13. Colleen
Colleen
A fter I left Cedar Creek Coffee, I went right to Tara’s house, practically jogging the whole way. By the time I got there, I was gasping for breath. I definitely wasn’t a jogger.
Tara was still in her pajamas when I knocked on the door. She was an attorney in town and put in long hours helping the residents of Cedar Creek with their legal needs. She’d been busy enough lately that she’d been thinking about hiring another attorney to help out in the practice that she’d inherited from her grandfather.
“What’s wrong?” Tara asked as soon as she opened the door and saw my face. “You’re all red and sweaty.”
I followed her into the kitchen.
“I need to talk,” I said, my voice sounding choked.
“I was just making some scrambled eggs,” she said. “Do you want some?”
Tara had learned from her mother that any crisis could be eased with food. Aunt Bianca was an incredible cook.
“Is there bacon?” I asked.
She rolled her eyes. “Of course.”
“Okay. Breakfast sounds good.”
I sat at the kitchen table as Tara whipped up some eggs to go with the bacon she pulled out of the oven. Once we both had a plate she sat across from me, took a long drink of orange juice, and said, “Spill.”
My words came out in a rush.
“I was at Cedar Creek Coffee with Ben and out of nowhere his ex-girlfriend from Portland showed up. Ex-fiancée,” I corrected myself. “She’s tall and blonde and super thin and a rich, successful attorney. I think she wants him back. And she looked at me like I was something she found on the bottom of her shoe.”
“Why do you care what she thinks?” Tara asked. “Ben’s with you.”
“He introduced me as his friend.”
Tara winced. “Oh no.”
She took a bite of eggs, then said, “Maybe he just panicked. You know how guys are.”
I shook my head. “I don’t know how someone who dated a woman who looks like that can date a woman who looks like me. She said she misses him. Maybe he looked at her in her designer clothes with her perfect hair and tiny waist and perky boobs and then he looked at me and realized what a terrible mistake he was making dating me.”
Tara dropped her fork with a clatter.
“Colleen O’Malley, what is wrong with you? It’s not like you to be insecure. You’ve always loved your curves.”
“I did until I felt like the frumpy best friend at a table with my boyfriend and his ex, who couldn’t stop touching him, by the way.”
Not that I could blame her. Ben was very touchable.
“I think it’s time for some tough love,” Tara said as she nibbled at a piece of bacon. “I don’t think this is about how you look at all. I think you’ve been looking for a sign that Ben will run away and break your heart again, and now that his ex showed up, you’re running for the exit before you can get hurt.”
“Maybe,” I sighed. “I’m so confused.”
The doorbell rang and Tara’s eyebrows rose. “Gee, I wonder who that could be.”
I wasn’t surprised when she came back to the kitchen with Ben in tow. He looked more frazzled than I’d seen him since the first time we broke up.
“Hey, can we talk?” he asked.
“I’m eating bacon with Tara,” I said obstinately.
“I’ll pack you some to go,” Tara said. “Now shoo. You kids need to talk.”
She gave me a hug and a sandwich bag with four pieces of bacon before pushing me and Ben out the door.
“What do you want to talk about?” I asked once we were outside.
Ben gave me an exasperated look. “The price of milk and eggs, what do you think?”
He grabbed my hand, wrapping his fingers around mine, and I felt that same humming of electricity between us that I felt every time we touched.
“Let’s go to your place.”
I only lived six blocks from Tara, so we headed over on foot. I didn’t even know where I’d left my car, that’s how upset I was.
“How did you know where I was?” I asked.
“You weren’t at your house, so Tara’s was the next most logical place.”
He wasn’t wrong. We walked at a fast pace to my house, neither of us speaking, and when we got there, and I let us inside. By unspoken agreement we headed to the couch, turning to face each other.
“About Lisa,” he started. “I’m sorry I introduced you as my friend. I mean, you are my friend, but you’re also my girlfriend and the woman I love so really that’s how I should have introduced you. I wasn’t thinking. I was just… flummoxed to see Lisa appear. I haven’t even spoken to her in months.”
“The woman you love?” I latched onto that part of his explanation.
Ben’s brow furrowed. “Yes, I’m in love with you Colleen. You know that, right?”
He said it like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“You never said anything about being in love with me,” I sniffed.
“You never said you loved me either, but I know you do,” he said confidently.
He wasn’t wrong.
“But if you need the words, I’ll say it again. I’m in love with you. Not Lisa. You.”
I smacked his shoulder. “Of course I need the words, I’m not a mind reader.”
“Well, now you know.”
We just stared at each other for what seemed like forever before he prompted, “Well?”
“Well what?” I asked.
“Aren’t you going to tell me that you love me too?”
I smirked, then threw his words back at him. “Well if you need the words Ben, I love you too.”
“I’m glad we finally got that settled.”
He reached for me, but I put my hands on his chest, keeping him away.
“We’re not settled yet. Tell me what happened with Lisa,” I ordered.
“Her boss told her now that she’s not engaged she’s no longer being considered for a partnership, so she’s totally in panic. She’s been working on being a partner for years now.”
“That’s outrageous!” I didn’t even like the woman, and I was insulted on her behalf. “Her personal relationships have no bearing on her work performance.”
“Anyway, she wanted to know if there was any chance we could get back together, even temporarily, to get the partners off her back. Of course I told her no.”
“If you want to help her out, you could pretend to be her fiancé for a little while,” I said grudgingly.
I didn’t like the idea, but I felt like I should offer.
“I can’t pretend to be her fiancé when I’m engaged to someone else.”
I looked at him in confusion. “What? Who are you engaged to?”
Was there some other ex-girlfriend lurking around that I didn’t know about?
“Hopefully I’ll be engaged to you soon.”
Ben dropped to one knee on the floor in front of the couch and my heart flipped painfully in my chest. Was he…?
Grabbing my hand, he said, “Colleen O’Malley, will you marry me?”
I stared at him suspiciously. “Are you asking me to marry you because we had a fight and you feel bad about introducing me as your friend?”
He shook his head. “No. I was planning to propose on our three month anniversary next week, but this feels like the right time. I have an engagement ring locked up for you in my office.”
“Really?”
He’d planned this? That changed everything.
“Really. But I should tell you, it’s the same safe where we keep the controlled substances in the office, so there’s a good chance that Tricia has seen the ring and figured out what’s going to happen.”
“I guess this explains why when I saw my mother the other day she asked me three separate times if I had anything to tell her. I thought she was just being weird.”
The truth was, she’d been acting kind of weird ever since she barged in on us last week. And not as upset about it as I’d expected. She seemed almost… happy.
“Will you be giving me an answer sometime today, or do I need to keep kneeling?” Ben grumbled.
I laughed, dropping to my knees in front of him, and placing my hands on his shoulders.
“Yes Ben Williamson, I will marry you.”
He gave me a kiss that left me breathless, and as we pulled apart, the sandwich bag fell out of my pocket.
“Do you want some of my bacon?”
Ben laughed. “Let’s go get your ring first.”
“Okay, but I hope you realize that my offering to share bacon is just as much of a declaration of love as my accepting your marriage proposal.”
“Oh believe me, I know.”