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“Luke!” she cried, clenching around me as she came, milking me fucking dry.
Her head was thrown back as she rode me, and I came so hard I saw stars.
I saw my future and it was with Aspen. We may have done things a little backwards and a hell of a lot fucked up, but we’d make this work.
If we could fake it so good, then we could make it for real.
59
ASPEN
* * *
I worked the tea tin from the hole I dug two years ago. As I held it aloft, everyone cheered. When I put the ring in the ground, I’d been alone with a bottle of wine.
Now, I was with friends. And family.
God, I couldn’t believe it. I turned my head and smiled at everyone. Mrs. Waddle was in a folding camp chair beside the bulldog rock she led us to. Sierra, Jackson, and Johnny stood on top of it. Mallory and Theo sat on the ground next to Mrs. Waddle. Janet and Tom were a few feet away staring out at the view of Hunter Valley through the trees. From what they said, there weren’t many pines or hills in Peckers Cutoff, where Sierra and I were headed the next day. With Luke. To spend a week and have a picnic with his siblings and nieces and nephews. For Sierra to herd cattle and become a cowgirl and play in a sprinkler. Where Luke and I could just… be.
First, I had to get this ring. Luke knelt beside me, watched as I opened the tin and pulled out the ring box. Cracking it open, I showed him the diamond ring.
“I don’t blame you for burying it. It’s pretty ugly,” he deadpanned, then cracked a smile.
I swatted him and laughed.
“I know just the ring I’m going to give you.”
My smile fell. “What?”
“When I ask you to marry me. Don’t give me that look. It’s not happening today.” He leaned in and kissed me. “Momma, you got Nana’s ring ready?” he called.
“Whenever you are!” she called back.
“See? Whenever we’re ready,” he murmured. “Later.”
“Kissing. Gross!” Jackson said.
“Later,” I agreed. I wanted to marry him, but someday. I needed to get used to loving. To being loved. To allowing it into my life. Accepting that I deserve it. That there were people around me who deserved it from me in return.
“I did a lot more than kissing on that rock, young man,” Granny Waddle said.
I put the ring away, closed the lid on the tea tin, then stood.
“I’ll give it to Nathan to pass on to your ex’s lawyer,” Theo said, holding his hand out. I passed it to him. Gratefully. “Not that he’ll need the ring anytime soon. I doubt he’s marrying anyone from behind bars. Too bad he and your mother won’t be housed together.”
From what I was told–since I didn’t have a TV and refused to watch one to hear about my mother–she’d resigned from the Senate. She and Duncan were in jail and would most likely take plea deals that involved jail time.
What did that have to do with me?
Nothing. Absolutely nothing.
I’d been done with my parents years ago, but seeing them again, knowing Luke met them and knew my past, brought closure to that part of my life. Finding the ring, I was now officially done with Duncan, too.
I came full circle in front of the bulldog rock.
“It really does look like a bulldog,” Luke said, pulling me into his arms and staring at the boulder. “Let’s get a picture of everyone in front of it.”
“You putting it on your social media?” Mallory asked. “Everyone will want to find it.”
