Page 44 of The Forever Game

He lets out a scoff that makes it abundantly clear I’ve insulted him. Shit. I need to end this call before I say something else I’ll regret.

“Look, I’ve got to go and finish this deal. Everything going okay with your dad?”

He’s silent for a painful beat and I brace myself for another attack, but in the end, he sighs and mutters, “Things are tracking great here. I’ll be back home by six. You gonna be there for dinner?”

“That’s the plan,” I murmur, wrapping my arm around my waist and trying not to notice how my lips are trembling as I say goodbye to my husband and brace myself to meet with Mr. Baseball again.

Ugh.

It takes me another hour of convincing before he finally caves—thank fuck!

As soon as I step back into the office, Sean is on me to finish the work I hadn’t completed because he needs it ASAP.

I work my ass off, forgetting time until Ryan flicks off his office light and tells me to have a good one.

Glancing at my clock as he walks out the door, I feel my entire body deflate.

I’m two hours late… and Ethan never called to find out where I am.

He probably tracked me on my phone, saw I was still at the office, and is sitting at home, fuming because once again I’m letting him down.

I rush to finish up the contract, slamming it onto my boss’s desk before running for my car. I’m the last person here, so I have to lock up and alarm everything, which makes me even later, and by the time I burst through our apartment door, I’m a frazzled mess.

“I’m here, I’m here, I’m here!”

I’m met with stone-cold silence.

“Ethan?”

The bag slips off my shoulder with a thump, and I check each room before finding the table all set. Dinner for two is laid out beautifully—there’s even a bunch of red roses on the table—but the burritos are cold, and sitting next to the vase of fresh flowers is a note.

I waited for two hours and couldn’t do it anymore.

Hope you got that contract signed.

I’ve headed up to Nolan to hang with the guys for a bit. They’re having a bachelor party for Baxter, and I don’t want to miss it.

It’ll give you a chance to focus solely on work until the rehearsal dinner.

Love you xx

Plunking into my chair, I gaze at the note and don’t even know what to think… or feel.

Why didn’t he call me?

Because he’s pissed and hurt and?—

I snap my eyes shut, crumpling the note in my hand and throwing it onto the floor. No one said married life would be easy, but does it have to be this fucking hard?

CHAPTER16

LANI

Okay, today’s the day.

No matter what, I’m proposing.

I can sense Asher has something big brewing, and he’s trying to outsmart me. Things have been unusually tense between us as we both try to avoid each other so we can’t spoil any surprises we’ve planned, but I decided last night as we celebrated Tammy’s bachelorette party, and swooned over her upcoming nuptials, that I couldn’t delay this any longer. The best way to surprise my man is to forget about all the elaborate ideas I’ve been toying with and just freaking ask him!

---