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Sam looks at me with a devious smile and hooks a finger on plate full of peach cobbler to pull it closer. "It's a tough job, but I will serve faithfully," he jokes.
I turn to River, waiting expectantly. He offers me his elbow and swans me out of the room.
As soon as we are far enough down the hall to be well out of eyesight and earshot, I drop my hand and glare at River. "You're a dead man," I say, not mincing words. "Deeply, incredibly dead."
"What?" He appears genuinely surprised. "Hold on, let's go outside."
After trying a few doorways, we finally find the one that leads into the event space out back. I stop and stare around at the whole scene. Like earlier, I gawp at the bluff we are standing on. It eventually drops off into verdant rolling hills covered with rows of grapes. At the edge of the bluff is a woven wicker arch. All this stands against the backdrop of the castle. I can easily imagine rows of folding chairs and a white piece of fabric stretched across the ground to form an aisle for the bride to walk down.
The view is such a perfect picture that it makes me a bit speechless. River catches my eye and waves a hand at the beautiful surroundings. "Like what you see?"
I pin him with a hard look. "River, this place is breathtaking."
"It is, isn't it?" He asks, grinning as he scans the area.
Pulling at his arm, I bring the attention back to me. "Yeah. And if I were actually getting married, I would love this place. And then I would probably die when I found out how much it cost."
"Cost is not an issue." River gives me a little smile. "My parents are nuts about this venue."
"Do you even listen to yourself when you speak?" I snap.
He pauses, confused. "Yeah...?"
"Then why are you acting like we are going to actually get hitched?" I smack his arm. "You're making me feel crazy, River."
"Ah." He shoves his hands in his pants pockets and kicks a clod of dirt on the ground. "Yeah. About that."
I look at him, fundamentally not understanding what's going on. "What in the hell are you talking about?"
His smile vanishes and he bites his lip. "Hear me out. What if we just get married?"
I blink rapidly, feeling a bit lightheaded. "I'm sorry. I think I misheard you."
He catches my hands and looks down into my face, his eyes beseeching.
"I think we should get married. We love each other, after all. And it would give our kid a leg up, for sure. He'd be a Billion Dollar Bennett instead of... you know, not."
I swallow. "What about your future living in Atlanta, married to some career-obsessed woman?"
River rolls his eyes and stretches out his arms.
"Look, I’m… I’m changing my mind. Is that allowed? What if we get married and make an honest attempt at being a couple?"
I shake my head. "You're asking me to give up all of my independence for a maybe? A ‘hey let's try it, see if it works out?’ No thanks."
"Don't be so dramatic. What I'm asking for makes sense."
"Maybe it does to you. But to me, it just sounds like a nice daydream. Meanwhile you're always planning to leave me to chase some dream woman who I can't possibly compare with."
"That's crazy. You're the one I’m with. I want us to give this a chance."
I stare at him for several seconds, feeling the blood pounding in my head. River is not listening to me. I need to be sure that I’m the only woman he wants, not a trial run. And I'm tired of shouting to make myself heard.
"I can't be here anymore." I massage my temples. "I have to go."
"Look… It's just marriage. Just some gobbledygook said before our families to make things between us 'official'. Nothing more than that. All that we need to know is that we love each other, right?”"
I turn abruptly. River catches my arm, making me whip my head around and glare at him. "You’re just leaving? Come on, we can talk this through.”
