And he’d promised he wouldn’t try to kiss me again.
How flipping considerate of him.
Chapter Thirty-Seven
Jessica
Alan was polite as we waited in the drive-thru line at Abner’s Dairy Freeze, asking questions about me and Ruthie like he was actually interested.
I guess if he wanted to put on a good front, he needed to know those things.
My feelings were too hurt to reciprocate. What did it matter what I knew about him? We’d be divorced in three years anyway.
Suddenly I didn’t really care about the stupid milkshake and almost suggested we just go back to the farmhouse. Then he looked over at me with a soft smile, and I realized I wasn’t being fair.
He’d saved me from having to marry Kevin.
I was going to be able to go back to school.
And he wasn’t expecting anything in return other than for me and Ruthie to occasionally visit Lancastle and play our parts as his wife and daughter.
Then when I graduated, he’d let me go without a fight.
That was the part that stung the most. What happened to me being worth fighting for?
Then it hit me—that was before he’d kissed me.
Had it really been that bad of a kiss?
I was almost embarrassed for thinking it was the best kiss of my life. Clearly, the feeling wasn’t mutual.
We got our shakes, and four minutes later we pulled into the driveway of a beautiful moss-green one-and-a-half story Craftsman with a second-story balcony. The red brick pavers and stairs led up to a wrap-around porch lined with rose bushes in full bloom.
“Oh my gosh; this place is beautiful.”
“I know. I’m hoping we can find something similar to rent or buy.”
I shook my head. “That’d be way too much money. I think if we could get a small apartme—”
He cut me off. “We’re not living in an apartment, Jess. Let me worry about the money.”
I wanted to argue, but what choice did I have? Besides, it wasn’t like living in a place like this would be a hardship. I just worried about getting too used to it.
I undid my seatbelt once the truck stopped in the garage. “I feel like we have a lot of things we need to figure out before we do this.”
“You’re probably right. Let’s go inside so we can talk.”
Talk, right. Definitely not kiss again.
He’d made that abundantly clear.
I should’ve brushed my teeth after dinner.
So, when we walked inside from the garage, and he reached for my milkshake and set it on the kitchen counter next to his, then guided me through the kitchen, I was confused.
But not as confused as when we walked into the living room and found it bathed in candlelight and flower petals.
I turned to look up at him, only to find him down on one knee holding a black jeweler’s box with the biggest diamond I’d ever seen. It was so big it actually sparkled in the candlelight.
