Page 37 of Roundabout

“You did.”

I look back at her, her seriousness almost too much.

“You’re just trying to—”

“Marry you?” she finishes, but I don’t answer. That’s not what I was about to say. Is that what she’s doing?

I study her, gauging.

Well, trying to gauge. She’s…different right now. Or maybe I’m just seeing her differently now that I’ve been away from her for a few days. Living with someone, being around them every day, focused on them so closely, you don’t notice all the changes they make like someone with a wider lens could. I’ve not only been looking at her, but also treating her, like the same girl I first met. But Angela’s not her anymore. Gone is the girl from Creekwood and in her place is the woman from the canyon. She was always fierce but this is fucking staggering.

Angela drops to one knee, causing me to actually lurch forward.

“What are you doing?”

She pulls out a ring box and presents it to me without opening it.

“Angela?”

“I’m sorry I lied to you. I’m sorry I went behind your back. I’m sorry I risked and ultimately caused the cancellation of the big wedding I would’ve been miserable at.”

“I knew it,” I say, making both of us grin.

“I’m sorry I didn’t tell you about Brittni and Makya sooner. I’m sorry I adopted them without your consent.”

I just shrug. What can I say? I wish they were legally mine, but we’ve never needed papers to tell us who our family is.

Her eyebrows crinkle, but she pushes on, saying, “I’m sorry I’m as broke now as I was when we first met.”

I scoff. “I never gave a shit about that.”

“I’m sorry I made you question my loyalty to you, to our family.”

Humiliation sweeps through me, trying to shield my eyes from the harsh truth of my absolute dumbfuckery. I accused Angela of cheating on me with the weakest, most non-existent evidence ever. The women were right to laugh at us when we came at them with that shit. We were so goddamn stupid.

I was so goddamn stupid. To consider it, was stupid. To actually say it, was so much worse. The second the accusation left my mouth, it also left a burn mark on my heart because I know it did on Angela’s, too.

I make sure I don’t blink as I pin her with the most sincerity I’m fucking capable of to say, “You didn’t make me do anything. My own insecurities made me question myself and my beliefs because I know you wouldn’t cheat on me, just like I knew you wouldn’t actually try to take Jace from me either. No one’s more sorry than I am for not only saying those things, but even thinking them. I’m so fucking sorry. You are—”

“Coty?”

“Yeah, babe?”

“This is my speech.”

Our mouths mirror each other’s as they both spread.

“Sorry. It’s just the way everything unfolded that day, I didn’t know what to think. I was so…”

“Scared?”

“Fucking terrified,” I admit for what might be the first time in my life. Being scared is foreign to me. Handling fear effectively, even more so. “It changed me until I didn’t even recognize myself. I got—”

“Reckless?”

Reckless. That’s a good way to describe how I felt that day thinking I was on the verge of losing the people I love most. I was downright irrational.

That must’ve been how Angela felt seeing the girls in danger. Damn.