Hot Under His Collar - Andie J. Christopher Page 0,96

his life with her, but he knew that some of her assurance may have been adrenaline.

“I didn’t mean what I said to them about marriage. You know that, right?”

“We don’t have to make any decisions about that right now.” He’d sort of skipped over the deciding-to-get-married part. He could live without it, but he knew for sure that he wanted her forever. He paused, not wanting to hurt her by making her talk about that terrible scene with her parents but wanting to make sure she knew that he was there for her. “Are you okay?”

She waved a hand but ran it through her hair, pushing it off her red, splotchy, still-gorgeous face. She was wrecked. “I’m fine.”

“You don’t have to be fine with me.” He covered her free hand with his. “You don’t have to be fine.”

“Well, of course I’m not fine,” she wailed. “My family is a mess, and that was the last thing I wanted you to see about me. Especially after you gave your whole life up to be with me.”

Patrick didn’t know what to say to that. He only knew that it broke his heart. He didn’t believe that she’d tried to conceal how she was feeling about what had just happened for nefarious reasons. But this wasn’t going to work if they weren’t going to be real with each other. That’s why his relationship with Ashley hadn’t worked, and he wasn’t willing to sacrifice his relationship with Sasha before it had a chance to really get started.

“So, you’re not fine. What can we do to get you closer to fine?”

“Please don’t sing the Indigo Girls.” Her lips twitched, which was a good sign.

“No singing. Got it.” He nodded.

“You didn’t think I was going to stand up to them for a minute, did you?”

He stopped in his tracks. He didn’t want to say anything, because this was about her and her feelings. But he’d had a sinking feeling in his gut when her parents had issued an ultimatum. He’d doubted for a few moments that she was actually going to choose him. “They’re your family.”

Sasha stood up then and said, “No. Hannah and Jack and Bridget and Matt and . . . you are my family.”

“I come along with an idiot brother and no real-life plan.” Maybe it was time to put all of his fears out on the table. “I feel like I’m not enough for you, that you wanted the guy who was a priest and leader. Now I don’t have that, and I’m afraid that I won’t be enough to make up for losing your family.”

“They didn’t love me unconditionally.” She didn’t hesitate. “You loved me enough to give up your vocation. And yeah, their money has made a whole lot of things possible for me, but that doesn’t mean that I need to live my life exactly the way they want me to for the rest of my life.”

“Is your business going to be okay?” He really didn’t want this to cost her her livelihood. For one thing, she was proud of it. For another, it would be bad if neither of them had jobs.

Sasha waved a hand. “It will be fine. Their accountant is not going to find anything irregular in our books, and I’ve paid my father back with interest. That was just posturing.”

“That’s good.” A relief. “So what do we do now?”

“What do you mean?”

“I haven’t had a free Sunday in years.” His outfit wasn’t the only thing that felt foreign.

Sasha had a wicked smirk when she said, “I guess I’m going to have to introduce you to the concept of brunch.”

CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE

BOTTOMLESS MIMOSAS WOULD HAVE to wait for another day. When Sasha called Hannah and filled her in on the morning’s events, she enlisted Jack, Matt, Bridget, and Kelly to come help them start packing up. For her part, Hannah came with food and drink and insistent instructions.

Patrick was surprised that everyone dropped whatever they’d planned to do that Sunday to help him and Sasha. It wasn’t that he thought that any of their friends disapproved of him leaving the priesthood or of his relationship with Sasha. But he’d never allowed himself to count on other people to help him. He guessed that was something he would have to get used to as a layperson.

He was in Sasha’s living room, boxing up her extensive stash of books—mostly romance—when Jack approached him. “I didn’t think you would actually do it.”

“Leave the Church?” Patrick turned to his best friend.