Page 27 of Worth the Fall
He threw his hands up, pacing around the crowded parking lot. “Oh yeah, because I have so many reasons to believe you.” His words were dripping with sarcasm. “I propose to you, and you look at another man. Do you understand how that feels?”
I had never been so embarrassed in my life.
After I had waited a second too long to respond and made the mistake of looking at Colton, Harrison cleared his throat and said, “Allegra?” in a sharp and low voice.
My left ear was ringing, my hands dripping with sweat; if I weren’t sitting down, I would’ve collapsed. “Um…”
He raised an eyebrow, and I could feel everyone in the restaurant’s eyes on me.
I wanted to slap myself.
ThiswasHarrison! This was the man I knew I was going to marry. This was the man I had planned out the rest of my life with. This was the dream.
I was going to get the promotion. I was going to marry Harrison. That was the plan.
It was going to be okay if he had proposed a few months earlier than I had planned.
Plastering the happiest grin I could muster on my shocked red face, I held out my hand. “Oh, yes!”
Harrison picked up my hand and shoved the ring on my finger, a little forcefully. I rose to my feet, and he did too, both of us playing the part of the happy engaged couple.
He kissed me tightly, and I kissed him back.
The restaurant was clapping, the piano was playing a happy song, and everyone had seen it all.
Harrison asked for the check a few minutes after that, neither of us eating another bite. As we got up to leave, I waved at the Nash family, purposefully ignoring Colton’s gaze.
Dennis and Jo “ooedandahhed” about the ring and how happy they were for us. They were quieter than they had been all night.
The second we made it out the door, Harrison dropped my hand and wandered a few steps farther from me.
“Harrison, please, just listen,” I begged, feeling my entire life starting to slip from my grasp.
He held up a hand, looking terrifying under the street lamp. “I asked you tomarry me, and you looked at that cowboy. That arrogant hick.”
I swallowed hard.
“I watched him stare at you all night,” he almost growled. “I watched his family obsess over you and saw him practically salivate over you, and you look athimwhenIpropose to you.”
I needed him to know nothing happened; it was eating me up inside. “Harrison, I swear on my life that nothing is going on between us. I just know their family from the job, and when you proposed, I was surprised! I wasn’t expecting it for a few more months, so I looked at them because I was surprised, and they were friendly faces! I swear that’s all it was!”
Was that all it was? I had no idea, but it was not the time to sort it out.
“Don’t lie to me!” He was yelling, the vein in his neck sticking out. “You’ve been distracted all night! You’re on a grunt assignment and lettingyourself be charmed by the rodeo lowlifes. I am your life! You need to focus.”
“A grunt assignment?” I said, crossing my arms. Yes, I was in the wrong for looking at another man when he proposed, but now he was just pushing my buttons. “What happened to ‘the most important assignment of my career?”
He rushed toward me, his finger right in my face. “You think running around rodeos getting friendly with the rednecks is going to change your life? No. Apex is just getting you out of the way for a bit while they find Craig Sterling’s real replacement.”
I was mad, so mad. This was exactly what he did when he was angry. He pushed others beneath him so he could feel better about himself. That’s why he was good at his job, why he had climbed the corporate ladder so quickly. I took a breath and peeled the heavy ring off my finger. “I don’t want to accept your proposal like this.”
He snarled. “You’re breaking up with me?”
I shook my head and placed the ring gently in his hand. “No. I want a break. I want to accept your proposal. I am going to Utah next week for the next rodeo. If you want to proposeagain, you’ll fly out there, do it in a nice, quiet place, and I will happily accept. All right?”
He was squeezing the ring tightly. “Allegra, stop being childish.” His eyes were flashing anger behind his spotless glasses.
The restaurant door opened and closed, letting the Nash family out.
