Page 15 of Chasing Forever
“Step one is that I need this to stay between us. If it gets out around Willowbrook, I might never have my chance.”
Again, I keep the thought of my parents to myself. How they would react, since, for some reason I’ve never understood or cared to, they blame Lottie for Holden’s tarnished reputation after leaving her at the altar, causing him to flee town.
I was just happy he left and rarely returns unless Dad summons him home to further his political career.
The boarding announcement for our flight echoes through the terminal. I grab my carry-on and move toward the gate. Ben waves Gillian over to join us.
“I haven’t been able to congratulate you,” Gillian says, squeezing into the line between Ben and me. “You scored a good one.”
“Now I just have to figure out how to keep her.”
She smiles softly, glancing at Ben, and I see it—the look that says he’s her safe place.
Someday, I want Lottie to look at me that way.
“A piece of advice?” she offers.
“Anything you’re willing to give.”
She smiles. “It’s in the small things. Not the elaborate and big things. See her. Discover what she needs to see you and the promise of what you can bring to her life.”
“What kind of things do you think I should do?” I’m desperate to get this right.
“I can’t tell you that. You have to figure them out yourself. Plus, every woman needs something different. And believe me, you already know. You already like her—probably love her. Just use that big head of yours.” She rises on her tiptoes and kisses Ben’s cheek. “Now I have to go because, you know, girl code. You understand.” She squeezes my forearm. “See you on the plane.”
“Hey, wait,” Ben says, but he groans when she scurries farther ahead to get in line with the girls. He fishes his phone out of his pocket and presses his password, then studies it for a beat. “Shit.”
I stiffen beside him. “What?”
“I’m sorry, man.” He passes me his phone, and I see a message from his dad with a screenshot from the chapel website.
It’s a picture of a drunk Lottie and me walking down the aisle right after we got married.
God, we’re wasted beyond belief, but we’re smiling and laughing, arm in arm, our faces so close. And for a second, I forget how wrecked we were, because we look… happy.
I wish I could remember the kiss we surely shared.
Then I come back down to reality and realize—we’re screwed… I’m screwed.
“Fuck.” I pass the phone back to Ben, and he nods. “By the time we touch down and drive into Willowbrook, everyone in town will know.”
Ben cringes, empathy on his face.
This just made my quest to win Lottie a lot fucking harder.
Chapter Seven
Lottie
I’m not sure why Brooks is giving me so much space, but he doesn’t try to swindle Romy into swapping seats with him like he did on the way to Vegas. In fact, he’s kind of standoffish. Other than while we were waiting for the flight and he was talking to Ben, he hasn’t even glanced in my direction. Not even when we had the layover in Denver before our last leg into Lincoln.
He’s probably playing a game. Trying to play hard to get or something. Or maybe… maybe he regrets what happened and that fight he said he was going to put up is already diminishing.
Well, good then. I hope that’s it.
As the plane lands and we taxi to the gate, it all suddenly seems so real. He’s my husband. My freaking husband. A technicality at this point, but I’m tempted to take him right from here to a lawyer or whoever we need to get this marriage annulled. We have to do it in Lincoln with the hopes that no one else finds out about it. I’m pretty sure I can trust everyone who knows at this point. Sure, maybe twenty years from now someone will let it slip to my mom and dad, laughing at the absurdity that I married Brooks Watson in Vegas, but they’ll keep my secret for now. At least, I pray they will.
“Hey, Lottie,” Romy whispers, leaning closer to me. She has her phone out, and her face is a mix of panic. “You’re not going to like what I just received.”
