted enough time when it comes to you. I’m not about to waste any more.”
I wrap my arm around her waist and possessively pull her into me. She responds likewise, and together, we make our way into the house.
She expectantly looks around when we enter. “So, what’s this big surprise? Cade said it would knock me off my feet. His words, not mine. What exactly are you teaching my son over here?” she asks with a grin.
“Casanova Training Camp. Didn’t I tell you that’s my day job?”
She gently smacks me on the arm. “More like career. If there’s one thing you’ve never struggled with, it’s getting whomever you want to do whatever you want whenever you want with only that stupid smile of yours.”
I flash said smile at her.
She rolls her eyes. “See? My point exactly.”
I tell her to go into the laundry room and visit Onyx for a minute while I get everything ready. I’ve locked the poor bastard in there for the evening, but I couldn’t risk him destroying everything Cade and I did before Nichole even got a chance to see it. We’ll go spring him in a couple of hours.
I hear Onyx’s excited barks as she opens the door, and I take that as my cue to get started. Grabbing a lighter from the kitchen, I hustle out the back door and over to the area Cade and I set up. After lighting what feels like nine thousand candles—I might’ve gone a bit overboard on those—I go in search of Nichole.
She’s exactly where I left her—on the floor in the laundry room. Her head is thrown back in laughter as Onyx wrestles with the tug rope she’s holding in her hand. His little growls are so serious, as if he thinks he’s the biggest badass on the planet and he is going to annihilate said rope when, in fact, all he’s successfully done is loosen his milk teeth. It’s so damn adorable that it borders on ridiculous. And Nichole is so damn gorgeous as she laughs that it borders on obscene, my thoughts instantly flashing to last night and the faces she made when she came.
I tried to get her to talk to me after I told her I loved her, and she responded so strangely. But she shut down on me, the armored Nichole once again in place. I spent the night on her couch because she’d asked. I wasn’t sure why she’d asked, and she refused to explain. But if she asked me for something, you’d better believe I was going to do it.
I was woken this morning by a familiar seven-year-old face in my own, his finger tapping against my forehead until my eyes finally fluttered open. He didn’t even ask what I was doing there. A big smile spread across his face the second my eyes met his. He climbed over my legs, sitting against the back of the couch, and he flipped on the TV, asking if I wanted to watch cartoons with him. Nichole came out and found us both slumped on the couch, bowls of Lucky Charms perched precariously on each of our bellies as we shoveled the cereal into our mouths, neither of our eyes straying from the antics of SpongeBob and his pal Patrick.
Lucky for me, Nichole seemed more like her normal self, the awkwardness of our last few minutes together last night having seemingly disappeared. She joined us on the couch and laughed right along with her son, and when I asked her if Cade could spend the day with me, she was surprisingly agreeable. But, like I said, Cade didn’t really give her much choice there.
And, when I picked her up a half hour ago, any slight traces of stiffness I might have picked up on this morning were completely gone. Thank God for that; otherwise, this evening would not have worked out as I’d planned.
Nichole looks up at me from where she’s seated, and I’m half-tempted to just plop down on the floor next to her and spend the evening right in this very spot. She looks so damn happy, and it would be a shame to take her from it. But then all that work Cade and I did would be for nothing. Let’s just hope what she finds waiting for her outside will make her just as happy as this hyperactive bag of fleas.
Reaching my hand out, I pull Nichole to her feet.
She glances down at the dog. “Does he get to come, too?”
I shake my head. “Not yet. I’m afraid you’ll have to say good-bye for now.”
She pouts playfully. “Aw, but he looks so sad, being cooped up in here.”
I glance down at Onyx, who is giving me a rather pathetic look as he stares up at me with his dark eyes. I grab a treat from the cupboard above the washer, and his ears instantly perk up. Tossing it his way, he skids across the tiled floor as he attempts to catch it.
“There. That’ll keep him occupied for a bit. Now, come on. The sooner you get your cute butt outside, the sooner we can spring this poor, innocent pooch from his prison.”
Nichole squeezes past me, out the door, and I give Onyx one final pat on the head as he chews on his bone before I follow her. Closing the door behind me, I turn just in time to see Nichole reach for the handle to the back door.
“Wait!” I shout, grabbing her arm and twirling her around to face me.
She scrunches her nose at me in confusion. “Did you not just tell me to go outside?” she asks, sarcasm heavy in her tone.
I laugh. “Well, yeah. But you can’t just go walking out there, all willy-nilly. It’ll ruin the surprise.”
She quirks an eyebrow at me. “Willy-nilly? Who are you? My grandmother?”
I spin her back around, covering her eyes with my hand, and I lean down and whisper in her ear, “Would your grandmother have made you come that hard last night?” I say with a playful bite at her neck.
She stiffens against me, and I can feel her heartbeat start to race against my chest. Pressing my lips to the spot where my teeth just were, I pull open the back door with one hand while making sure to keep the other firmly over her eyes. Once
it’s open, I circle my free arm around her waist, and holding her tightly against me, I walk us both out the back door and onto the patio.
A quick survey lets me know everything is in place.
Once Nichole is right in the center of it all, I finally speak, “You ready?”
She nods against my fingers, her breath hitching ever so slightly.
“Okay, here goes. One, two…”
At the count of three, I release my hand from her eyes and step back, waiting for her to blink her vision back into focus. I carefully watch her face, searching for any signs of displeasure at what she sees. Her brows pull together in confusion, but she doesn’t seem angry. I take that as a good sign. Still, I leave her be for a moment, letting her take in the scene in my backyard before I attempt to speak.
After a few moments, she turns to me, her mouth hanging open as if she wants to say something but isn’t exactly sure what. Finally, she settles on, “I don’t understand.”
“Your perfect date,” I say simply.
When she shakes her head at me, obviously not understanding what I mean, I laugh softly.
“A long, long time ago…” I start, pausing for effect.
Nichole shoves me. “If you finish that sentence with anything resembling the word galaxy, I might have to hurt you.”
I laugh, wrapping both arms around her waist and pulling her back into me.
“No. But a long, long time ago, there was a boy who loved a girl. Loved her so much, he let her inflict hour upon hour of terrible chick flicks on him.”
“You loved them. Don’t even act like you didn’t,” she quips at me.
I press my lips to her forehead. “I loved you. Don’t get it twisted. How many teenage boys do you know who love sitting around, watching Reese Witherspoon?” I joke. “Not a single damn one. Now, are you going to let me finish my story or not?”
Her dark eyes gaze up at me, waiting for me to continue.
“So, one night, said boy and girl were curled up on the couch, the girl watching some terrible Sandra Bullock movie and the boy trying to figure out the best way to get her out of her top.”
Another playful smack—only, this time, it’s slightly harder.
