No Reservations - Megan Hart [17]
'No.'
Bill Long, in fact, probably had never hit on any woman since he'd met his wife. The love between them would have been sickly sweet if it hadn't been so unselfconscious. So sincere. And, Leah had to admit, enviable.
'Brandon's dad is what I imagine he'll be like at the same age,' Leah said quietly. She heard a muffled sound through the glass and watched her lover - fuck, her boyfriend - no point in denying that's what he was — and his dad wrestle over the basketball.
From downstairs she heard Scamp bark, followed by Caroline's murmur and the sound of the back door opening. In moments Scamp joined the men, dancing around their feet as they played. It was the perfect picture of domesticity. Of a family.
Of a future.
'It scares the hell out of me,' she said.
Kate was silent for a moment, i hear that. But you've dealt with worse, haven't you? What else is going on? C'mon, don't hold out on me. If you're freaking out enough to cut your trip short, something big must've happened. Band Boy didn't buy you a sweatshirt with kittens on it for Christmas, did he? Because I will so kick his ass for you.'
Leah laughed again, wishing the humour would chase away the nausea bubbling in the pit of her gut. 'God, no. They gave me gloves and a scarf. You know, something sort of neutral but appropriate. And bath stuff.'
'Spill it,' Kate demanded. 'I can hear the freak-out in your voice.'
Leah swallowed and sat on the bed again. Brandon's mother had made this quilt from shirts he'd worn as a kid. He'd lived in this house, slept in this room. His soccer trophies still decorated the shelves, his prom picture - so fucking cute, complete with the skinny tie and hair in his eyes, his date a punk-rock girl in a purple gown and Doc Martens - beside them. He had brought her here to share all of this, and she loved him for that.
'I love him, Kate.'
'Dude. Of course you do. Who could resist a guy like Brandon?'
That Kate hadn't called him Band Boy meant an awful lot, and half-forced away the tears of panic clogging Leah's throat. But only half. She swallowed again, hard, against the ball of emotion choking her.
'I was helping Caroline put away the laundry, and I found something." Leah closed her eyes.
'Something like secret porn-stash something? Or secret. . . uh oh. No way.' Kate, Leah's best friend since the eighth grade, had always been able to nearly read her mind. 'Secret little velvet box sort of something?'
Leah, grateful she hadn't had to say it aloud, nodded, though Kate couldn't see her. 'Yes.'
'Let me guess. Not a pair of earrings.'
'No.'
'Well... I'd tell you I was surprised, but that would make me a liar,' Kate said. 'But were you surprised?'
She hadn't been, exactly. They'd talked about marriage, in that roundabout, vague way that included the future, as in someday we'll name our first kid after Marlon Brando' sort of talk. But it had always seemed so far away. Six months hadn't been such a very long time, not when Leah considered the rest of her life. Yet coming here, seeing Brandon's parents, his brothers and his entire family, Leah had no doubt that Brandon had been thinking about it.
'I was,' she admitted. 'Not by the idea he might be thinking about it. But by the ring? Yes. Hell, yes. Shit, Kate. Shitdamnpissfucktits.'
The curse, a favourite since high school, leaked out under her breath and she rubbed at the sudden pain in the centre of her forehead. Downstairs, the door opened. The dog barked. She heard the low, familiar rumble of male laughter and Caroline's fond scolding.
'He hasn't asked you yet, though, right? I mean, you just came across the ring. He hasn't actually gone down . . .' Kate giggled. On one knee, I mean.'
'I'm glad you can make crude sexual innuendos.'
'Sorry.' Kate didn't sound the least bit sorry, but she did sound sympathetic when she spoke again. 'If it's any consolation to you, I'm about ready to wring Pickles' neck for being a total douchetwat.'
Leah, guilty at not having even asked her friend how that was going, snorted lightly. 'Ah, good old Pickles. She figure out how to open