Falling in Love (Rockford Falls 5)

“Oh please. They loved you. My mom especially. He was pissed he had to come out late at night to find me and ground me for taking the bike. If my brother wasn’t such a damn tattletale we could’ve finished our picnic.”

“Hey, that’ll teach you to steal my stuff,” Greg said.

“Yeah, how would you have felt if I sent dad after you when you were with a girl?” I countered.

“I didn’t have a girlfriend. I was bussing tables at the diner for gas money.”

“So because you weren’t getting any you decided I shouldn’t either?”

“Pretty much,” he laughed. Michelle cracked up.

“So you sent your dad to cock block Drew over a bicycle?”

“Hey, it was a ten speed!” Greg laughed.

“Well that makes so much more sense now,” Michelle chuckled, “I thought your dad was pissed that we were sneaking around.”

“Nah. They’re dying to have you over for dinner. My mom will probably make three desserts and ask if she can brush your hair. Poor woman always wanted a daughter.”

“She used to do my hair in a braid crown. God I loved that woman,” Michelle said, her smile sweet.

“I promise she’ll braid your hair if you sit still long enough. She asks about you a lot. She wanted me to tell you we got back together because she prayed a novena last winter that I would find a woman to love.”

“Tell her that’s awesome. Although I’m not sure the Lord sent me to, like, hook up with you in my basement and stuff.”

“God moves in mysterious ways,” I teased.

“Do not say that in front of Mom. She will slap you in the head for being irreverent,” Greg warned.

“I won’t. And I appreciate her prayers. They’ve probably been what kept me alive through all the stupid crap I’ve done.”

“Like stealing bikes,” Michelle pointed out with a mischievous grin.

She said she needed to go to the bathroom. As soon as she was gone, Greg turned to me.

“Cheers, brother. This is what I always wanted for you. You two are so happy.” We clinked our beer bottles together.

We chatted about how happy I was for a minute, and then she came back. She didn’t sit down. She looked kind of stricken, took a step back from the table.

“I need to go. It was good seeing you again, Greg. Good night.” She left abruptly, before I could find out what was going on. I got up and tried to go after her.

“Chel, what’s wrong? Are you okay?” I said.

“I’m just not feeling well. I want to go home. Alone.”

She walked out, and I let her go. It felt like a slap, how quickly the mood had changed, how she had taken off so fast without an explanation. Her cheeks had been flaming red, like she was embarrassed or furious or both. I wanted to trail after her and try to make her talk to me and comfort her. But I had learned to respect what she said. She wanted to go home alone, and I had to believe that and wait for her to be ready to tell me what was going on. That was hard, stepping back and letting her have space when she wanted it. All my instincts screamed at me to go after her. Instead I slumped back in my chair.

“What happened?” Greg said.

“I have no fuckin’ idea,” I said, shaking my head.

“That seemed like it came out of nowhere. She was upset about something,” Greg observed.

“I don’t know what. She was fine when she went to the bathroom, and she told me she didn’t feel well…”

“Maybe she got her period and didn’t have anything with her,” Greg said. “Happened to Katie at our anniversary dinner once. We left this super swanky restaurant and lost our reservation so we could go buy tampons and ice cream at the drug store. It was still pretty great, if I’m honest. We sat around the apartment in our pajamas and ate ice cream and she kicked my ass at Monopoly.”

“You’ve played Monopoly with her? And she stayed married to you? You were the worst with that game. No mercy.”

“Maybe I’m less competitive when it’s my wife,” he said archly. “If you’re trying to get into her pants, don’t beat her at board games.”

“You mean you cheat to let her win?”

“I didn’t say that. I’m just giving you random brotherly wisdom. If your pride is so important you have to beat her at darts or pool or fuckin’ Candyland, you don’t have any business being married. You have to care how she feels. So you need to figure out how Michelle’s feeling.”

“She said she wanted to be alone.”

“That’s not good news, bro,” he said.

We hung around for another drink, and then I headed home, thinking I had no idea what the hell had gone wrong.

25

Michelle

I considered hiding under the covers. I was lying in bed, scrolling social media when there was a loud knock at my door. I didn’t want to answer it. I figured it was Drew, and I didn’t want to see him or hear a damn word he had to say. Not after last night. But then Trixie rang my phone. Shit. I forgot I was meeting the girls at the farmer’s market and getting breakfast afterward. I was so preoccupied with what happened last night that it slipped my mind.