Page 117 of The One I Want
I didn’t know she felt like that. Any of it.
Turns out both of us were keeping in some loud voices.
“We’re quite the pair, aren’t we?”
This makes her laugh in between the tears that have started falling. “A match made in baggage heaven.”
We pull away, but I make sure I take her hands back in mine.
“I’m sorry again.” I know I’ve said it, but I need to make sure I say it one more time. And every day for as long as she’ll let me. “I’m sorry I let the voices and insecurities get the best of me. I’m sorry I tried to dictate your life. Somehow, I thought I was protecting you and your future, even as you were telling me that’s not what you wanted.”
“We can’t predict the future. I could have taken that job, thinking it was perfect for me, and then in five years the company could go under. At any point in your football career you could have gotten a season-ending injury that would have changed the course of your life. We don’t know, Wes. And we don't know what’s going to happen with us. I could move in and you could resent me for needing a closet just for my shoes. You could leave beard hairs in the sink that make me the subject of a true crime podcast one day. Or, we could live happily ever after and be that gross couple that the kids will be embarrassed about. We don’t know. No one does. We have to trust each other. We have to talk to each other. We can’t let little voices in our heads grow so loud that one day we vomit them out. If we let that happen, then we are done. But if we know what we need to do, and make sure we do those things every day, then we can be end game.”
I cup her cheeks in my hands, bringing our lips together. As soon as we connect, I feel the world shifting back to normal. Somehow, just feeling her lips on mine, grounds me in a way I’ve never felt before.
And she’s right. All of it. We need to talk to each other. We need to listen to each other. And most importantly, we need to be there for each other.
Because that whole thing about being old and gray and embarrassing the kids? Well, I had that growing up. And I want it now more than anything.
“Wait!” I say as I quickly back away from the kiss. “What about the interview? Didn’t you take it? I know I insisted you did, and if you got it then I can’t be mad if you go. But I really don’t want you to.”
She slowly smiles, instantly relieving the tightness in my chest.
“I didn’t go.”
“What?”
“I didn’t go. Well, I went. I drove to Birmingham. And then I couldn’t get out of the car.”
“Why?”
She gives my hands a squeeze. “Do you want the reason I told myself then or the reason I know now?”
“How about both?”
That makes her smile. “The second I pulled into the parking lot, I knew it didn’t feel right. I’ve been through enough bad jobs to know pretty early when something isn’t going to be a good fit.”
“Now the other reason?”
“My heart wasn’t in it,” she says. “Because my heart was still with you.”
Chapter42
Betsy
~One month later~
“Woo hoooooo!”
Wes and I laugh as Hank hoots and hollers as he sprints out of the school toward us as we stand outside the car in the pickup line.
“I’m officially a third-grader now!”
Wes laughs as he ruffles his hair. “Yes, you are.”
“Daddy! Betsy!” Magnolia yells as she also runs to us. I get it. Everyone is running. It’s the last day of school. I’d be running too.
“How was your last day, Miss Mags?”
