Page 92 of Resisting the Fall

“With you.”

Her nose scrunched up. “In my student housing?”

“We’ll get an apartment.”

She laughed, clearly assuming I was teasing. “Is this a proposal, Ben?”

“I suppose it is.” I lifted my hand to her face, tracing my thumb across her jawline. “Your mom and brother are here for the weekend, and so are my parents. Let’s go to the courthouse and get married.”

Maven stared at me for several breath cycles, her eyes searching my expression. “You’re serious?”

I gave a nod. “I can’t live apart from you for one more day.”

A full, beautiful smile lit her face, and she gave a quick burst of nods. “Yes! Let’s do it. Let’s get married!”

I lifted her into the air and spun her around. Our lips found each other in the excitement.

Maven Price was going to be my wife!

Balancing Maven in my arms, I turned the key in the lock and opened the door. It gave a loud creak as it swung on the hinges, and I carried Maven over the threshold into the dark apartment. Giggling at my clumsy attempts to close the door behind us, Maven flipped on the lights. A bright fluorescent bulb flickered to life in the kitchen, revealing the small space with mismatched, outdated appliances along with the rest of our studio apartment. It was tiny, not much bigger than my bedroom at home, and a slight odor clung to the air. Seventeen hundred dollars a month for this four-hundred-fifty-square-foot cinderblock rectangle felt criminal.

“It’s perfect,” Maven said as she smiled up at me, likely sensing my disappointment. She took my face in her hands and kissed me in a way that made me almost forget that our exceptionally brief honeymoon was over and we were standing in an empty, dingy apartment. “And it’s ours.”

I couldn’t help but smile at that. I placed her on her feet and handed her the small duffle I’d brought up. “I’ll go get the rest of the luggage from the truck before someone steals it.”

She bit at her bottom lip. “I’ll change into something a little more comfortable.”

My gaze slid down her figure, and I curled my fingers into her sweater to compensate for the surge of desire coursing through me. “I’ll hurry.”

Maven

Penny and I scooped the innards of a pumpkin into a bowl, giggling as we showed each other our slimy, orange hands. After church, we had gone and rescued the pumpkins Penny had bought for me and Ben. I’d told her I thought they’d be happier here on an actual front porch with their pumpkin friends.

“Has Ben texted?” she asked for the fifth time since we’d started.

“My phone is right there, Pen. When he texts, we’ll hear it.”

She gave a small pout. So much for her being a neutral party when it came to Ben. Since last night, with how Ben had spun and flipped Penny around the dance floor, he’d handily unseated me in Penny’s hierarchy of favorite people. Though with the no-show on his record today, maybe the change wasn’t permanent.

He was supposed to have met us at church this morning, but he’d called to let me know something had come up and he wouldn’t be able to make it until later. It was now a few hours past later, and despite two texts saying he’d be here as soon as he could, we were still waiting.

Maybe he had come to the same conclusions as Carson last night—there was no point in allowing old feelings to dampen the progress we’d made toward being friends. Or if not friends, at least we were no longer in the ex-lovers-who-no-longer-spoke category. Which was improvement.

The sound of an approaching car had Penny and me searching the lane in both directions before I spotted a white sedan coming from the direction of town. I smiled when I realized who it was. Emma Harper. We’d been in the same grade in school, and though we’d never been close, we’d frequently gravitated to each other for things like group projects and team quizzes. I’d probably been a bit much for her on the mischievous scale being that she was a rule-follower, but we had plenty of common interests—good books and period dramas being among the top. A few years back, when I’d heard she’d bought the old farmhouse across the street from my mom’s, I was thrilled. It was a comfort to know Mom had a sweet, helpful neighbor she could rely on.

“Hey, you two,” Emma said, waving once she’d gotten out of her car. She totally rocked the librarian vibe with her darling outfits, glasses, and short red hair. “What are you up to?”

Penny lifted some of the pumpkin guts. “Carving pumpkins.”

“If you have any good ideas of what we could carve,” I called, “we’re taking suggestions.”

She smiled and crossed the lane, making her way up the front lawn to come speak with us. “What suggestions have you had so far?”

“A vampire.” Penny said hers first. “Because it’s Halloween, so we’re supposed to carve something scary.”

“My mom suggested carving the word BOO,” I added, “which didn’t fit the credentials, and Carson said we should do the face of a pig—because he couldn’t think of anything more terrifying at the moment?” I gave a small shrug, not sure exactly what he’d meant by that.

Emma’s cheeks turned a bright red at the mention.