And us being engaged? I suddenly realized that wasn’t going to work. Matt says he thought things through, but that’s not how he operates. He’s a take-action-first, think-later kind of guy. The kind who’s used to quick decision-making and sorting out the details afterward.
If we’d told everyone we were engaged tonight, we would’ve had a wedding to plan. People to invite. Even if it was at the courthouse, Megan would never let it go. She was like a sister to me growing up and in our twenties. She’d make it a point to be there.
The lights on Matt’s Porsche flash, the sound breaking through the quiet of the dimly lit parking lot. He opens my door and I slide in, my dress inching up, the leather cold against my skin.
“Well,” I say as Matt settles into the driver’s seat. “That escalated quickly, huh… husband.”
He chuckles, then starts the car. “Sure did,wife.”
Okay.He’s joking a little. He’s not totally pissed. I don’t think, anyway.
My bottom lip catches between my teeth as I analyze the situation.I can’t get a read on him. I can usually tell when Matt’s upset, but right now he’s almost too neutral.
“You mad?” I finally ask as we pull out of the parking lot.
He frowns, eyes on the road. “No. Why would I be mad?”
I shrug. “I don’t know. Maybe because I told everyone we were married when the plan was to be engaged, and you haven’t said anything about it.”
His eyes narrow slightly, his tongue sweeping across his lips, but he keeps his focus straight ahead. He doesn’t say anything for a good ten seconds.
“I’m not mad, babe.” He glances at me. “You didn’t do anything wrong. You were incredible tonight. I’m just… processing.”
Okay.That’s fine. Understandable, even.
It’s enough to settle my nerves.
For a few seconds, anyway.
My stomach suddenly dips.
Shit.The proposal story.
The flutter turns sharp, my breath shallowing.Does he… remember?Is that why he went quiet? Did I freak him out?
Shit. So stupid, Jordan.
Why?Of all the places I could have picked for a fake proposal, why did it have to be that one?
I tell myself it was just the first believable thing that came to mind. A setting. A backdrop. Something romantic enough to sell the lie. I needed a story, and I needed one fast.
But I know the truth, even if I don’t want to admit it.
That cove was never just a place. It was quiet and dark. The kind of night where everything feels heavier because there’s nowhere to hide from it.
Except that’s exactly what I was trying to do.
Hide.
From everything.
It was the hardest time in my entire life. Matt came and got me in the middle of English class and drove me to the Hamptons to escape.
We talked. He was there, and it meant everything to me that he was.
After hours of sitting in that spot on the sand, he told me that he loved me. That he’d always be there for me. Then he kissed me. Made love to me.
And somehow, that became the moment I never learned how to let go of. The moment everything else failed to measure up to.
