32. Chapter 31
Chapter 31
Marshall
September 9 — 36 Weeks 2 Days, Winter Melon
Marshall: Where are you?
Marshall: You’re not home.
Gunnar: Selene and I are at the jewelry store picking out wedding bands.
Marshall: Text me the address.
Gunnar: Marshall. You’re not joining us to pick out our wedding bands.
Marshall: Too late.
Gunnar: Marshall. No.
Marshall: I’m on my way.
W hen I arrive at the upscale jewelry store, I immediately spot Gunnar’s massive Viking frame in the store and stride past the sales attendants to join my friends.
“Marshall?” Selene asks, her brow furrowed in confusion. “What are you doing here?”
“Dude, I told you not to come,” Gunnar says gruffly.
“Yeah, well... if you didn’t want me to find you, then why do you still share your location with me?” I taunt.
“He shares his location with you!” Selene gasps and punches Gunnar in the arm, and he grunts. “Why won’t you share your location with me.”
“Because I’m pretty sure this creep snuck into my phone to do it,” Gunnar says, pulling out his phone and flicking the screen open. “And I’ve told you, work.”
Selene pouts at her fiancé for a moment, but when he doesn’t respond, she turns her attention to me.
“Okay. So, either you’re here to help pick out rings, or you need something else.” She states.
“Elsie’s mad at me.” I gripe.
“What’s new there,” Selene says, turning back to the case of rings before her. “What exactly happened? Use your big boy words, Marshall.”
“I kind of proposed marriage after we had sex yesterday.” I blurt out a little too loudly .
Everything stills for a moment as they process my words.
Then, Gunnar looks up slowly from his phone, and Selene turns around like an owl with its head on a lazy Susan.
“You did... what?” Selene asks, her voice more menacing than I’ve ever heard it before in the three years I’ve known her.
“I asked her if she wanted to get married,” I say, a little quieter this time.
“I need you to be specific, Marshall,” Selene says, grasping me by my wrists and looking up at me. “Did you ask if she wanted to get married, or did you ask her to marry you?”
“I asked her to marry me,” I reply earnestly.
“What specific words did you use, Marshall.” Selene presses.
“Marry me.” I say, my voice firm and sure.
Selene goes silent, and her face is blank, which is never a good thing with her.
“Have you even told her that you love her?” Selene asks, setting down the ring she had been playing with in her hand.
“Well, yeah. Of course.” I reply hesitantly with a shrug. “That was part of the marriage proposal thing.”
“Thing?” Selene practically shrieks before looking at Gunnar wide-eyed. “Did he just call a marriage proposal a ‘thing?’ Did that really just come out of his mouth? Dime que estoy alucinando.” Tell me I’m hallucinating.
Gunnar chuckles at Selene’s dramatics. “You are, unfortunately, very much lucid.”
“What? I did the right thing, right? I told her I love her and asked her to marry me. That’s what you’re supposed to do!” I say, becoming increasingly more frustrated the longer this conversation goes on .
“Dude.” Gunnar interrupts, looking at his fiancée in apology. “If there’s one thing we’re taught, it’s not to make big decisions after sex. Don’t tell people you love them, and definitely don’t ask them to marry you.”
“No one told me that,” I grumble.
Selene looks completely bewildered.
“Let me get this straight,” Selene says, taking a deep breath. “You asked Elsie, our Elsie, ice queen of the oil industry Elsie, to marry you right after telling her you love her ?”
“Yes?” I reply questioningly.
“Did you even have a ring?” She asks, gesturing with another ring she’s picked up from the box on the counter.
“No....”
“You are so royally fucked, Marshall.” Selene sighs, shaking her head before looking back up at me. “Have you ever even thought to ask her why she might be so opposed to the idea of marriage? Why everything she’s ever achieved she’s literally done on her own?”
“No?” I say sheepishly.
“Oh, Marshall. Sweet baby Marshall.” She sighs. “We need to have a big sis talk, okay?”
“Okay?”
“I’m guessing we’re finishing this another day?” Gunnar asks.
“Yes,” Selene replies, grabbing her bag off the counter. “This requires tequila.”
“Beer,” Gunnar replies.
“Vodka.” Selene quips back.
“Whiskey.” I chime in, and they both give me incredulous looks. “What? I thought we were naming types of alcohol.”
Selene turns back to Gunnar. “Vodka. Final offer. ”
“Deal.” He says, extending his hand. “But none of the shitty stuff.”
She takes his hand and gives him a firm shake. “Deal.”
“What the hell did I just witness?” I ask.
“Communication,” Gunnar says.
“And negotiation,” Selene adds. “Two things you could stand to learn a thing or two about. But first, you need to go shopping.”
“What for?” I ask, curious about where her mind is going.
Rummaging through her bag, Selene pulls out her phone and begins to type. She glances up briefly. “Apology jewelry.”
After another thirty minutes of shopping and being explicitly told I am under no circumstances allowed to purchase an apology ring, I walk out of the store with my wallet and head hurting.
“Okay. Now what?” I ask, headed for my truck.
“Oh no. Not that fast. You’re gonna want to be at least a little tipsy for this.” Selene says, snatching my keys out of my hands. “There’s no way I’m letting you drive.”
I look at Gunnar, hoping for answers, but he just chuckles at me and shakes his head.
“Gunnar. To the nearest dive bar!” She cheers. “?Vamos!” Let’s go.
Gunnar’s mental map of dive bars in the city is quite impressive. It only took fourteen minutes to arrive at this one that, from the outside, looks like it should be condemned.
“Come here often?” I joke as we get out of his SUV and head into the old building.
Inside, the little dingy bar is exactly as you would expect it to be.
It’s dim enough in the bar to see and make your way around but not enough to really notice how beat up the place is. The floor is scuffed, just like all of the tables. The chairs and bar are well-worn. Everything looks well-loved, for lack of a kind word.
Selene leads me over to a booth in the corner and motions for me to slide in before she takes her seat on the outer edge while Gunnar heads to the bar to get us our shots of vodka, per their negotiation.
“How well do you know Elsie?” Selene starts.
“I mean... I’ve been living with her for about six months now, and we’re having a kid together.” I shrug and keep my eyes roaming the bar. “Surely there’s somewhere else you’d prefer to be right now, Selene?”
“Don’t change the subject. I’m perfectly fine right where I am.” She says as Gunnar makes his way over to the table and slides in on my other side, essentially trapping me between them with no escape.
He sets down three shot glasses and a bottle of Deep Eddy’s on the table and begins dispensing shots for the three of us. When he’s done, he hands each of us a glass.
“To...” He starts.
“To apology jewelry.” Selene giggles before taking her shot.
Gunnar shrugs, and we both take our shot before Selene starts in.
“Okay. You’ve been living with Elsie for six months. But what do you know about her?” She asks, with all seriousness.
“I know her father’s a dick,” I reply. “He’s never been around for her. Treated her more like a political prop than a daughter.”
“And what do you know about her mom?” Selene asks carefully.
“Just that she’s not in the picture.” I shrug .
“She died,” Selene says seriously. “Giving birth to Elsie. Her mom died like right after from birth complications.”
“So…” I say, hoping Selene will continue.
“Her dad didn’t just use her as a prop, Marshall.” Selene sighs. “He avoided being a parent to Elsie altogether. He made her invisible unless it was in the public eye. Elsie’s never been loved the way you or I have been. She’s never felt love herself and trusted that instinct. Because the person who was supposed to love her most growing up, the person who was supposed to teach her that, was him .”
“Shit,” I murmur. “She’s not ready.”
“Yeah,” Selene says, motioning to Gunnar to dispense another round of shots from the already low bottle of vodka. “You fucked up.”
“I didn’t know,” I say defensively.
“Doesn’t matter, man. You need to meet her where she’s at.” Gunnar supplies as he hands me another shot that I down quickly. “She’s not ready for that kind of commitment. It has to be her idea.”
Grabbing the bottle of vodka from him, I down the remainder in a few gulps.
“Can I move back into the pool house?” I ask.
“I think that’d be best,” Selene says with a small sympathetic smile.
Dropping my head into my hands, my tipsy thoughts swirl, thinking about how badly I fucked up here.
I pushed her when I should have been patient.
She’s always been her very own person, independent of what anyone else expected from her. No wonder she freaked out when I started insisting on something she hadn’t planned for. It means changing her life plan. Everything she thought she wanted changes if she makes a decision like this.
Hell, I’m shocked that she so quickly let me invade her life like I did.
But that unto itself gives me hope.
She needs me.
Whether she’s ready to admit it or not, she needs me and what I’ve become for her.
She’s not ready to admit it, but we are family.
I just have to get her to realize it herself.
Maybe I’m down the street instead of down the hall, but I’m not going anywhere.
Not really.
I’m here for her.
For life.