“And me!” Eric said enthusiastically.
He swore he heard Mrs. B emit a long line of obscenities just before Rebekah ended the call.
“Are you sure this is what you want?” he asked, reaching across the car to place a comforting hand on the back of her neck. “I don’t have much experience with mothers, but I think it’s important to keep them happy.”
“I wish she’d think of my happiness. I think she believes she’s doing what’s right for me, but Isaac never made me happy. Not the way you do. He did take good care of me, and I feel obligated not to be mean to him—”
“I don’t.”
Rebekah laughed. “He is being a royal dick, isn’t he? I wonder why.”
“Like I said, he wants you for himself.”
“Well, he isn’t going to have me.” She squeezed Eric’s knee. “I’m yours.”
Eric’s heart fluttered like a caged bird. “Reb?”
“Yeah.”
“Since we’re back to being honest with each other.”
“Yeah.”
“Why did you change your hair color?”
She sighed loudly. “It’s just a rinse. Dad asked me to make it look normal for our family Christmas picture. I can’t say no to my daddy.”
Eric breathed a breath of relief. “I don’t know why it bothered me so much. Maybe because the first time I saw you, I knew we were destined to be together because our hair was the same shade of blue.”
She laughed. “Really? I thought you were drunk or something. You were tripping over your feet.”
“I was knocked silly by your perfection.”
She laughed again. “You’re such a ham.”
“Glazed or cured?”
“Will you drive faster?”
“I don’t think that’s possible. You need a better car,” he said. “How about a ’68 Camaro?”
“What?”
“Well, the Corvette is running like a dream, thanks to you, so now we can work on the Camaro. When it’s fixed, I want you to have it.”
“And I suppose if I say it’s too much and decline your gift, you’ll get all hurt and act like I’ve run you through the heart with a spear.”
“Something like that.”
“Okay. We’ll fix up the Camaro. And I’ll keep it.” She did an excited dance in her seat. “I’ll buy the next piece of junk for us to fix. How about that?”
“That sounds perfect. That way I know I’m going to keep you around for a while.”
“Try forever.”
“Yeah, let’s do that,” he said. “Let’s try forever.”
“What do you mean?”
“I think I want to get married.”
“Why?”
“To have a family.”
“Oh.” She went very quiet. “You know I can’t give you a family, Eric.”
“You’ll be my family. And maybe we could adopt some kids, if you want.”
“Adopt?”
“There are lots of kids out there who need a good home. I know. I used to be one.”
“Let me think about it.”
He knew she dreamed of having kids of her own, but it wasn’t possible. He’d give her time to adjust to the idea.
“You deserve a woman who can give you kids of your own,” she said after a long moment.
“I honestly don’t want kids of my own. I want to adopt.”
She fell silent again. She still hadn’t spoken when he turned into his driveway. He parked the car and turned to her.
“Tell me what you’re thinking,” he said.
She closed her eyes and shook her head.
“Honesty. Remember? It’s the only thing that works between us.”
“I feel so selfish.”
“Why would you feel selfish?”
“Because I want to say yes. I want to marry you. And I want you to give up having kids of your own to be with me. And I would absolutely love to adopt children and raise them with you.”
“How is that selfish?”
“It’s all about me.”
“Us,” he corrected.
“You only say you want to adopt to make me feel better. Don’t you think I realize that?”
He shook his head. “Not true. I want to adopt the most troubled kids in existence. The ones who act out and get into trouble. The ones failing at school and in so much pain you can see it in their eyes. The ones so terrible that no one could possibly love them. I want that for a kid, because no one ever did it for me. I was that kid, Rebekah. Now who’s selfish?”
She reached across the car and wrapped her arms around him. “I want to adopt that kid too,” she said. She kissed him tenderly. “I want to marry the wonderful man he became.”
“Yeah?”
“Yeah.”
“Glad that’s settled. Let’s go get naked.”
She laughed and let him drag her out of the car through the driver’s side door. He carried her through the garage, into the kitchen, and set her on the table.
“Did you really just agree to marry me?” he asked.
“Yeah.”
“Your mother is going to kill us both.”
“Please don’t mention my mother. I’m all horny and still completely dressed.”
“Let’s remedy that now.”
His fingers moved to the buttons of her blouse and he released them one at a time, slowly revealing her flesh to his eager gaze. She loosened his tie and drew it over his head, before working on unfastening the buttons of his shirt.
“Tomorrow we should pick out an engagement ring,” he said.
“You’re thinking entirely too much,” she said. She slipped under his arm and headed toward his bedroom. He followed, the look in her eyes already stealing his thoughts. She dropped her shirt in the hallway, and instead of entering his bedroom, went into the living room.
“I think I’ll watch a little TV,” she said.
“Huh?”
She unfastened her pants and slipped out of them before sitting on the sofa. When he sat beside her, she looked up and said, “Go sit in the chair over there.”
“I thought we were getting ready to have fantastic makeup sex.”
“We will. In a little while. I’m not in the mood right now.”
She turned on the TV and leaned against the cushions in nothing but her bra and panties. “Go sit over there,” she repeated.
He groaned and moved to the chair across from the sofa. “Do you really want to watch TV?”