“Sounds like a simple affair, right?” He looked at me. “But the story is far from simple.”
I got chills as I continued to watch him.
“Farrah was six years younger than her brother, Nathan, and me. When everyone is young, that’s a huge age difference. But she was one of those kids with an old soul. You’d look into her eyes and see compassion and understanding well beyond her years. I knew about her little preteen crush on me. I thought it was…cute.” He chuckled. “When I went away to college, she was still a kid. That was the end of it.”
He paused as the audience waited with bated breath.
“Then let’s just say something really painful happened, and it kept me away from home for several years. During that time, Farrah lost her parents, and I was just…lost. By the time I came home to Palm Creek again seven years later, that sweet little girl had grown up. At twenty-one, Farrah was more beautiful than ever. I ended up moving in with her and her brother to help them pay rent.” He paused. “I bet you can see where this is going?”
I looked around as the audience laughed.
“Sexual attraction is a bitch, isn’t it? It has a way of grabbing you by the balls and not letting go until you give in. Resisting the pull toward someone you’re not only attracted to, but who makes you feel good on the inside, someone you can relate to…well, it ain’t easy. And I failed miserably. I gave in to the temptation and went behind my friend’s back. It was the hottest sex of my life, by the way, and worth every second of the risk we took.”
My face felt flush as the crowd reacted with great enthusiasm.
“At first, she and I told ourselves we wouldn’t get attached. How well do you think that went?”
Everyone cracked up.
“Yep. That’s about right,” he continued. “We couldn’t stop seeing each other because we were addicted.” He exhaled into the mic. “I’m gonna make a very long and complicated story short. Nathan caught us and freaked out. Shit went down. And I somehow convinced myself she would be better off without me. So I left town and didn’t see her for another three years.”
When some of the people gasped, I realized how crazy our story sounded. But I also realized we’d been through so much together.
Jace’s eyes met mine. “Not a day went by that I wasn’t thinking about her. You can run someone out of town, but you can’t tell them who to love. I threw myself into a meaningless relationship with someone else to help me forget. When I was forced to come home at the end of that three years, so much had changed. Farrah could barely look at me. I couldn’t blame her. She’d lost the spark I remembered. I knew I was the one who’d taken it from her. Nathan had forgiven me by this time, which was unexpected. I never thought the person who had hurt me the most would be the one who’d teach me about forgiveness. But the hardest person to forgive is always yourself. It took me a while. Once you can do that, so much becomes possible.”
Jace paused. “So what’s the moral of all this? It’s that sometimes sordid stories...become love stories. You can have everything working against you, and in the end, it still works out because it was meant to be. Love is not a choice. Don’t let anyone tell you you’re not supposed to love someone. Sometimes, the negative voice you have to ignore is your own.”
A few people clapped, and I thought that was it until he said one more thing.
“I’ve actually never gotten up in front of an audience in my life. This bar was always one of Farrah’s favorite places. She hasn’t been back here in years, but she’s sitting right out there in the audience watching me tonight.” He pointed as all eyes seemed to turn in my direction at once. “She’s probably going to kill me, because she had no idea I was going to do this. Thank you for listening and God bless…”
Jace received a huge round of applause. As he walked back toward the table, I smiled wide.
I rubbed his shoulder. “You did great. Thank you for that. I’ll never forget it.”
He leaned in and kissed my lips. “I figured you’d be surprised.”
“You were amazing.”
As we stayed and finished the last of our drinks, Jace kept checking his phone. I’d assumed his nerves from earlier had to do with the fact that he’d planned to go up and speak, but why was he still anxious?
He looked down at his watch. “We’d better get going.”
I downed the last of my mojito before we got up and headed toward the door.
The last thing I expected to see was Nathan walking into the bar just as we were leaving.
“Shit,” my brother said.
What the hell is going on?
Jace kept shaking his head as if to tell Nathan to stop talking. Nathan was practically panting.
“What are you doing here?” I asked. “And why do you seem so out of breath?”
“No reason…uh…Jace told me to meet you guys here.”
I looked between them. “You both are acting very strange.”
“Fuck,” Jace muttered.
“I’m sorry, Jace,” Nathan said. “I tried.”
My eyes narrowed. “Tried what?”
“Excuse us for a second,” Jace said as he took Nathan aside.
They walked several feet ahead of me so I couldn’t make out what they were saying. Then my brother left without even saying goodbye.
“What’s going on?” I asked when Jace returned. “Where’s Nathan?”
“He had to go.”
“Why?”
He placed his hand on the small of my back and guided me toward the door. “I’ll explain to you in a minute. Let’s take a drive.”
Still confused, I followed Jace out to the truck. As we drove off, I just stared at him. “You need to tell me what’s going on!”
“Please don’t worry. It’s nothing bad. I’ll explain to you when we get home. I promise it will all make sense.”
When we got back to the house, Jace led me out to the pool area. It was a beautiful, cool night.
“Relax here. I’ll be right back.”
Confused as hell, I waited on one of the loungers as I looked up at the starry sky.
A minute later, he brought out a plate. As he got closer, I realized it was chocolate-covered strawberries, my favorite treat.
“What is all this?”
“This is Plan B.” He set the plate down at the edge of my lounger. “Take one.”
I lifted one of the strawberries and bit into it. Speaking with my mouth full, I said, “This is so nice, but—”
“But you’re confused as hell. I get it.” Jace sighed. “Farrah, this night was supposed to be perfect. I called the manager of the bar a while back and arranged to make sure I could be the last to go up there. I was…supposed to ask you to marry me on that stage tonight, in front of all those people.”
“Oh…Oh my God. What?”
“Yeah.”
“You changed your mind?”
“No.” He laughed. “I didn’t have the damn ring!”
“It’s lost?”
“I have to back up a little.”
I took his hand. “Okay…”
“Before my mother died, she told my dad that if anything ever happened to her, to make sure he kept her wedding ring so I could have it for the woman I eventually married. The only problem is—and this is going to sound shallow as fuck—my mom’s ring is pretty small. I wanted to get something bigger for you without hurting my dad’s feelings. I went to ask Nathan for his advice on how I should handle it, and something freaky happened. He left the room and came back with a diamond ring that was exactly the same size as my mother’s. It was your mom’s ring.”