Author: Olivia Cunning

“I’m not sure where to begin,” she said.

He was. “Are you really going to marry Isaac?” he blurted.

She stopped short. “Where did you ever get that idea? Did my mother tell you that?”

“No, you told me that.”

“I did not. He did ask me, but I told him no. I told him you were my boyfriend. That I loved you. And you… You never even bothered to call me after our fight. I thought I meant something to you, Eric.” She planted a fist on either hip and glared at him in the light of a nearby street lamp.

“You mean everything to me. And I did call you, Rebekah. A thousand times I called you, even after you texted me and told me to fuck off and that you were marrying Isaac.”

“What? You liar,” she yelled. “I never texted that.”

“Yes, you did. And then Isaac answered your phone and told me you didn’t want to talk to me and that I should never call you again.”

She hesitated. “Isaac answered my phone? When?”

“A couple hours after I saw you kiss him.”

“I didn’t kiss him! He kissed me.”

“Well, you didn’t stop him!”

“I didn’t get the chance. You punched him before I could retaliate.”

Now Eric hesitated. “You didn’t want him to kiss you?”

“No. I love you, you fucking idiot. Why would I want to kiss another man?”

Eric panted heavily, a mixture of anger and confusion and joy. She loved him. Sure, she had called him a fucking idiot, but she loved him. He almost believed her, but the hurt of the past few days made him hesitate. “If you love me so much, why did you hang up on me?”

“I would never hang up on you. Never. I wanted you to call, so we could work things out.”

“Then why didn’t you call me?”

“Isaac made me think that you didn’t want to talk to me.”

Eric’s fists clenched. “That little weasel.”

“Did you really call me after our fight?”

“Yes. Like I said, I called you around a thousand times.”

“I think I would have noticed if you called a thousand times, Eric. You never called me. Not once. I even slept with my phone so I wouldn’t miss your call.”

“Maybe there’s something wrong with your phone. I called you, Rebekah. I did.”

“There’s nothing wrong with my phone. I’ve used it several times today.” She pulled her cell phone out of her pocket and flipped through her missed calls. “There’s nothing from you,” she said. “A bunch of calls from an unknown number, but not a single call from you.”

“That’s weird. Let me try now.”

He took out his phone and dialed her number. The screen lit up, but there was no sound. Her display said caller unknown.

“Answer it,” he said.

She answered. “Hello.”

“That fuckin’ jerk,” Eric grumbled into his phone.

“What?”

“Don’t you get what he did?”

“Who?”

“Isaac—who else?”

“What?”

“He changed my ringtone to silent and my name to caller unknown. Programmed it right into your phone.”

Her eyes widened. “What? Why would he do that?”

“To get rid of me.”

“I can’t believe he’d do something like that!”

“Believe it.”

They stared at each other for a long moment.

“I love you, Rebekah.”

“I love you too, Eric.”

They were standing next to each other talking on their cell phones. “Bye.”

He disconnected and then flipped through the messages on his phone. “Did you send me this?”

She read the saved text on his screen: Fuck you, asshole. I never want to see you again. She shook her head, her eyes filled with tears. “That’s horrible. Don’t you know I’d never say anything like that to you? I love you so much. The past five days have been pure hell.”

Eric wrapped her in his arms and drew her against the length of his body. “I can’t believe how sneaky that guy is. I want to wring his fucking neck.”

Rebekah shook her head. “I’ll talk to him. He’s my best friend. He must have a good reason to do something like that.”

“Yeah, he’s a selfish prick who wants you for himself. That’s his reason.”

She shook her head. “I don’t want to talk about Isaac anymore. Kiss me,” she whispered. “Please, Eric. Kiss me and never stop.”

Eric drew her against him and captured her lips in a searing kiss. She clung to him. He could taste her tears as she rubbed her lips against his desperately. “Let’s never fight again,” she murmured into his mouth.

“Agreed.”

“And if we do, we talk about it face-to-face right away. No phone calls.”

“Agreed.”

“I love you,” she said.

“Agreed.”

She laughed, and he smiled. He stroked her hair away from her face and kissed the tears from her cheeks.

“Why aren’t you wearing the jewelry I gave you?” he asked. It had been another thing that had slashed at his soul every time he looked at her.

“I took it off before we went to the shelter. I thought it would be pretty tacky to wear something that expensive in front of people who have nothing. And then I got so busy helping make dinner when we came home that I forgot to put it back on.”

“That’s all it was?” he asked.

She nodded.

He kissed her deeply. “I thought it meant we were through.”

She shook her head, breaking their kiss, but only for a brief moment. “Let’s go back to your place,” she said.

“What about your guests?”

“You’re the only guest that matters to me.”

“Shouldn’t we confront Isaac?”

“I’ll talk to him later. Right now I don’t want to even think about him, much less look at him. I’ll probably punch him in the nose.”

“I’d like that.” Eric lifted her into his arms and continued to kiss her as he carried her to the car. “They’ll come looking for us if we don’t tell them we’re leaving.”

“I’ll call them while you drive,” Rebekah said.

He opened the door to Rebekah’s car and slipped her into the passenger seat. “I hope you have keys.”

She flipped the visor down, and a set of keys tumbled into her lap. “Drive like a maniac. I want to get you in bed as soon

as possible.”

He had no problem fulfilling that request. While he navigated the streets, Rebekah called her mother. Eric tried not to let her argument bother him, but it did.

“I didn’t call you to discuss this, Mother. I called to let you know that I left with Eric, and I didn’t want you to worry.”

Eric caught snatches of her mother’s tirade. “I raised you better than this… acting like a little slut… I can’t believe you’d just leave Isaac here by himself… You’ll be lucky if he ever speaks to you again…”

“He’ll be lucky if I don’t cut his balls off with a rusty knife.”

Eric chuckled. He caught the flash of Rebekah’s white smile in a streetlight. “I’ll be by tomorrow to pick up my stuff. Tell everyone good-bye for me.”

“And me!” Eric said enthusiastically.

He swore he heard Mrs. B emit a long line of obscenities just before Rebekah ended the call.

“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked, reaching across the car to place a comforting hand on the back of her neck. “I don’t have much experience with mothers, but I think it’s important to keep them happy.”

“I wish she’d think of my happiness. I think she believes she’s doing what’s right for me, but Isaac never made me happy. Not the way you do. He did take good care of me, and I feel obligated not to be mean to him—”

“I don’t.”

Rebekah laughed. “He is being a royal dick, isn’t he? I wonder why.”

“Like I said, he wants you for himself.”

“Well, he isn’t going to have me.” She squeezed Eric’s knee. “I’m yours.”

Eric’s heart fluttered like a caged bird. “Reb?”

“Yeah.”

“Since we’re back to being honest with each other.”

“Yeah.”

“Why did you change your hair color?”

She sighed loudly. “It’s just a rinse. Dad asked me to make it look normal for our family Christmas picture. I can’t say no to my daddy.”

Eric breathed a breath of relief. “I don’t know why it bothered me so much. Maybe because the first time I saw you, I knew we were destined to be together because our hair was the same shade of blue.”

She laughed. “Really? I thought you were drunk or something. You were tripping over your feet.”

“I was knocked silly by your perfection.”

She laughed again. “You’re such a ham.”

“Glazed or cured?”

“Will you drive faster?”

“I don’t think that’s possible. You need a better car,” he said. “How about a ’68 Camaro?”

“What?”

“Well, the Corvette is running like a dream, thanks to you, so now we can work on the Camaro. When it’s fixed, I want you to have it.”

“And I suppose if I say it’s too much and decline your gift, you’ll get all hurt and act like I’ve run you through the heart with a spear.”

“Something like that.”

“Okay. We’ll fix up the Camaro. And I’ll keep it.” She did an excited dance in her seat. “I’ll buy the next piece of junk for us to fix. How about that?”

“That sounds perfect. That way I know I’m going to keep you around for a while.”

“Try forever.”

“Yeah, let’s do that,” he said. “Let’s try forever.”

“What do you mean?”

“I think I want to get married.”

“Why?”

“To have a family.”

“Oh.” She went very quiet. “You know I can’t give you a family, Eric.”

“You’ll be my family. And maybe we could adopt some kids, if you want.”

“Adopt?”

“There are lots of kids out there who need a good home. I know. I used to be one.”

“Let me think about it.”

He knew she dreamed of having kids of her own, but it wasn’t possible. He’d give her time to adjust to the idea.

“You deserve a woman who can give you kids of your own,” she said after a long moment.

“I honestly don’t want kids of my own. I want to adopt.”

She fell silent again. She still hadn’t spoken when he turned into his driveway. He parked the car and turned to her.

“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said.

She closed her eyes and shook her head.

“Honesty. Remember? It’s the only thing that works between us.”

“I feel so selfish.”

“Why would you feel selfish?”

“Because I want to say yes. I want to marry you. And I want you to give up having kids of your own to be with me. And I would absolutely love to adopt children and raise them with you.”

“How is that selfish?”

“It’s all about me.”

“Us,” he corrected.

“You only say you want to adopt to make me feel better. Don’t you think I realize that?”