Page 75 of Avenged

She laughed, but it was a laugh clogged with emotions. “I think you all kind of ganged up on me.”

When she looked up at us, we were all smiling. We had. It was probably the only way we could have gotten her to agree to any of it. “And just whom am I supposed to take with me if Dawson’s working and Violet is covering my shift?” she asked with a bit of sarcasm, but she was looking at me with a small smile.

I put a hand to my chest. “I’m so wounded. My wife would consider taking someone else?”

Dawson snorted.

“We have a contract at the house, remember? I believe it said I could date anyone I wanted.”

God, it was true, but I wished, with everything I had inside of me, I hadn’t put that down. The Married For Benefits app was a bunch of shit. There was no way I could be married to her and keep to most of the things we’d agreed to. I didn’t want to. I wanted more. I wasn’t sure that meant marriage more, but it was definitely more than just friendship.

“Do you have someone else in mind?” I asked, forcing a smile on my face.

“I believe Chris Evans and Chadwick Boseman are taken, so I may have to just pick someone from the street,” she teased.

“Well, seeing as I have the day off, and I’ll be on the street, you can just pick me.”

Dawson picked up one of the tickets for the dinner cruise, grabbed a pen from the counter, and wrote something on it. Then, he handed it to me. I laughed.

“What did he write?” Jersey asked.

I showed it to her. “Good only for one husband and wife pair.”

She rolled her eyes but didn’t say anything. Vi high-fived Dawson.

We ate cake, watched Captain Marvel for Jersey’s hundredth time, and then Dawson and Vi headed to bed, leaving us alone again. She got up from her spot at the end of the couch and headed toward the hallway before stopping and turning back.

“So, how early do you want to go?” she asked.

“I’ve never been, so what do you recommend?”

She shrugged. “It’s been a long time since I’ve gone, so I’m not quite sure either.”

Stupid idiots in the town had probably kept them away, made them feel like they couldn’t be seen having fun.

“Well, then we should eek out every last minute.”

She fidgeted with her ring for a moment, and I could tell she was running through a bunch of different scenarios and words in her head. “Then we should start with breakfast at The Tilt-Away.”

“Eight?”

She nodded, turned away, and then turned back. “Thank you.”

I wanted to get up from the couch, pull her to me, and kiss her. I wanted to do it so she wouldn’t feel like she had to say thank you for any of it. I wanted to make sure she understood she deserved to have fun as much as anyone else.

“Don’t thank me yet. I’m quite sure my exuberance will embarrass you at least one time tomorrow.”

She considered me with a small smile. “I can’t imagine you embarrassing me, ever.”

“Famous last words.”

Her smile widened, and then she did turn down the hall. “Goodnight.”

“Goodnight.”

I watched until her curves disappeared and I heard my bedroom door shut. I rested my head on the back of the couch and tried not to think of her changing into her pajamas and sleeping in my bed. I tried to remember that her sixteen-year-old sister was sleeping next to her, and that did the trick. Nothing could happen while they were sharing a room together.

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