I shove away from the counter. “I’m going to need something stronger than coffee.”
“I hid a bottle of Dead Guy Whiskey above the fridge,” Lucy admits.
I glance at the cupboard above the fridge, then back at Lucy. “How did you get it up there?”
“It wasn’t easy. It involved a chair and sitting on top of the fridge,” she says with a sheepish smile.
I walk over to the fridge and soon find out the cupboard is even too tall for me to reach. “Hey, come here for a second.”
Lucy walks around the island to me. I bend down and wrap my arms around her knees, hugging her to my chest as I lift her up and step closer to the fridge.
“Find that whiskey,” I mumble against her stomach, and my heart starts beating irregularly again.
“Are you sniffing my stomach?” she says.
“I like your laundry detergent.”
The cupboard door slams.
“Got it!”
I slide her back to the floor and try to focus my attention on the whiskey bottle rather than the woman who’s having such a powerful effect on me.
“Want ice?” she asks me in a hoarse voice.
“Sure. I should go change out of my work clothes.”
“Hold on.” Lucy pours a generous amount of whiskey into a glass and holds it out to me. She looks solemnly at me as I reach for the cup. “Miles Granger, will you marry me?”
I nearly let the glass slip through my hand. I mean, we’ve just been talking about it, but to hear her say the words makes it feel more real.
I clear my throat. “Gladly.”
She doesn’t smile, but she does look relieved. She takes a sip from her glass. “That was weird.”
“Definitely. But you won’t regret this. We’ll get married and nothing will change—except you’ll get to pay off those student loans.”
She freezes. “A wedding! What if your family expects a wedding?”
I shake my head. “I’ve always told my parents that I would elope when I finally foundthe one. If we have a small courthouse wedding, it would seem like the most normal thing to them.”
Lucy smiles briefly. “That’s good.”
And then she drains the rest of her glass in one big gulp.
“You won’t regret this,” I promise her. But she doesn’t look like she believes me. “I’ll take care of everything. Okay? This is going to work out just fine.”
It’s the most optimistic lie I’ve ever told someone.
After a quick shower and a change into sweats, I walk out of my room and hear Lucy on the phone.My fiancée.
“Hi, baby!” she says loudly. “I miss you so much. I love you. Yes, you’re a good boy. You’re doing so good.”
I can’t hear the response, but when I walk into the kitchen, I see that she’s sitting on the counter, sipping whiskey while she’s talking on a video call.
She glances up in surprise. “Oh, I’ve got to go. Talk to you later.”
Then she sets the phone down and points to another glass on the counter for me.
