Page 69 of Side Hustle
“Did he just make a sex joke?” Yedda said from behind me, her voice more a bellow than a whisper.
Hazel’s lips tilted up and she looked like she was having a hard time deciding if she wanted to laugh or cry. You could have heard a pin drop as the entire town waited to hear Hazel’s decision. My heartbeat thundered in my ears, and if the ring shook a bit as I held it between us, no one would blame me.
“Oh, Rip.” She sighed.
She sputtered out a sob-giggle I couldn’t quite interpret. The ice in my veins unfroze and hope ignited despite my attempts to be realistic about my odds. Then she looked me right in the eye and nodded while tears streamed down her cheeks. I shot up and punched my fist in the air. The crowd erupted, but I didn’t waste a second, pulling Hazel into my arms before she could change her mind. My lips claimed hers and I tasted her tears, her happiness, and our mingled hopes for the future. Her arms wrapped around my neck and every curve of hers I adored pressed against me as if our bodies couldn’t stand to be apart any longer either.
It had all been worth it. The work, the planning, the groveling to get everyone’s help. Putting myself out there in the most public display possible.
Because I had Hazel to love for the rest of my life.
And crazy enough, she loved me back.
28
Hazel
“Okay, that’s a wrap.”
The town council had counted the last ballot they’d received, and Mrs. Bennett stood to make the announcement. She took the envelope from the council and came to stand before the crowd that had gathered in front of the City Hall building.
Rip hugged me tight to his side and I crossed my fingers for him. The ring he’d given me just three days ago still felt foreign on my finger. I twirled it absentmindedly, loving the feel of the warm gold pressed against my skin. When Rip placed the ring on my finger after the flash mob proposal, the size of the diamond had taken my breath away. Far as I knew, Rip wasn’tthatwealthy. Come to find out, he’d sold his boat so he could buy me more carats than a bunny could eat in a lifetime. The man had literally put everything on the line to win me back. Which was why I frequently teared up at random times of the day. For a girl whose own mother didn’t want her, knowing I was loved to that extent was everything to me.
Rip’s mother opened the envelope and swallowed hard. She’d already changed since her husband was arrested. She’d filed for divorce and gotten a front desk job at Finnie’s urgent care. Her pearls and suits were nowhere to be found, making her look years younger in just jeans and a sweater. Her gaze connected with Rip’s and my eyes burned something fierce.
“It is my greatest honor to announce that Auburn Hill has elected a new mayor today. Mr. Rip Bennett.”
I planted a highly inappropriate kiss on Rip’s lips—which he was all too eager to receive and participate in—before he went up to the front of the crowd and hugged his mother. She whispered something in his ear that made him pause, a look passing between them that made my heart ache in a good way. Which was happening a lot lately. Everything in my life was coming together and sometimes it was all just so sweet it made me pucker.
Rip posed for a picture and was handed the ceremonial key to the city. He paused after that and came jogging back through the crowd looking for me. His brown eyes sparkled the way they never did with anyone else once he found me.
“Hey. I can’t do this without you, future Mrs. Bennett. You should be up there with me.”
A second of doubt slipped through as I looked up at him, so handsome in his suit. “I’ll never wear the pearls, Rip.” I was perfectly comfortable with who I was, but I needed to know he was okay with me not fitting the normal stereotype of a mayor’s wife.
He shook his head, gaze never leaving mine. “I don’t want you to. This town needs you more than they need me. You have more hustle in you than can ever be contained in a stuffy suit.” He leaned down to press his forehead to mine. “And those ridiculous pearls.”
Relief coursed through me, seeing he spoke the truth. “The town better get ready for some fundraisers. I throw a hell of a party.”
He grinned and took me by the hand to pull me to the front, posing for a ridiculous amount of pictures with his arm around my waist.
In between flashes of pictures, he leaned down to whisper in my ear, “Nobody puts sunshine in the back.”
I guffawed and probably ruined some of the pictures. My elbow jabbed him in the ribs. “Did you just try to quoteDirty Dancingto me?”
He shrugged like it was no big deal. “It’s your favorite movie, right?”
Right there in front of everyone, my heart burst yet again. This man. He knew me through and through, noticing every detail. He didn’t need to be the life of the party for me to be attracted to him. He just needed to see me for who I was—differences and all—and love me anyway. And boy, did he love me good.
The ceremony ended after everyone got the pictures they wanted. Coffee had provided beverages and snacks, so my future husband, the new mayor of Auburn Hill, mingled with his constituents while he kept me by his side.
Granny came up to us, not one cat in sight, thank God. She poked Rip right in the chest with her bony finger, paying no mind to the office he now held or that others might be watching.
“In all the hubbub of the flash mob, I didn’t get a chance to threaten you—I mean, tell you. You make my Hazel cry again and I’ll pull your teeth out one by one with my pliers. You got that?”
“Granny!” I gasped. She didn’t even own a set of pliers, for one thing. And threatening my fiancé with physical violence was taking things a bit far.
Rip squeezed my waist and nodded at Granny, taking her threat seriously. “Understood, Yedda. I promise to only give her happy tears.”
