Page 26 of A Week To Wed
And I’m going to set aside the age gap between us because that seems irrelevant.
“I had my share of girlfriends growing up, but I was rowdy in my twenties. Never wanted to settle down.”
I raise an eyebrow. “Ever do it in the hayloft?”
“What?”
“You know. Roll in the hay?”
He chuckles. “That happens in the movies, but it’s not all that fun. Trust me.”
I suddenly regret that question. I hate thinking about him making out with other women. Ugh! Why did I do that to myself?
“Go on.”
“Like many of my friends, I left town for a while and went to the city to work construction jobs that paid by the day. I played the field and partied, maybe a little too hard. Got in trouble with the law and lost my driver’s license for a bit because I couldn’t or wouldn’t pay for my speeding tickets. Had a couple of drunk and disorderly charges mixed in there too. My father took me on when I returned to Darling Creek because I couldn’t find work anywhere else.
And I repaid that kindness by getting rip-roaring drunk one night at Willie’s, picking a fight, then getting behind the wheel of my truck. I’m not proud of that. No one wants to be the guy who crashes into and destroys the 100-year-old statue of Otis Darling, the town’s founder. Here I am, though. No one was hurt, thank god. But I ended up in jail. Lost my license for a good long time, then. Had to do community service for the city for what seemed like years. It was humiliating in such a small town, and I couldn’t look anyone in the eye after that. But I knew I’d brought it on myself.
Dad threatened to throw me out, but my grandma took pity on me and convinced him to give me another chance. Dad said he’d only keep me on under the condition that I would stop drinking and stop partying. I didn’t have much choice.
From then on, I did everything he and Mom asked me to do on the ranch and eventually became a responsible adult. But Dad never got over the shame that I brought on the family. He always saw me as an irresponsible kid. Now, everyone else my age is married or has left town.
“Ranching got into my blood, despite my rebellious youth. I’m not great with people. But I’m good with animals. I don’t want to leave. I can’t see myself doing anything else. And I decided after Dad died that I’d been wasting my time by never seeking out a partner. So here we are.”
I feel as though Lincoln is holding something back from me. There’s more to this story than that. Surely there are dating sites. Facebook is responsible for hundreds if not thousands of old flames reigniting. But I don’t want to push.
Besides, the thought of an ex-girlfriend contacting him on Facebook makes my blood boil.
“What about you, princess? That’s the real mystery here. Why in the world would you sign up to be a mail-order bride?”
Oh boy. Am I really going to tell him the truth?
I suppose I am.
ChapterSeventeen
Lincoln
The story that unravels is the last thing I ever could have guessed.
“As you know by now,” she says with a small laugh, “I’ve always wanted to get married. And I almost did.”
“You what?”
She nods slowly. “It was all planned. By my parents. Hell, my parents practically chose the groom for me.”
I want to ask if her parents are living in the 21st century, but I don’t want to interrupt. Instead, I reach over, pick up the popcorn bowl, sit it in my lap next to a grumbling Loki, and listen.
“Have you heard of Landmark Insurance?”
“Sure,” I say. “All the ranch trucks and trailers are covered by that company.”
She nods. “My grandparents started that company.”
“No shit? Small world.”
“And Landmark was set to acquire this smaller upstart company. You’ve probably seen their commercials with the talking donkey.”
