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Forrest continued not to say anything, which only made the bubble in my chest feel even tighter. I promised Dakota I’d sort this out, but if Forrest was going to be a pig-headed asshole, what else could I do or say?
“I will never forgive you if you push her away, Deacon. So, you make it work. Whatever you need to do, you swear to me right here and now that you’re going to do everything in your power to make her the happiest woman in the world.”
It sounded like a speech an older brother or father would give a boyfriend, and maybe that helped me finally see what both of them had been saying all along. Their friendship did run deeper than the bonds normally did between friends.
“Alright, I can do one better, though.”
“Yeah? What’s that?”
“I wanna ask her to marry me if that’s alright by you?”
dakota
Deacon and Forrestwere still missing. A few minutes after he left, Beau returned looking uncomfortable, which didn’t bode well for whatever was going on in the garage. I tried to drink my tea, but it was hard to concentrate when my heart was pounding a mile a minute, trying to leap straight out of my chest.
Rising from the couch, I quietly excused myself from the game of cards everyone was playing and walked to the kitchen, sliding the back door open. Stepping out onto the porch, the cool night air lifted the hairs on my arm, bringing goosebumps with it. Still, it was better out here than being in there waiting.
I padded across the deck to lean against the rail, looking out over the lake behind the Homestead’s property.
The moon was nearly full, hanging heavy-bellied in the sky and lit up the water where little blocks of ice still floated, slowly melting as more spring weather came with each passing day.
“What’s the matter?” Wren’s voice cut into my thoughts as I jumped, twisting to look at her.
“Nothing.”
“Liar.” She set her mug of coffee on the deck railing and leaned her hip against it so she could turn to see me. “Spill. You haven’t spoken a word to Forrest all night.”
I cringed, aware of how obvious that would be to everyone. We were usually cracking jokes and laughing all night at these things. Now, we couldn’t even look at each other. I’d hoped maybe they’d chalk it up to Deacon and I coming to the party together, outing ourselves and answeringallthe questions about what happened after the auction, why I went radio-silent, and if we were together-together now.
Apparently not.
“He’s upset about Deacon and me. He sort of made it a deal in our friendship that I wasn’t supposed to go for one of his brothers, and he wouldn’t go for one of my sisters.”
“Really? And you agreed to that?”
I shrugged, bringing my mug to my lips just to have an excuse to skip answering her. Wren wasn’t stalled as she pressed on.
“You’ve been in love with Deacon since, I don’t know, but I’ve seen the heart eyes you’ve shot him over the dinner table for years.”
“Well, apparently Forrest didn’t.” I set the mug back down with a shrug.
“And now he’s not talking to you?”
“Not quite.” I sighed and brushed my hair out of my face. “Ma approached me at the auction and suggested that she too knew I was in love with Deacon, but also he was in love with me. Apparently, he came to my high school graduation, not for Forrest but me.”
“Cute,” Wren interjected.
“So, she offered me the money for Deacon if I made the bid. She wanted to make sure all her boys were looked after—her words, not mine. And truthfully, I wasn’t going to do it. But watching those three women fighting over him, I don’t know. I was overcome. So, I put in the bid, and it felt like such an out-of-body experience. Then, after the auction, Forrest tried to approach me, and I made a run for it.” I took a deep breath before carrying on with my story. “Then all of you started bombarding me with texts and questions. Forrest came by the house a few times, and, really, it was only Deacon who gave me the space I needed to get my head in order. When he got there, he insisted we go on our date still and talk about what we’d been dancing around for years.”
“Years?”
I flushed; I had omitted this part from the rest of the family when we told the story.
“Yeah, Deacon and I have been sleeping together on the sly for a while now. We hooked up while drunk, and we liked doing the horizontal tango together. So, we sort of made plans to keep it going. We kept saying it was going to be the last time, and then it went on, and we talked about maybe telling Forrest, but we never got to that.” I picked up the tea again and took another sip, noting it had gotten considerably colder.
“Well, then the whole auction thing happened, and we both admitted we did want to be together, but Forrest was holding us apart, so we agreed to give it a go for real. When I went to speak to Forrest about it, he was adamant that he wouldn’t approve—”
“Until he spoke to me.” Deacon interrupted me, making Wren and I turn around to find him hovering in the doorway.
