Page 98 of Creeping Beautiful

She stays quiet, biting her lip a little as she looks at McKay and then Donovan.

“You don’t have to choose, Indie. That’s what I’m really saying. You can have him and us. It’s all fine.”

She lets out a long breath. A huge sigh of relief. And that might just be the best outcome I could’ve hoped for. She doesn’t want to walk away. She wants to keep us. All of us.

And as long as we accept that, she will stay.

“I can live with that.”

Now it’s McKay’s turn to sigh. And I realize he is against this marriage idea as well.

Well, of course he is. She belongs to him more than anyone. He was the one who took care of her on the day to day. He took her to the doctor when she was sick. He made her meals every day. Called her home from the woods every night. Paid for those braces that straightened her teeth. Hell, he even went to parents’ night when she was in those schools.

But the more I think about all this shit, the more enraged I become.

Because Indie is mine.

Mine.

McKay helps her move out too. He boxes up her room and drives it over to the carriage house in his truck.

It’s well after midnight when the lights from his truck pass through the dark front room of the house.

I’m waiting for him in the TV room off the kitchen when he walks in. Our eyes meet as he crosses the room and sits down next to me on the couch, sinking back in the cushions with a sigh.

“I hate that fucking kid.”

I can’t stop the laugh that comes out with my words. “Me too, dude. Me too.”

“And Donovan is pissing me off.”

“Tell me about it.”

“Do you know he wanted to take her to LA?”

“He mentioned it.”

“Fuck him. He doesn’t get to walk in here after all these years and tell us he knows what she needs.”

“No shit.”

“And Nathan St. James. I mean… I guess he’s OK. But for some reason, I hate that little fuck.”

“He ain’t so little no more.”

“No shit. Did you know he was on the football team?”

“Get out of here. That pissant puke?”

“He told me. Showed me his varsity jacket too. He’s even got a football scholarship to Ole Miss for next fall.”

“What?”

“Yeah. The offer came in the mail last week. He thinks Indie and the baby are gonna move to fucking Oxford with him next summer.”

I am… stunned. “Do you think she’ll go?”

“I dunno. Not if she’s smart.”