Page 37

CHAPTER 36

B EN

It’s been a long ten days, but the hospital finally released Trina. She expected that Fitz and Emily would come over this afternoon, but it was a pleasant surprise for her when they were waiting at my house with lunch from her favorite Chinese restaurant.

We sit outside, eating our fill and making light conversation for a half hour before voices float on air from around the corner. Seconds later, Annie and Shayna appear, followed by Finn carrying a cooler, and Jack with what appears to be a large cake.

“Welcome home!” Annie and Shayna shout in unison.

I’m momentarily worried this might be too much for Trina, but when I look at her, she’s smiling and looks pleased. Maybe she just needs some normalcy in her life.

Truthfully, there was talk of discharging her home a few days ago, but they kept her for two extra days to do serial chest X-rays after her chest tube came out, so she’s likely ready for visitors.

Shayna and Annie go inside to cut the cake, and Finn passes out cold drinks, leaving the cooler by the table, then takes a seat.

“Finn.” Trina’s seriousness gets all of our attention and everyone else stops talking. Finn looks up at Trina, a questioning look in his eyes. “Thank you. I’m told your quick thinking and assessment skills likely saved my life.”

“Thank you, Captain. I appreciate your words. But I just did my job like you all taught me. Any of the crew would have done the same.” Finn’s cheeks are pink, and he looks down at the table.

Trina… snorts. “Are you kidding? Neither of these old guys,”—she points to Jack and Fitz—“are limber and agile enough to climb through a tiny rear window like you did. Thank God you were there. I think I’m gonna tell Chief that the rest of the crew all need to do yoga.”

Everyone chuckles, and Fitz feigns offense. “Hey, I’m limber.”

“Yeah, and I’m agile as fuck,” Jack teases.

“He most definitely is,” Annie chimes in as she walks out with plates of cake. “What are we talking about?”

“Ew,” Trina and I say simultaneously, and it causes a breakout of laughter around the table.

Annie and Shayna take seats at the table with the rest of us so we can all have our cake together.

“Oh, Emily, I meant to ask. Did you stay off your phone and your e-reader for the three days like the doctor said, because of your concussion?” Annie asks.

Emily’s eyes dart to Fitz and he’s frozen, hand poised in the air, holding a fork with a piece of cake on it, his eyes wide. He sets the fork down.

“Three days? Is that so, Annie? She was supposed to stay off them for three days?”

“Yeah. Let me guess, she didn’t last twenty-four-hours,” Annie says.

Fitz narrows his eyes at Emily and she grins.

Trina chuckles like she knows what’s coming.

“Oh, she lasted,”—Fitz narrows his eyes playfully at Emily—“But I’m wondering why she’s been making me read to her from that smut book you all are reading for book club. Not just for three days, but all week.” He doesn’t take his eyes off Emily.

She shrugs. “It’s more fun when you read it. Especially the spicy scenes. You could narrate the audio book versions, babe. Sorry, not sorry.”

Laughter breaks out across the table, and Trina watches, smiling. This is exactly what she needs right now. But if it becomes too much, I’m not above kicking everyone out.

As if she can feel me staring at her, Trina turns to look at me. Her eyes light up and she smiles widely. “Can I talk to you in private for a second?” she asks, her voice hushed.

“Sure.” We stand and I follow her as she walks about thirty feet from where our friends who are family and family who are friends sit, then spins on her heel and looks at me. “Let’s tell them all now.” Her eyes are twinkling and there’s not a hint of doubt in her eyes.

“You mean… that we’re together?”

“Yes. Well, and that we’re married. And that we’re getting married again. These are our people, Ben. My sister, my best friend, your brother and one of your sisters are here… I want them to know.”

“You’re sure? I don’t want you to feel pressured to tell?—”

“I’m positive.” Her smile is so bright, leaving no question that she’s ready. “I know we bicker, and we always will, but I love you. I’m proud to be with you. So, we should share it with them.”

Her words are like a soothing balm to those old insecurities I work very hard to keep from rearing their ugly heads.

“All right. Let’s do it.”

When we walk back to the table, everyone is staring at us expectantly. We sit back in our seats and Trina wastes no time getting to it.

“So, Ben and I have something we want to share.”

“Here it comes, suckas. Get ready to pay up,” Shayna utters. She’s not as quiet as she thinks she is, and Finn turns bright red and covers his face with his hands. Trina spares her a brief look, squinting in confusion at Shayna, before focusing on the entire group.

I’m used to Shayna’s weird shit, so I just figure Shayna’s being Shayna.

“Anyway, Ben and I are”—she glances at me, grabbing my hand under the table—“married.”

“Damn it!” Shayna yells, smacking her hand down on the table.

“What the hell, Shay?” I wrap my arm around Trina.

As I look around the table, Emily is sitting with her mouth wide open. Fitz is smirking and Jack and Annie are laughing.

“Sorry,” Shay says, at least having the decency to look contrite. “I hate losing.”

“What is going on here?” Trina’s head tilts to the side and her eyes narrow at our friends.

Annie is the one who speaks up. “Okay, don’t be mad, but we’ve been taking bets for a while now about what was going on with you two. We were afraid to ask. You have no idea how hard it’s been keeping my mouth shut about your secret.”

“How’d you know?”

“Uh, I was your nurse, and Ben came into the hospital all ‘I’m her husband.’ He apparently growled and everything. All very swoony, according to the ER gossip mill.”

“Oh my God, I did not growl.” I can’t help but chuckle.

“It’s okay, Ben. I know from all the smut Emily has been manipulating me into reading that they like it when we growl,” Fitz deadpans.

“Oh.” I turn to Trina. “In that case, I definitely growled, babe.”

Trina blushes a pretty pink but just rolls her eyes at me. “Tell us more about the bets.”

“Well, I’ll start since I lost.” Shayna shrugs her shoulders. “I thought you were just having sex on the regular. Like an enemies with benefits thing.”

“We weren’t enemies,” I protest.

Emily, apparently pulled out of her shock, is now smiling. “You might not have been in your mind, but my sister sure seemed to hate you for quite a while there. Her tolerating you is what actually got all of us wondering what the hell was happening.” Emily’s tone is teasing, but in reality, she’s not wrong.

“And what did you think, Em?”

“Apparently, since I’m the sappy romantic of the group, I thought you were dating and slowly falling for each other after Ben’s grand gesture of bidding on you at the Valentine’s fundraiser. But I’m happy about this news even though I lost.”

“Jack thought you were knocked up,” Shayna tosses out.

Poor Finn just shakes his head, now even more red than he was at her initial outburst.

“Hey! I didn’t say ‘knocked up.’ I said I thought maybe they slept together at the fire conference, and she was pregnant. And before Shayna says some crazy shit about Annie’s bet, my sweet,”—he leans over and kisses Annie on the cheek—“somewhat na?ve wife thought nothing was going on. That you were just spending so much time together because of the… the stalker situation.”

“True,” Annie says. “I mean about what I thought. Not that I’m na?ve.” She pushes Jack in the shoulder.

“Finn?” Trina asks. Her eyebrows lift high on her forehead, clearly amused by his discomfort.

Finn shakes his head. “Nope. I declined to take part.”

“I knew I liked you,” Trina grins.

“Kiss ass,” Shayna mutters behind her hand. But she grins when Finn pulls her into his lap and whispers something in her ear.

“So, no one won.” I can’t help chuckling.

“Not true,” Fitz says. Trina’s head whips to face him. “I won.”

“You guessed we got married?” she asks, her voice incredulous.

I lean back in my chair and laugh out loud.

“You weren’t acting normal. Even before all the creeper stuff. I know we haven’t spent as much time together as usual, but I know you. You were off. So, I took a wild guess. Go big or go home. It paid off.”

Trina shakes her head and turns to me. “Why are we friends with these people?”

“Because you love us.” Emily stands and comes over to Trina, hugging her tightly. “Even the more obnoxious ones of us,” she says as she exaggeratedly gestures to Shayna with her head. Emily returns to her seat, rests her elbows on the table, her head in her hands, and smiles at Trina and me. “Now, tell us everything. Don’t leave out a single detail.”

* * *

TRINA

After Ben tells everyone a condensed version of our marriage story, we tell them we plan to do it all again. This time hopefully with them in attendance. Then he tells them all that we love them, but they have to leave, claiming I need to rest.

Though I hated admitting he was right, I fell asleep on the couch after everyone left and woke up three hours later.

When I awaken, I keep my eyes closed for a few minutes, getting lost in my thoughts and checking in with how I’m feeling. There’s definitely relief at knowing I no longer have to live in fear of my stalker, and joy that, though we’re not all related by blood, I have the best family in my circle of people. But it’s the peace and true strength I feel that is the most pervasive.

I’ll never not be someone who needs to control many of the areas of my life, but I’m also no longer the woman who needs to control every aspect of my life. And that’s because I’ve found my person. The one who I know loves me unconditionally, would do anything for me, and who often knows me better than I know myself.

It’s because I trust Ben to sometimes know what I need when I can’t see it, that I’m at peace. I don’t have to figure it all out alone. And when you lean on each other—two people meant to be together like we are—there’s strength and power in that for both of us.

Ben and I pass the rest of the afternoon and into the early evening doing the daily jumbles he saved up while I was in the hospital and watching a new regency romance series he heard about from some women at work. I tease him about it, but honestly, it’s pretty damn good.

When an elaborate wedding scene plays out on the screen in front of us, Ben looks over at me. “Have you given any thought to what kind of wedding you want? And when?”

I give him my best grin. “Yup. I have the perfect wedding for us already planned.”