Chapter 33
Bennett
THE NINE HOURS I had to spend away from Jill felt like nine hundred, but eventually I was boarding the bus from my new job at the counseling center, headed for the cafe. Jill was still in class and would be for the better part of another hour, but I still really needed to hurry.
“Is everything ready?” I called into an empty dining room the second I walked in the door, but I didn’t have to. My sense of smell told me what I needed to know. I busted into the kitchen and stopped short. Lillie and Chance stood at the stainless steel island in what looked to be a standoff. Clearly, I was interrupting something big.
“Hey—” I said, when they both looked my way.
“Boy, we need to talk.” Lillie’s hands flew to her hips and she cocked her head to one side, daring me to defy her order.
“Woman, you need to leave that boy alone.” Chance turned to me. “My lovely wife here is having cold feet by proxy.”
I took a few more steps into the room, walked right up to Lillie Lowe, and placed my hands on her shoulders.
“I’m listening. Say your piece.” I knew what was coming.
“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Her pinched brows were so sincere and my heart swelled with love for these two people whom I now considered family.
“No, I don’t. But when I was in the second grade, I pushed Brooke Kirby on the swings every day for two weeks before asking her to be my girlfriend, and you know what? She said no, because one time the year before I got a better grade on a spelling test than she did.” I sighed, wondering what ever happened to that uppity little girl. They both just stared at me.
“That makes no damn sense.” Lillie was hacked. I’d never heard her cuss before.
“Yeah, it does, baby… ” Chance glided around and wrapped his big arms around his wife. Their size difference was just unnatural and I didn’t think I’d ever get used to it. “Because even if things don’t go his way, he’s still a winner. It takes bravery to walk into something terrifying, unsure of the outcome. The boy’s got guts, you’ve got to give him that.” He checked his watch and tilted his head in the direction of the back door.
“Lillie, my instincts have never failed me.” She glanced down at my leg, then cut her eyes back at me. “That doesn’t count. My instincts knew exactly what I was getting myself into, but I did it anyway. I have a good feeling on this one… plus, what’s the worst that could happen?”
“She could say no.” I swear there were tears in her eyes.
“She could,” I agreed. “But I got through it once, I’ll get through it again.” I gave her a wink and headed out the back door.
As usual, I heard her before I saw her.
“I’m so sorry I’m late.” And then a few seconds later, “Just let me get my apron.” Followed by, “Where the hell is my apron?” Sometimes that girl could go from sweet to pissed in the blink of an eye, especially when it came to that goofy apron. “Grrrrrrr.” I heard her growl, before another muffled response, then, “Outside? Why would it be outside?” She yanked the door open to find me standing by the dilapidated picnic table. I’d managed to use a few wood scraps from the job site down the street and some screws to temporarily stabilize it. But there wasn’t much I could do to fix a table that had probably been around since Texas was its own country.
“Looking for this?” I pulled her apron from behind my back and her face instantly softened. Still standing in the doorway, she took a small step back when she spotted the picnic basket.
“Bennett? What’s going on?” She was side-eyeing the table, then shifting back to me. That happened a few times before I laughed out loud.
“Do you believe in love at first sight, Princess?” I asked, holding my hand out to her. Reluctantly, she closed the few feet between us and took it. I guided her over to the table and we sat just as we had four months ago, on what I secretly considered our first date.
“No, but I believe in annoyance at first sight.” She chuckled at her own joke, and I did too.
“I’m starting to think those two things go hand in hand.” And I pulled her hand, the one I was still holding, to my lips and kissed her knuckles.
She tipped her head to one side, no longer laughing, and stared into my eyes. “What’s this about, Bennett?” Her voice lacked the confidence that had been bred into her. She was worried.
“A few months ago, we spent a few hours out here, just talking and getting to know each other. And that night, as you dropped me off, you thanked me for sharing my story with you.”
A soft smile graced her face and she nodded. “I remember like it was yesterday.”
“Well, there’s more to the story, and I’d like for you to tell me how it ends.” She held my gaze for a long time, different emotions flashing across her face.
“How?” she asked. She’d scooted so close, our knees touched. It was the most intense eye contact I’d ever been a part of and solidified this life-changing and somewhat sudden decision even more.
“Jill, I came to Texas A&M to heal, but that didn’t really start until I met you.” She drew a sharp breath and shook her head with conviction.
“No, Bennett. There was never anything wrong with you. If anything, you healed me.” I scooted closer to her on the bench. She was practically in my lap.
“You have no idea, do you? You have no idea that, before you, I was battered and broken. And I’m not just talking about my leg, I’m talking about all of it. My mind was trapped in the hell of my past, my soul was haunted… my perspective was completely twisted. But, when I was with you, I could breathe again. My heart remembered to beat. You did that for me. First by pissing me off, then by trusting me. You gave me a purpose.”
“And what purpose was that?” I’m nervous, like the heart-pounding kind of nervous. All of the sudden, I feel like I’m about to take the first step down a dangerous, uncharted road, completely unarmed. Because, how do you prepare for your heart to possibly be torn from your body?
“To be the kind of man who deserved the kind of woman I knew you could be.”
“Bennett… “ But I held up my hand. I wasn’t finished and if I didn’t say what I came here to say, I may never be brave enough to try again.
“I’m a simple man. I can get by with practically nothing, you’ve seen that. I wanted for nothing, but then I kissed you, and it was like we just clicked into place. Now, there’s something I don’t just want, but I need.”
“What?” She scooted into my lap and wrapped her arms around my neck, sitting higher, so I had to look up at her.
“Us. I want us. And I want it forever.”
Her mouth crashed down onto mine and I held her so tight, I could feel her heart beating against mine. Pulling back, the broken connection was almost painful, but this was it. I stood, swinging one leg and then the other, over the bench, and pulled her up to do the same. Once we’d untangled ourselves, I pulled her in for one more kiss, then carefully, got down on my left knee and held out my open palm, which contained a simple gold band that housed a modest diamond.
“I am about as far away from Prince Charming as you’ll ever get, but I want the rest of my story to be, and they lived happily ever after. So, Jill Walker, will you marry me?”