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Shay had always had one of those faces meant for smiling. Not every face was meant for smiling but Shay’s was one of them. The corners of her lips were always tipped up as if she was waiting for a reason to smile.
Shay wiped her hands on a dish towel and busied herself with straightening everything on the countertop. Tiny touches and nudges. The smallest possible imprint. And now it was everywhere. She was everywhere. And I’d never be able to forget it.
but I can’t stay here forever—and then there’s the issue of getting married. I’m not optimistic about my prospects, Noah.” “I’ll marry you.” I barked out a stunned laugh. “You’ll what?”
Love a good marriage of convenience x
She was beautiful in a way that overwhelmed me, though it wasn’t just her face, her body. She was a sunbeam through a storm cloud.
He looked good. Better than I could’ve imagined. Too bad he was such an epic grump.
I’ll give you some pointers on how to make it look like you’re completely in love with me and uninterested in anyone else.” Yes. Show me what that looks like. I have no idea.
“I’m not sure. Is there something you’d share with me?” Only everything in the entire world.
“What are you doing?” I grabbed the card from her, shoved it back in the small bag at her hip. I hadn’t noticed the thin purple strap crossed over her torso until now. “There is no way I’m letting you—no. Put your money away.” I zipped the purse for her and then reached for my wallet, blindly passing some bills to the person watching this affair unfold from behind the counter. I thought I was finished. I’d put the matter down and pulled my hands from her pockets. Two birds and such. But I couldn’t stop myself from adding, “Not when you’re with me.”
After a second of internal debate, she climbed inside and I knew the cab would smell like her tomorrow. Part of me couldn’t wait for it. The other part knew I was setting myself up for regular servings of misery.
“Is there anything else that you need from me now that we’ve”—I wiggled my shoulders which yielded a light huff of laughter from him—“officially lost our minds?” He glanced over his shoulder, gestured to the server for our bill. “What else would I need, Shay?” I ran my thumb over the back side of my fingers, tracing the twine. He didn’t mean that the way it sounded.
I had no idea what to do with my limbs or how to produce words when I was with her, and I couldn’t repress the whisper in my head that never failed to say that’s your wife.
don’t know how you do that thing where you change their mind without telling them they’re wrong but I love you.” He blinked hard. “I mean, I love how you handle people.
Omg
What about you? What do you want?” His gaze softened for a split second. I would’ve missed it if I hadn’t been watching him. “It’s okay. I don’t need anything.” “Maybe there’s nothing you need,” I said, “but there’s something you want.” His ears turned a lovely shade of tomato.
Giggling
“No worries,” I replied, though I had many worries.
Me
Shay: The cute bartender said it’s Billy’s but also Woodchuckers. Shay: He says I can throw some axes if I want. He’ll set me up. Noah: Tell the cute bartender you’re married.
Cancel the car. I’ll be there in 20 minutes. Shay: You don’t have to come get me. Noah: That doesn’t change the fact that I am. Noah: Stay where you are. Drink some water. Don’t touch any axes. Noah: Or bartenders.
“How did you get here so fast?” She picked up her phone, peered at the time. “That was only fifteen minutes. Wait. Sixteen.” Because my wife was alone and upset in a strange bar and speed limits don’t apply in those situations.
She wobbled on flat ground, leaving me no choice but to hook an arm behind her knees and carry her to the truck. She yelped, ringing her arms around my neck and saying, “Oh my god, Noah. What are you doing?” “Quiet down. We’re almost there,” I said. “Don’t tell me to quiet down,” she snapped. “You’re going to hurt yourself. I’m not light.” “I know my strength, sweetheart. Don’t you worry about me.”
Leaning in close, I said, “Allow me to make myself clear. I don’t give a pickled fuck how or why we came to be married. You are my wife. If you need some fun, you’ll call me. I’ll be the one taking care of you. I’ll give you anything you want, including a properly prepared gin and tonic. If you can’t accept that, you’re welcome to divorce me now.”
It was cow earrings and poison ivy and loaves of bread every time I turned around. It was picking me up and forcing me to eat french fries when I was drunk and sad and petulant and it was sending ice cream scoopers to set up my classroom. It was my friend, the one who had changed so much but not in any of the ways that mattered. It was my husband.
Shay: I’m home. Noah: Yes. It seems like you are.
“I’m going to borrow a shirt. Okay?” Still staring at my phone, I said, “Everything I have is yours.” “That seems excessive,” she said from inside my closet. “It’s not.”
Don’t pretend that you need me for this.” “Just because I can plow through by myself doesn’t mean I want to,” I said. “Fuck, Shay. Let me need you, okay?”
If only she knew how much I’d always liked her. That there was no one else for me. My world started and ended with her sitting beside me on those dark morning rides to school, and it started up all over again when I found her on my farm.
couldn’t tell her that I loved her. Loved her so completely, so thoroughly, that no one else in the world could compare. Maybe someday I’d be able to tell her this but not yet.
“He called it off?” Who was this guy and what the fuck was wrong with him? I had the overwhelming urge to push him into oncoming traffic and then shake his hand for sending Shay back into my life with his stupidity.
LOL
“Xavier,” I snapped. “Stop it.” “Stop being such a bitch and give me the ring.” A shadow fell over the table and a hand yanked Xavier up by the shirt. “Let her go before I rip your fucking arm off.”
Screaming, giggling, kicking my feet rn btw
“But if you’d rather sort this out in court, you should know I’ll be representing Miss Zucconi and I have all the time in the world to fuck you over. I will find all the skeletons in all of your closets. I’ll dig them up if I have to. I’ll bury you in legal proceedings and court fees. I’ll make it impossible for you to move more than an inch without triggering an avalanche of lawsuits. I’ll end you. Do you understand me yet?”
She looked like she needed to be held and adored for days.
“What do you want us to do, Noah?” I pushed my fingers through my hair. “Should we stay married forever?” He lifted his shoulders. “And what’s wrong with that?”
I rolled my eyes. “We are old friends with good sexual chemistry—” “Really good,” he added.
“Because it’s not real,” I whisper-yelled. “Everything about this is fake and we’re—” “Not everything.” He reached out and ran the back of his finger down the column of my neck, over the rise of my breasts. “It hasn’t been fake for a long time and you know that.”
Gennie floated on her back, her arms swishing at her sides. “You should tell her you love her. Tell her a lot. I think that’s what you’re supposed to do.” She flipped around and returned to her handstand practice. Maybe she was right. Maybe that was exactly what I needed to do.
I was going to tell Shay the truth tonight. I was going to tell her that I loved her, that I’d always loved her. All the way back to the beginning. Even if I dropped dead from admitting that I’d loved her in silence for years, I wanted her to know. And I wanted her to stay.
“You rescued me like you rescue everyone.” “You are not everyone, Shay. Not even close.”
When I couldn’t stand it anymore, when the pressure was so intense the only thing I could do was hit the release valve or wait to explode, I said, “I love you. I mean, I fucking love you, Shay. I’ve loved you for years upon fucking years and none of the garbage leftover from your ex or your mother or anyone else is going to change that. You will not change that.”
AH
I ended the call and slapped a sticky note on the cigar box, scrawling a quick message for my wife, the woman who didn’t see family birthdays and fresh bread, and ice cream scoopers sent to organize her classroom and general contractors sent to overhaul her farm as evidence of my love for her. As bottomless devotion.
“Wait, wait, wait. There is no way. Holy bananas, doll. Did he…name his farm after you?”
makes sense now,” I said. “What’s that?” “All those times you said we were high school sweethearts.” “We were.” He shrugged and then immediately winced. “You just didn’t know it.”
I brought a hand to the back of my neck. “You don’t need to worry about—” “But I do,” she said. “That’s my part of this deal. I’m the one who thinks about what you need while you’re busy thinking about what everyone else needs.”
I dropped my head to her shoulder as laughter shook through me. “I love you so fucking much, wife.” “And I love you so fucking much, husband.”
