Page 23 of The Growly Outcast’s Promise

“Yes. Man, I would love to move the kids to Saddle Creek. Raise them there.”

“I know. Me too.”

“Does that mean you’re going to stay for good?” she asks.

I place the t-shirts in the top drawer where I’ve seen Greyson keeps them. “Yes, I’m going to stay. I mean Grey’s my best friend. If he doesn’t ever love me like I want him to love me, it doesn’t mean we can’t have a good marriage. I know he cares about me. I know he wants me.”

“Yeah you do! I really need to get laid.”

I laugh. “You should make that happen soon.” My hand hits something hard as I’m straightening the shirts. I palm the item and pull it out. My stomach immediately twists into knots.

It’s a ring box. Like the get on one knee kind of ring box.

“Oh no,” I whisper.

“What’s the matter?”

“I found a ring box hidden in his drawer.” I open it to find a simple band with a single solitaire diamond. It’s not a big one, not like the heavy paperweight I wear on my hand. “It’s an engagement ring, Lizzie.”

“Don’t panic. I’m sure there’s a logical explanation,” she says.

“Logical being he loves another woman and had planned to propose to her. Marry her. But out of his stupid, misguided need to protect me or whatever, he married me instead.” My eyes blur with tears as I stare down at the ring.

“That is not the only possibility,” my sister says, her voice gentle now.

Even she doesn’t believe what she’s saying.

“I gotta go. I’ll talk to you later,” I say.

“Give him a chance to explain before you do something drastic.”

“Sure.” I hang up the phone and slide to the floor, my back right up against the chest of drawers.

I don’t know how much time has passed when Greyson finds me sitting in the same position, the ring box in my hand.

He exhales slowly, then lowers himself to the floor next to me. “So you found it?”

“I did.”

“And?” he asks.

“I’m not mad, Greyson. I’m just sad. Sad for you that you sacrificed your own happiness to marry me instead of the woman you clearly wanted to propose to.”

“What?”

“It’s obvious you bought this for someone intending to ask them to marry you. But instead of getting to do that, you came to my wedding and saved me. Yet again. You seem to just always be there, right when I need saving.”

“That’s not what happened,” he says.

I release a forced laugh, my eyes stinging from the tears. “Really? I’m not stupid, Grey. I know you care about me. I know you would do anything for me. But this goes too far. You cannot change all your future plans because I needed help. That’s not fair.”

“Not fair for who?”

“For you. For the woman you bought that ring for. I mean what did you even tell her when you rolled into town with a new wife?”

He shakes his head.

“See? You can’t even come up with an explanation. Oh my God, she must hate me so much.”