Page 44 of Forever After Never

Autumn: Well, I was going to, until you both ran out of the house.

Autumn: The more I think about it, the more annoyed I'm getting.

Autumn: Can you call me?

Autumn: I can see that you've read my message!

Me: Sorry, terrible service. I'll call you later.

Autumn: Fine! You've left half of your shit here you know.

Me: It's fine, I don't need it.

Autumn: You don't need your shoes then, no?

I look down at my feet and wiggle my toes, realising that I left the house in slippers.Dammit.

Me: Nope! Gotta go. Speak to you later.

I read the last few messages from her out to Sawyer. Omitting the part about her asking him to move in.

"Are you going to call her?" he asks.

"Of course not. The thing is, I would, but Autumn has a great bullshit detector. She'll know that I'm hiding something from her. It's better to ignore her than it is to lie!" I grimace and turn my phone off. "Oh no, sorry, my battery died," I sarcastically lie out loud.

"You do know that she is going to want to murder the both of us, don't you?"

"I've spent the last thirty years making Autumn want to kill me. Another day won't make a difference." I shrug.

"So, the rough plan is asking her to marry me. I think that was always going to be the plan the second I saw her. I think I want to involve my niece. She loves Autumn and will be very annoyed if she is excluded. She is one scary four-year-old. I don't want to be on her wrong side."

"Wow, if you don't want to get on the wrong side of a four-year-old, that must say something, given that you're the mostbrooding and miserable jackass I've ever met. Just how bad is this kid?"

"She's sassy, okay!"

"Oh, so she's more like you than I thought." I chortle.

"Ha. You really are a pain in my ass, Alice," he grumbles back at me.

"Do you want my help or not? Anyway… does your family know that you're asking her to marry you?" I ask.

"Nope. It's only you that knows. But they love Autumn. They'll be so happy."

"Do you think anything through at all, Sawyer?" I am laughing my head off at how ridiculous this all is. But I expect absolutely nothing else when it comes to Autumn and Sawyer.

Everything about them has been chaotic and messy, so why wouldn't this be too?

"Well, as long as your plan doesn't involve mowing her down in a truck or something like that, then I think it'll be fine," I reply and smirk at him.

Chapter 36

Sawyer

If I said that I hadn't thought this through, it would be the biggest lie I've ever told. The very second I told Autumn I loved her, I pictured her next to me in a white dress.

I held myself back for far too long, believing that I deserved to be alone and never find happiness. I didn't think that I believed in fate and perfect timing, but I believe that Autumn was brought to me at exactly the right time. She cracked my heart open, and she allowed me to breathe again when I didn't even realize that I was holding my breath.

Marrying my girl is all I've thought about for the last few weeks. I wake up with her in my arms and glide my fingers over the empty space on her ring finger. When she's on her knees in front of me, I imagine calling her Mrs. Green as she takes me into her throat, staring up at me with her big brown eyes. When we do anything together, the need for her to be my wife takes up every available thought.

---