Love Proof (Laws of Attraction) - By Elizabeth Ruston Page 0,114
do you think?”
“So what was your original strategy?” Sarah asked. “Flash mob? Proposal on the score board at halftime?”
“Get you a ring, for one thing,” he said. “Probably take you with me to pick it out.”
“Oh, yeah? Where?”
“Our place,” Joe said.
Sarah studied him for a moment before cracking a smile.
“Walmart?”
“Of course,” Joe said. “Where else?”
***
Sarah held tightly to Joe’s hand as the two of them walked back into her parents’ house.
That got a raised eyebrow from her father, but no other comment. Then Sarah’s mother came into the living room.
She stared at their clasped hands for a moment, then lifted her gaze to her daughter’s face. And then much to Sarah’s surprise, she smiled. “You don’t say.”
Sarah tilted her head and squinted at her, not really sure her mother understood.
But when Mrs. Henley set her hands on her hips and turned to her husband and said, “What do you think about that, Gene?” Sarah knew her mother hadn’t missed a thing.
Although her father still needed to catch up.
“You kids together now or something?” he asked.
“It’s a long story,” Sarah said on a sigh. “But yes. In fact, Joe’s just asked me to marry him.”
Sarah’s mother let out a yelp of glee or surprise, Sarah wasn’t sure which. Then she hurried across the room to fold Joe in her sturdy embrace.
“You were a stupid, stupid man,” she scolded him, holding his face now between her hands and looking him in the eye. “But I’m glad to see you came to your senses. Our Sarah’s a prize, isn’t she?”
“Yes, ma’am, I was,” Joe said, “and yes, ma’am, she is.”
Sarah offered him a sly smile to let him know he was doing well.
Sarah’s father rose from the couch and shook Joe’s hand. Then got to the most important issue. “You a football fan?”
Sarah and her mother rolled their eyes at each other.
“You bet,” Joe said.
“Then if we’re done here for now . . . ” Sarah’s father said.
“Go right ahead, Dad.” Sarah whispered to Joe, “He likes the Jets.”
“That game’s already over,” Sarah’s father said. “Don’t worry, Joe and I’ll get along fine.”
Sarah followed her mother back into the kitchen. Where she had a feeling she knew what was coming.
Her mother pointed a stern finger at the kitchen table. “You sit right down there, young lady, and don’t you leave out a thing.”
Forty-four
Sarah spent a restless night staring up at the pink canopy above her bed. Joe had left around eleven, and Sarah still lay awake two hours later.
Texas.
A clean slate.
Jobs, for heaven’s sake. Something neither of them could be guaranteed otherwise.
But the more she thought about it, the more she analyzed the pros and the cons and every little nuance her brain could manufacture, the more one single fact continued to nag at her:
She felt like she would be running away.
Running away from her problems, running away from what she’d done—even running away from the regular day-to-day life she and Joe had established over the past few weeks. Texas would feel exotic and exciting and stressful for a while. They’d both have to study for and take the Texas bar exam, while also attending to every detail of starting a new law firm. She knew she and Joe were up to the challenge, but she wasn’t sure it was the right challenge. That was bothering her, too.
Finally as the clock pushed closer to two, Sarah gave up trying to sleep. She got out of bed and dressed, then quietly left the house.
She hated to wake anyone else along that hallway, but Joe didn’t answer her first soft knock. She knocked again, harder. She thought about trying to convince the desk clerk she was the occupant’s fiancée and he had just forgotten to give her a key, when finally the door opened.
Joe squinted out at her. Then he smiled and motioned her inside.
Sarah followed him to the bed, kicked off her shoes, and climbed in next to him wearing her Utah sweats. She snuggled down under the covers and Joe drew her in closer until their faces were an inch apart.
“Let’s hear it, Red,” he said sleepily.
“I don’t like it.”
“Which part?”
“The Texas part,” she said. “The building something for someone else part. Why should we do that? If we’re going to put in all the effort to start a law firm, let’s do it for us. Here in California. Make something for you and me.”
Joe held her at the small of her back. He laid a kiss on her lips, then pulled her