More on this book
Community
Kindle Notes & Highlights
“Daphne and I are friends,” I explained, stacking up the next barrel. “And we have an understanding. She wants to be held at night, and I want to be ridden like a rodeo bull.” I shrugged. “Think of it as modern-day bartering.”
She laughed the way the wind blew — softly, and then all at once, without an ounce of shame for how that sound might permanently shift the atmosphere around it.
“Anyone can lead an ordinary life, child,” she’d said to me one lazy afternoon. “But the best adventures are reserved for the ones brave enough to be extraordinary.”
“You are the heroine just as much as he is the hero,” I reminded her. “And if he loves you, he will support you and your dreams just as you’ve supported his and will continue to in the future.”
We were in another universe altogether, and in this one, that ring on her finger didn’t exist.
But she just stared at me, her eyes filling with tears that wouldn’t shed. “Why did you have to do this?” I frowned, letting my arms fall. “I—” “No,” she said, shaking her head, hands clinging to the strap of her purse like a lifeline. “Everything was fine. I was fine until I met you. You’ve messed everything up.” My brows furrowed more. “What, by reminding you that you have a choice? That you don’t have to marry someone who makes you feel this way?”
“I love him,” she spat. “Fine. But does he love you?”
Something in my chest loosened at the sight, at someone seeing me without me saying a word. To everyone else, I was the charming, entertaining Ruby Grace tonight. But Noah saw what no one else did.
“It would be Sunday. After church. I’d have a huge, delicious supper spread, the table set for a family of five. My three kids would be out in the yard playing, and as I watched them from the kitchen window, my husband would come up behind me, wrap his arms around me, and ask me to dance.”
“I think I’d like a big entertaining space in the back yard, a place to host parties and barbecues, and I’d want a little vegetable garden that I could grow my own tomatoes and squash.” She paused, her smile falling a little. “And I’d have a charity, one that supported something I cared about… maybe earth conservation, or education in rural locations, or quality of life for senior citizens, or mental illness support for our veterans. A way to give back. A way to save someone…”
I needed to breathe. I needed an explanation. I needed someone to hold me and tell me it was all going to be okay. I needed Noah. The thought hit me as quickly and as unsuspectedly as everything else had that day, but it didn’t make me panic more. If anything, the realization soothed me, blanketing me like a silky sheet of reassurance. My heart rate slowed. My breathing evened out. My hands stabilized, the tears on my cheeks drying, no more falling from my eyes to join them.
“You are, without a doubt, the most caring, loving, passionate, intelligent, and classy woman I have ever met. You walk with a confidence unparalleled by anyone in this town, and you give without ever expecting anything in return, and you’re brave.” I shook my head. “You are so fucking brave.” Her eyes softened, her voice just a whisper again. “You didn’t mention the way I look in any of those bullet points.” “You’re beautiful,” I said easily. “But that’s not what makes you the woman I l—” I swallowed, throat constricting like her eyes held it in a vise grip. “That’s not what makes you the
...more
argued, her lips centimeters from mine, her sweet breath invading my senses. “No, you see me with your soul.” She swallowed, eyes flicking up to mine before they fell back to my mouth. “And I feel you with mine.”
“Why nervous? It’s just me. It’s just us.”
from my face and kissing me.
