“Double D!” Quinn called in the background. “Get your hot ass in here!”
I rolled my eyes. “Can’t you be serious, Deb? Just this one time? It’s important.”
She was quiet for a moment. “No. Can I go now? Your bestie wants a post-dinner hand job.”
“Christ. Bye,” I said, poking END and dropping my phone in my lap. I covered my face and groaned.
A noise across the room prompted me to look up. Avery was in her scrubs, leaning against the kitchen doorframe with her arms folded over her chest.
“Hi.”
I did my best to pretend I didn’t want to choke out her friend. “Hi, baby.”
She hesitated. “Who was that?”
“Just last-minute plans for the wedding.”
She nodded but didn’t say anything.
“Is something wrong?”
She shrugged, pushing from the door and walking to the fridge. “I just thought we were going to elope … quick and dirty. Now you’re on the phone all the time, but I don’t feel like there’s been a lot of progress.”
“Baby, it’s only been a few weeks. I had to get some things together, but it is almost there.”
“A few weeks? Do you know what today is?”
I wrinkled my nose. “Cinco de Mayo?”
“It’s May, Josh. You chose June. You wanted to take over the planning because you felt it was too stressful for me. Now you’re dragging your feet.”
“Avery,” I chided. I cleared my throat. My exasperation with Deb was bleeding into our conversation. “What is going on? First it was all happening too quickly and now it’s not fast enough. I’m trying.”
“Are you stalling?” She turned around slowly, a tear slipping down over the apple of her cheek. “Because you don’t have to do that. You can talk to me.”
She touched the penny at her neck, and I panicked and pointed at her. “Don’t walk out on me.”
She blinked. “I wasn’t … I … was going to offer it to you. For your thoughts. Just asking doesn’t work as well anymore.”
I sighed. “We definitely need to talk. I can’t keep wondering, but I don’t want to upset you.”
“About what?” she asked, shifting her weight.
“I’m nervous.”
Her face fell. “About marrying me.” It wasn’t a question. She said the words as if she’d expected everything I was saying.
“No. Absolutely not,” I said, walking over to her. I held her arms in my hands. “You’ve been quiet. You clam up when I ask you about the wedding. I’m okay. I don’t want to wait, but if you do, I will.”
She shook her head.
“You don’t want to wait?” I asked, nearly allowing myself relief.
“There’s been talk at work,” she said, biting her lip.
“Talk? What kind of talk?”
“Michaels mentioned she saw you at Corner Hole the other night when you said you were at work. She didn’t say it to me. Deb overheard her telling someone else.”
I blinked. “I was.”
She looked up at me. “I texted you fifteen minutes before you got home. You said you were driving home from work.”
My mouth pulled to the side. Fuck. “I wasn’t trying to lie. I didn’t even think about it until now.”
“Why didn’t you tell me you were going by the bar after work?”
I shrugged. “You’ve never needed me to before.”
She thought about that a moment. “Were you with a girl? A blonde?”
“No,” I said, inwardly cringing. Going to Corner Hole was stupid.
“Avery,” I said, squaring my feet, lowering my chin until she met my eyes. “I want to be with you, more than anything. There is no one else, I swear to God. There will never be anyone else but you. You’re just going to have to trust me.”
She hesitated, looking to the floor. I held my breath
“Is there something else?” I asked, a million horrible thoughts racking my brain.
“I hear you talking to her on the phone at night.” Her voice was barely a whisper, but I heard it loud and clear over the hammering of my heart.
“What?” My head turned to the side to hear her more clearly, wondering if I’d dreamed it.