“Fiancé?” I finally manage with a laugh as I pull away.
“Shut up,” she hisses, her arms crossing over her chest as she glares at me. “I was angry. I say stupid stuff when I’m angry.”
“You know, it’s not such a bad—”
“Finish that thought and you’ll be sleeping on the couch tonight,” she snaps.
Frankie isn’t any calmer when we pull up outside of my house. Her breaths are rushing out, making it hard to see out of the front windshield that’s fogging up.
“Hey,” I say after putting the truck in park and turning to face her. “It’s going to be fine.”
She refuses to look at me, but we’ve spent enough time together in recent weeks that I know she isn’t mad at me. Even still, I don’t want her upset.
“They don’t even care. They want me gone. If I’m married, they don’t even have to worry about me anymore. It’s just one more way for them to forfeit any responsibility.”
I pull her against my chest. This amazing girl is my responsibility now, and she has been since we came together in the barn, but I don’t imagine she cares to hear about that right now. All she can focus on is her parents once again disappointing her. All she wants is their love and attention, and even after finding out that she’s going to be a mother, they’re only thinking about themselves. She’s an afterthought, and that’s what kills her.
“Are you saying you don’t want to drive to Vegas and get hitched right now?”
She sighs loudly, pushing against my chest so she can sit up and face me.
“Seriously?” Her tone is flat, but I can see the mirth dancing in her pretty gray eyes.
I shrug. “It’s going to happen, eventually. You know that, right?”
“You’d marry me today?”
“Without hesitation,” I tell her.
“I still want to punish you for being so mean to me all those times,” she says after a long moment. “So I don’t think marrying you right now is the best idea.”
“I’ve had blue balls for months, doesn’t that count as punishment enough?”
I smile at her, giving her a quick wink so she knows I’m not seriously upset about just sleeping when we crash into bed at night.
“I’m not marrying you tonight, tomorrow, or next week, but,” her hand clasps mine in her lap, “I guess we can solve the other problem tonight.”
My grin is as wide as the Grand Canyon when I press my lips to hers.Chapter 46Frankie
“When will your mom get home?”
I’m shaking as Zeke unlocks the front door. I know what I promised in the truck, but tonight feels different from the way that night in the barn did. I want it, don’t get me wrong, but at the same time, I’m terrified.
I’m not scared that he’s going to hurt me or that he’s going to leave me. He’s proved every step since he made his confession to the whole school at my locker that day that he’s committed. He hasn’t said one mean thing to me. His lip hasn’t curled up in anger other than that time he caught Vaughn looking me up and down during lunch last week. He’s gone above and beyond to take care of me, pampering me like I never could’ve imagined. And I was cautious at first, pushing him until I was sure he’d snap and tell me to leave.
He’s rubbed my feet when I complained about them hurting. He has left the house at odd hours when I lied and told him I had weird cravings. He’s let me sleep on the weekends even when I know he was itching to go to the movies and out to eat like we’d made plans to do. Not once has he complained. Not once have I found him with a look of derision on his handsome face.
Slowly, it became obvious that he was doing exactly what he wanted to do. He wants to take care of me. He wants to make sure I have everything I need to be comfortable. He hasn’t looked in the direction of another girl or denied the way he felt for me to the guys that he played football with. Not once has he been caught doing anything suspicious on his phone or having a conversation with Bronwyn when he didn’t think he’d be caught.
He’s proven himself over and over, and even though I’ve wanted to say it forever, I didn’t have the courage to tell him I loved him until today. Until I saw the way his eyes teared up when he heard his baby’s heartbeat for the first time at my appointment. Not until I watched his throat work with emotion as he looked down at me like I’m the most precious thing in his world.
I knew it was time. Just like I know tonight is the perfect time for us to come together the way we did in Utah. Only this time, it’ll be filled with love and the promise of a future rather than heartbreak on the tail of him saying goodbye to his father.