Jilted Jock - Rebecca Jenshak Page 0,86
family home, Finn and I danced under the stars. Me in my wedding dress, him in his tux, Marshmallow at our feet, and the stars as our spotlight.
“What do you say, Mrs. McCash, shall I carry you into our tent or would you prefer me to ravish you under the moonlight?” He smirked. “Full disclosure, I plan to do both, but I figure I’d let you decide where we start. Look at me putting my wife’s needs before my own already. I’m going to be a baller husband.”
I smiled and placed a chaste kiss on his lips. “Tent. I want to give you your wedding gift first.”
He placed a hand under my legs and had me in his arms in an instant. He paused at the threshold. “I thought we agreed, no gifts.”
“You said that, I never agreed.”
“Good, because I got you something, too.”
Of course, he had.
Inside the tent, I went in search of my gift and then sat on the air mattress next to Finn. Leaned back on one arm, he had a small white box with a red ribbon in an elegant bow in the other hand.
“Open mine first,” he pleaded, leaning forward and setting the gift in front of me.
With shaky hands, I pulled the ribbon from the top. Finn loved hard and over the top and his gift giving matched. I had no idea what was in this tiny box, but I knew it was going to be so much more than I could ever give him.
Carefully lifting the top, I peered inside and pulled out a key. It was the key I’d given him to my old house. I knew because I’d marked it with a pink dot of nail polish to distinguish it from my other keys. A sweet reminder of how it’d all begun.
I smiled as I held it in my hand. “How did you get them to give it to you? Weren’t they worried you’d use it to break into their house? Oh God, you didn’t do something crazy like put all new locks on their house just so you could have a key, right?”
He chuckled and shook his head from side to side slowly. “Even crazier, sweetheart. I bought the whole damn house.”
My mouth dropped open and an onslaught of emotions slammed into me. Happiness won out and my eyes pricked as tears formed. “But your apartment in LA?”
Since I’d moved back, we’d been living together at his place. I’d gone back to work for Harry, with a hefty raise and an agreement that I’d only be part time until I finished school and got my CPA license. The drive back and forth didn’t bother me. And though we’d discussed maybe buying a house in Hermosa Beach someday, logistically it didn’t make sense when Finn had to be near the training center for practice and games.
“We’ll keep the apartment for now, but Hermosa Beach is where I want our home to be. Me, you, a couple of babies.” He winked.
“Don’t forget Marshmallow.” The image of that small house holding four people and a wild cat made me smile. It’d be chaos for sure.
“Never.”
“I love it. Thank you.”
He picked up my present and gave it a little shake with a grin.
“It’s not a house or a car, I’m afraid.” Nerves made my stomach twist into knots. My gift felt so small after his.
Lifting the packet of papers from the box, Finn’s eyes crinkled in confusion and then widened. “Are these…” He looked up; hope tinged with disbelief in his blue eyes. Hyper blue.
I nodded as he began silently reading the top page. “I never sent them, but I responded to every email you wrote. Fear and guilt wouldn’t allow me to complicate things, but those months apart… I never stopped thinking about you. You were always there. In my thoughts and in my heart. The item on my gratitude list that I wouldn’t allow myself to write and the draft emails I wasn’t brave enough to send.”
“God, I love you,” he said, voice thick with emotion. “Thank you. This is the best gift you could have given me.”
He laid back with the papers and continued reading, and I joined him. Lying beside my husband, head resting on his chest, I closed my eyes and let his voice soothe me. They were pieces of a love story in its most painful, hopeless stage. Not perfect or convenient, but it was ours. It was passion and adventure and most importantly, it ended happily ever