Page 41 of It's Holy Matrimony, Baby

“Of course I do.” She flutters her hands between us like she’s swatting mosquitoes. “That’s not the point. You were in a band? You went on tour? You’re Dalton Casey’s son. How do I not know this? Music is what I do. How do I not know about you?”

“How about we walk and talk?” I take her elbow, turn her around. “The truck is back this way.”

“Will you tell me?”

“Tit for tat. You tell me why you’re so damn pushy about getting me to sign those papers. I’ll give you a lesson in ancient history.”

“It’s complicated.”

“Everything is. Just give it a try.”

We walk the length of the block and turn down the side street beside Mayhem before she speaks. “Okay.” Furrowing her brow, she takes a deep breath and hugs herself tighter. “We McClains have bad luck. Like ridiculously bad luck when it comes to relationships. Including marriage.”

“Is that what you’re scared of?” I take out my keys as we approach the truck. “That this will fail. So you’re trying to make it impossible from the get go.”

“No.” She shakes her head fervently. “You don’t understand. I’m not trying to make it impossible. It is impossible. We don’t work. And we can’t. Even if I believed in...”

“Feelings?” I unlock the truck and open the door for her.

“Yes, that will do. Even if I did, which I don’t, that would only make it worse. My grandmother calls it a curse. She says we’re cursed.”

“And you believe that.”

“I...” she glances at the ground beside her, “...don’t. There’s plenty of scientific reasoning as to why relationships don’t work. Thousands of articles on the internet and in medical and science journals.”

“But?”

“Two years seems to be the length that any McClain relationship lasts.” She exhales and scrapes those same loose strands of hair back behind her ear. “I probably sound crazy. Or like I’m making this up. But I’m not. I’m trying to save us both from wasting our time.”

She’s so damn sincere. And Liv’s three month offer slips right into that timeline. Like Beck’s friend is desperately hoping I can prove to her that this belief she has isn’t real. And I want to prove it to her. I want to catch her up and not let go. The same way I wanted to when I married her. I meant it inside Mayhem when I told her I won’t let go.

Getting close to her, I take her hand, find her pulse with my thumb and finger. It echoes in my own chest. Doesn’t feel like science to me. Doesn’t feel like a bad thing either. “We’re not cursed, Beck.”

“You still don’t understand.” She stares up at me with sadness. “My mother was married multiple times. Even my own parents were only together for eighteen months. My brother. Dash. He’s the only one in my family who got married and made it to two years. His wife died on the anniversary of their first date. Wanna know how long they had together? Two years, literally. Okay, and a few minutes if you want to be pedantic. But that’s not the point.”

“Christ.” No wonder she’s freaked out. No wonder she chooses to hide behind statistics and science. It would be easy to string these incidences together and label them as a curse. And if her whole family is set on believing it’s so... “I’m sorry.”

“Now you get it?” Hope shines in her gaze. “You understand why you should sign.”

I shake my head as I tug her into my chest, cradle her in my arms, and nuzzle the top of her head. I understand exactly why I shouldn’t do what she wants. And it’s not just about the money and the studio, though it should be. Without the cash Liv’s promised me, I’m letting my family down. My dad. Myself. Screwing up yet again. Without it I have nothing to offer her. “Angel, don’t waste your time, because I am never going to sign them. Understand?”

---