Instead of baring that part of her soul and telling him that, she squeezed his fingers encased in hers. “Clearly.”
If Nat had hoped that sleeping on it would give her more perspective, she was sorely mistaken. She’d woken up with June’s hand slung over her face and Owen’s foot in her ribs, but the funny thing was, she hadn’t even minded.
Nat wasn’t a dainty sleeper. She didn’t curl up in one corner and never move from that space. She was asprawler. If she had a king-sized bed all to herself, it was too small. But here, she’d been crammed onto a queen with two children who were apparently auditioning for the circus in their dreams, limbs flailing every thirty minutes. Not to mention the six-foot-one, 180-pound man taking up half the mattress. And somehow that hadn’t made her run for the door.
Okay, so shehadactually run for the door, but she was proud to say she hadn’t snuck out. She’d told Asher that Will had needed her and her sisters’ opinions on something for the wedding, so she had to run out for a bit. Except from the look he’d shot her—one that said he knew exactly what she was doing and exactly why she was doing it—she knew she hadn’t pulled off anything.
Really, it didn’t matter how she’d slipped away to Rory’s house, only that she was there and could finally unload the thought that had been plaguing her all night. The one that had seeped into her dreams where she’d walked down an aisle filled with quicksand, her ankles shackled the whole way.
Asher hadn’t downpoured her for something as simple as supper, or for her to extend her stay for maybe another week. Nope. Asher downpoured her tomarryher.
Her.
The one who lived out of suitcases and could only commit to a one-month lease. The one who swore she would happily be an eighty-year-old spinster because she didn’t want to be tied to anyone or anything.
Nat pulled up in front of Rory’s house, the last to arrive even though she’d been the one who’d demanded the meeting. She maybe should have asked Asher if he was okay with having her sisters know their possible secret, but truth be told, she had to tell someone. And while her sisters were a lot of things, they weren’t going to sell her or Asher out, especially with what was on the line.
Without knocking, Nat let herself in the front door. When Rory had bought this house after her divorce, it had been a complete shithole, with crumbling floors and rotted steps and more wallpaper than they had in a store. But in the year since she’d moved in, she and Nash had fixed up the place to be cozy and warm. Something that exuded far more realness than the pristine museum she’d once shared with her ex-husband ever had.
“It’s about time you got here,” Rory said from the small dining room off the kitchen where her sisters were all gathered. “Honestly, Nat, it’s just like you to call for this meetin’ and then show up twenty minutes late to it. Do you think we’ve got all day to sit around and wait for whatever nonsense it is you’ve got on your mind? I—”
“Asher wants to marry me,” Nat blurted and watched as each of her three sisters’ mouths dropped open, one right after the other.
Someone cleared their throat from behind her, and Nat glanced over her shoulder to find Nash standing there, eyebrows raised. “Well…sounds like my services may be best used elsewhere. I think I’ll just run on over and see if my good old friend Asher has anything he wants to talk about.”
He walked over, resting his hands on the back of Rory’s chair and bending to press a kiss to the side of her neck. He murmured something, and Rory’s face softened, her surprise replaced by love. Happiness. Two emotions that, prior to Nash, Nat hadn’t seen on her sister in a very long time.
“Take the girls, will you?” Rory said. “They’ll have fun with June and Owen, and it might give y’all a little freedom to chat.”
“Already ahead of you, princess.” Nash tossed his keys in the air and called, “Girls, y’all interested in swingin’ by The Sweet Spot this mornin’?”
Even Ava’s preteen gloominess didn’t stand a chance when faced with the prospect of some of Lilah’s delectable treats from the bakery in town. Both girls came running down the hallway from their bedrooms, calling out a generalized bye and waving over their shoulders as they headed for the front door.
“Uh uh. Go kiss your momma bye and tell your aunts you’ll see ’em later.”
Nat smirked watching her oldest friend slide effortlessly into this role she’d never seen him in. Never imagined he’dbein. After everything he’d gone through with his family—his momma leaving when he’d been young, and his dad completely checking out—she’d honestly thought they’d be single buddies their whole lives. But she couldn’t deny how perfectly this relationship fit him. She also couldn’t deny how happy it very clearly made him.
After Ava and Ella had done what Nash had ordered, pressing kisses to Rory’s cheek and squeezing her from behind before offering a chorus ofSee y’all laterto Nat, Will, and Mac, the trio was out the door, and then it was just her and her sisters.
Silence cloaked the room as Nat stood at the head of the table, her hands braced on the back of the chair, gaze darting between all of them as they stared right back.
Finally, Mac said, “You wanna say that one more time?”
Nat blew out a heavy sigh and sank into the chair, thunking her elbows on the table and dropping her head into her hands. “You heard me right the first time.”
“Is this…new? Did something happen between y’all?” Will asked, her voice tentative as if she needed all the facts before she could offer up any advice.
“Nothing more than the usual. The only thing that changed was June and Owen.” Nat laid it all out for them then, detailing exactly what Judge Seville had told Asher. And then what her boneheaded best friend had lied about.
Mac hummed and shook her head. “As mayor, I probably shouldn’t be privy to the fact that you’re intendin’ to lie about legal matters.”
“Oh, stop it.” Rory smacked Mac on the arm. “You’re not here as a mayor. You’re here as asister. And as her sisters, it’s our duty to tell her—” Rory turned her gaze toward Nat “—just what an absurd idea this is.”
“Rory!” Will admonished.
“Well, it is, isn’t it? This isn’t like jumpin’ in a plane and headin’ to Budapest or wherever the hell it is that you fly off to. Marriage is a serious commitment and isn’t something you should enter into lightly. Learn from my mistakes. All I’m sayin’ is I’m not sure this is something you wanna rush into.”
Mac shot Rory an incredulous expression. “Are you seriously comparin’ your asshole ex-husband to Asher, Nat’s best friend? He would never do to her what Sean did to you.”
