He Shielded Her, So I Left the Club novel · Chapter 24 of 24
Chapter 24: The Porch
The house on Maple Street still had one lamp and no curtains.
We had two armchairs from Dot's attic, a mattress on the floor of the back bedroom, and a porch swing Jared had hung himself with the wrong size of chain.
I sat on the swing that night in a sweater, with the August air coming warm off the road.
Jared stood on the top step with his hands in his pockets.
He kept turning around to look at me and then turning back.
"You're pacing," I said.
"I'm standing still."
"You're doing it standing."
He laughed, and it shook out of him.
Then he came over and sat beside me, and the chain creaked.
"Gage signed the papers this morning," he said. "Dot's husband told me. The divorce goes through in September."
"I know. I signed mine on Friday."
"I wanted to wait until you'd signed before I said this."
"Said what?"
He took his hand out of his pocket and opened it.
A plain gold ring lay in his palm, with a small, plain stone.
It was a little crooked.
"I made it," he said. "The band, anyway. A guy at the shop taught me. The stone's from my mother's, and the jeweler in town set it. I'm not good at this."
"Jared."
"I'm not asking you to be my old lady," he said. "I'm asking you to be my wife. Nobody's property. A woman with a salon chair and a lease and a daughter who calls her Mara-mom, and a man who leaves the porch light on."
My eyes stung.
"You didn't write a speech."
"I wrote six. This was the shortest."
"Ask me again."
"Mara Teasdale." His voice dropped. "Will you marry me?"
"Yes," I said. "God, yes. Put it on."
He slid the ring on my finger, and his hand shook.
I kissed him until the swing rocked.
Down the road, a pickup truck turned off Route 6 and came up Maple Street too fast.
It had a bad muffler.
The backfire went off like a gunshot a hundred feet from the porch.
I didn't think.
Neither did he.
Jared had me off the swing and against the porch wall before the sound finished, his whole body between me and the street, one arm wrapped around my head.
Keep reading free with an account. Start He Shielded Her, So I Left the Club from Chapter 1, then sign up free to read the rest of this chapter.
Want to keep talking to characters like these? Chat with AI romance characters: AI Boyfriend · AI Girlfriend · Dark Romance · Fantasy Romance · BL (Boys’ Love) · Billionaire Boyfriend · Mafia Boyfriend · Possessive Boyfriend · Hockey Boyfriend · Older Boyfriend · K-Drama Boyfriend · Anime Boyfriend · Vampire Boyfriend · Werewolf Boyfriend · Demon Boyfriend · Fae Romance · GL (Girls’ Love) · Anime Girlfriend · Goth & Alt Girlfriend · Gamer Girlfriend · Tsundere Girlfriend · Fantasy Girlfriend