Dread settled in the pit of my stomach.
Would I lose him over this? We were just starting out. And he’d told me from the start that it was just a fling.
I rubbed my belly while emotions cascaded through me. Fear. Excitement. Joy. Shame.
It all lingered there together, swirling into a muddy mess of confusion.
Chapter 14
Knox
Gwen and I didn’t exactly have a fight this morning… but it had definitely counted as our first big disagreement.
She’d been a skittish kitten for the past few days, and I didn’t know why. Something was bothering her, and she wouldn’t tell me what.
On top of that, I wanted the wholeworldto know about us, but she was intent on keeping us a secret.
An uneasy thought had crept into my mind after our disagreement. Was she embarrassed to let people know she was with me?
Gwen was the prize of the mountain, and I was just an ex-military drifter who’d hitchhiked into town with all my worldly possessions slung over my back.
She deserved financial stability. Someone solid in her life.
And even though I felt like I could be that for her, I didn’t think she was convinced. She didn’t know I’d saved all my money while in the military. I had enough to put down on a decent place. I wasn’t as broke and shiftless as I probably appeared.
I’d spent the day moping through my work shift, waiting for the minute when I could get off and see her again. We needed to clear the air about this morning. And it was time for me to ask if she saw a future with me or not.
I knew she was committed to the idea of keeping it casual between us, but I neededmore.
When I got home from work she wasn’t around, so I hopped in the shower to get the sawdust off me.
This weekend, Cade and I had gone out house shopping with a realtor, and I’d found the perfect property. The agent said that there were lilac trees everywhere, and that it was magical in the springtime.
I hoped that might convince Gwen that maybe I was marriage material after all.
A job.
A car.
A house.
And a ring in my pocket just waiting for the right moment.
What next? I already knew. A tiny puppy named Buttons.
One of my work buddies had a dog who’d had a litter, and I’d already put in a claim on one. She was the runt of the pack, and she had the sweetest brown eyes I’d ever seen. Her tiny tail thumped whenever I went to visit her.
She needed a little more time with her mom before she could come home with me.
Surely that dog would throw Gwen over the edge. She’d marry me just to get Buttons.
When I got out of the shower, I realized I’d forgotten to grab any clean clothes. I didn’t want to put my dirty clothes from the sawmill back on, so I bundled them under my arm, wrapped the towel around my waist and headed out into the living room on my way to change in the bunkhouse.
But when I made it into the living room, my whole world came crashing down.
Dawson, one of the guys from the party the first night I’d come to town, was standing next tomywoman with a bouquet of flowers in his hand.
I stared back and forth between the two of them trying to figure out what I was seeing.
