Read Online Cart Before The Horse by Bernadette Marie - Free Book Online Page B

I’m starving for Kraft Macaroni and Cheese.”
    She laughed and wiped her mouth. “Now that is something I could cook for you. I’m an expert at boiling water
and noodles.”
    “Would you?”
    “What?”
    “Make it for me?”
    She wanted to burst out and laugh, but his seriousness stopped her. “Really? That’s what you’d like me to do for you when you feed me like this?”
    He nodded and took a sip of his beer.
     
    Holly shrugged. “Sure. You tell me when.”
    “Tomorrow. Eight o’clock.” He set his beer down. “Unless that’s too late for you.”
    “No, that’s fine.”
    “There’s a lull in the rush at eight. The door is always unlocked, just come up. I have everything, except milk, butter, and the mac and cheese.”
    “It’ll be ready for you.” She couldn’t help the smile on her lips. He was fun. At least she’d made the biggest mistake of her life with someone whom was genuinely fun to be around.
    “Oh, I forgot to tell you. I met someone today.”
    The giddy feeling from his silliness slipped from her, and worry filled her. Did someone mean a woman? That was okay, she told herself. They weren’t a couple. They didn’t have a binding relationship, except the baby. She straightened her shoulders and sucked back a breath.
    “Someone you’re seeing?” Did it sound as snippy to him as it did to her? “Is it serious?”
    Oh, God, she was turning into her mother.
    “What? No. No. That’s not what I meant.” There was a crease between his eyebrows, and she realized she’d missed
the mark.
    “Oh, I just assumed. I’m sorry.”
    “I met a man. He gave me something. I want to show you.” Gabe stood and dropped his napkin on the table. He walked over to Holly and knelt next to her. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a ring case.
    Holly felt her throat close up. What was he doing?
    “Gabe…”
    He opened the ring case. “Does it look familiar to you?”
    Inside was a ring of rose gold and a karat ruby center stone. Holly held her hand to her chest, where her heart rate rose. Yes, that ring looked familiar to her—it had been a gift that her great-grandfather had made the year she was born. “That was my great-grandmother’s wedding ring. The one my great-
     
    grandfather gave her on their fiftieth anniversary.”
    “Yep.”
    Holly swallowed hard. “Who did you meet exactly?”
    “You really have to ask me that?”
    “You met my father.”
    “Yes. He came in to meet me around four.”
    “He didn’t mention it.”
    “I didn’t suppose he did. Imagine my surprise when he said he wanted to meet the man his daughter was going to marry. Funny, but I don’t remember the proposal.” Gabe’s head cocked to the side, and he watched her intently.
    Holly covered her mouth and stood. “Oh, Gabe. I’m so
sorry.” Her cheeks filled with heat, and she lifted her
hands to them. “It just slipped out. I just couldn’t take my
mother’s attitude.”
    “So you told them we were getting married?”
    “Well would it be so bad?” That wasn’t what she wanted to know at all.
    “It isn’t what we decided.”
    That made the lie she’d told so much worse.
    Holly’s head spun. How had she let herself get into such a predicament?
    Gabe stood and set the ring on the table then turned to her. He brushed his fingers down her arms, and then pulled her into him as tears began to stream down her cheeks. “Do you want to fill me in now on what your parents think is going on?”
    She looked up at him. His dark eyes were soft. She’d expected him to call her out on her lie, because that’s what her mother would have done. He should be mad. He should be storming about. But he sat and waited for her to explain what had happened. “I told them I’d met someone.”
    “And they decided that meant we were getting married?”
    “No, my mother started in and, well, it just came out. I didn’t mean to tell them we were going to get married. I just wanted to make them assume it.”