Page 59 of Georgia: Britain's Story: Part 1
“He knows I’m with someone and it’s serious.”
“But not that it’s Britain?”
“Correct,” I answer, and she just drops her head, shaking it. The disapproval radiating off her.
“Bubba, you gotta say something. Julie said he’s gonna be here this weekend. What then, huh?”What?!My whole body goes stiff with something like fear.
“I just saw him in Sonoma. He didn’t say anything about coming down.”
“He told Julie he was going to come visit you this weekend, meet yournewgirl.”
“Fuck.” I drop my head, rubbing my throbbing forehead.
“Probably worth a phone call if you don’t want this to all blow up in your face.”
“Right.” Fuck my life. I should have done this a long time ago. Jim walks in through the back, carrying a case of ginger ale. He calls out to us, “Sandy, where do you want this?” She gets up to go talk with him while I’m sitting here trying to figure out how I’m going to work this all out. Do I tell Matt that Britain is my soon-to-be wife? I know that’s not gonna go over well. I can already envision a black eye, maybe a broken jaw.
Sandy walks back over, carrying a bag with four cans of ginger ale inside. “Tell our girl we hope she feels better, k?”
“Yeah, will do.” I get up to leave, stuck in my own head over what to do. I just needed three more days without Matt knowing. Just three fucking days.
“Honesty is the best policy, baby. It’ll be okay. Britain loves you. You don’t need to worry about that, okay?”
“You sure about that?” I’ve never felt so insecure about a relationship. They’ve always wanted to be with me more than I wanted to be with them. This is new for me.
“Yeah baby, I’m sure.” She pats me on the back and nudges me out the door.
“Hey, Bambi.” Britain’s still sleeping, but I want her to take her meds if it’ll help. I rub her shoulder, setting down a ginger ale and a plate of crackers and croissants on her nightstand. She stirs, slowly opening her eyes. I’m glad she was able to fall back asleep. “Do you want me to get your migraine medicine?”
She moves to sit up slowly, groggily. “No, it’s okay. I need to eat first anyways. I’ll grab it when I go to the bathroom.”
“Okay, I uh, need to go make some phone calls, but I’ll work from home today in case you need anything, okay?” I push stray locks of hair out of her face, soaking her up. Even when she’s sick, she’s fucking gorgeous.
“You definitely don’t have to do that. You already cut your trip short. I’m really fine. I’ll just be laying here or sleeping until some of the nausea and pain dies down.”
“Really, you’re sure?” I’d prefer to call Matt when she’s not around.
“Yeah, thanks for bringing all this stuff up. Are you sure you want me eating crackers and croissants in your bed?” She laughs gently, then winces from the pain.
“Ourbed,” I correct her, “and I don’t care what you do as long as you start feeling better, okay?” I kiss her forehead as her cheeks go pink. “I’m gonna shower. I can go to the guest room if the noise will bother you, though.” She just shakes her head.
“No, I uh, already feel slightly better after getting some more sleep.” She gives me that half smile of hers, and as I bend forward to place a kiss on her temple, “I love you, Bambi,” slips right out of my mouth.Shit. She startles a little bit from the words and I freeze. Whatever look is on her face, whatever she says next is going to make me or break me. I feel like I might be sick to my stomach, too, as I lean back and see that her eyes are wide, but unreadable.
“I didn’t mean to just blurt that out,” rushes out of me quickly.
“You didn’t mean it?” she asks quietly, cautiously.
“No, I did mean it. Idomean it. I just didn’t mean to put that out thereright now, I’m sorry. I had a whole plan to tell you, but please, please don’t feel like you need to say anything back, okay?”
“I love you too, Liam.” She laughs, her face lighting up, the vice on my chest squeezes tighter. “If I didn’t just vomit a couple hours ago, I’d kiss you. Sorry.”Damn, this might be the best moment of my entire fucking life. Even if Britain is sick, she’s still in our bed, wearing my clothes, in our house, telling me she loves me, too. I cup her face with my hand and stroke her with my thumb, smiling at her like she hung the fucking stars. My chest feels like it might rupture. I love her so much it hurts.
“I love you, baby. I need you to feel better, okay?” She just nods in response and I drop another kiss on the top of her head. I really don’t want to go into work after, well,this. But I have to, especially now that I know she loves me back. I have to tell Matt.Fuck.
As soon as I have decent service on my way into the office, I call Matt. I have no clue what his reaction is going to be over the phone. I know if this was in person, he’d probably punch me in the face. Probably try to beat the shit out of me. I fucked up all those years ago, but he eventually forgave me. I just don’t know if he’s going to forgive this.
“Hey, man,” he answers.
“Hey, how’s it going?”
