AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Uh-huh. Anyway, I guess things have been rough for her and the kid, so she picked up some hours waitressing.”
“Really? I’m sorry to hear that. Anything we can do to help?”
“No, and stop interrupting. This sucks enough without you trying to be all nice.”
I spread my hands. “What’s your deal? I was just asking—”
“Austen asked Jess to marry him,” he blurted.
The floor of my office tilted crazily, then swam back the other way. I shook my head. “What?”
“Oh, you heard me!”
“I heard something so implausible and wild that it could only be gossip. I’m not listening.” I couldn’t listen to anything, even if I’d wanted to, with the blood pounding in my ears like that. Itcouldn’tbe true. It just couldn’t! No one got engaged that fast. Well, except for Marshall and Kelli. But Jess was smarter. Wasn’t she?
“It’s not gossip. Meg’s got more class than that. Just… don’t do anything stupid, okay? And stop interrupting so I can tell you what I heard.”
I drew a shaky breath and grabbed the edge of my chair. I needed something to hold on to. “Fine. Tell me.”
“Okay. So she’s working part-time at Beaufort’s, right? Busiest night of the year for them, almost, so they call her in, and she goes because the tips are great on Valentine’s Day.”
“I got that.”
“Well, so she’s telling Evan and me about how crazy it was at work last night. One girl dropped a tray of wine glasses, somebody gave her a hundred dollar tip, the head cook had to go home early because he got sick all of a sudden, and one guy popped the question to his girlfriend.”
I tightened my grip on the chair. “Happens every Valentine’s Day, I’m sure. Lots of guys think it’s a romantic time to propose.”
“Yeah, but not all those guys are named Austen Conrad.” He shrugged. “Evan asked Meg if she knew who it was—just making conversation. I ‘bout fainted. Hey, are you okay, little brother?”
Fever prickles had broken out all over my face, and bile was surging into the back of my throat. “Yeah,” I rasped. “Just fine.”
He grabbed the garbage pail to set it in front of me. “If you’re going to be sick, do it in there. I’m not cleaning up after you.”
“I’m not going to be sick!” I blew out a few stale breaths and rocked forward, my elbows on my knees and my hands plowing through my hair as my head spun. Jess couldn’t be engaged! She couldn’t be…
“To be fair, Meg couldn’t say if she accepted. She was across the room when it happened, but I guess everyone around the table started clapping and stuff when he got down on his knee. You know how it is.”
I covered my face with both hands. “Of course, she said yes,” I mumbled. For him to put her on the spot like that, he had to know how she’d answer. Even if she wasn’t sure, she wouldn’t be the first woman to get swept up in the romance and expectations of a proposal, with everyone watching and cheering for the happy couple. She would have said yes, even if she regretted it later.
Luke’s hand clasped my shoulder in a gentle shake. “I’m sorry, little brother. Figured I’d better give you a warning so you wouldn’t have to hear it around town.”
I swallowed, but I didn’t lift my head, and I didn’t speak.
“Say, how about you and me go into the house and crack open something?”
My body sagged a little lower, and my hands were starting to feel wet. “Just go, Luke. I need… just go.”
I heard him sigh, and he patted me on the shoulder again. Then the door clicked, and I was alone.
I was used to being alone.
Jess
“I didn’t give him an answer. I didn’t even try on the ring. I said I needed to think about it.”
My dad’s balding head bobbed through the frame of the hotrod, and his ratcheting socket wrench clicked a few times. “What do you need to think about?”
I rocked back on my heels, squatting beside the front tire. “Everything, I guess.”
