Page 70 of An Ex Affair

My chin dropped to my chest, my heart aching with all the narrow misses. All the chances we’d squandered. All the times fate, life, the universe, whatever, had tried to get us together and we’d fucked it up. A surge of energy filled my veins and had me lifting my head with fierce determination. My fingers tightened on hers.

“We’re not doing this again.”

Tully’s eyes went wide. “No?”

I shook my head. “No.” I reached in my back pocket and slapped the folded piece of paper on the table between us. “Welove one another and nothing is going to force us apart again. Not on my watch.”

Tully’s gaze dropped to the paper. She pulled her hand from mine and unfolded it, her eyes quickly scanning it. I knew when she got to the part about me resigning from the fire department because her mouth popped open in surprise. “Colson!”

“You want to do the reality show? Fine. Want to do any other show? Great by me. Want to move to Europe? I’m all in. Want to live in a van down by the river? Sign me up.” I grabbed her hand again and nearly lunged across the table. “Wherever you go, I’ll be right by your side, Tully. I’m not letting you go without one hell of a fight this time.”

Tully’s face morphed into a blinding smile. “Well, I’m really glad to hear that.”

And then all hell broke loose as the fire alarms inside You Got Served went off, and a fire truck came barreling down Main Street with its lights flashing and siren blaring.

CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE

Tully

I’d setup everything tonight not sure if I would be able to sway Colson. Not sure if he’d run, thinking I was too much trouble after all. But seeing him willing to give up everything to be by my side in whatever I wanted to do? It was everything I’d wanted nineteen years ago and didn’t get. Which meant I had every intention of being everything Colson wanted nineteen years ago and didn’t get. He deserved to realize his own dreams. To stay in the town he loved so much. To be near family and friends. To build a life where “us” was the mutual goal. To finally be two fully healed adults promising to love each other forever, no matter what came our way.

I opened my mouth to explain that I didn’t want him to give up his job but every alarm in You Got Served started blaring, drowning out my words. The siren came from behind me, right on time. Colson’s eyes went wide and he dropped my hand. He was a blur of motion, coming around the table and hoisting me over his shoulder in one smooth move I didn’t see coming.Suddenly the world was upside down and Colson was leaping over the fence and jogging to the other side of Main Street.

“Colson!” I beat my fist on his perfectly lovely ass.

He flipped me back over carefully, setting me down on the curb before crouching down. His hands cupped my face. “Stay here. I’ll see if anyone’s still inside.”

He’d gone into firefighter mode. I should have planned for that, but didn’t. My man loved to run in and save people. It was in his DNA to run toward trouble. Look how many times he’d run straight for me.

I grabbed his bicep and kept him from standing back up. “Wait!”

The fire truck’s brakes hissed as it came to a stop in front of You Got Served. His buddies streamed off the truck, far more of them than usual. Instead of going into the ice cream shop, they formed a line along the truck, shoulder to shoulder. I was trusting them to do this right and that was asking a lot from this bunch of knuckleheads. They’d laughed their asses off when I first asked for their help. Then Joey promised me they’d come through for me. For Colson.

“What the—” Colson’s head was on a swivel, trying to figure out why they weren’t rushing inside the shop. People from surrounding businesses had flooded the streets, brought out by the alarms, siren, and now this spectacle of firefighters.

Captain jumped off the back of the truck with his bullhorn. “Colson Wolfe?”

Colson looked back at me. I shot him a wink and stood up, dragging him with me. “He’s right here!”

“Tully,” he hissed.

I ignored him, getting him out to the center of Main Street before I let go and took a step back. My heart was nearly pounding out of my chest. This had to be my most important performance yet. There were no cameramen or boom micshanging over my head, but every single person I knew had their phones out, recording this moment. The crowd wasn’t exactly quiet. The squeals and gasps and whispers were almost as loud as the damn siren on the firetruck.

Captain swept his arm toward the row of firefighters like Vanna White. The guys all had cheesy grins on their faces as they brought their helmets to their chest, one white letter taped to each helmet.

W-I-L-L-Y-O-U-M-A-R-R-Y-M-E-?

Colson’s lips were moving, trying to figure out what it all spelled. He would have really sucked on aWheel of Fortuneepisode. It felt like forever before he swiveled on his heel and turned his bewildered gaze toward me.

“The lady has a question for you,” Captain announced through the bullhorn.

I licked my lips and launched into it, dipping down to one knee right there in the middle of the street. The murmurs from the crowd got louder and I hoped like hell Gigi had gotten Mama there in time to witness this stunt.

“Colson,” I said firmly. Proudly. “I’ve loved you for what seems like forever. We had a bit of a break.” Even Captain laughed at that—right into the bullhorn. “But I like to think we got our second chance. Before God, our families and friends, and every person in Blueball, will you marry me?”

Colson looked like he’d been sucker punched. He bent over, hands on his knees to peer down at me. Maybe he thought I was some sort of illusion. I slid his old wedding ring off my left thumb where I’d been hiding it and held it out to him. “I engraved it this time.”

The inside of the ring said forever, which was what I could finally promise him. At eighteen, I’d had no concept of forever and therefore had no business making that promise. Which is why I’d fucked it up. But I was older and wiser now and had thewrinkles to prove it. Forever was exactly what I wanted with this man.

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