Read Online These Three Words by Holly Jacobs - Free Book Online Page B

nodded. “If you think we can afford it, yes as well.”
    I thought he’d kiss me then, but instead, he pulled his phone out of his pocket and dialed. “Make the offer,” he said.
    I opened the ring box and pulled the small diamond ring out of it.
    “I’d planned something more elaborate, but if we’re buying the house, I can’t afford anything more right now. But someday I’ll replace it with something bigger,” he promised.
    “Don’t you dare. This is perfect.” I slipped it on my ring finger and it fit perfectly. I’m not sure how Gray had gotten my size, but as always, he was meticulous. “The ring and even the house aren’t what I’ll remember about today,” I told him. “I’ll remember that you asked and I said yes.”
    “I was nervous,” he admitted. “It’s not the way I planned it.”
    “You and your plans,” I teasingly scolded. “Life happens while you’re making plans. I think I realized that first day of school when you took me under your wing that I was part of you. And you were and are most assuredly part of me. I definitely knew that my world was better when I had you in it.”
    And then, the waiting was over. He finally kissed me. “I love you.”
    Those three words sealed the deal. The house, the ring . . . none of it mattered as much as those three words.
    I touched my thumb to the ring that bound us together in the living room of a house he’d bought us. A house where we’d live and raise a family . . .

    I pulled myself back from the memory, my thumb still touching the ring I still wore. “The agent called before we finished our picnic. The sellers had accepted Gray’s offer,” I told James.
    “And so did you,” James said.
    I nodded. “Even without the house, I’d have accepted. I didn’t need fanfare, I just needed him and three little words.”
    James quirked his eyebrow and I knew the question, just as I thought he already knew the answer.
    “ I love you. Just those three words.”
    He nodded, understanding.
    I clutched the envelope. I was very aware of the rings that I still wore on my ring finger.
    Why hadn’t I taken them off when I’d decided to divorce him?
    Force of habit?
    Or was it something more?
    I felt a resurgence of those old feelings. It was as if the warmth of that long-ago day had somehow been rekindled.
    “I know you said he was a planner, but that all sounded very spontaneous,” James said.
    “It was. He caught me unaware.” I had thought I knew Gray inside and out. I liked that there was a constancy about him. I knew I could count on him . . . always. And I’d known when I took him the divorce papers I could count on his reaction. He’d see the logic and we’d part as . . .
    Well, maybe not friends, but we’d part friendly. If I called him, I knew no matter how many years stood between us, he’d come. And vice versa.
    “Maybe your husband simply couldn’t stick to his timetable. Maybe he couldn’t wait another minute to marry you.”
    I shrugged. It would be nice to think so, but I thought it was more likely that Gray had decided the deal on the house made passing it up out of the question. And he’d probably budgeted for both our incomes in order to afford it.
    I hadn’t thought of that at the time, but it had occurred to me since.
    James continued, “Sometimes it’s hard to wait for what you want . . . sometimes it’s impossible. I know that waiting for Anne to get better has become impossible for our friends. But I’ll wait as long as it takes.”
    His voice dropped to almost a whisper. “She worries that she will never get back to her old self. That she’ll be less than who she was. I keep telling her less of her means more to me than any other person in this world. I’ll wait as long as it takes for a chance at just one more day with her.”
    As I looked at James, so willing to wait for his Anne—willing to have her back in any state—I envied his patience.
    And I wondered if maybe I gave up too