Page 36 of Make Your Save

“Sorry that took so long,” he says softly as we dodge a small group of people waiting outside of a cafe. “She didn’t take the news very well.”

I glance at him, offering him an apologetic smile. “I’m sorry, Rowan. I’m sure it’s a lot for her to try and process right now.” I pause for a moment, my footsteps halting as he turns toward a store. I look up at the sign,reading the name but not fully paying attention to it. “Did you tell her about us?”

He inclines his head, pulling open the door for me to go in first. I take the stroller from him, pushing Lucy into the store as he follows us. “She was pissed. She now thinks I’ve kept the whole relationship a secret from her and she thinks we’re moving too fast.”

I stare at him for a moment, my face cracking as laughter spills from my lips. “Dear God, if only she knew.”

Rowan chuckles before dragging his teeth over his plump bottom lip. “She has no idea, but that’s fine. She believed me, even if she wasn’t happy about it.” I watch him for a moment as he lifts his hand and drags it through his hair. “She has to look at her schedule, but she wants to come visit within the next few weeks.”

My stomach falls onto the floor. “What?”

He runs his tongue over his teeth. “Yeah. I haven’t been home since before the season started and she hasn’t been here in over a year or more. We’re due for a visit and she feels now is the perfect time.” He shrugs. “She wants to meet her granddaughter...and my fiancée.”

“Right,” I say slowly, tipping my head as I finally take a look around the store, realizing we’re standing just inside the doors of a jewelry store. I slowly turn around, taking it all in before my gaze meets Rowan’s.

“You need a ring,” he says quietly, his eyes scanning my face. “To make it more believable.”

My heart stalls in my chest for a beat or two and my breathing ceases. “Right.”

“Do you have any idea of what kind of ring you would want?” Rowan asks, his hand finding my lower back as he guides me deeper into the building. My body doesn’t protest and I move with him.

As a young girl, I used to dream of one day having that perfect life. My parents weren’t the best example for how a marriage or a relationship should look, so I’ve always wanted what they didn’t have. Although, after a few failed relationships, I gave up that dream. Marriage and children weren’t something in the cards for me—at least not anytime soon.

“No.”

“Well, let’s take a look and see which ones you like.”

Rowan leads me over to the counter just as Lucy begins to stir again. A woman walks over to us, a bright smile on her face as she looks at me. “How may I help the two of you today?”

“We’re here to look at some engagement rings to see what she might like.”

The woman smiles even brighter as she looks at Rowan. “That sounds perfect. Come with me,” she says, motioning for me to follow her to a glass case. Rowan takes the stroller, walking over to where the woman stops.

She begins to pull a few different rings out for me to try and see how it looks on my finger. It feels foreign and slightly abnormal sliding the large stones over my knuckle. Every single one just doesn’t feel right. She bows her head and doesn’t argue and instead brings over a small tray of various rings that aren’t as big.

I look up at the woman to thank her when I see sheisn’t even looking at me. She’s staring at Rowan, watching him lifting Lucy up into his arms. Irritation licks my veins and I ignore the rock in the center of my stomach. I know the look on her face right now. I’ve seen it from too many women when they see Rowan Taylor.

Rolling my eyes, I direct my attention back to the tray, immediately finding a ring that catches my gaze. It’s very simple, teardrop-shaped diamonds with small stones along the band. I lift it from where it’s nestled in the velvet cushion, sliding it over my finger as I stare down at my hand.

“I like that one,” Rowan says softly as he looks over my shoulder at the ring on my finger. “It’s very much you.”

Turning my head, I look at Rowan. “It is, isn’t it?”

He looks directly at me instead of the woman who’s been eye fucking him the past twenty minutes. “We’ll take this one.”

Tearing my gaze from his, I look back down at the ring on my finger.

The ring that means absolutely nothing.

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

ROWAN

The clay is soft and pliable in my hands as I press my foot down on the peddle. The wheel begins to spin and I slide my hands down to the base of the ball of clay, cupping it with my palms as I start to shape the vase.

It’s still early in the morning, much earlier than I normally wake up, but I couldn’t fall back asleep after Lucy woke up. I’ve been keeping her in my room in the bassinet, but every time she wakes up, it’s like an alarm clock to Hadley.

She’s been here for a little over two weeks now and each time I find her standing in my doorway, rubbing the sleep from her eyes before we rock, paper, scissors on who gets to go back to sleep. When Lucy woke up around six, I didn’t even bother challenging Hadley. Instead, I told her to go back to bed and that I’d handle the baby.

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