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Spotting the bottle of wine on the seat next to me, I decided that maybe a drink would calm me down.
And as I sat there and counted down with the clock, I drank, sip after sip, hoping that it would help me gain some courage.Chapter 18Barbie sure has a lot of nice things for a woman whose knees don’t bend.
-T-shirt
Ezra
I watched her chug half the wine with a wide grin on my face.
Getting out of my truck that I’d been sitting in for ten minutes now while I watched her talk to herself, I slammed the door, closed and locked it with my key fob before walking up to Raleigh’s window and tapping on it lightly.
She screamed and would’ve dropped the bottle, but luckily, she at least had a miniscule amount of hand-eye coordination.
“Ezra!” she yelled. “You scared the shit out of me.”
I gestured to the door. “Unlock it and let’s get inside.”
She either didn’t hear me or refused to listen. Whatever the reason, she stayed staring into nothing as she finished off what was left of her wine. It took her an entire minute, and by the time she finished, she started to laugh.
I stepped back as she opened the car door but immediately stepped back forward when she nearly tumbled out of the car.
The only thing that saved her from eating gravel was the fact that she still had her seatbelt on when she decided it was time to get out.
I snorted in disbelief as she flailed there for a second before I pushed her back inside, nabbed the empty glass bottle before it could smash into a hundred tiny pieces, and then unbuckled her.
Once she was free of the confines of her seatbelt, she stood up, her legs wobbly.
“You know,” she said, sounding chipper. “I really, really, really love you. Like, I’ve loved you for my entire life kind of love. I don’t think that anyone on this planet could love you more than I do.”
I felt something inside of my chest start to ease. It’d been tight since our fight this afternoon.
Hearing her say that she’d been invisible to me had been a solid blow straight to my heart.
The sad thing was that she was right. I hadn’t seen her. I had no clue why, either. Then and now, Raleigh Crusie was a beautiful person. Not only outside, but inside as well.
I was kicking myself for being so self-absorbed that I didn’t see her, too.
Hell, not only had we gone to high school together, but we’d worked at the same freakin’ school for going on five years now. Sure, I’d seen her in passing, in high school as well as professionally, but I hadn’t allowed myself to think of her that way.
Not until she’d knocked over eight million rolls of wrapping paper in the middle of Target, gotten a bloody nose from my industrial size box of condoms, and then ran to the bathroom while leaving her phone open to practically a porno book in her Kindle app.
Seriously, swear to God, this woman was made for me, and I never knew it.
Before she could wobble a second time, I had her in my arms, and I was carrying her bridal-style into my place.
Once I had her settled on my couch, I went back outside to make sure her car was locked up, only then realizing that it wasn’t her car at all, but Camryn’s.
Then I felt doubly bad because I’d seen her car at the school today, and guessed that it was once again acting up on her. And I knew that she’d walked thanks to the attendant at the gas station, as well as the teller at the bank, letting me know that she’d passed by there.
“Fuck me,” I grumbled, feeling like the lowest piece of crap on the planet.
Her walking home had meant she’d done it in those heels that she’d worn to school on my request, despite her saying that they were uncomfortable.
“Shit,” I continued to complain as I walked back inside my house.
The moment I had the door closed behind me, my eyes were once again on Raleigh, who had slumped on the couch and was now drooling on my sofa cushion.
Smiling at the cuteness that was my woman, I pulled out my phone and took a picture of her, quickly putting it as my background before shoving it back into my pocket and carrying her back up the stairs.
Her practically plain cast caught my eye again, and just like this morning, I had the urge to write on it again.
Snatching the black Sharpie off the counter as I walked past, I headed up the stairs and to my bedroom, where I placed her gently on the bed so I didn’t wake her.
Once she was down, I uncapped the marker and started to write on her cast.
