26. Becca
TWENTY-SIX
BECCA
“Okay, god, everybody shut up!”
We’re on a five-way video call: Dustin and Ronnie, Ernest, Mom, Tyler’s dad, Mamaw. Mamaw’s telling Tyler’s dad some nonsense and we don’t have time for this. We need to leave for the bar to sell this thing.
“What are you two doing together?” Dusty asks.
I rub my lips together and look over at Tyler, whose face is tomato red.
“Tell ‘em, babe.”
Tyler is trying so hard not to smile, and it’s almost convincing.
“We have some news,” he says.
“No,” Tyler’s dad says, his jaw dropping.
Mamaw gasps.
Dustin is expressionless.
I hold up my left hand so they can all see my ring.
“Oh my lord,” from Mom.
“You are such a bad liar,” from Tyler’s dad.
“Aw, honey,” from Ernest.
“I want my money back,” from Mamaw.
“I told you,” from Ronnie to Dustin, and from Dustin, a very triumphant, “Shut up.”
“You two have been sneakin’!” Mom declares with a shout.
“Am I about to be a grandpa again?” Tyler’s dad asks.
“Not yet,” Tyler says with a laugh, and I lose my breath.
What does that mean? I want to touch my stomach, the thought of Tyler’s baby being there making me go a little dizzy.
Tyler grins at me and I’m ready to push him back on this bed.
Is that something real he wants? Where’s the line at this point?
Dustin has a hand over his mouth and looks like he might cry. “Y’all, this is the best news.”
My stomach twists. What’s making my brother the happiest? That I’m settling down? That I’m settling down with his best friend? That I’m happy? That I’m finally taken care of? That Tyler is happy?
“We’re going out to celebrate at the Legion,” I manage. “If anyone wants to see us tonight, we’ll be there.”
“So, are we celebrating tonight?” Darcy appears in my doorway, a tentative smile on her face. She wears a pretty floral swing dress with long sleeves, perfect for a fall night.
I currently am in a sticky situation with the setting on my ring caught in my hair. “Maybe after we free my hair.”
“Oh, shoot.” Darcy rushes over. “Hold still. I’ll untangle you. It takes a while to get used to.”
I wait while Darcy picks strands out of my ring. She flinches when a strand breaks off. “Sorry, trying to save as many as I can.”
“It’s alright. Probably looks like a bubblegum ring anyway.”
Darcy gives me a silly look. “Well, you do love bubblegum.”
I’d normally laugh. I like to poke fun at myself, and I welcome Darcy’s sense of humor. But right now, I feel like a scab picked off too early. My silence must be telling.
“Sorry. I don’t think it looks like a bubblegum ring at all. Show me for real now.”
I display my hand and Darcy has a soft smile as she holds it steady. “It’s gorgeous, Becca. He did good.”
“Yeah,” I agree in the most unenthusiastic way possible. “Basically picked it out myself and he ordered it.”
“Did you want him to surprise you?” Darcy heads to sit on the edge of my bed.
“I mean, if he was in love with me, yeah. But he’s not. This is just an act.”
I see Darcy’s grimace in the mirror behind me. “I wish we could help you—”
“You got your own problems, boss.” I still call her that even though she hasn’t been my boss for more than three years.
“Are you happy about it at all? Are you sure this is what you want?”
“I want the loan. I want him to have the loan. But I didn’t imagine this is how I’d get married.”
Darcy crosses the room and hugs around my shoulders from behind. “How did you picture getting married?”
“Honestly, I wasn’t sure I ever would. Seemed too crazy to settle down. But you know me. The last year or two have been different.”
“It’s okay to want something different now. What do you want from a marriage?”
I shake my head, looking down into my hairbrush while I think. “Partnership. Trust. Loyalty. Sticking around when things suck. And for them to want me so bad they’ll throw me over their shoulder and need to have me right this second.”
Darcy smiles. “Yeah. That’s the good stuff.”
There’s a quiet knock at my door, Tyler leaning against the doorjamb. “You ready, Reba?”
Darcy mouths “Reba?” to me in the mirror and I giggle.
“Thirty seconds,” I say, scrambling to fill my purse with my phone, lip gloss, gum, and wallet. I adjust my little white corset over my white shorts. My ring catches the light and even though it’s no real diamond, I take a second to admire it.
It might not be real love, but it’s about as close as real gets.
Tyler is silent and extra surly on the walk to Darcy’s truck. Jake and Darcy walk ahead of us. “I can drive,” Darcy chirps. “I’m not going to drink.”
Jake leans down and whispers something in her ear, then pecks the top of her head. She hugs his arm before he puts it around her, his hand cruising comfortably over her ass. I’ve had that kind of connection, or something close to it. But nothing as close as what those two have.
Now, who knows if I’ll ever get it? My left hand is heavier than it was an hour ago, but the man who made it that way isn’t speaking to me.
I’m about to give him shit about it, but he follows me to the same side of the truck and opens the door for me.
He holds out his hand to help me in, just like he did outside Ellie’s school.
“Thanks.” I buckle in and lean against the window after he closes the door.
The single outdoor light isn’t enough to show me his eyes under the brim of his ballcap, but he’s still unfairly handsome. Stubble. Sharp jaw. The hint of that dimple.
He was so sweet when he proposed, and it sparked some hope in me. Now with him being so sullen, I’m afraid the time for sweet has expired.
Before he turns around the rear of the truck, Tyler pauses. In the side mirror, I watch as he presses his fingers into his eyes and pinches the bridge of his nose. He blows out a breath and walks to the other side of the truck.
Tyler gets into his seat and buckles in, looking out the opposite window.
Jake and Darcy chatter in the front seat, and I’m doing my best to not overanalyze and take this personally.
I wish I could have a smoke and I dig in my purse for some of that damn Nicorette that’s not good enough but will have to be my life from now on.
I pop a piece out of the foil and Tyler sticks his hand out. “Can I have some?”
“You wouldn’t like it,” I sulk. “It’s spicy.”
Darcy cackles in the front seat.
He grumbles. “I like spicy.”
“It’s got nicotine,” I elaborate.
“Oh. Are you . . . quitting?”
I sigh. “Seems that way.”
The dim light from the front of the truck shows me how he’s grinding his teeth, then chewing his lip. He fidgets with his hands before he opens his photos and looks at pictures of Ellie.
I lean to look at his screen, chuckling at one of Ellie at Betty’s Diner, beaming with a stack of pancakes in front of her. I should have been able to guess that this was the problem. He’s afraid to leave Ellie, and after her meltdown last night, I don’t blame him.
“That’s a good one.” Tyler nods and sniffs. I reach for his hand. “She’s in good hands.”
“I know. I don’t leave her with anybody much.”
“I bet,” I say.
He turns his hand over, brushing his thumb over my fingers and examining my ring. “CJ was . . . Yeah. I couldn’t trust her to take care of Ellie. She did her best but she was sick.”
I squeeze again and he squeezes back. “Maggie’s good.”
“I know,” he says, sitting up straighter. “I know she’s fine. Just feels weird.”
I chuckle. “Know what’ll make you feel better?”
“What?”
“Dancing with your freshly betrothed at the finest place in town.”
Tyler laughs, a genuine laugh. “I don’t dance.”
“Oh, you think this ring is unbelievable? If people catch wind that Becca Martin’s marrying a guy who don’t dance, the whole jig is up.”
Jake’s eyes appear in the rearview mirror. “You don’t dance, Tyler? Why the heck not?”
Darcy pats his arm. “Not everybody is like you, cowboy.”
“No, you gotta dance,” Jake argues. “That’s the best way to get your hands all over your girl in public.”
“Can’t she just sit on my lap or something?” Tyler asks, disgruntled.
“Oh, you can handle all this in your lap?” I ask, gesturing to my very much spectacular ass.
“I’m not fifteen at homecoming,” he says, a little too defensively.
“Well, I hope not. I’m not making any child bride,” I scoff.
“It would be groom—never mind,” Tyler says. “I don’t even know why I try with you.”
“Oh,” I sigh. “The oppression from your darling wife begins early.”
Tyler’s head tips like he’s rolling his eyes, but who could tell with his ballcap pulled that low?
But I can see his mouth, sporting the tiniest smirk.