Page 83 of Forever to Fall
They weren’t Mallory Lawson.
“You’re right, we don’t really go into details, huh?”
Evan drained the last of his water, the grimace on his face proving he needed something stronger. “I, uh, don’t need to know how things are...” he groaned and shook his head. “Like, I just need to know that things are like, good with you two.”
Beckett bit his bottom lip, which shook with the need to laugh. “Totally understandable.”
“And like,” Evan continued, although he started to turn a worrisome shade of green. “If you’re going to ask Mal out again, you’ll have to be serious about this. No messing around.”
“I won’t, mess around I mean. When I ask her again, that is it for me.”
Evan exhaled, yet the muscles in his jaw were as tight as a drum. “So that means, you’ll have to marry her.” Evan finally caught his gaze, his lips quirking up in the corner. “I’m assuming you’ve already thought about this?”
Beckett adjusted his glasses and blinked a few times, debating how honest to be with his best friend. But he was done keeping secrets, done lying about how he felt about Mallory.
“Let me put it to you this way, Lawless. Do you still have that ring?”
Evan threw his head back and barked out a laugh. “Thank God.” He chuckled as he fished in his pocket. Sliding a small black box across the kitchen table, he let out a long breath. “I can’t say I’m used to the idea of you and Mal together, but CeCe reminded me she could do a hell of a lot worse.” Waiting a moment, he added, “And so could you.”
Beckett was not an emotional guy, but his eyes burned with tears. After years of worrying how Evan would react, he’d just been given his blessing to not only date Mallory, but marry her.
“Thank you.” Beckett’s throat tightened, and he drank the rest of his water, willing the tears to stay at bay. “I promise I’ll do right by Mallory, and I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you before. To be honest, I didn’t want to jeopardize our friendship. Especially after Gramps died, you guys are all I have left.”
Evan clapped a hand on Beckett’s shoulder and squeezed. “That’s not true, Foxy. You’ve got a whole town who loves you. You’re a Buckeye now, like it or not.”
Beckett liked it, a whole hell of a lot.
After he opened the ring box, the ruby glinted in the waning sunlight. He’d waited his whole life to touch this ring again, to slide it onto Mallory’s hand one last time. “You know what’s crazy?” he asked, an unmistakable tremor in his voice.
Evan shook his head, not interrupting the moment.
“I’ve been waiting for this moment, having the ring back. The last time I had it, we were playing up in the orchards.”
“Holy crap,” Evan breathed, his eyes doubling in size. “You mean that time I pretended to marry you and Mallory?”
Beckett nodded, his grin unmistakable. “Yeah, that was it for me. I know we were kids, but there was something about it all. A rightness that settled over me on that hill.”
Evan rubbed at his eyes with his sleeve and muttered something to himself before he finally met Beckett’s gaze again. “I’m sorry I got in the way of you two.”
Scoffing, Beckett shook his head. “No, Lawless, we got in our own way.”
“She’s crazy about you. You know that, right?”
“Let’s hope she’ll give me one more chance.”
Evan pushed back his chair and got to his feet. The sun hung low in the sky, and he had places to be. “She has to, Foxy. Now that the cat’s out of the bag, you two need to get together.”
When they reached the front door, Evan pulled Beckett in for a quick bro hug.
“Thanks for the ring, Evan.” He stilled at the sound of his given name, but he didn’t flinch. “I’m sorry I wasn’t honest with you.”
“I’m sorry I didn’t give you the chance.” Evan smiled, his face morphing into its usual happy default. His golden retriever best friend was back, thank the Lord. “Now enough of this love talk. I’m going to go home to my fiancée, who finally has the ring she wants. You need to call Mal, and if she isn’t your date to the rehearsal dinner, I’ll have to uninvite you both.” He winked and opened the door.
Both men stopped dead in their tracks when they found Mallory on the porch, her hand raised like she was about to knock. “Oh,” she exhaled, and Beckett nearly pushed Evan out of the way to get to her. “Please tell me there weren’t any more fisticuffs.” Her voice dripped with fatigue.
Evan lightly punched her in the arm and rolled his eyes. “Get over yourself, Mal.” Turning to Beckett he added, “Later, Foxy.” After bounding down the porch steps, he slid behind the wheel and disappeared in a cloud of dust and K-Pop.
Beckett pivoted, facing Mallory and studying her lovely face. Her eyes were still wide, sizing him up as well. Her hair was up, looped around her head in a crown of braids. She looked like she could be on the box of hot cocoa mix. “Can I come in?” she asked, eyebrow raised.
