Page 26 of After this Summer
JENSEN: WHAT?
SAWYER: She told me first
JENSEN: Don’t you have honey to collect?
SAWYER: I’m not done gloating
INDIE: Play nice
SAWYER: Not a chance
Laughing,I settle in with my phone, pulling the blanket off the back of the chair and getting comfortable because this is definitely going to take a while.
And right now, I don’t mind that at all.
15
INDIE
“Are you all right?” Beau asks me from the driver’s seat.
“What? Oh, yes, of course.” I haven’t stopped looking at the wedding band he added to my left hand when he promised to love me forever.
But it wouldn’t be forever, that fact front and center in my mind because I’d made him write out the terms even as I blinked back tears.
At the conclusion of this marriage we (Beau Sterling and Indie Kade) agree:
To co-parent with only the best intentions
To never speak bad about the other in front of our child
To be supportive of the other
To raise our child with love without limitations
We’d traveleda couple of towns over and gotten married in a courthouse with only the judge and the clerk as our witness.
And the baby growing inside my belly.
I’d placed a ring on his finger too—one that he wouldn’t be able to wear once we got back to Wintervale.
Because no one can know we’re married.
Not yet.
“Indie.”
“It’s silly,” I tell him, lifting one shoulder and letting it drop, turning to face him as he puts the truck in park in front of the house. It’s notourhouse but I like it here.
I like being here with him.
“Tell me.” Instead of words, I hunt through my purse until I find what I’m looking for.
“Take your ring off,” I tell him, watching his Adam’s apple bob in his throat as he does. The look in his eyes is pained, but I can’t articulate what I’m feeling.
I need to show him.
Uncapping the pen, I pull his left hand toward me, pushing his index and middle finger down until I have enough space to draw a little heart on the side of his ring finger. The breath he exhales is almost comical as I slide his ring back on.
