Page 16 of Sipping Seduction
Nodding, she bit down on her lip and barely met my gaze before staring down at the red-and-white checkered paper liner of her burger basket. “He’s cousins with Davis, Harper, and the rest. His dad is their dad’s brother, but he’s not involved in the distillery at all.”
Dammit. I figured she’d been seeing a teacher from another school or something. But a Stewart? Frannie had the right to see whoever she wanted, but she knew about the longstanding feud between my family and theirs. Hell, everyone within a hundred-mile radius of Beaver Bluff knew about it. Folks in town weren’t shy about sharing which side they were on, either.
“Do you hate me?” Her forehead creased, and she squinted over at me.
“Of course I don’t hate you. I love you, you know that.” She just didn’t know how much or how deep the love I held in my heart for her went.
“But you’re mad.” She nodded, her lips screwed into a frown. “You know I love you, too. I’d never do anything to hurt you. It’s just…”
“What?” I lowered my voice and leaned closer, hoping she wasn’t about to cry. I could handle just about anything life threw my way, but when Frannie started to cry, I always went out of my mind trying to figure out how to fix things for her.
“He’s a nice guy. And my dad’s getting worse. His dream is to walk me down the aisle, and—”
“You’re not actually thinking about marrying this guy, are you?” I felt like someone had just plastered paddles to my chest and shocked my heart back to life. I’d never considered the idea that Frannie and I wouldn’t end up together. It had always been a foregone conclusion in my head. My heart had belonged to her before I even took an interest in girls. It had always been her.
“I’m not getting any younger,” she said.
“You’re twenty-seven. You’ve got plenty of time to get married.”
She wasn’t making sense. How could she possibly be considering marrying a Stewart?
Frannie took in a deep breath and sat up straight. “My dad’s dream is to walk me down the aisle and meet his first grandchild while he still knows who I am. I don’t want to deny him that. I can’t.”
“You can’t just marry someone to make your dad happy.” I reached for her hands, but she pulled them away.
She’d spent her whole life catering to her parents’ wishes. They didn’t think they’d be able to have kids, and both of them were older when her mom finally got pregnant. They’d always called her their miracle baby because they went through so much to have her. Frannie had always felt responsible for making them happy, which put a ton of pressure on her.
I wanted to protect her from that, but hadn’t figured out how. “Can you hear yourself?”
“I knew you wouldn’t understand. Andrew’s the first guy who’s even asked me out in over a year. My dad’s already getting worse. He might not even recognize me a year from now.” Tears welled up in her lower lids.
“Marry me, then.” I didn’t think before throwing that out there, but now it was too late.
Frannie’s eyes went wide and the silence between us stretched. “Don’t be silly, Evan. You told me before you left for Afghanistan that you never want to get married. I’d never ask you to do that for me.” She rummaged through her purse and pulled out her wallet.
“Tonight’s my treat.” I tossed a couple of twenties down on the table, not sure if I should take her rejection personally or chalk it up to her believing what I’d told her back then, back when I didn’t know anything about life or love or how to make sense of the feelings I’d had for her since I was a kid.
“You don’t have to do that. We always split it.” She tried to push my twenty back to me, but I insisted.
“You’ve had a crappy week. Let me do this.” I was ready to take the tab to the bar to settle with Pappy if she wasn’t willing to give in.
“Okay. Thank you.” Her tears had stopped, and my heart had stopped beating along with them.
“I’m serious about you and Pete the Dog moving in with me.” She might not want to marry me yet, but after thirty days of cohabitating, I was sure I could convince her not to move forward with Andrew Fucking Stewart.
“I don’t want to put you out. Your place is so, um, organized.”
“That’s a nice way of putting it. Didn’t you call it ‘sterile with no personality’ the first time you saw it?” The small cabin I lived in had everything I needed and nothing I didn’t. That meant it was free from the colorful throws, decorative pillows, and framed artwork that filled Frannie’s place. Except for a few family pictures and ones of me and Frannie through the years, I didn’t need anything else.
“Did I say that?”
“You sure as hell did.” I’d let Frannie get away with a lot, but I wasn’t going to pretend to forget how she’d described my place.
“Well, that was rude. I’m sorry if that hurt your feelings.” She slipped her purse strap over her shoulder and slid out of the booth. “I need to get home and start packing things up. Whatever I’m not taking with me has to go into storage so it doesn’t get damaged. Sounds like a fun way to spend a Friday night, doesn’t it?”
I wanted to ask her when she was going on her next date, but my pride wouldn’t let me. “I’m happy to help if you need it.”
“I’ll be fine. Besides, one of us has to be there to cheer on the football team tonight.”
