Cody clamped his jaw tight, stuffed his hands in his pockets, and wondered how this had happened.
Kristi swore she was on the pill. He was focused on a career and thought he’d have kids in the future, when he was settled, which was why he always used a condom. It was his responsibility to protect himself.
Except with Brooke last night, he’d been too obsessed with being as close as possible to her. Nothing between them. Just the two of them lost in each other.
Hours ago, he’d been the happiest man on the planet. Now he couldn’t feel anything but loss and pain.
He was going to be a dad.
And Kristi’s husband.
He should feel something for them, but if he did, it got drowned out by how much he missed Brooke already.
To stop Kristi from talking anymore about changes she wanted to make to the house that used to be his and Brooke’s, he suggested something that would make Kristi happy and took him one more step down the path of his new future.
He turned away from the desolate garden and his thoughts of Brooke, and faced Kristi and his circumstances head-on. “Do you want to go pick out an engagement ring?”
Her smile went megawatt and she pressed her hands together at her chest and shouted, “Yes!”
Well, he’d made one woman happy today.
He wished he hadn’t destroyed what he had with another in order to do it.
Kristi grabbed her purse and he followed her out of the house to his car. He noted the missing truck and wondered where Brooke went, when she’d be home, and if she’d actually come back. Ever.
He drove out of the long driveway, hit the main road into the city, and tried not to panic that he’d never see Brooke again.
His heart sped up the second he spotted the truck parked near a copse of trees down a dirt road that led to the creek. He knewthe spot well. Brooke went there when she wanted to be alone. He imagined her hiding out and cursing the day she’d met him.
“What kind of wedding band do you want?” Kristi asked.
He’d nearly forgotten where they were going. “I don’t know.”
“We’ll get something that matches mine.”
He didn’t know what to say, except, “Sounds good.”
The only thing he really wanted to do was find Brooke by the creek and beg her to forgive him.
The rest of the day went by in a blur of picking out Kristi’s engagement ring at a ridiculously expensive jewelry store. He'd set a limit with the jeweler. Of course, Kristi picked out the most expensive piece she was shown. He didn’t care. If she was happy, that meant he could be quiet and sink into his own guilt and pain.
They drove to her parents’ house and announced their engagement. Kristi’s parents were exuberant in their excitement and he felt like an asshole for being so staid in his response, so he faked his enthusiasm for Kristi’s sake, shaking Kirk’s hand and promising he’d take care of Kristi. That was the best he could do right now.
When her mother asked about the proposal, Kristi lied and said they’d had a disagreement last night and he’d called her to the house this morning because he couldn’t sleep, thinking about her and making things right. When she showed up this morning at his house, they’d talked and he confessed that he hated when they were apart and asked her to marry him.
Her mother thought his impromptu proposal was so romantic.
Kirk smirked and said, “You figured out you couldn’t live without her.”
He nodded his agreement.
They didn’t say anything about the baby. Kristi convinced him to hold off on telling anyone until after the wedding. She didn’t want to start any gossip. After a couple of hours of battingaround wedding plans with her parents and holding up the plastered-on smile he’d kept in place for Kristi’s benefit, he took Kristi back to her apartment.
They sat in his car out front and Kristi turned to him with a serious look in her eyes. “The proposal story I told my parents will be exactly what we tell our friends and family. Agreed?”
“Sure.” As far as he was concerned, no one needed to know what really happened. He’d hold the truth about his night with Brooke in his heart and mind and hoard the joy it brought him to the end of his days.
“How about I come home with you? We could celebrate.” The sultry look in her eyes told him how she wanted to do it.
