Page 30 of Walkoff Wedding

I push the eggs around my plate with my fork and whisper, “Me too. It just feels… surreal though, right? Maybe it’s just me, but I can hardly believe that we’re even sitting here right now. Together.”

I hope that didn’t sound as stupid as I think it did. It sounded much better in my head.

“No, it’s totally fucking surreal, Addie,” he agrees, rubbing his hand over the fresh scruff on his jaw. “Honestly? I thought I’d wake up this morning and you’d be gone.”

“I’m sorr?—”

“Don’t apologize. I just… I feel like if I fucking blink, you’ll slip through my fingers, and I want you to be a part of my life, however that may be. In whatever way that I can have you. I just don’t want to let you go again.”

My pulse races at his admission, and I find myself nodding. “I… I’m not going anywhere, Grant.”

I’m not sure I can even truly make that promise, but I do anyway because the emotion flickering in his gaze grabs hold of me, twisting its way around my heart and taking root.

“We should probably talk about last night. About…” He trails off.

“About your proposal.”

Grant nods as he sets his fork down and leans onto his elbows on the kitchen table, holding my gaze intently while he speaks. “I meant it. Every word of what I said. I get that it probably sounds crazy, but… it can’t be any crazier than you tying yourself to that guy for life. Yeah, it would be an arrangement between us, something that we could both stand to benefit from, but Addie, I would never disrespect you. I would never treat you the way that he did. I would never touch you in anger or speak to you with anything but kindness. That’s not the man that I am, and I think you know that by now. Wouldn’t you rather marry a friend than that dick?”

I let what he’s saying sink in, and I realize that… he’s not wrong. Marrying him isn’t really any crazier than marrying someone I feel completely unsafe with and honestly afraid of. What would really be insane is marrying Dixon. Especially after last night.

“I know. I do, I know, but I…” I trail off and blow out a breath. “I just… Grant, do you realize that you’re offering to tie your life to me? Someone you barely know? Someone whose life is kind of a mess. It’s marriage, not something we can walk away from when it suddenly feels like too much because we’re legally bound together. If we’re going to talk about this, or even seriously consider it, I think that we both have to be aware of what the cost of agreeing to this will do to our lives.”

“It’s not a cost to me. I’m not sacrificing anything to marry you, Addie. I mean, yeah, I’d be doing this for you. Because I feel slightly fucking murderous when I think of you ever being alone with that guy again and because I care about you. I genuinely want to help you because I care about you. But I wasn’t lying when I said it can help me too. My agent is trying to close this sponsorship deal for me, and the company is worried about my reputation. Even though it’s mostly just bullshit… it doesn’t matter because it’s how things have been perceived. I have to turn that around if I want to sign this deal because it’s not just going to help my career. It’s going to give me momentum going into the draft. That’s what I want after college, to play professionally, and marrying you can actually help me work towards that too.”

Okay, that makes sense and honestly makes me feel inherently better that I’m not the only one who’s going to benefit from us being married. I feel guilty even considering involving him in the mess of my life, but when he puts it that way, it feels like less of a burden. I mean, marriage is only a piece of paper, right?

It’s also not going to fix everything. Marrying Grant won’t fix the fact that the bank is threatening foreclosure. But… at least it would prevent Brent from selling it out from under me and give me time to figure out the financials.

And it gets me away from Dixon.

I’m lost in my head again when he reaches out and grasps my fingers, dragging my attention back to him.

“Tell me what you’re thinking. What’s going on in your head right now?”

My lips part, and I laugh half-heartedly. “Everything? I’m thinking about all the things I don’t know when it comes to what this marriage would have to look like in order to legally secure the bakery. Like if we do this, what’s the end date? When do we decide that our arrangement has been fulfilled? This doesn’t fix all of the bakery’s problems… so what if the financial issues with the bakery affect you too? And afterwards, do we get an annulment or divorce, then walk away? What if you want to… be with someone else while we’re married? Would I have to move into your apartment? Do we have to have a wedding? I have so many questions, and I know it’s probably all just really stupid things, but…”

Grant squeezes my hand gently in his, his pillowy lips twitching in amusement at the word vomit that I just spewed.

Truly, I was unable to stop it. Which is generally not the case with me. I’m more of a not seen nor heard kind of girl, but this is… a lot.

“It’s not stupid. Those are all legit questions and pretty big ones too. And I agree, if we do this, then we lay it all out. We need to know exactly what the plan is and what it would take to get the bakery. Then we can focus on the financial stuff—one problem at a time.”

Suddenly, my mind spinning sends me to an answer that I probably should’ve landed on prior to now. I just hadn’t assumed there would be another marriage option. Until now.

“I think we should talk to a lawyer. I mean, I think the first place to start is at the source. Have him confirm what Earl overheard about my mom’s will and that I do actually inherit Ever After if I’m married. I only recently found out about the will, and I planned on consulting a lawyer. I just hadn’t had a chance before… all of this. Maybe they could help us answer some of these questions?”

Nodding, he offers, “Yeah, I think that’s a solid first step. We can ask what would legally meet the inheritance criteria as far as the marriage goes and make sure there’s not anything additional that you have to do. We can start there and then figure out what comes next? One step at a time.”

“Yeah, I think that’s perfect,” I murmur with a small, hopeful smile.

“Then let’s do this, ArtGirl.” He smirks playfully before grabbing his fork and digging into his uneaten breakfast like we didn’t just possibly decide to get married.

He’s nothing like I expected him to be, but I think exactly… what I needed.

chapter ten

Addie

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