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“You knohen I told you why you were brought here, I was kind of an ass Because I only thought abouta wo it’s not usually under happy circumstances”

She exhales, taking my hand “But I was happy to have this chance,” she says “And I know Ihere and n”

“How so?”

She looks at ht eyes, and a wide-open heart “My parents — they died when I was a baby, but they married on December 1st, and so did Grandma and Grandad, some thirty years earlier So it felt like destiny Like maybe you were the way out of a really dark time”

My chest tightens as I realize why she was crying so hard when I got off the phone “You wanted to marry me today, specifically Didn’t you?”

She nods, a tear falling down her cheek “I wanted this to feel like fate Marrying you like thisup so ht maybe, just maybe, it would be okay That you would meet me and want me That I wouldn’t just be a crazy idea that your ht be a crazy idea that was also your dream come true”

“Fuck, Hattie,” I say, drawing her toup her chin She is fucking gorgeous and doesn’t see because she’s all I fucking want

“You mean it?” she asks, her words a whisper

“I do”

She smiles “I do too”

“With that pair of I do’s it sounds like we just got hitched,” I say with a side smile

“Stop it,” she laughs through her eru all sweet?”

“I want to make you happy,” I tell her “You deserve that”

“And what do you deserve, Hartley?” she asks It’s a question I’ve never gotten in my whole damn life

“I know I sure as hell don’t deserve a woman like you”

She licks her lips, crawling up inher arht