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My lip curls. "I don’t know if we can. You don’t want to marry me for the right reasons. You just don’t want your parents to find out that you are full of crap.”
“That’s not true,” he says, sounding aggravated. “Give me a chance to explain, Pearl.”
I pry my wrist from his grip and move toward the exit, tears already building in the corners of my eyes.
Thirty-Seven
River
It’s been a tense few days since Pearl left me standing at the castle. She said she probably just needed some time to ‘think about things’, whatever that means. She’s talking to me all right.
But she seems to have so little to say. When I offered her a ride to work, I was honestly slightly amazed that she took it. But now that I have her in the close confines of my truck cab, I don’t know quite what to say.
I’m sorry?
Why don’t you want to get married?
Is it something about me?
None of those things seem like enough. I pull my truck to a stop in the parking lot of Gem's. Pearl flashes me a quick smile and opens her passenger side door. “Thanks. I'll get a ride home from Gem."
Sucking in a breath, I try again. "Are you sure you won't let my parents put down a deposit on the castle? Like I already explained before, we can get married without it being a big deal. I promise that if you hate it, we can get it annulled. It's just a piece of paper, nothing more."
I want to clutch at her shoulders and yell, “Pearl! Just let me love you!!” But somehow, I’m pretty sure that would only make things worse.
Pearl pauses, then pulls her door closed and looks at me. "I don't think that's a good idea, River. You and I just see marriage differently. What you're offering..." She hesitates. "I might be showing my small-town roots. But I won't be talked into signing a marriage certificate just because you don't want to tell your parents the truth."
That stings. I heave a sigh. "That's not why I'm proposing marriage."
“No?”
“No! I think we could make each other happy.”
“If you think that, then let us date for a while and see. You’re putting a lot of pressure on me by suddenly deciding that you want our fake relationship to be real.”
“You’re already wearing my ring, Pearl. I’m just asking you to attend a very fancy party and sign a piece of paper. Everything else will continue just as it has been.”
Pearl's eyes scan my face. For a second, I think I might have just said the magic words. But then she slowly shakes her head. "I don't want to talk about this anymore. And I'm going to be late for my shift."
"You're going to be late for a job you wouldn't need if you just said yes to my proposal."
She leans over, kisses me on the cheek, and opens the car door again. "I'll see you back at home."
As she closes the door, I call to her. "I'll be at the cabin tonight!"
She waves and heads toward the diner's front door. Grumbling as I start my truck, I head down to park on the side street.
If I were to tell the me from three months ago that I was trying to talk Pearl into marrying me, what would he think? He would laugh at me. Frustrated, I slam the door to my truck and hurry toward the office.
When I get inside, I see Wesley. He is in the middle of a giant tornado of file folders spread across the floor. He looks up calmly, as if he hasn't strewn just about every folder in the office around.
"I know what you're going to say. You don't like the mess. But when I get the folders into chronological order, it'll be a snap to find files when I need them."
"O-kay..." I walk around the mess, heading for my office. "Can you make a coffee run?"
Wesley nods. "Already did. There's a coffee with cream on your desk. And you have a surprise visitor waiting in your office."
I slow. "Who?"
