Page 17 of Meant for Me (Magnolia Bay #3)

If his friends were already guessing at his shifting feelings for Zoey…how long was it before Amelia would notice too?

* * *

One of Zoey’s favorite movies growing up had always been Disney’s Beauty and the Beast.

Unfortunately, she seemed to be living it out in real time.

“What do you mean, you need to move out?” Linc growled as he dragged oars through murky pond water, his hair free of its usual tied-up knot, making him look extra beast-like.

When he got home from fishing at sunset, Zoey had requested to speak to him privately.

With Amelia in the house watching TV before bed, out in the middle of the pond in a canoe seemed to be the safest place. “That’s ridiculous.”

“This doesn’t work.” Zoey gestured between them, adding a swoop of her finger to include Amelia inside the house thirty yards away on the shore.

She really wanted it to, but…“It was one thing for me to crash for a week while I got my ducks in a row, but those ducks are now, like, rabid squirrels.” She shuddered.

“And there is no row. There’s just a frat party. ”

“That’s ridiculous too.” His scowl deepened.

Of all the elements of her favorite movie to come to life, she had to end up with the beast instead of a cute little talking teacup.

“You keep using that word.” Zoey slapped at a mosquito. “And I know you think so, but this is my life .” And Amelia’s. And Linc’s. But how much could she tell him of what Amelia had said without betraying the fledgling amount of trust she’d gained?

Linc pulled the oars again, water churning under the tired john boat that was not much bigger than a bathtub. “Seems to me if your life is full of rabid squirrels, then all the more reason for you to have somewhere safe to stay.”

He had a point. Still…she crossed her arms. “And you have your own…well, you might not have squirrels, but you certainly don’t have ducks either.”

“I have a teenager. Sort of like both.”

Zoey snorted.

“So…stay. Let’s manage all these rabid creatures together.”

Oh. That was almost…sweet. She studied him. “You don’t want me to leave?” And here she’d thought she’d been more in the way of his suddenly chaotic life than anything else.

“Of course not.” Linc pulled the oars into the boat, hooked them on the sides. A hush fell over the pond, save for the crickets overhead in the trees. Twilight shot streaks of navy and crimson across the sky. “Not to mention, you don’t have a lot of options.”

Also a good point. But it didn’t change the facts. “We can’t give the wrong impression to a teenager who is already in a state of trauma.” She squared her shoulders, shifted her tone to unconcerned. Because she couldn’t be concerned, not about herself. This was about what was best for Amelia.

And despite barely knowing the girl, Zoey cared—a lot.

“I know. I was thinking the same. And…I can’t fix that.” Linc leaned forward, elbows on his knees. “I can’t undo any of this.”

Man. He looked so defeated. So unlike Linc. She had to help him.

And this seemed like the only option.

Zoey lowered her tone to match his, despite the fact that only the frogs were eavesdropping. “So, for Amelia’s sake, we’re back to the fact that I need to find somewhere else to go. She thinks we’re shacking up.”

He scoffed. “Obviously we’re not.”

“Well, it’s not obvious to her. She’s used to seeing that kind of lifestyle.”

Linc’s Adam’s apple bobbed, and he shifted on the seat, looking out over the water. Zoey rolled in her lip. Was he jealous at the thought of Kirsten being with other men?

Worse yet, was she jealous over the thought of him being jealous over Kirsten?

“I don’t want to leave.” Zoey shoved that away, pushed forward. He had to understand the whole picture. “But Amelia won’t trust me because she thinks I’m just the girl of the hour. That I’ll rotate out the door any day now and can’t be trusted.”

His profile sobered. “That’s not how I am.”

“ I know that. She doesn’t yet.”

Linc cut his eyes to her. “So your solution to show Amelia that you’re sticking around is to leave?”

“Exactly.”

He sighed. “Makes as much sense as anything else does lately.”

“Think about it. If I don’t live here, and it’s clear we’re not…you know…” Zoey brushed her bangs out of her eyes. “And then if I still choose to hang out with her, maybe she’ll realize I’m legit.”

“Maybe. Or she’ll think you just left anyway.” The furrow in Linc’s brow creased deeper. “Shoot. He was right.”

Zoey matched his frown. “Who was right?”

“There’s only one real solution.”

Zoey doubted that—she’d just presented the only one. “What are you talking about?”

“We should get married.”

A shock of cold flooded Zoey’s body, like diving into the bay in January. Going under, under, under…Sounds hollowed, time froze.

Marry Linc? Her stomach flipped.

Marry Linc.

Just as suddenly, a rush of warmth. Like emerging back to the surface, stretching out on a sunbaked towel on the shore.

Okay, so maybe she hadn’t presented the only solution. Her chest tightened. “I can’t—you don’t—” She choked on her own half sentence. They’d never even discussed dating . Linc didn’t date. Well, he had at one time, apparently, as evidenced by the low-rise-jean-clad evidence in his house.

But her? Him?

Them ?

It was as if Zoey’s secret wish and wildest dream collided in one simple statement. We should get married. Like it wasn’t completely life-changing. Like he was casually suggesting they grab a latte from Chug a Mug or take a bike ride down Bayou Boulevard, playing dodge ball with the potholes.

Like he wasn’t going zero to sixty with four words. How many times had they even hugged over the course of their friendship? And now he was going straight to?—

Linc cleared his throat, leaned forward a little. “Zoey?”

She blinked. Realized for the first time she hadn’t responded. “Um…”

“It makes sense.” Linc shoved his hair back. “I can’t do this alone. You don’t have anywhere else to go. And Amelia needs a role model…a solid family unit.”

Ah. So he was talking practicality . Of course. Her heart thudded.

But did he still think of her like that ? Someone he wanted to marry and be with…

“It’d be just in name, of course.”

Oh. All business.

“It’d legally be a marriage, but nothing has to change. We’d still be friends, exactly like right now.” His eyes softened, like he was suggesting something noble.

Nothing has to change… Her heart drifted toward her feet.

He was after function, not romance. Silly girl.

She should have known better. This time, the cold seeping through her limbs felt like someone had yanked her off her sun-warmed towel and tossed her right back into the water.

She tried to find words. What should she say?

What did she want?

“There’d be emotional stability for Amelia.

Financial stability for you. Parenting help for me.

” He kept ticking off the pros on his tanned fingers.

“I need help with her now, with these tours and the concession stand. And then when crawfish season comes, I’ll be gone weird hours—can’t leave her alone all the time.

And hey, we’d even get a tax break. It’s the easiest solution. ”

“Marriage isn’t a numbers game.” The words cracked in her throat.

“This one kind of is.”

Ah, so romantic. Then again, this was Linc.

There were so many questions that Zoey had trouble narrowing them down. One slowly maneuvered above the rest. “What about later?”

“What do you mean?” Linc shifted his weight slightly, rocking the boat.

Or maybe she was rocking the boat, asking questions. If she wanted this…shouldn’t she just go for it? It wasn’t like she had a bunch of other men knocking on her door. There might be plenty of fish in the sea, but there weren’t a ton of fish in Magnolia Bay.

Or maybe that was because she held them all up to a particular six-foot-plus man-bunned standard.

“I mean, Amelia is fourteen. What are we going to do when she goes back to Kirsten one day, or moves out, or goes to college in five years?”

“We’ll figure that out then.” Linc reached for the oars, tucked them back into the water. His short sleeves strained against his biceps. “We can only decide what to do with what’s happening now. And right now, this solution makes the most sense.”

Did it? And the fact she couldn’t tear her eyes away from his muscular arms didn’t concern him in the least?

He continued. “We have to put out the fire that’s currently burning.”

Oy. Zoey winced. “Really?”

“Sorry. Poor analogy.”

She rolled in her lip. “What about Amelia? What will we tell her?”

“That we wanted to get married.”

The word still sounded foreign coming from him. Zoey tilted her head. “But we’ve been denying we’ve even been in a relationship.”

“No, we’ve been denying anything inappropriate was going on,” Linc corrected. “We tell her that we realized what was between us and want to make it official, ASAP.”

“ASAP.” Zoey repeated the word, like a parrot. A dazed, bay-soaked parrot.

“Why not? I think waiting would do more harm than good.”

In this particular instance, maybe he was right. Marriage wasn’t something to rush into, but…people had arranged marriages all the time in different eras of history, different countries. Surely some of those worked out. At least Zoey already knew what to expect with Linc.

Grumpy before coffee.

Grumpy before bedtime.

Grumpy in crowds.

She smirked. And he was tidy—she wouldn’t be worrying about laundry on the floor or toothpaste caps left in the sink. Wasn’t that typically what wives complained about?

So why wasn’t she sure?

“I know it’s a little left field.” A muscle ticked in Linc’s jaw. “But Zoey…I’m drowning again.”

She gripped the sides of the boat. Oh, Linc. As much as his grumpy aggravated her at times, this vulnerability was much harder. Had she ever seen him like this?

He stared at a spot on the rusty boat floor. “I can’t screw this up. And I don’t know how to do it alone.”

Zoey inhaled, watching the way his muscles bunched and released under his shirt as he rowed. How could she say no? Linc was strong, capable. Solid.

Secure.

And he needed her .

There were surely worse things in life than marrying her best friend. She’d be doing him a favor, helping a teen in trauma…all pros. Except maybe one con.

Her heart.

He stilled the oars. “So what’s it going to be?”

“Dunkin’ donuts, Linc. Give a girl a second.” She studied his face, searching for any sign that there was something more to this proposal—if one could even call it that—than a smart business plan.

He held her gaze, rowing them quietly through the growing darkness. Tangled dark hair, brown eyes holding sober sincerity. Everything that made Linc, Linc. And maybe…was that a little bit of hope shining in there?

He really wanted her to say yes.

A tiny thrill shot through her, and she squelched it. He didn’t want her to say yes for the same reason she wanted to say yes.

Could she deal with that?

She briefly closed her eyes, prayed, and waited—for what?

An audible voice? A finger writing in the sky?

She opened her eyes. She knew God didn’t answer prayer like that—at least, not hers.

Which was okay. Maybe that just meant God was letting her choose this one.

A pick-your-own-adventure, like those childhood books she used to read.

Maybe everything would work out regardless of what she chose.

And marrying Linc was bound to be an adventure.

She drew a breath, looked at him. And mentally turned the page in their story. “Okay.”

The oars stilled again. “ Okay ?” A frog croaked from across the pond. She’d halfway expected something more dramatic, like lightning, maybe. But nope. Just pond creatures, and Linc’s slightly heavy breathing, like this conversation had cost him something too.

“Okay.” If he wasn’t going to be romantic about it, there was no reason for her to swoon or give an ecstatic yes .

Even if a tiny, backdoor part of her heart wanted to.

She couldn’t let him know that. Maybe not ever.

It would mess everything up, and they had to do this. For each other, but mostly, for Amelia.

So instead, she lifted her chin and held out her hand to shake his, throwing on her sunniest smile. “Looks like we have a deal…hubby.”