Page 95 of 7 Days and 7 Nights

“JoBeth? Honey?”

"Wh-wh-what are you doing here?” she sobbed. “Don’t want to talk to you.”

“Now, sweetheart.” He plucked a big wad of tissues out of a gold-plated holder on the counter and went to sit next to her on the couch. “Why don’t you tell me what happened?”

Her face crumpled, and a line of black gooey stuff streaked down one cheek as she cried. “K-K-Kevin asked me to marry him.” She wailed even harder as if her heart were broken. “Supposed to be the happiest day of my life. Wahhhhhhh.”

He put an arm around her shoulder and drew her up against his chest. “Hush, sweetheart. It’s okay.”

“No, no it’s not.”

She sobbed until his shirt grew damp from her tears. Not knowing what else to do, he patted her on the back and rocked her like a baby. “Everything’s okay, JoBeth.”

“I wanted to fall in love with him. I tried so hard.”

"I know, sweetheart. I know you did.”

Her sobs lessened. She hiccupped, and he handed her another wad of tissue, taking the used ones and shoving them in the jacket pocket.

“But I already love you.” She looked up at him, the tears rolling down her cheeks and carrying the last of her makeup with them. “1 can’t help it.”

“I know, JoBeth. Me too.” He used the pad of one thumb to wipe the tear tracks off her face. And then he bent down and kissed her.

“I’d rather just be with you than marry anyone else,” she whispered.

Even tear-stained and without makeup, she was the most beautiful woman Dawg had ever seen. He wanted to make babies with her and grow old by her side. He’d buy her a gym membership, so she could help him around the equipment when he was old and doddering.

“But I want you to be married,” he whispered back.

JoBeth sat up and sniffed. She looked at him in confusion. “You do?”

“I do.”

He pulled out the velvet box and placed it in her hands, smiling at the way they shook as she opened it, reveling in the gasp of surprise and delight when she saw what lay inside. “As long as you get married to me.”

Chapter Thirty-Three

Matt Ransom took out his little black book, the leather one with years of good times in it and a coded rating system so Machiavellian it had never been broken. Other guys had gone to apps on their phones when the technology had presented itself, but Matt liked to see the possibilities right there in black and white.

He’d given Olivia fair warning. He didn’t want to spill his guts, examine his motivations, or try to understand his family’s dynamics. He just wanted to be himself again. And that meant going out and having some uncomplicated fun with women who weren’t looking for more than he wanted to give.

He flipped through the book’s gilt-edged pages and smiled over the memories they evoked. There were the Barrett twins, who’d insisted on doing everything together, including him. And Cindy Culpepper, who might have become a nun if he hadn’t helped her discover how important it was to experience lust before confessing it.

In this book resided the phone numbers of all the women he had known, and while many of them were just pleasant memories at this point, others made ongoing guest appearances in his life.

Olivia Moore’s was the only number he’d ripped out of the book and never intended to call again, the only woman he’d been unable to deal with on such a casual basis. She was too serious, too earnest in her beliefs, too determined to make him think and feel things he didn’t want to think or feel.

He should have paid closer attention to how things had turned out eight years ago. At some point, one had to learn from one’s mistakes.

He flipped past Darlene Draper and Carly Feinway and stopped at MaryAnn Hightower, now a well-known television news anchor in Chicago. Olivia wanted him to explore his past? Fine, that’s exactly what he’d do. And he’d make damned sure she knew how much effort he was putting into it.

???

Olivia entered the control room and found Di hunched over her laptop looking uncomfortable. Her producer’s shoulders stiffened, and she quickly closed the lid before turning around to acknowledge Olivia.

“What were you looking at?”

“Hmm?” Di looked guilty.

---