Page 31 of Forbidden Cowboy
“Hey.” Natalie hunches down and slices the top of the mulch bag. “Listen, I don’t have anything against the Wildes. Josie and Hannah are on your side too.”
My gloved hands shovel out a handful of red mulch. “You’re the only ones.”
“It’s a start.”
“It’s exhausting. The sneaking around. The lies. The glares.”
“What are you saying?”
WhatamI saying?
“I want Papa to walk me down the aisle, and I want the grandparents of my kids to get along.” I dump out the rest of the mulch. “Deep down, I know I can’t have that with Levi.”
“Hope —”
I shake my head. “Forget it. I’m going home.”
Natalie picks up the mulch bag I toss on the ground. “We’re not finished for another hour.”
“Thomas knows where to find me.” I rip off my gloves and throw them on the ground as I storm to my jeep.
“Hope! Hey! Wait up!” Levi presses his hand on the jeep door to keep it closed. “What’s going on?”
“This isn’t going to work.” I wave my hands in the space between us.
Levi catches them with his dirt-stained gloves and kisses my knuckles. I feel my restraint drop a hundred levels. He has thiseffect on me. With him, everything feels right. It always has. The only difference was he knew to walk away back then. We’re both fooling ourselves now.
I retract my hands from him. “A handful of people are on our side. The entire town is against us.”
“Wilma and Faye are not against us.”
“A handful plus two.” I roll my eyes. “I’m tired. My papa won’t even look at me. And yours isn’t talking to you. How can we get married and have children when our parents hate each other?”
“Is that a proposal?”
“No.”
“Are you trying to tell me something else?”
He touches my middle, and I slap his hand away. “Gahhh! I’m serious.”
He cups the side of my face. All his joking vanishes. “Come away with me.”
“What?”
“For the weekend. We’ll drive for a couple of hours and rent a room. We can dine out, tour the town, do a little shopping, and do some dancing. Without the feud on our shoulders. Without people watching our every move.”
“And then what? Come back here and hide in the night?”
“We knew this would be hard.” His voice holds a stern tone.
“I didn’t know they’d start the Cowboy Wayne’s statue on fire.”
“He was a bit of a douche. It was well deserved.”
“Is that what they’ll say when they start our house on fire? While we’re sleeping? While our children are sleeping? It was a Fox and a Wilde. It was well deserved.”
“Hope —”