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The more her thumb moved, the more the blood drained away from her face

“You ran away from the mob so you could be a baseball player?” She breathed “Don’t they kill people for doing that?”

I nodded

Then understanding dawned

“Your motorcycle accident”

I nodded again, still not saying a word

“I…you can’t expect that of me”

“I’ll make it worth your while,” I immediately offered “I’ll pay off all your debt, your school loans, and your et, half of it will be yours”

Her mouth opened, then closed as astonishment washed over her features “You know about my medical bills?”

I nodded

Her medical bills were substantial…or at least her mother’s were

When Henley was younger, her mother—her stepmother that was, for all intents and purposes, the only mother she’d ever known—had paid astrono so had put herself so far into debt that it wasn’t even funny

That hy Henley lived as si that she could toward those medical bills—but she’d never be able to pay them off in her lifetime Not even her children’s lifetime

And I wanted to fix that

I wanted toeasier…but I needed her to do it by my side

“But why? Why me?” she repeated

“Why not you?” I countered

“I’ly”

I laughed, which caused her to bristle

I ihter “You’re so far froly that it’s comical You’re beautiful But that’s not what draws me to you What draws me to you is your inability to see the bad in people, and your willingness to spend countless hours with a walking dead man who has no positive outlook on life”

She looked down at her hands with sudden interest “I’m weird”

“You’re everything”

“What if I say yes? What then?”

“Then we get married We buy a house—and if you want, I’ll beto add a pool house for your mother and your sister Whatever you want You’ll be my wife in every way We’ll have kids You’ll watch theo to work You live your life, and I live it with you”

“You don’t…love me”

“I adore you”

I didn’t say I loved her—because I didn’t But I could Maybe Possibly If I tried to get past the blocks in my mind that my uncle had established

I was telling the truth I adored everything about her

And found her insanely attractive

But love was foreign to me, and probably alould be But that didn’t e work