Page 47 of Courageous Yearnings

“I’m timing you, Killer…”

“Go on now,” she shooed him off and poured another cup of coffee for Lance, quickly returning to her office. Sure enough, his blond head was bent over her desk, writing something. “Hey you…” she began and set down the coffee, only to see her business cards scattered everywhere as he looked up.

“Hi,” he said simply, smiling at her. “I missed you and thought I would come by for a few minutes if I’m not bothering you.”

Blythe was missing him, too.

They had spent hours sitting together on the couch last night as he played idly on the guitar, and they talked. It was so nice, so easygoing, and so laid back to see this side of him. In fact, the two of them had slept curled against each other on the couch like it was nothing, and it meant the world to her.

“No, you aren’t bothering me at all and… oh my gosh,” Blythe laughed as she saw what Lance was doing, hearing him chuckle, as he crossed out ‘Monroe’ on her business card and wrote ‘Cortes’ on there. “You don’t have to do that.”

“I wanted to see what it would look like.”

“You are a sweetheart, you know that?”

“I’m a nitwit, but you are so infatuated with me that you just can’t see it.”

“That might be true – but I can order new business cards when the time comes.”

“What if the time comes three days from now?”

“What?”

Lance sat there smiling at her, watching and waiting as she stared at him in shock. They were barely engaged, neither had wedding bands or rings and honestly, she was still living on the high that came with finding that special someone. She had no idea just how perfectly they would mesh and get along together when he had appeared in her office, in that same seat, nearly eighteen months ago.

“Do you…” he drawled playfully. His beautiful lips were turned upward in a small smirk as he held her gaze, waiting. His beautiful dark eyes were full of emotion, something that she wanted to label as Love but was afraid to hope. They had both been very careful not to say what it was because it was just a simple word, not the end-all, be-all of everything. “Want to… marry me… when I get off my shift?”

“I suppose I could be ready,” she said evasively and picked up one of the newly decorated business cards. “Blythe Cortes does look pretty good there, doesn’t it?”

“I’m kinda partial to it…”

“No more nervousness?” she asked pointedly and saw him hesitate.

“Can I be honest?”

“I wish you would always be with me – I can handle it.”

“I wasn’t going to ask you to marry me… yet,” he finished quickly as her mouth dropped open in shock.

“Wait… what?”

“I bought the frame and put our picture in it because I thought it was sweet…”

“And the blue satin robe?” she questioned. “It says ‘bride’ on the back.”

“It does?”

“Wait a second,” she hesitated, rubbing her temples and feeling a headache coming on. “You weren’t going to ask me to marry you – but you did? Why are we having this discussion or talking about marriage, then? Is this why you were so nervous, because you felt like I was pressuring you?”

“I was nervous because I don’t bring a lot to the table and feel like you deserve better – and that hasn’t changed,” he began and reached across her desk for her hand. “But everything I did around the house, getting things ready, is because I want to be with you… a part of your life. You are right, it’s just a word, but actions speak so much more. I want us to have a future together, to wake up and have coffee together, to watch television in our pajamas or sing songs together, but I have a condition that I need to discuss with you, and it’s kind of important.”

“A condition? What condition?”

“You’re going to think I’m stupid…”

“I do,” Jack interjected, leaning into the office and handing her a deal jacket before tapping on his watch. Lance didn’t look up, acknowledge, or even comment. He sat there stonily with a very terse look on his face.

“I hate that man…” he muttered. “And you are told not to hate when you attend church. You can dislike someone, but ‘hate’ is frowned upon, or at least that is what Sister Mary Hazel used to tell me.”

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