Page 88 of Ruck Me

Swiping the tears from my eyes, I clicked on his name and my phone started ringing.

Seconds later, he picked up. “What the fuck, Aoife?” he answered, hollering into the phone.

My head pounding, I winced. “I’m sorry, Eoin. I’ve had a shitday.”

“You?” he challenged. “I’ve been sitting here thinking you weredead.”

“I know, I’m sorry,” I apologized again. “I just got to the hotel.”

“You were supposed to call me when you landed.”

“I couldn’t,” I said, the lie smoothly rolling off my tongue. “Something weird happened with my phone. When I tried to turn it back on, it wouldn’t. And then the cabbie took me—took us—to the wrong hotel and we had to fight him to lower the price when we got to the right one, and then my room wasn’t ready, and I seriously just walked in thedoor.”

“How come you couldn’t use Brienne’s phone?”

Shit. How come indeed? Think Aoife. THINK.

And then inspiration struck. “Shocking as this may be, I don’t have your number memorized. The last time I had to call you from memory was when we both still lived back in Ballycurra. Do you know how embarrassing it is not to know your boyfriend’s phone number?”

Eoin let out a ragged sigh, and I pictured him running his hand through his hair, his jaw clenched in frustration. It was an expression I knew well; I’d been exasperating him for years.

“You terrified me, baby.”

“I know,” I whispered. “I’m sorry. It won’t happen again.”

“Do you know what I thought at first?” he asked, his voice gruff.

“No.”

“I thought … I worried I’d scared youoff.”

“You didn’t.” My voice faltering, I said, “I love youtoo.”

“You and me, forever, Aoife. I want to make babies with you someday.”

“Me too,” I said, fighting back a sob. “But …”

“Butwhat?”

“What if it happened sooner?” I asked, the phone trembling in my hands.

“I’d marry you tomorrow.”

A feeling of relief swept through me. Maybe I didn’t have to do this. Maybe I’d misjudged everything. Maybe everything would beokay.

“But you know what people would say,” he continued.

“What do you mean?” I asked cautiously.

On the other end of the line, he sighed audibly. “We’re too young. What would people think?”

“Is what people think so important?”

Please let him say no, please let him say no, please let him sayno.

“Are you saying you want to get married?”

He’d marry you in a heartbeat if you told him about thebaby.

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