He took my chin in his hand and bent down to kiss me, his lips heated, his fingers spreading possessively across my skin.
And then before I could protest, he was gone into the swirling white.
We rushed to the living room to look out the window but of course there was nothing to see but angry snow and ice, the bare branches of the trees outside scraping at the window.
We stayed like that as the minutes ticked out loudly with the grandfather clock.
“Fucking dumbass,” Mike said. “What the fuck was Jesse thinking going out in this?”
“He’s cocky,” I said, “Thinks he’s the shit and he can do anything.”
“That idiot is certifiable!” Dad agreed. “He’s going to break his damn fool neck.”
I said nothing again.
I knew exactly what that meant. He’d won them back.
Mom just kept her nose glued to the window.
As the minutes ticked on, my breath seemed to grow more ragged. Did I always breath like this? Is this what normal breathing felt like? Blood rushed in my ears, and I noticed that my knuckles were white as I gripped the windowsill.
What if he was lying in a ditch somewhere with a broken neck?
What if he had couldn’t find his way back?
What if I never saw him again?
Then the door opened and there was my ex, frost in his eyelashes, his blonde hair covered in tiny icicles, and under his arm he was clutching the misbehaving reprobate Watson.
I couldn’t even hear Mom screaming in joy as the blood drained from my body, my limbs going limp in relief.
“Jesse,” I croaked, and he laughed and gathered me in his arms.
“Come near the fire, you’re freezing!”
“I don’t care,” he said, putting me gently back on my feet and getting down on one knee.
“Marry me, Josephine. You make me the happiest man on earth and I swear to all the fucking saints that I will do my best to make you happy.”
My breath caught in my throat and I glanced up and my entire family was there, all cuddling Watson.
“Some privacy, please!” I begged as they all directed loving puppy dog eyes at Jesse.
“We can never thank you enough,” Mom said as they bore Watson into the living room and the fire.
“He’s not so bad after all,” Mike advised.
“Man makes a hell of an apple pie,” Dad said, closing the door after them.
I could see Jesse’s lips twitching, but he still held my hand tightly as he stared anxiously at me.
“You don’t get to marry me just because you charged out into a blizzard,” I said sternly.
“Can I marry you because I’m fucking crazy about you, Josephine DeRosa? Because thinking I could live without you was the worst mistake of my life I’ll never repeat again.”
I looked down at him and that huge-ass diamond ring winking up at me.
And I could have started fresh. I could have found a good man and good sex elsewhere.
