Double Dare
Page 69
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“That really narrows it down for me,” he said dryly, earning a mocking glare that had him smiling.
“I just needed a break from the glares, looks of pity and your mother asking me if I knew any nice men that might be interested in you or Reese,” she said with a shrug as the line came to stop.
He rubbed his hands roughly down his face. “I’m going to kill those meddling bastards.”
“As you should,” she murmured in agreement as the line started to move again.
For several minutes neither one of them said anything as they walked into companionable silence until finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and he had to ask.
“What do I need to do to fix this, Marybeth?”
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand him. “I don’t know that this can be fixed, Darrin.”
“And why’s that?” he asked, placing his hands in his pockets to keep himself from grabbing her and shaking some sense into her.
“You know why,” she said, sounding sad and confirming his earlier opinion that she’d been put on this earth to drive him out of his fucking mind.
“You’re turning this whole thing into one of those seriously fucked up Lifetime movies that you’ve got my brother addicted to, you know that, don’t you?”
“I am not!” she said, gasping in outrage as they walked around a turn and headed down a long slope.
“Oh, but you really are,” he said, not really caring at this point if he was pissing her off, because she was certainly doing a hell of a job of pissing him off.
“I am not!”
“Really?” he asked, arching a mocking brow. “Then what would you call this bullshit that you’ve been putting me through?”
“Trying to make sure that you didn’t throw your life away,” she grumbled with a scowl as she quickened her step and tried to
He rolled his eyes, not bothering to quicken his pace since there was nowhere for her go. “Yes, because marrying the woman that I’m madly in love with and want to spend the rest of my life with is throwing my life away,” he said dryly as he followed after her, noting the way that her shoulders went tense as she rounded another corner. “That bullshit line is getting old, Marybeth, so why don’t we get to the real reason why you’re willing to do something so fucked that you’re willing to risk your life, hmmm?”
“I’m not risking my life,” she bit out, shooting him a murderous glare that said it all.
Once again, he was right and she fucking hated it.
“Really? Then what would you call putting off a surgery that you need so that you could take a bunch of drugs that have dangerous side effects and get off medication you need to slow down the tissue wrapping around your lungs on the off chance that you could find a doctor willing to do a procedure that doesn’t have a chance in hell of working?”
“You don’t know that,” she snapped, but the way that she couldn’t quite meet his eyes when she turned to glare at him told him that she knew that he was right.
Since he was on a roll and all, he decided to keep going.
“Don’t I? I thought that we’d already covered this. How exactly are going to do this without my help?”
“Look,” she said, “I get it. I can’t have children. I managed to accept it before and with some space, a little time and a lot of chocolate, I’ll be able to do it again,” she explained tightly just as she was forced to come to stop when they reached the loading line.
“How many?” a college kid with a big smile asked.
“One,” Marybeth snapped just as Darrin said, “Two.”
Ignoring Marybeth, probably because the kid sensed that Darrin would have beat the shit out of him if he separated Darrin from Marybeth, he gestured for them to go to the last loading line.
“You’ll never be able to accept it,” he pointed out as he got in line behind her.
“I did it before,” she snapped back, clearly getting pissed.
“No, you didn’t,” he said, never more sure of anything in his life.
“And you know this how?”
“Because I know you.”
“Clearly that’s not the case,” she said dryly as they waited for the boat full of passengers to unload so that they could get in.
“Really? Because I bet it is.”
“And I bet that you don’t know what you’re talking about,” she snapped back, keeping her back to him as she tapped her foot impatiently.
“Really? And how much are you willing to bet that I know the real reason behind this bullshit plan or yours and the one that you used to try and push me away.”
“I never tried to push you away!”
“What would you call the last six years, then?” he demanded in a whisper while they watched the boat finally come towards them and lock in place.
“Keeping my options open in case something better came along?”
Knowing that she was just trying to piss him off, he ignored her and decided to keep going. “You’ve never accepted it, because for some fucked up reason you think that not being able to have children somehow makes you less of a woman.”
He’d expected her to glare at him, to argue and deny it, but what he hadn’t expected was for her to suddenly climb out of the boat just as the boat started to enter the ride, leaving him sitting there with no other choice but to suffer through “It’s a Small World.”
“I just needed a break from the glares, looks of pity and your mother asking me if I knew any nice men that might be interested in you or Reese,” she said with a shrug as the line came to stop.
He rubbed his hands roughly down his face. “I’m going to kill those meddling bastards.”
“As you should,” she murmured in agreement as the line started to move again.
For several minutes neither one of them said anything as they walked into companionable silence until finally, he couldn’t take it anymore and he had to ask.
“What do I need to do to fix this, Marybeth?”
She didn’t pretend to misunderstand him. “I don’t know that this can be fixed, Darrin.”
“And why’s that?” he asked, placing his hands in his pockets to keep himself from grabbing her and shaking some sense into her.
“You know why,” she said, sounding sad and confirming his earlier opinion that she’d been put on this earth to drive him out of his fucking mind.
“You’re turning this whole thing into one of those seriously fucked up Lifetime movies that you’ve got my brother addicted to, you know that, don’t you?”
“I am not!” she said, gasping in outrage as they walked around a turn and headed down a long slope.
“Oh, but you really are,” he said, not really caring at this point if he was pissing her off, because she was certainly doing a hell of a job of pissing him off.
“I am not!”
“Really?” he asked, arching a mocking brow. “Then what would you call this bullshit that you’ve been putting me through?”
“Trying to make sure that you didn’t throw your life away,” she grumbled with a scowl as she quickened her step and tried to
He rolled his eyes, not bothering to quicken his pace since there was nowhere for her go. “Yes, because marrying the woman that I’m madly in love with and want to spend the rest of my life with is throwing my life away,” he said dryly as he followed after her, noting the way that her shoulders went tense as she rounded another corner. “That bullshit line is getting old, Marybeth, so why don’t we get to the real reason why you’re willing to do something so fucked that you’re willing to risk your life, hmmm?”
“I’m not risking my life,” she bit out, shooting him a murderous glare that said it all.
Once again, he was right and she fucking hated it.
“Really? Then what would you call putting off a surgery that you need so that you could take a bunch of drugs that have dangerous side effects and get off medication you need to slow down the tissue wrapping around your lungs on the off chance that you could find a doctor willing to do a procedure that doesn’t have a chance in hell of working?”
“You don’t know that,” she snapped, but the way that she couldn’t quite meet his eyes when she turned to glare at him told him that she knew that he was right.
Since he was on a roll and all, he decided to keep going.
“Don’t I? I thought that we’d already covered this. How exactly are going to do this without my help?”
“Look,” she said, “I get it. I can’t have children. I managed to accept it before and with some space, a little time and a lot of chocolate, I’ll be able to do it again,” she explained tightly just as she was forced to come to stop when they reached the loading line.
“How many?” a college kid with a big smile asked.
“One,” Marybeth snapped just as Darrin said, “Two.”
Ignoring Marybeth, probably because the kid sensed that Darrin would have beat the shit out of him if he separated Darrin from Marybeth, he gestured for them to go to the last loading line.
“You’ll never be able to accept it,” he pointed out as he got in line behind her.
“I did it before,” she snapped back, clearly getting pissed.
“No, you didn’t,” he said, never more sure of anything in his life.
“And you know this how?”
“Because I know you.”
“Clearly that’s not the case,” she said dryly as they waited for the boat full of passengers to unload so that they could get in.
“Really? Because I bet it is.”
“And I bet that you don’t know what you’re talking about,” she snapped back, keeping her back to him as she tapped her foot impatiently.
“Really? And how much are you willing to bet that I know the real reason behind this bullshit plan or yours and the one that you used to try and push me away.”
“I never tried to push you away!”
“What would you call the last six years, then?” he demanded in a whisper while they watched the boat finally come towards them and lock in place.
“Keeping my options open in case something better came along?”
Knowing that she was just trying to piss him off, he ignored her and decided to keep going. “You’ve never accepted it, because for some fucked up reason you think that not being able to have children somehow makes you less of a woman.”
He’d expected her to glare at him, to argue and deny it, but what he hadn’t expected was for her to suddenly climb out of the boat just as the boat started to enter the ride, leaving him sitting there with no other choice but to suffer through “It’s a Small World.”
