He would never get married, though. It made her kind of sad. If a little bit meanly... pleased at the same time. But she didn’t even want to articulate that to herself. It was just... she knew that she wasn’t going to see him as much anymore after she got married. If he got married... Well, of all the issues she had had early on balancing the feelings of the men she was dating with her relationship with him, and then finally finding someone who was okay with it, but who still demanded a heavy amount of her attention... She didn’t want to share Justice with another woman.
Which wasn’t really a problem. He didn’tdate. He hooked up, and he never brought those women around. She usually felt like the only woman in his life and she appreciated that.
They rolled up to the house and she grabbed her French toast leftovers container—Justice didn’t have any leftovers—and they both went inside.
“Boots off, cowboy,” she said as she took her own shoes off right by the door.
He shot her an indulgent look, and took his boots off.
She looked from him, to her neat, orderly house, to her wedding ring, and back to Justice. The one who’d known her most of her life. The one who had been through absolutely everything with her.
“Look at us,” she whispered. “We’re grown-ups.”
Sometimes it amazed her. That they’d made it this far. That she had her house, and he was still standing. And that they still had each other. Because no one else in her life had lasted longer than Justice King.
“We are indeed,” he said.
He walked over to her couch and sat heavily on it, the male sound he made when he connected with the cushion hitting her strangely.
“Okay,” she said. “I’m going to go put the dress on, because Sue is going to be here soon. If you laugh at me, I will kill you.”
“I’m not going to laugh at you.”
“Remember my prom dress?” she asked.
“Yeah,” he said.
They had a dance in the barn at Four Corners that year, coordinated by their teacher, and poor Rue had done her very best to cobble something together with parents who just didn’t help at all, and a grandmother who had been deeply conservative.
Justice had called herPrairie Dawn. It had been fair enough. But it had still hurt her feelings. He’d spent the whole night apologizing to her, but she’d been wounded in spite of the apologies.
“I’mnotgoing to laugh,” he said again.
“If you do,” she said, “I will kill you.”
“You won’t,” he said. “Because you’ll get blood on your dress,andon your carpet. So I think we both know I’m safe.”
“I could strangle you.”
He laughed. “You wouldn’t. That’s a messy way tokill someone too. Takes a long time. Takes real determination. It’s not like in the movies.”
She squinted. “Do you doubt that I have the determination?”
“I would throw you off like a little flea, Rue. You could try, but you would not succeed.”
“Let’s not test the theory.”
She went into her bedroom, and pulled the gorgeous dress out of her closet. Every time she saw it her heart expanded. She took her clothes off and folded them neatly, and slipped into the little half corset that she had to hold everything in place, before stepping into the gown. She did a contortionist act to get it zipped up. But she had lived alone long enough that she was very good at that.
She took her veil out of the box and looked at herself critically in the mirror as she put her hair up in a high bun and pinned it in quickly.
She had to put heels on; otherwise the dress wouldn’t fall right. She got into the closet and put on her gorgeous sandals. They sparkled all over. Even though they wouldn’t show, she loved them. They were flashier than anything else at the wedding. Nobody would see them. Butsheknew. And she liked them.
She took a deep breath and opened up the bedroom door. She had a direct view of Justice sitting on the couch as she came out.
She didn’t know what she had expected from him. But his face was like a mask. Completely immovable, and fixed. She had never seen him look so grave. He just looked at her, and he didn’t say anything.
She moved closer, and stood there, and still he didn’t move, one hand on his left knee, the other on his right, his jaw squared up tight, his teeth clenched. His blue eyes glittered as he looked at her, the only movement that she could discern at all.
