Page 61 of Operation Annulment
She shakes her head, and her lips turn up in a slight smile. “No, not even a little bit. He loves my sister, and that’s all I could ever want.”
“Whoa! Pump the brakes on the love bit. We’re still getting to know each other.”
Dakota reaches for my hand. “Trust me, he loves you. I think you love him, too.”
I squeeze her hand. “That’s sweet of you, but it’s still too soon to tell. We’re trying to take things slowly right now.”
She smiles like she’s got a secret, so I give her my best stern look. “Spill it. What do you know that I don’t?”
Her smile grows wider. “Who do you think brought me to the hospital, Katydid? Nate was at the gym. I grabbed the first person I saw; it turned out to be him. I’d been so hateful, but he didn’t even hesitate. I told him my symptoms, and he rushed me out to his car and brought me here.”
As if confirming Dakota’s words, my heart starts beating faster.
My god, am I in love with him?
“Love?” My voice cracks.
I’m super protective of his feelings and want him to know how much I care about him.
But love?
It’s scary and messy. Love is what brings people to my office in tears. It’s what causes mothers to abandon their daughters…
“It’s what makes life worth living.”
I tuck my hair behind my ear and reluctantly look over at her.
She continues, “I know that you’re scared. It’s written all over your face, but when it’s real, it’s incredible. It makes what we had with Jackson and Benjamin seem ridiculous. You know what I’m talkingabout. Now, we can sit here and keep crying, or my maid of honor can help me plan this wedding.”
I run my thumbs under both eyes. “Is this your way of asking me?”
She smiles and pulls me into another hug. “I can’t do it without you, sister. Little Ricky is just hopeless at this kind of stuff. And, let’s be real. There’s no way he could pull off the dress.”
I glance over at the clock—two in the morning.
Halloween is officially over, and after the day’s events, I want nothing more than to crawl into bed. My head drops onto my chest, and I doze off before immediately jerking awake again. I’ve been doing this for hours, but I refuse to fall asleep until I see him.
Right on cue, the garage door rises, and I hastily rub the sleep from my eyes before standing up. The door opens softly, and I can hear the slight jingle of his keys as he hangs them up.
“Hey,” I whisper as he rounds the corner and jumps back into the wall.
“Jesus, Kate!”
I wrap my arms around him and lay my head on his chest, his heart pounding steadily against my cheek. “Sorry… sorry. I didn’t mean to scare you.”
He brings his arms around behind me. “I thought you’d be asleep. Why are you sitting up in the dark?”
“I wanted to thank you for what you did for Dakota today. I don’t want to think about what would’ve happened had you not taken her to the hospital when you did.” My eyes fill with tears just thinking about it.
He releases me to turn on a light, and I can see that he’s dead on his feet. He stumbles over to collapse on the couch. “Anyone would have done it, babe.”
I shake my head. “No, Nate. They wouldn’t—especially not for someone who’d said half of what she did. I just want to thank you forstepping up like that. It meant a lot to me,” My voice cracks with emotion, “I was so scared for her.”
He pats the empty spot on the couch, and I curl up next to him. “I checked on her before she was discharged, and all the tests came back normal. She’s going to be okay, Katy girl. You don’t owe me anything—you could have gotten some sleep instead of camping out in the dark.” He kisses my forehead lightly while massaging the back of my neck.
“I bought some Halloween candy, but it wasn’t near enough for all the kids in the neighborhood. I tried turning off the porch light, but that didn’t fool anyone. So, I dug through the pantry—you’re going to need more energy bars, by the way. When I ran out of those, I just turned off all the lights and pretended not to be home.”
He starts chuckling. “That’s got to be the cutest damn thing I’ve heard all day. I hate that I missed seeing you, moving around the house in stealth mode. Come on, babe. Let’s go lay down. We’ve both had a long day. I just want to lay in bed and hold you.”
