Page 61 of Wedding or Not

“What do you mean? I agreed just like you.”

“I know. But still…”

“Still what? This is what’s best for Blossom Park, and it hasn’t been bad for us. I mean, it hasn’t been bad for me.” I cut my eyes toward him.

“It’s not been bad for me either.”

“See.” I’m standing at the front door, facing him, my head tilted up so I can meet his eyes. “This has all been too good to halt prematurely. We’ve been getting along fine. And it’s not a big deal overall. Just a piece of paper.”

“It’s not just a piece of paper to everyone.” His voice is soft, slightly thick. “Marriage is important to a lot of people. I think it’s important to you.”

“It is—if it’s done for normal reasons. But this is different. And why would you assume it’s important to me?”

“Because you’ve always been an old-fashioned girl.”

I gasp like he insulted me to my face.

“That wasn’t an insult. I don’t think that’s a bad thing. I’ve always… I’ve always liked that about you. I don’t mean you’re narrow-minded or restrictive. I just mean you’ve always wanted what your parents had.”

The mention of my parents makes my throat and my chest ache. I’ve been thinking about them a lot lately. “I did,” I admit. “I mean, I do. They had a good marriage just like your parents. But doing this now doesn’t mean I’ll never get that. Like you said, this doesn’t have to last a long time. This can be temporary.”

He’s been listening. I can tell. “Yeah,” he murmurs. “It can.”

“So I can’t think of any reason we shouldn’t do this.”

I didn’t expect to be in a position to beg Wes to marry me, and I don’t like it.

In fact, I’m getting kind of annoyed.

I go on. “So if you don’t want to do this, you need to just say so instead of placing it all on me.”

“I’m not placing it on you.” He’s looking a bit peeved now too. “I’m trying to be a good guy and not let you get stuck in a bad situation.”

“I’m not getting stuck anywhere. I’ve told you multiple times that I’m fully on board with this. So we need to either call it quits or move forward with The Plan without any more endless fussing.”

His expression changes. Softens. “Fussing?”

“Yes. Fussing.”

“Okay. If you’re sure, I’ll let the topic go.”

“I’m sure. So please let it go.”

I linger for a minute, hoping he’ll say more. He’s not likely to do anything else after he pulled back from the kiss in the car last week, but still…

It would be nice if he were so blown away by his feelings for me he couldn’t stop himself.

Wes has never been blown away by anything in his life.

He nods. Then nods again. Then says good night and walks away.

CHAPTER 20

The next two months pass quickly.

We had a wedding cancelation for the morning of a Saturday in August, and Natalie has been secretly holding on to it in case Wes and I need it.

We do.