Page 74 of The One I Need
“Then you need to fight,” Amelia says, taking my hands in hers instead of joining the three musketeers. “You need to show her that love with you is different. You have to show her that it might have started as an accident, but sometimes that’s how the best things begin.”
“You have sixty days,” Betsy chimes in, sneaking a glance at Wes. “A lot can happen in that amount of time.”
She’s right. They’re all right. I love Izzy. And I know, in my heart of hearts, she loves me in some way that I don’t think she’s realized yet. And I can fight. I can wait. I can do whatever I need to do.
Sixty days. Two months. In that time, I have to slay a few dragons and make my wife fall in love with me.
Easy enough.
“Last question.”
I look back to Shane, who’s still standing with Wes and Simon. “What’s that?”
“When are we meeting Mrs. Price?”
Chapter25
Izzy
“You ready?”
I shoot a look over to Oliver, who has the most shit-eating grin on his face that I’ve ever seen. “Have I told you today that I hate you?”
“Nope,” he says, bouncing out of his car that’s currently sitting outside The Joint. By the time he gets around to my side, his smile has gotten wider. “But in fairness, it usually takes a few hours of being around me to get to that point. I just figured it was a matter of time before it happened today.”
I can’t help but to shake my head as I get out of Oliver’s car. Am I really doing this? Am I meeting his friends? His friends who now know the whole story. His friends who probably think I’m either a crazy woman for doing what we did or a bitch for wanting to get a divorce the second we can.
“Why am I meeting them again?” I ask. “We’re going to be not married before we know it.”
“Yes, but you’re still my friend,” he says. “And I want my friends to know each other. Plus, they have questions.”
I snap my head to him. “Questions? What kind of questions?”
Oliver puts his hand on the small of my back as we start walking inside. “Now, what would be the fun in that?”
“I really, really hate you.”
He leans in and gently kisses me on the temple. “I know. Now let’s go. They can’t wait to meet you.”
I focus on Oliver’s hand on my back as he leads me into the bar. I know that all eyes are going to be on me when we enter. I just have to keep reminding myself they aren’t looking at me in pity, or because I’m the butt of a joke I didn’t know about.
Oliver’s here, he’s with you. Lean into him.
“Hello!” Oliver yells as we walk into cute dive bar. Actually, I wouldn’t even call it a dive bar. It’s the perfect small-town spot. Enough tables for small or big groups. Local signs and jerseys along the walls. Pool tables and dart boards, and a bar that lines the wall. On a good note, there aren’t a lot of people here. On the other hand, everyone who is here is looking at me like I’m an exhibit at the zoo.
No one says anything as Oliver and I approach the table that currently has three men and two women sitting at it. The silence would be deafening if it wasn’t for the sound of the vintage video games from the corner of the bar. I see a small girl standing on a chair playing pinball, a preteen girl making sure she doesn’t fall, and a little boy at the other video game getting very into whatever he’s playing.
“Everyone, this is Izzy,” Oliver begins before he starts pointing to the people at the table. “Izzy, this is Wes, his girlfriend Betsy, Amelia, Shane, and Simon.”
I raise my hand slightly to give a wave. “Hello.”
Awkward greetings are exchanged, which is to be expected. I start to sit down, but before I can pull out my chair, the man who I believe was introduced as Simon does it for me. “Here you go.”
“Thank you,” I say, though I’m not sure why he did that. But before I know I can ask him or Oliver, the little girl from the pinball machine is standing very, very close to me.
“Are you Uncle Ollie’s wife?”
Wow. Okay. I didn’t expect direct interrogation from the kid…
