Page 70 of Trophy
Shaking her head to dispel the thoughts, she walked into the hall and called out, “Rob? My feet are cold. Can I borrow a pair of your socks?”
“Sure. They’re in the drawer.”
She shuffled into the bedroom and opened the top drawer of his dresser, where he kept his socks.
The first thing she saw was an engagement ring.
It had to be an engagement ring. It was a gold band with a pretty diamond solitaire in a delicate setting. It wasn’t incredibly expensive—at least not by Allison’s old standards—but it was good quality and lovely and looked full of history.
It was an engagement ring.
She stared dazedly for a moment, until she heard Rob’s voice, sounding like it was moving down the hall toward her, “Actually, you better just grab some out of the basket,” he was saying.
Reacting quickly, she closed the drawer and turned away from the dresser. She was staring at the laundry basket when he entered the room.
She saw his face, the rush of relief when he saw her. “All the socks in the drawer have holes,” he explained.
He hadn’t wanted her to see the ring.
She managed a smile and leaned down to dig through the clothes in the basket until she found a matching pair of socks. Rob took her hand and pulled her back into the living room, away from his bedroom.
She sat in the recliner with him again and pulled on the socks. Then she cuddled up beside him and pretended to watch the game.
She saw nothing on the screen.
There was no way that Rob was about to propose to her. No way. It was way too early for them, and Rob would know that.
Maybe that ring was just a family heirloom or something he kept in that drawer. It looked old, so that would make sense.
But then why had he been so urgent about her not opening the drawer and seeing it. He’d jumped out of his chair and rushed down the hall to keep her from finding it.
There was still no way, though. He wasn’t going to propose. Not anytime soon. He still wouldn’t open up to her all the way. He still wouldn’t let her help him in any significant way. He’d left her last night to go to Dee, when he must have known heshouldn’t do so. He’d been running away from the conversation they’d been about to have. He would know that they weren’t ready for such a step.
She satisfied herself with this conclusion. She was sure he wasn’t about to pop the question.
She couldn’t help but still see that ring, though, and the visual shot right down to that low-level anxiety she’d been feeling and stirred it up into real fear.
Rob wanted to be married. He wanted a happy, stable marriage like his parents’. He wanted a traditional family and a sweet, small-town wife and a bunch of happy kids.
But she wasn’t ready to be a wife again—not when she wasn’t yet sure that she could really make it on her own. She still caved when she felt like he was displeased with her. She was starting to say things he wanted to heat. Or not say things that he didn’t.
She still couldn’t get him to trust her with his deepest feelings, lean on her when he felt weak, or even admit that he needed her in any way. That wasn’t the kind of relationship she wanted.
She would become another trophy wife. Rob was a far better man, but maybe the problem had always been her.
She was growing more and more upset as the time passed and was doing the best she could not to show it. Finally the game ended, and Mitch and Keith got up to leave.
To hide her expression, she gathered up the empty bottles and took them to kitchen, telling the guys goodbye as she went.
She heard Rob chatting with his friends about getting together later to work on Mitch’s car.
Rob was like that. Always helping people. Always being the shoulder to lean on. Always being strong and competent and solid. It was the way he lived his life, and it wasn’t going to change.
He was never going to let her be someone he leaned on too. He didn’t even want her to be that person.
The guys were still talking on the front porch. She could hear them through the door. Mitch called out a “See you later,” and then Keith was saying, “Hey, don’t think I’ve forgotten. I owe you a hundred bucks.”
This surprised Allison so much that she paused to listen.
