Chapter 200

Aria’s POV

Lowering my voice, I was exceedingly cautious of where I was and who might overhear.

“That’s ridiculous,” I told Isabelle on the phone. “Liam and I are already married. I’m sure you haven’t forgotten that.”

“I’m telling you it’s a wedding ring, Aria. And it makes sense, too. The secret invitation is so sly. And not being able to tell you until Sunday… What did he say? You’d know by Sunday.”

That did seem to add up, and could be the perfect explanation for why Liam had been so secretive recently.

“But he doesn’t need to propose to me…”

“You guys got married in such a rush last time,” Isabelle said. “Maybe he wants to do things right this time. You said he promised to try to fix everything he did wrong from back then, right? Maybe this is a big part of that. Will you have a big wedding? Ah, can I be the maid of honor?”

“Let’s not get ahead of ourselves,” I said, trying not to let my very quickly rising emotions overtake me.

My heart continued to thunder, pounding so harshly in my chest that it seemed to beat on the inside of my ribcage.

All this time, I’d been considering negative thoughts, believing the worst of Liam, when he could have been planning a nice surprise for me all this time?

I felt like the worst kind of asshole, someone who couldn’t appreciate everything my partner was doing for me. If Liam was really planning this, if he had been for a while, it must have been so difficult to keep the secret, especially with the way I’d been prodding him.

I’d been too tough on him, trying to uncover a truth he wanted to keep hidden for the benefit of my own surprise and happiness.

Assuming this was true.

I didn’t doubt Isabelle or what she had seen. If she said she saw Liam with an engagement ring, he must have been holding one. But that didn’t mean there couldn’t be other explanations for why he was holding it.

Like, maybe he was holding it for someone else. Another person at the event could be proposing and needed Liam to both hold onto the ring and keep the situation quiet for the sake of the surprise. In that case, I’d be annoyed that Liam didn’t feel he could trust me with the secret, but I’d at least understand.

But… in that case, I felt like Liam wouldn’t hold that back from me. Even if he was keeping the secret for someone important, like a driver or one of the investors, he would still tell me. He could trust me not to go around sharing people’s private information.

The more logical explanation, Isabelle was right, was that Liam planned to propose to me.

Excitement began to bubble up and over inside of me like water left unattended on a stove. I knew I should tamper down on that excitement, but it was already too out of control.

The thought of Liam kneeling down on one knee, looking up at me with love in his eyes, as he lifted a ring.

Aria, will you marry me? …Again?

As I fantasized, the door behind me started to open.

“I have to go,” I told Isabelle quickly.

“Call me later!” Isabelle replied in a rush as I hung up the phone.

Turning toward the door, I faced the physician and Jackson as they exited the room. Jackson’s wrist wasn’t bound, which was a relief. Though he was wearing a dark, fingerless glove that seemed to keep his wrist immobile.

“You can tell her what’s going on, Doc,” Jackson said to the physician. “She’s my trainer.”

The physician nodded. “Just a minor sprain. But for the easiest, quickest recovering, I recommend that he rest for at least 5 days. He’s not to use the wrist at all. Not to race. Not even to practice.”

“I already told the doc there’s no race this weekend, so he’ll hear no complaints from me,” Jackson said.

“We can delay practicing next week, to honor this recovery time,” I said. “I’ll let everyone know, Jackson, you don’t have to even come in if you don’t want to. But you need to actually rest, do you understand?”

Jacksons shrugged. “Come on, Aria. What trouble do you think I could possibly get up to?”

He knew I was married to Liam, but maybe he hadn’t understood just how long we’d been married. I understood better than most just what drivers could get up to when they were supposed to be resting.

“No clubs,” I said. “No parties. No table tennis. Don’t even play video games if the doctor says no. Just rest.”

Jackson’s face fell marginally. “That’s no fun.”

“Your only job is to feel better,” I said. “Then you can worry about having fun again.”

Jackson sighed, long-suffering. “Fine.”

His antics reminded me some of Liam in his younger years, which didn’t carry as much negative weight as it had in times past. Right now, with the engagement on my mind, I was almost endeared to some of Liam’s behaviors back then. Well, at least I was endeared to his bombastic, bright personality.

Entirely enchanting, he could light up the whole room with a smile. Every woman in the room fell in the love the minute he walked into it, me included.

I hadn’t meant to allow it to happen, but it still did. I fell for Liam hard and fast, and I still hadn’t fully recovered from it.

And now…

Without thinking I touched the fingers of my right hand to the bare ring finger of my left.

Maybe it was time we stopped keeping our relationship in the dark. I’d been so scared that Liam would hurt me again, but in forcing us to hide, maybe I was the one hurting him this time.

It wasn’t fair to him. Or to me. Or to our kids, who had to keep our secret for us.

The physician excused himself and then left, but Jackson lingered. He watched me, tilting his head as if inspecting me more fully.

“There’s something different about you,” he said.

Had I already given too much away? Forcing my hands back to my sides, I feign nonchalance. “I don’t know what you mean.” Yet even as I said it, I couldn’t keep a smile from beginning to curl my lips.

It was such a relief, to go from feeling such nervous dread at every moment, frightened my relationship with Liam was about to end, to instead feel the excitement of new beginnings.

I had misjudged him so harshly. I really needed to start making it up to him.

“You’re smiling,” Jackson said. “You seem… happier today, than you’ve been in a very long time.”

I was happier, though, until Sunday, I couldn’t share the reason. Liam had been working hard to keep this secret, so now I had to too.

For so long I’d been dreading Saturday and this mysterious event, but now that I had a hint of what it was, I felt excitement instead.

I’d gone from fear to hope, and now I wasn’t just looking forward to Saturday, I couldn’t wait.