Page 10 of Score Her Heart

“Three months! Oh, Fi, I had no idea.”

“I should have seen this coming. God, I’m such a fool.”

“No, you’re not,” Riley reassured me. “I promise as long as we’re married, that won’t happen.”

I was still uneasy about this whole being married to Riley thing, though. He never seemed like a one-woman guy. Would this be enough for him? Could I be enough for him? “You sure about this? About being married to me?” I asked again.

“We both took vows…a little unorthodox, sure, but give me a couple of months to prove to you that this is gonna work.”

I don’t know why, but something about the way he said it convinced me that he wanted this to work. “Okay.”

“Okay?”

“Yeah.”

He leaned over and kissed me. “I promise you, Fi. I’m gonna make you happy.”

I pulled away, but when I looked into his eyes, I could tell he meant every single word. Riley always had been a man of his word, and even though I had my reservations about this marriage, a part of me really wanted to believe what he was saying.

“We good? Because I need to take a shower,” he mused.

“Yeah, you smell,” I joked.

He gave me the finger and walked back into the bedroom. I heard the shower kick on, and then I sat there in silence, thinking. How the hell did he convince me that we should stay married? I picked up my phone and decided to finally call my mother back.

Chapter Four

RILEY

Fi ambushing me about wanting to get a divorce threw me for a loop. I guess I shouldn’t have been surprised. She had been with someone else for five years, and then I waltzed in and married her. I mean, who does that and then expects the person to fall in love with them? Apparently, I did.

I wasn’t lying to her when I said I wanted to make this work. I knew my job would make things difficult, but I was ready to settle down, to have someone to come home to, but it never seemed to work out. In the back of my mind, I knew it was because none of those other girls had been Fiona Gallagher, the girl who stole my heart years ago.

I quickly showered and dressed. She was on the phone when I walked back into the room, and by the sound of her voice and the way she rolled her eyes, I knew she was talking to her mom. Fi never really got on with her mom. They had fundamental differences, but they loved each other. Fi’s mom and my mom had grown up together, and when my dad left, her mom had been the second mom I needed, especially when I got busy with hockey. I would always be grateful to her, but it was kind of weird that now she was my mother-in-law.

Fi’s voice got louder. “Mom, it’s not any of your business!” She was silent for a moment, but she looked pissed. Finally, in a small voice and through gritted teeth, she said, “Yes.”

She clicked end on her phone and then turned to me.

“Um…so there’s this brunch my mom organized that she wanted us to be at like an hour ago.”

I nodded. “Okay, I’m ready when you are. Is everything okay?”

She shook her head. “It’s fine.”

“What’s going on?” I asked.

She sighed. “My mother wanted to know if we consummated our marriage last night.”

I couldn’t stop the laughter from escaping my lips. “She really asked that? Damn, Katherine, didn’t know you had it in you.”

“Oh, yes, because now that I’m married, my mother’s expecting me to have babies.”

I stared at her. We hadn’t talked about the whole kids thing, and I was honestly still surprised she was willing to try this marriage with me. A part of me was sure she would change her mind and still want a divorce. I wanted to take these next couple months and use them to convince her to fall in love with me, but I couldn’t force her to stay.

“Do you want kids?” I asked her.

She shrugged. “Eric didn’t, and I was okay with that.”