Page 42 of Keeping Happily Ever After

“Getting married?” Bella finished for him. She pulled her hand away from his. She could not be touching him and having this conversation. She could not be touching him and be angry at him at the same time, if that’s what this was, and it was. It hit her like a flash. Shewasangry.

She hadn’t even realized it up until that exact moment.

But shewasangry. That he’d said something at all. Not only was it the absolute worst time, at a baby shower, but more importantly, it wasn’t true. They weren’t getting married.

No distractions.

“I can’t believe you did that, Jeremy.” She shook her head. “Do you understand what kind of position that puts me in? What am I supposed to say? That we’re not getting married? ’Cause we’re not.” She made a point to add that important detail. But at the look of his crestfallen face, she couldn’t help herself but to add quickly, “At least not yet. This is all still so new, Jeremy.”

He nodded. “I know. But is it really so crazy? I mean, crazier things have happened, right, Bella?”

What was he saying?Of course it was crazy.

“I mean, why not? I love you. You love me.”

She nodded. Because yes…he did. She did. But that didn’t mean that they were supposed to get married.

Jeremy was still talking. “And you’re about to go off, and have this great adventure. Which is great,” he added quickly. “But I just don’t want you to...”

She sat back in her chair, not sure she wanted to hear him finish the sentence but knowing she needed to. “What? You don’t want me to what?”

Jeremy took a breath and exhaled slowly. “It’s not like you’re going to…” He shook his head. “This is all coming out wrong.”

“Just say it.”

He dropped his chin to his chest for a moment. “I guess I was just thinking that maybe, you’d go off to Hollywood and get to a party and meet someone rich and famous and I’d be back here and…I mean, do you really have to go?”

Bella felt as though she’d been slapped. She blinked. Hard. “What?” She shook her head in an effort to clear it. Maybe she hadn’t heard him properly. Because surely he hadn’t really asked her not to follow her dreams. No. He wouldn’t. “Did you just…”

“No,” he said quickly. “I’m not saying anything. I was just…I mean, there’s a lot for you right here in Glacier Falls, too. You know that, right?”

Of course she knew that. But…this was her career. It was the biggest break she could ever hope to get and…

“Marry me, Bella.”

Not this again. Not like this.

“Marry me and stay here in Glacier Falls.”

She shook her head. There was no way he’d just said that.No way.

“You don’t have to go to Hollywood to have a great life. You don’t need to do this.”

“This?”

“The movie. The acting. The whole thing. You can have a full life right here with me.”

This wasn’t Jeremy. This wasn’t the man she had fallen in love with. No way. He would never…

“Look around you, Bella.” Jeremy’s voice had taken on an almost manic quality. He spoke so fast, she could barely keep up with what he was saying. “Everyone here is happy. They have each other, they’re in love, they—”

“Aren’t me.”

He shook his head. “No. They aren’t. But—”

“You aren’t really asking me to choose, Jeremy, are you?”

“Choose?”

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