“Damn.”
“Yeah…”
“Why haven’t you? I mean, I know why you’re not proposing now, and it’s your business, but it’s been five years. Do you two not want that?”
“That’s a question, isn’t it? We both want to get married. I thought I’d ask. I really thought I’d ask quickly. I felt like right away I was going to marry her, so why wait? It took us time to move in together because of work, and I thought I should ask then because I wanted to marry her, but then, I didn’t ask, andneither did she, and we started getting to the hard parts: the fights and the wondering if we should get married at all.”
“I felt the same with Lacey,” River shared. “But it’s not there anymore, that feeling like I want to take all those steps with her fast so that we can get to the part where we’re married and happy in some house we own with a dog or a cat or maybe both because we don’t want kids. I felt that way for months, but then, I thought I should enjoy the time we have in the phases because there’s no rush to a finish line in a relationship. When she asked me to move in, I–” River shook her head. “I was glad. I was really glad that I hadn’t moved fast because I probably would’ve proposed already. We could’ve been planning a wedding right now, and that thought scares the crap out of me. Lacey is amazing. Idolove her. It’s just that I… I know I don’t want to marry her.”
“Can we just stay out here forever and, like, not move at all?” Kennedy asked. “Let the whole world pass us by and avoid dealing with everything that’s bothering us?”
River nodded and said, “That sounds really good right about now, actually.”
CHAPTER 21
Cameron
“Okay. One more point,” she said. “Can you hold me off?”
“No,” Lacey replied, and Cameron laughed at her directness.
“I’m going to hit it that way, so you’d want to block on the right,” she told her.
“Okay. Still no,” Lacey said and moved to the right.
Cameron laughed again and hit the puck hard, but not as hard as she normally would to start them off. Lacey didn’t move, but the puck hit exactly where Cameron had told her it would and bounced back, sliding straight toward Cameron.
“Now, to the left.”
“Cam, if you keep telling me where it’s going to go, this isn’t exactly teaching me.”
Cameron hit it back to her and replied, “I’m trying to help with your reflexes.”
“So, if I play this again later against someone else here, they’re going to tell me every move they’ll make in advance? Because if not, I’m not sure that’s going to help much.”
Cameron tapped the puck that Lacey had just hit back to her and said, “Okay. Want to go fast, then? I’ll really play.”
“Reallyplay? I have scored one point. You’re about to win.”
Cameron grabbed the puck, and her eyes landed on the doors and the beach just beyond, where she could make out two shapes on the sand.
“What do you think they’re talking about out there?”
Lacey turned her head to look and said, “I don’t know. I thought River was just going to walk and listen to music.”
“Seems like Kennedy decided to join her.”
“I guess so. Does that bother you?”
“Weirdly, both yes and no.”
“What do you mean?” Lacey asked.
“It bothers me because she’s my girlfriend of five years, and she’s spending more time with someone else this weekend than with me, when this was supposed to be a double date and a chance for us to have some time together away from everything, but I’m doing the same thing with you, so there’s that. It also doesn’t bother me because I want… God, I want Ken to be happy. I’ve seen her laugh and smile a lot since we got here, and I know that’s not because of me.”
“It’s because ofmygirlfriend,” Lacey said.
“Does it botheryou?” she asked, not knowing what she wanted the answer to be.
