watched Zoey wolf down a cheeseburger and fries, and he listened patiently as she filled him in on the details of how Derek the Ass had used her and left her stranded.
“How am I supposed to face my family?” Her voice warbled as she dragged a French fry through mustard—that habit still turned his stomach—and sent him a look of misery. “My dad all but disowned me. My sisters have their perfect lives with men who actually love them, and my mom will want to fuss over me like I’m some errant child who can do nothing but mess things up,” she scoffed. “And maybe that’s who I am. The family screwup. The problem child. I can’t blame them for being ashamed of me.”
Gage sat straighter and scowled at her. “Your family is not ashamed of you, Zee. They love you, no matter what.” Just like I do. He bit his tongue. He’d almost said the last aloud. And wouldn’t that send her running for the hills, screaming?
“Maybe before. But this time … I really messed up. I’m knocked up and broke. Not a lot to be proud of there. My dad was right about Derek. So how do I go home with any dignity at all?”
“Well, maybe you don’t.” He jabbed at the ice in his glass with his straw, watching her expression carefully. “Maybe you go home with humility and a lesson learned.”
“If I didn’t have to put my baby’s needs first, I’d stay here and work as a topless cocktail waitress in some dive rather than be a burden and humiliation to my family.”
Gage knew her well enough to know she wasn’t serious, but he still pictured her delivering drinks topless … and his libido kicked hard. Then he imagined the grubby drunks she’d be serving ogling her, and his blood pressure spiked.
She gave a humorless laugh. “Can’t you just see that? Me, pregnant out to here—” she held her hand a foot from her belly “—and serving drinks topless?”
Gage gritted his teeth. “Not gonna happen, Zee. I won’t let it.”
She slumped back in the booth, and he mentally prepared to deliver the speech he’d prepared on his twenty-five-hour drive from Lagniappe. He rubbed his scratchy eyes, wondering if he ought to wait until he’d slept to launch into this discussion.
The very real possibility that she’d hate his idea and turn it down stirred a drumbeat of caution in his chest. The last time they’d taken their friendship in a new direction, he’d nearly lost her. Her rejection had cut a wide, deep swath that still ached on days like today. The plan he’d devised was risky, but he’d take the chance of getting hurt again if it would help Zoey.
He’d do anything for Zee, even put his heart on the line.
“Aren’t you going to eat?” she asked, nodding toward his half-eaten pizza. The other half sat like a rock in his gut.
“I’m not hungry. I ate earlier.” Gage shoved his napkin under the edge of his plate and took a deep breath. “I have an idea, but before you answer me, I want you to hear me out. Okay?”
She wrinkled her nose as she munched a French fry, a mannerism he remembered from high school that meant she was skeptical but curious. “Okay. What?”
He pressed his palms on the table and met her gaze. Her bright jade eyes held such open trust and affection that he almost balked. What if he screwed this up and she got hurt?
“I’ve been thinking about your situation—and mine—and I think we can help each other.”
More nose scrunching. “Help each other how?”
“What if there was a way for you to go back to Lagniappe and face your family with your head high and your future secure?”
She arched a copper eyebrow and propped her elbows on the table. “I’m listening.”
“I need help with Pet.”
“Pet?”
“Elaine’s daughter. I told you about her, right?”
Zoey tipped her head. “Yeah. I thought her name was Magnolia or something.”
“Petunia. We call her Pet because Petunia is just … well, a ridiculous name. I have custody of her while Elaine deals with her alcohol problem.”
Zoey’s eyes widened. “You’re raising a baby? By yourself? Since when?”
“Well, she’s not a baby anymore. She’s five, but she’s still a handful. And yes, I’m doing it alone—well, except for the babysitter who watches her while I’m at the fire station. I’ve had Pet since August, so … about a month now.”
Zoey flopped back in the booth, grinning broadly. “You’re a father!”
He raised a hand and shook his head. “I’m an uncle just trying to help out.”
“Gage, that’s so … awesome. If I said I was proud of you, would you take it the right way? ‘Cause you must be the best brother ever to raise Pet for Elaine.”
He held up a hand. “This isn’t permanent. Just until Elaine gets her act together and can be the parent she should be.”
Combing her thick hair back from her face, Zoey shook her head. “Like that will ever happen. Elaine’s way too much like your mom. I’d be surprised if she ever gets her life in any shape to take care of a kid. Not without serious counseling.”
Gage’s gut tightened. Zoey’s brutal honesty cut close to the truth. She’d seen his family, up close and personal, throughout high school. After Zoey had nursed Gage’s injuries from one of his dad’s beatings in eighth grade, he’d seen no point in hiding the ugly truth from her. His family put the dys in dysfunctional. His parents might be gone now—his mother succumbing to illness right after he finished high school, his father killed in a car-versus-tree wreck just last year—but their warped legacy lived on. Zoey’s family, the hours, days, weeks he’d taken refuge in their pool house, had been his saving grace throughout his troubled youth.
Gage cleared his throat. “Yeah, well … that’s why Elaine’s in a clinic now, drying out. We’ll see if it sticks.”
“Okay, so back to your idea. This will save my pride, give me a future, give you help with Pet and—” She grinned. “What, cure cancer? How do you figure to do all that?”
Gage reached into his jacket pocket and pulled out the small box he’d brought with him from home.
Lifting the lid on the jewelry box, he showed her the small emerald ring. Emerald to match her eyes. What a sap he was.
Zoey goggled at the ring. “Leapin’ lizards! Gage?”
“So we’re in Vegas, right? Marry me, Zee.”
Chapter 3
Nervous jitters danced down Zoey’s spine, and she popped up from the chair in the waiting area of the I Do, I Do Wedding Chapel to pace. All of Gage’s reasoning sounded good in theory, but the reality of marrying Gage still left Zoey off balance. Wary. Terrified.
And
