Chasing forever, p.23
Chasing Forever, page 23
“What was your reward?” My forehead wrinkles as I look down at her.
She kisses my chest, inching up. “You, silly.”
She kills me with her confession, and I keep her lips on me, deepening the kiss until I roll us back over and take her again.
I’ll never forget tonight. But I hope that it’s just one of the many memories I’m going to make with Lottie over a lifetime.
Chapter Forty-Two
Lottie
Brooks parks at my house before dinner with my parents. Since we all live on the property, it’s just as easy to meet up here and walk over to their place. Romy went over to my parents’ house earlier to help my mom with dinner, although I’m sure she’s sitting eating the appetizers instead of helping.
Wearing a sundress, I walk out onto the porch with a sweater in hand in case it gets cold on our walk back after dinner.
“Why don’t we turn around, and you can show me your room?” Brooks twirls his finger in the air.
“Hey, is that any way to talk when you’re about to have dinner with my father?”
I slowly step down the porch stairs, and by the time I hit the bottom, Brooks is there waiting for me. He pulls a bouquet of flowers from behind his back.
“For me?” I take them from him and inhale their scent.
“They’re actually for your mom,” he says with a straight face. I take him for his word until he laughs. “Kidding. I have another bouquet for her in the truck.”
“I should put them in water.” I turn back around and go into the house, where I pull out a vase and fill it with water. Once the flowers are inside, I place the vase beside the sink and smile.
When I circle back around, Brooks is there. “Will you come home with me tonight? I’m off tomorrow because I have to finish that truck I’ve been working on. I can drive you to work though.”
I draw closer to him, fiddling with the collar of his button-down shirt. “Maybe I can swindle a day off too. Be sweet to my mom tonight.”
We kiss quickly, then he takes my hand and guides me out of the house, over to the path by the lake.
“Will you miss it here?” Brooks asks as we’re passing the guys’ house.
“The ranch?”
“I’m not trying to be presumptuous, but if we stay married, or if you marry someone else—”
“Wait what?” I stop him, and he looks down at his feet before lifting his gaze to me.
“I don’t want to assume anything.”
“Assume away!” I say, my tone more forceful than I mean it to be.
“Well, we haven’t talked about it.” He tries to slide his hand from mine, but I grab his big palm.
“Have I not been clear?”
“Lottie, you can’t get mad. We got married in Vegas. Drunk. I swindled you into some dates to keep you from getting the marriage annulled. We’re here, and I love where we are. My head is a mess, and I just want to give you options. I don’t want this to end, and I know you don’t either, but I don’t know if you want to be married to me.”
I release his hand and turn toward the lake, wrapping my arms around me. I’d assumed we were on the same page. “I don’t want options.”
He slides his arms around my waist and puts his chin on my head. “Does that mean you don’t want to annul me?”
“We still have one more date, but I wasn’t going to call the lawyers or anything.”
He chuckles, and his arms tighten across my middle. I rest my hands on his arm.
“It’s crazy, right? I mean, where do we go from here? We kind of started at the finish line.”
I circle in his arms, sucking in a big breath. “I’m going to be really brave right now and tell you where my head is. And if yours isn’t there, Brooks, I’m begging you, please tell me. You’ve been so forthcoming with your feelings for me, and I want to do the same, but I don’t want you to pity me or anything.”
“God, Lottie, I would never pity you. I’ll always be truthful with you.” He tucks a wisp of hair the breeze has caught and blown across my face behind my ear.
I inhale and exhale, staring into his eyes. Eyes that I’ve learned show everything he’s feeling, and I know I can trust him with my heart. “When I woke up married to you, I wasn’t completely disappointed, despite how it may have seemed. I mean, it was insane, but I was way more worried about what people would say than I was worried about my life with you.”
He smirks, the same one that drew me to him in the first place, but also the same one that drove me crazy when he was fighting the annulment so hard.
“Oh god, think you can keep your ego in check? Can I continue?”
He waves for me to keep going, still grinning. “Please. So far, I love where this is going.”
“I thought you would. Anyway, I wanted the annulment because I didn’t want to let you get close to me. I didn’t want to give you the chance to crack my armor and risk feeling all that pain all over again. But you’re a stubborn bastard, so you did it anyway, and somewhere along the way, I fell madly in love with you. You couldn’t just do what I wanted you to, huh?”
He chuckles and tugs me into him, securing me in one of his hugs that always makes me feel so safe and taken care of. “So, what do you want now, Lottie Owens?”
“I love you, and you don’t even know my name.” I circle out of his arms and throw my arms in the air. “It’s Lottie Watson.”
He doesn’t say anything, waiting for me to say the actual words. I’ve delayed it enough and need to put it out there.
“I want to stay married. I want to move in together. I want to have a big reception and celebrate our love with all our friends and family. I want to make you crappy dinners you swallow down, pretending to like them, and I want to make you honey-do lists. Most of all, I just want Mack.”
“Always the dog.” He shakes his head, smiling.
“But if you want to wait and see—”
He puts his finger on my lips and stops me saying anything else. “I’ve wanted all those things for as long as I can remember, and I want to give them all back to you. Well, except Mack. He’s already mine. I guess I’ll share him.”
“So, we’re on the same page?”
Brooks nods. “We’re on the same page.”
He gives me a kiss as if we’re sealing our agreement.
I draw back for a second. “We’re going to be late, but all I want to do is make love to you right now.”
“I’ll still be here after the dinner. We have all night after we’re done at your parents’.” He takes my hand and guides me farther along the path.
“A quickie at my house?” There’s no way I can wait.
“You have no idea how fast I can be.” He swoops me up over his shoulder and runs back to my house.
I’m sure we won’t miss anything. Romy’s probably eating all the appetizers anyway.
By the time we walk in the door at my parents’, everyone is seated at the dinner table, with annoyed expressions on their faces.
Whoops.
Chapter Forty-Three
Brooks
Arriving late isn’t exactly the impression I wanted to make on her family now that I’m officially Lottie’s husband in more than name alone.
And damn it, after all that, I forgot Darla’s flowers.
“See, I told you Romy would have eaten all the appetizers.” Lottie walks in and sits down at the table. “Sorry we’re late.”
“My chicken is cold now,” Wren whines, which isn’t like her.
“Sorry,” I mumble.
“It’s okay, I remember those days.” Darla looks lovingly at Brad.
“And if we didn’t live on this ranch, there would be more.” Brad picks up his fork and cuts into his chicken.
“What days?” Wren asks, but Bennett tells her to eat her food.
“I’d like to hear about Romy and where she’s been disappearing to lately.” Lottie changes the subject fast.
Her relationship with her siblings is so different from mine with Holden. Nowadays, I never even talk to him. Guess I can add my parents to that list as well now.
Romy looks at Wren. “Just hanging out with a friend.”
“I have a new friend,” Wren says, smile bright.
“Kayla, right?” I wink, putting a piece of chicken in my mouth.
“Is that the Millers’ girl? I’ve heard he’s really converting some voters over to his side.” Brad glances at me.
“The girl we met at the fair?” Lottie asks. “She’s nice. You like her?”
“Not her.” Wren shakes her head. “I like her, but she’s not my new friend.”
“Oh, who?” Bennett’s wrinkled forehead tells me even he’s in the dark about it.
“Leia,” Wren says. “Kayla and I asked her to play with us at recess.”
“So, you have a trio, that’s cute.” Romy smiles at her niece.
Wren tells us how Leia is from California, but her grandparents live here. When she says her last name, it doesn’t sound familiar to any of us though.
“I guess we’ve had a few transplants recently,” I comment since I know most of the people who come and go in the area.
“Everyone wants to live in Willowbrook.” Darla smiles at us, and I quickly feel as if I’m in the hot seat. “So, Brooks, how are things progressing?”
“Don’t, Mom. Stay out of it.” Lottie’s hand falls under the table and squeezes my thigh.
“Hands where I can see ’em, Lottie,” Darla says, and I slide my leg to the side.
Lottie’s hand falls off my thigh, and she grunts. “I’m thirty-five.”
“If I can’t talk about it, you can’t touch him.” Her mother gives her a look.
I refrain from laughing because I know it would earn me a swat from my wife.
My wife.
Jesus, that sounds good.
Lottie picks up my hand and puts it around her shoulder. “But he can touch me?”
“No one is touching anyone,” Brad says, pointing his fork at me.
Maybe Holden was right about Brad not being as easygoing as he seems.
The rest of dinner is relaxed. They talk about nothing major but all have major reactions. All the siblings bicker as I expected, and Darla makes inappropriate jokes while Brad eats mostly and only mumbles something here and there. I love every second of it.
It beats the dinner tables I grew up with that were nearly silent unless my dad was holding court. Mostly my mom, brother, and I kept our mouths shut because we were never sure what might set my dad off.
When we’re finished eating and have cleared the table, I figure this is the time for me to pull Brad aside while Lottie is distracted by coloring with Wren. This wasn’t my plan tonight, but after my talk with Lottie, I feel as if I need to do this sooner than later.
“Brad, can we chat on the porch?” I ask, my hand shaking.
“Sure. Want a beer?” he asks.
“Love one.”
Once we have our beers in hand, we step out onto their big porch that overlooks the lake on Plain Daisy Ranch. Ben, Emmett, and Jude all have their houses on the other side of the lake. This side is dedicated to the Owens and Ellis families, but right now, all the girls live in one house and all the guys in another.
“Sit.” Brad points toward a chair.
The night has a chill in the air, but it’s growing warmer every day. The sun has almost set, the sky just still barely lit up.
“Should I pretend this isn’t the talk?” Brad asks when I’m quiet for too long.
“Lottie and I talked on the way over,” I say. “She seems to want the same thing as I do.”
He nods, sipping his beer. “That doesn’t surprise me.”
“Mr. Owens, I know a long time ago, my brother came to you and asked for Lottie’s hand, and I’m sure you don’t love that here’s another Watson doing the same. It takes a lot of trust on your part, but—”
“Your brother never asked me.”
“What?” I frown. There’s no way. How could he not have talked to Lottie’s dad before he proposed, especially with how young she was?
Brad shakes his head. “Just knocked her up, and when she lost the baby, the bastard abandoned her.”
“Jesus.” I push my hand through my hair, chest tight.
He sits on the edge of his seat. “Listen, I’m not really a hard ass. I definitely don’t want to be one of those fathers-in-law who cleans his gun any time you’re around. I’m not going to tell you that if you hurt her, I’ll break you. Hell, your brother got off scot-free.”
“I—”
“I don’t like being interrupted though.”
“Sorry,” I mumble, and he eyes me before chuckling.
“I’ve been a fan of you for a long time, son. A lot of years went by where I just wanted to lock the two of you in a room together. I meant what I said at the airport, you’re already family, so there’s no welcoming you because you’re already a part of us. Have been for a long time. I would never hold what your brother did over your head. I trust you with my daughter, and I hope I never regret that one day. I’m fairly sure I never will though. So go ahead and ask the question so I can say yes, and we can enjoy our beers.”
“Sir.”
“Not sir, and not Mr. Owens, just Brad.”
“Brad, may I have Lottie’s hand in marriage? I love her and—”
“Yes, you can. You don’t have to give me all your reasons. I know why you love her, and I’ve seen how much you care for her written all over your face for years. So, go ahead and take her off my hands. Please.” He chuckles and tips back his beer.
“Thank you.” I have to swallow hard past the emotion clogging my throat. I’m not used to this feeling… acceptance. Feeling as though I’m enough just how I am.
Darla walks out with a glass of wine. “What’s going on out here?”
“Don’t try to act like you don’t know,” Brad says.
“Did you give him a hard time?” Darla sits in the chair next to Brad.
“Why would I? He married her behind our back anyway.”
“Please, I was drunk, and I never would—”
“Relax. I’d like the Brooks who existed before he was married to my daughter. Can you bring him back? Stop tiptoeing around us and just be yourself?” Brad asks.
I lean back in the chair. “I can.”
“Good. Now tell me how upset Walker Matthews was after you guys beat him at softball.”
And just like that, the conversation moves on, and Brad is the same Brad I’ve talked to a million times before.
Lottie ends up coming out with Wren, and they blow bubbles along the porch, circling around and around until Lottie gets dizzy and sits in my lap.
Brad builds a fire in the fire pit, and we all sit around and bullshit about nothing and everything.
It’s so different from my family, and I realize it’s a family I’m blessed to be a part of.
I didn’t just win the jackpot with Lottie, but with her family too.
Chapter Forty-Four
Lottie
For his final date, Brooks drives us into Lincoln. I’m surprised we came all the way up here, but I’m not complaining. It’s time with Brooks, and that’s all that matters.
Although we’ve already decided we’re not getting an annulment, Brooks was adamant that we finish all four of our dates. The funniest part to me is how many things we’ve done that could be considered dates anyway.
He made me go home and get changed even though I’ve been staying at his house every night for the last week.
Brooks is dressed in jeans and a T-shirt with his baseball hat on. I opted for a dress with my cowboy boots, thinking that we’d be going to a restaurant.
“Am I too dressed up?” I ask.
“You look perfect.” He turns the corner once we’re in Lincoln, obviously knowing exactly where he’s going.
“Where are we going?” I ask.
“A farmers’ market.”
“Oh fun.” I straighten and look around to try to see what it will look like. “Good date idea.”
He pulls into a small area with a sign that says vendors.
“Oh, I don’t think we can park here,” I say, pointing at the sign.
Brooks parks his truck anyway, turns it off, and grabs my hands.
“What’s going on?” I look at him warily because now he seems a little nervous.
He dodges eye contact, looking out the window at people with carts and bags walking into the farmers’ market area. “First, I want to say, you don’t have to do this. You say no, and I’ll turn this truck around.”
“Why are we in the vendors area?” My stomach is like a rubber band of anxiety.
“In the back of the truck, I have all the pottery you’ve stored on your shelves. I know I went behind your back, and you can be mad at me if you want. I’ll completely understand, but Lottie, you’re so talented, and I’m really hoping that all you need is a little push. Kind of like marrying me in Vegas.”
I roll my eyes and can’t help the small smile that lifts the corners of my lips.
“You know what that does to me, and we’re in a very public place.” His voice is low.
I shake my head. “Be specific. What are you asking?”
“I rented a booth for today. I have your stuff, I’ve bought displays, I’ve gotten business cards made. Briar designed a logo and said if you hate it, you guys can go over it after this and change it, but we felt like you needed something to hand out here.”
I bury my head in my hands. “Seriously, this is crazy.” I turn in my seat and look out the window. “And in Lincoln? You could have done it in Hickory.”
“I figured the farther away, the better. It’s like dipping your toes in the water. Like a first date.”
“Brooks, stop comparing this to us.”
“Why? Look at what a success we are. We got married drunk and fell in love. We won after taking that risk, and I know you’re going to win at this one too.”
