My wife will always have a home with me. No goddamn annulment or talent manager in the world can tell me otherwise.
But whatever we gotta talk about, it can wait until daylight. For now, she needs some rest and I need a stiffer drink than this beer.
I rise, but my feet are glued to the rug. It’s creepy to stare at her sleeping, yet I can’t seem to move. I’m scared she’ll disappear if I look away.
God knows how long I stand there, watching her. Listening to her breathe. Admiring the calm rise and fall of her chest with a flutter in my stomach.
Should I carry her upstairs into my bed? It’s much more comfortable, but it might freak her out.
Finally, I chug my beer and leave the bottle on the table. I turn off the TV before I grab a blanket from the back of the sofa, draping it over her.
No matter what she asks of me come morning, I’ll do it.
I’d do anything for her.
Theft, arson or murder? No problem so long as it makes her smile. I’d burn this whole town if she asked me to. Or if she wanted to do it herself, I’d gift her a can of gasoline and a lighter.
Because Tally is the type of woman that happens to you like a storm front. No, she’s like a fucking hurricane, sweeping in and uprooting every truth you thought you knew. She’s a force of nature. A wrecking ball, crashing into my silly little small town life.
I hope I can still match her wild.
Tearing myself away from her feels like fighting gravity. A bottle of bourbon from the kitchen in my hand and the memories of the worst night of my life playing in my head, I creep up the stairs to the master bedroom.
Damn, I doubt I’m gonna get much sleep.
4
LAS VEGAS - RUST, 20 YEARS OLD
“Let’s get married.”
Tally stops abruptly in the middle of the sidewalk, setting down her guitar case. “Come again?”
Heat flashes along my cheeks and I clasp a hand on the back of my neck. I gotta learn to think before I speak, but it hadn’t even occurred to me that she might say no.
Humiliation be damned. I can’t give up now.
I point at a white canopy by the casino across the street. The words‘Pop-Up Marriage License Bureau’are emblazoned on it.
I put my guitar case on the ground and sink to one knee, grasping her hand. Her fingers tremble in mine as I try to find my voice to ask the most important question of my life.
“Tally Creed, I knew you were the one for me since I caught you stealing Dad’s favorite horse to run away to Nashville.”
Her breath hitches on a laugh. “And I knew you were the one since you didn’t snitch on me.”
“Will you marry me, Trouble?”
Tears of joy well in her green eyes. “Oh my God, yes!”
I jump up and lift her around the waist, spinning while I kiss her. “You just made me the happiest man in the universe,” I whisper against her lips.
We grab our instruments to rush across the street. In the tent, a middle-aged brunette sits on a folding chair. In front of her stands a plastic table with a vase of red roses and a red bowl filled with heart-shaped chocolates on it. She even set up a decorative pillow with two simple, gold wedding bands.
The clerk smiles at us, eyes creasing. “Congratulations on your engagement!”
Despite the fact that she literally watched me propose to Tally on the side of a road without a ring, her tone seems sincere.
“Thanks!” Tally and I say in unison.
