Page 67 of Sipping Seduction
I held out my arms, and she burrowed into my chest. Feeling her pressed against me, her heart beating next to mine, all of my doubts faded away.
Epilogue
EVAN
“Oh, no you don't.”I tightened my grip on Pete the Dog’s leash. He'd become an expert at wrenching free of his collar to chase squirrels during our daily walks, but I'd also learned a thing or two about how to handle him in the past twelve months.
“He almost got you that time.” Frannie passed us on her way up our favorite trail with a lightness in her step.
I’d been working on making it to the top of the mountain all summer long. Frannie had been by my side as I recuperated and regained my strength after the surgery I'd had at the beginning of the year. We’d had the whole summer together, but tomorrow she'd be headed back to work.
I'd miss her stopping by the warehouse to bring me lunch every day, and the few times I’d called in late so we could play hooky and linger longer in bed.
“You think you'll go all the way today?” Frannie asked.
“We'll see how I feel,” I told her. I'd learned the hard way not to push myself beyond my limitations. As much as I hated feeling or appearing weak, the best way for me to heal was to take things slow. What she didn't know was that I'd made the trek to the top a couple times in the past two weeks to make sure I could go all the way today. It was important to reach the summit for what I had planned.
“I think you can do it. You've been making great progress. You might even be able to complete the fundraiser 10k this year if you keep up the good work.” I could tell by the sass in her tone that she was teasing. One thing hadn’t changed between us—she still loved giving me crap.
“Are you planning on signing up so you can run next to me the whole way?”
“Absolutely not. In fact, I'm turning that entire project over to Charice. She raised more money for the school than I ever did when I was in charge. Maybe we should book a getaway to Nashville that weekend.” Frannie glanced back at me. I liked it when she took the lead since it gave me a great view of her backside. “I'd hate for you to have to watch Andrew Stewart cross the finish line and break another record.”
“You never get tired of rubbing it in, do you?” I let out an exaggerated sigh. We’d reached a place in our relationship where I could tolerate her giving me crap about how competitive I’d been. I wish I could go back and tell that version of myself that my priorities were all fucked-up. Maybe I could have avoided the public humiliation of face-planting in the middle of Main Street, but I doubt I would have listened.
“If you weren’t so easy to tease, I wouldn’t take such pleasure in it.” She waited for me to catch up and held out her hand. “We’re almost to the top. You’re going to make it.”
I twined my fingers with hers and tried to calm my nerves. Over the past year, I’d learned a lot about what it meant to love someone. I hated to admit it, but Miller had been right. It wasn’t just enough to love Frannie, I’d had to let her love me back. That was the hardest part, but it had been so worth it.
I’d had help. Weekly meetings with a therapist had provided a lot of insight in to why I felt the way I did and tips on how to heal a lot of the hurts from my past. Frannie’s dad had recommended a support group for veterans, and even though I still felt awkward as fuck sitting in on the meetings, I’d made a few friends and appreciated knowing I wasn’t alone in dealing with how to move on and leave the past behind me.
The effort I’d been putting in hadn’t gone unnoticed. Even my dad commented on how much I’d changed, and we’d started spending more time together. With time, maybe we’d figure out a way to heal our relationship.
Today would be the ultimate test, though. If Frannie said yes, then everything I’d gone through over the past year would be well worth it.
“Oh no.” She squeezed my hand as we reached the top of the trail. “We shouldn’t be here. It looks like someone set this up to celebrate a special occasion.”
Good. She had no idea I’d conned Miller and Vaughn into trekking up here early this morning to drop off the blanket and picnic basket.
“No one’s here yet. We should see what they brought.” I tugged her toward our spot—the one where we’d taken a selfie last year on the day before school started.
“Evan! Don’t go snooping around in someone else’s stuff.” She tried to pull me away as I bent down to peek inside the basket.
I held up the bottle of cold sparkling wine. “Hey, there’s bubbly.”
“Put that back. Let’s grab a quick selfie, then get out of here so we don’t ruin their plans.”
“What about our plans?” I left the bottle in the basket and pulled her into my arms. “I’ve always thought of this as our spot, and I’m not sure I want to share it with anyone.”
She glanced down the trail like she expected to see someone following right behind us. “We can go somewhere else.”
“I don’t want to go anywhere else. Pete the Dog likes it here, too. Don’t you, buddy?”
Frannie rolled her eyes. “I’m serious. We should go.”
“We’re not going anywhere.” I loosened my grip and awkwardly sank down onto one knee.
“Are you okay? Is it your leg?” Her eyes filled with concern and she crouched down next to me.
