Page 102 of The Marriage Narrative
“Well, that was interesting and a little harsh,” he said. His family would get persecuted in the press and online if they ever responded like that.
“Joy literally warns people that if they think it’s her, to be sure it’s her, because her mean-as-shit sister will yell at them,” Fiona explained as she sat down. “And then invoice her for the inconvenience.”
“Ah, right. Zinnia told me she’s an influencer?”
“Not anymore,” Grace said, unbothered and standing. “She’s moved on to vlogging her modeling adventures while making the internet fall in love with her carpenter boyfriend. Do you still want to go to the gift shop before it starts?”
“Yeah. We’ll be right back.” Zinnia kissed his cheek and stood. “That’s what I was trying to tell you before youdistractedme.”
He’d never get used to seeing someone that beautiful all the time. She was heaven in a gold shimmering dress walking through an unworthy crowd. Enchanting brown eyes shining as shelooked back at him with a smile. The ethereal light at the end ofeverytunnel, and she washis wife.
There were only two items left on his sabbatical list.
Asking her to move in permanently.
Asking her to marry him again—for Sadie, yes, but also for himself. He’d already written four drafts of his proposal. None of them were good enough yet.
“You know what’s funny?” Fiona asked, staring at him. “Z looks at you exactly the same way.”
Apart from messaging about Beta Carotene, he hadn’t talked to her much. There was usually a buffer of another person or obligatory small talk between them.
“Grace isn’t who you should be worried about,” she continued, eyes going dark. “Break her heart, I break your legs, and then the rest of you, one piece at a time until you beg me to kill you.”
“You wouldn’t have to wait that long. If I fall and skin my knees, I’m ready to go to the upper room.”
She laughed, bright and back to normal. “That aside, I do like you, Jordan. You have my blessing. Make her happy. Or die.”
That was where he’d landed too. Those really felt like his only options.
“Oh shit, I know that look too.” She shook her head. “Be patient with her. She might come around. She might not. It’s just—”
“Different for her. I know.” He was her Plus One, not The One.
“You never stood a chance, honestly. She always wins everyone over in the end.”
And he’d definitely lost.
Just like with kissing, he instinctively knew sex meant something different for him than it did her. And now her best friend was literally warning him to keep his expectations in check.
He’d only been in love one time before. His teenage memories of Bea were as vivid as they were sharp. There was the sameall-consuming passion he felt for Zinnia now and more. They weren’t soulmates, but he had never doubted that Bea loved him back. That was the entire reason why it’d hurt so much when she’d left him.
He wasn’t enough. Spent years after that continuing to never be enough.
All he wanted was to hearZinniasay it. To tell him that he was—just once, just one time. But she was never going to fall in love with him because it wasn’t what she wanted.
Was he really okay with that?
Fiona was watching him closely, eyes slightly narrowed.
“Don’t worry.” He smiled without feeling it. “I know what I signed up for.”
“Are yousure? Because from where I’m sitting? It doesn’t look like it.”
Jordan held Fiona’s skeptical gaze until he cracked like a dam under pressure. “Don’t tell her.Please.”
Chapter 25
Zinnia
