Page 117 of Hail Marry
Her mouth is agape, and she makes a sound of disgust. “I guarantee itwashim. It makes sense, honestly. He was asking about things at your game.” She stares through the windshield and shakes her head. “And he probably convinced himself he was doing the noble thing. He always does. I don’t know why he cares so much, though. Just leave us alone.”
But I know why.
A man who’s happy with his life doesn’t go around screwing up other people’s.
“Grr,” Tori says, pulling out her phone. “I just wanna…give him a piece of my mind.”
“I kind of already did.”
She gives me a funny look. “What do you mean?”
I pull into a parking space at the grocery store. “Nothing crazy. I just sent him a little text. Bennett got his number for me.”
Her eyes are bright with intrigued curiosity. “What did you say? Can I see?”
I shrug, put the car in park, and grab my phone from the center console. I navigate to the thread and hand it to her.
Hey Ryan. I didn’t get the chance to meet you after the game, but I thought I’d introduce myself. I’m Tori’s husband, Luca. Tori mentioned you’re getting married—congratulations on that. I suppose I owe you some thanks too. You letting Tori slip through your fingers was the best thing that ever happened to me. I want you to know that no matter what you do or what you’ve already done, I’ll never—ever—let her slip through mine.
Tori’s gaze lifts to mine, and there’s a little sheen in her eyes. She lets the phone fall on her lap, then pulls me toward her and kisses me softly and slowly.
When our lips part, she rests her forehead on mine.
“I mean it, you know,” I say. “You’re mine. As long as you’ll let me keep you.”
“You couldn’t get rid of me if you tried,” she says, kissing me again.
“I did get the right number, didn’t I?” I ask. “He never texted back, so?—”
“You did.” She picks up the phone and hands it to me. “He’s just an enormous pansy. He’s probably deleted the text and is pretending it never happened.”
I chuckle. “Are you gonna text him?”
“No way. You did a much better job than I could’ve. Let’s just forget all about Ryan and go get groceries.”
That’s a plan I can get totally on board with.
We’ve agreed that, for now, we want to focus on enjoying ourselves and our marriage, which has meant two walks a day on the beach, cooking together—or ordering in when the meal goes badly—and moving everything of Tori’s from her bedroom into ours. The pregnancy pillows have taken up residence on the bed in her abandoned room.
We’re on the pasta aisle when her phone dings.
Our eyes meet, and there’s a tense moment as she takes it out and looks at the notification. Both of us are just waiting for the other shoe to drop on this immigration business.
She lets out a breath. “It’s fine. Just an email from Summit.” Her eyes scan it quickly. “They want to know if I can come in today to help out with tutoring.” She looks up at me, her eyes alight.
I mask my disappointment. I’ve always had a massive appetite, but the one I have for time with Tori is on a whole different level. But I know how much she loved the kids, and I also know how loved she was by them. She’s meant to work with youth. “That’s great! Are you gonna go?”
She looks at me, a little furrow in her brow. “I want to, but…on your day off? Maybe I can go tomorrow.” She looks down at her phone and presses the reply button.
“Wait.”
Her gaze sweeps back to mine, her fingers paused on the keyboard.
“Would they wanttwovolunteers?”
Her mouth pulls into a smile. “Really? You’d come? On your day off?”
This woman clearly doesn’t realize that I would wade through the sewer if it was the only way to spend more time with her.
