He truly was amazing. She knew that though, she knew that from the very first night she came to him after her father had beaten her. Through the years his un-wavering devotion to her, had proven the man he was. And now he was hers.
Jake was convinced he was on the road to recovery and while Cara hoped he was right, she was scared, more scared then she had ever been in her life. She would never admit it though. She wasn’t a church goer, and wouldn’t deem herself religious, but she found herself praying to God, every night. She’d pray for him to take away Jake’s illness, and for them to be able to leave those dark days behind them. More than anything, she wanted for them to live out their dreams together. But no matter the outcome, she’d take what she could. If Jake’s battle wasn’t through yet, she’d be by his side every step of the way until it was.
Jake paced back and forth in the dark parking lot of Rudy’s. He had gone home after the event just as he had planned and grabbed his Harley. Cara wasn’t expecting him to pick her up, and she sure wasn’t expecting anything else he had planned. He blew out at a breath, and damned himself. Now was a fine time not to be a smoker, fucking cancer. He reached into his back pocket and pulled out a lollipop. He stared down at the sucker and shook his head nothing like, taking the edge off with a dum-dum lollipop. He shoved it in his mouth and crossed his arms against his chest.
Maybe he should’ve planned this better. He could’ve taken her out to dinner or taken her on one of those, horse and carriage rides. He had heard people get engaged all the time in those things. He didn’t really like that idea though. The smell of horses disgusted him, how the hell could a woman think that’s romantic. He laughed at himself; he was actually contemplating on how he could romance Cara into agreeing to marry him. What a joke.
He didn’t need to be anything than what he was, she loved him flawed and all and he knew that. So him standing around second guessing how he was going to ask the one girl who meant everything to him, if she would share her life with him and be his wife, was a waste of time. He just had to be himself. Just had to be the Jake he had always been to her.
Then he went pale. What he should be worrying about, is if she said no. Imagine that. All the lollipops in the state wouldn’t get him through that one. He ran his hand over his head. Well shit, he hadn’t thought about that. The pacing continued again. What if she didn’t want to marry him, could he really blame her? He believed he was okay, that cancer was just passing through, but what if that wasn’t the case. Maybe he should’ve waited until he knew for sure. He didn’t want to bring her down in the pit of hell with him. He was a ticking time bomb waiting to explode, and he was about to ask her to spend the rest of her life with him. Every dream she had for herself in the future, a home, a family, kid’s, all that he wanted to be able to give her. He wanted to be the one man that made all those dreams of hers come true.
Fuck, Jake! Cut it out, he told himself. If Cara knew he had been thinking these thoughts that would be the only reason she’d say no. All the, what if’s in the world didn’t matter, and deep in his heart he knew that. Maybe they wouldn’t have forever, but whatever time they did have, he knew no other man would love Cara the way he did. He reclaimed his confidence and grabbed his phone. Show time, he told himself as he texted his girl that he was outside.
“I’m going to take you on the ride of your life.” He said to himself as he stared at her picture on the screen of his phone.
Her phone chimed from in her back pocket. When she reached for it, she saw the text message from Jake. “I’m outside.” He had gone home, when she decided to stay behind to help with the cleanup. Cara didn’t think much of it, she figured the length of the day and all the festivities had caused him to be tired. She smiled down at the screen of her phone and looked around the bar. She bid her goodbyes to the crew finishing up and headed out the front door.
When she stepped into the parking lot she felt a sense of déjà vu. Jake was leaning against his original motorcycle. His feet were crossed at his ankles and he held a helmet dangling from the chin strap by one finger. He looked handsome as he leaned against the bike, staring at her with that crooked grin of his. It was the early hours of the morning, just around the same time when he first asked her to hop on the back of his bike and took her for a ride.
“I thought you’d be fast asleep by now.” She said as she took a few steps towards him.