Chapter 23: Ask Me First

Ward's POV

I had been carrying that ring box for eleven days, and it felt heavier than any chart I had ever held.

Callie stood in the yard with the porch light behind her, looking at my hands.

"Where did you get it?" she asked.

"I bought it the day after I pulled glass out of your heel."

"Before the kitchen?"

"Before the kitchen," I said. "I'm a slow man with a quick credit card."

She laughed, a short, startled sound, and then she covered her mouth.

I sat back down on the step, because my knees had stopped being reliable.

She sat beside me, close enough that her shoulder pressed mine.

For a while we watched the fireflies over Dot's tomato cages.

"He told me he's going to count," Callie said. "In prison."

"What did you say?"

"Nothing. I gave him the certificate."

I looked at the box in my hand.

"Callie, I need to say something before you decide anything."

"Go on."

"I'm not Gavin's opposite. I'm just a man who was lucky to be nearby."

"Ward"

"Let me finish. In the car I called you a coat, and I've spent every day since waiting for you to agree.

"You never have, and I'd like to hear you say so."

She turned and looked at me.

In the porch light her gray eyes were very clear, and not tired at all.

"I'm not borrowing your coat," she said. "If I wanted a coat, I'd buy my own."

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