Page 23 of Something Tangled Something True (Rosa Ranch #1)
SAY YES TO THE DRESS
Last night after dinner, Lola and I sat on the couch together, talking for hours.
It was like when we were kids. Everything about being with her is so familiar, and just like in college, all I want to do is hold her tight to my chest and never let her go.
But that’s no longer our reality, no matter how much I wish it were.
She mentioned Karmella and Yanet, her friends from Dallas who run the dance studio she worked at, had checked in on her and made sure she knew she could always go back.
I’m thankful for them, for their capacity to love her and provide the friendship I know she needed while away from Rosa Ranch, but it doesn’t make the thought of losing her all over again any less painful.
I’m glad she has somewhere she could go to continue living out her dreams, but I’m determined to find a way for her to do that without leaving me again. Though this time, I think I’d follow her if she let me.
Lola heads out of her room with a massive black garment bag draped over her arm, successfully snagging my attention .
“Whatcha got there, darlin’?”
Her gaze flits to mine. “It’s the dress I wore the other night,” she says, and a pretty pink hue colors her cheeks.
I chuckle deeply at that. “It’s okay to say wedding dress,” I tease.
“It’s weird,” she admits. “Anyway, Mayte is picking it up to return it to the boutique. It was a rental.” She lays it over the back of one of our dining room chairs, spinning to face me. “Mind if I join you?”
“Not at all,” I tell her, patting the seat beside me. “You wanna watch something?”
“Whatever you want. I’m not picky,” she says, taking a seat at the opposite end of the couch.
I change the channel to something I think she’d enjoy, but she doesn’t react.
Her eyes stay glued to the screen, yet there’s a distance in her gaze, like her mind’s already miles away.
The longer the silence stretches, the more the knot in my stomach tightens, my fingers drumming nervously against the armrest.
I scoot over to sit closer to her, and when she doesn’t notice, I cover her hand with mine, draping my other arm along the back of the couch. “Darlin’, what’s going on in that beautiful head of yours?” I ask softly.
“Hmm?” she asks, her far-off gaze making it clear she’s still somewhere else. “I’m sorry, what’d you ask?” Her eyes look sad, and she seems tired, her eyes sunken and her lips turned down. It’s not the kind of exhaustion a nap could fix.
“You’ve got something on your mind. Care to let me in?”
She breathes out a long sigh, clamping her eyes shut for a moment, before she scoots around to face me. She adjusts her grip so she’s holding my hand now, and it sends tingles up my arm.
“It’s the dress.”
I stare at her, no less confused than I had been moments ago.
“Do you not like the dress? ”
She shakes her head, those gorgeous curls flying all over in the way I love so much.
“No, the problem is that I love the dress. I know it’s silly because we’re only married on paper, but I’d always dreamed of keeping my wedding dress, having it preserved, and saving it for my daughter.
” Her cheeks heat again, and it travels down her neck onto her chest. If it moves beyond that, I can’t see it through the sheer fabric of her cropped white tank top.
“And then the realization I may never have a daughter kind of…”
“It kind of what, darlin’?” I ask, my voice a strained whisper.
Her cinnamon gaze meets mine now, and she chokes on a sob. “It sort of crushed me, Ry.”
I can’t help myself, overwhelmed with the need to comfort her. I drag her into my lap, kissing her shoulder, then the top of her head. “You’ll have anything you want in this life. I can’t promise you a lot, but I can promise you that.”
I’d burn down the whole world for this woman.
We sit like this for a while until her body relaxes in my hold. I hear her soft snores, and when I can’t hold my eyes open any longer, I carry her to her bed, tucking her in under the covers.
“Goodnight,” I whisper, pressing a kiss to her forehead.
The sliver of moonlight shining in through her blinds cuts across her beautiful face, and I feel weak in the knees, like the ground beneath me just got a little too far away.
Anything she wants, she can have. I’ll make sure of it.