The F It List (Love You Forever Book 6)

by Alexis Winter

  She smiles. “Of course. Anything for Cora—you know that.”

  “Well, this isn’t just for Cora,” I point out.

  “True, but I like you too, so it’s a win-win,” she giggles.

  I hold out my elbow and she wraps her arm around it as I help her into the jewelry store.

  Once inside, she takes a deep breath and lets it out slowly. “I love the smell of diamonds.”

  I laugh. “You can smell diamonds?” I ask.

  “Oh yeah, every girl can,” she promises, dragging me over to the first display case. “So, what are we looking for here?”

  “You tell me. You know her better than I do. What would she like?”

  “If it’s from you, she’d wear a $2 ring from a vending machine,” she jokes.

  “Then humor me.”

  She shrugs but keeps looking, moving from case to case. We’re nearly all the way around the room with only a few cases left when she gasps and I freeze—waiting.

  Is it the one?

  “What? What did you find?” I ask, looking over her shoulder and trying to figure out which ring she may be looking at.

  She waves down a worker and points at a ring. They unlock the case, take it out, and hand it over. She inspects it closely. I watch as a smile spreads across her face. Finally, she turns the velvety-blue box toward me. I look at the ring in the box. I don’t know much about jewelry, but the ring is goldish in color. It has a big diamond in the center that’s in the shape of a pear, and there are dozens of smaller diamonds sitting around the metal design of the band.

  “You think she’ll like it?”

  “Are you kidding me? Cora loves rose gold.”

  “Oh, that’s rose gold?” I ask, having no idea about any of it.

  She nods. “Yeah, see how it’s a gold color but the shade is a little different? That’s what they call rose gold.”

  “Huh. I thought the color looked a little off.” I look at it closer, trying to imagine the look on Cora’s face when I give it to her. Then I envision it on her finger. “So you really think she’ll love it?”

  She smiles. “Trust me.”

  “Okay.” I look up at the salesperson. “I’ll take this one.”

  The woman behind the counter smiles and gets some pep in her step. “Follow me right this way and I’ll get you ringed up.”

  I hand over the box and follow her to the register.

  “So, when will you give it to her?” Harley asks, rubbing her hands over her stomach.

  “I haven’t decided yet,” I reply, digging out my wallet and handing over my card.

  “Are you going to be one of those guys who carries the ring around for months, waiting for the perfect moment?”

  I laugh. “Maybe. I just don’t want a whole lot of pressure. I don’t want the stress of planning something big and crazy. That’s not Cora. She doesn’t want some grand gesture.”

  She leans in and whispers. “All girls want a grand gesture when it comes to this.”

  “Really?” I ask, feeling my brows pulling together. Maybe I know nothing about women.

  She nods. “Yep, nothing is too big.”

  “For Cora?” I ask, wondering if we’re talking about the same person.

  She nods, but I’m not sure. That doesn’t sound like Cora to me. Cora isn’t the type to dress all fancy and go to some expensive restaurant. She likes jeans and hoodies. She loves bars and grills and beer on tap. She likes camping, getting away from the city, and having fun all on our own.

  Maybe that’s what I’ll do. I’ll plan a camping trip. But camping wouldn’t be much fun right now. It’s too cold with it being fall and winter quickly approaching. There would be no skinny-dipping in the lake. No midnight hikes to have a private moment up against a tree. We’d have to be huddled around the fire to stay warm. I’d probably have her stuck to my side the whole time, stealing my body heat . . . well, maybe that wouldn’t be so bad after all. And it would be romantic. The dark sky overhead with a million brightly-lit stars. A warm fire. Holding her against me.

  It’s decided. I’ll plan a fall camping trip. If she puts up a fight, I’ll just tell her that it’s an important experience. She’s had warm-weather camping. Now we’ll try cold-weather camping. I can even get one of those fancy tents I’ve been wanting that have the wood-burning stove in them. That would be perfect.

  I’m handed the small bag that holds the ring, and Harley and I turn to leave the store.

  “Hey, you guys will be over for Thanksgiving, right?” she asks as we step out onto the sidewalk.

  “Oh, I didn’t realize we were invited.”

  She frowns at me. “Of course you are. I told Cora about it a couple days ago.”

  “Okay, I’ll bring it up and see what she says. Thanks again for your help today. I would’ve been stumbling around in there not knowing what to do.”

  She giggles and gives me a quick hug. “No worries. Tell me when you plan on asking her so I can call her after.” She smiles as she pulls away and heads for her car.

  Nineteen

  Cora

  I’m sitting on the couch just watching TV and eating a bowl of chili when Grayson walks in. He removes his coat and plops down next to me. He’s been super-protective since finding out I’m pregnant. Yesterday we had our first doctor’s visit and he peppered the poor lady with a million questions. The blood test confirmed my pregnancy and the ultrasound showed that I’m around nine weeks along.

  “Where you been?” I ask, taking a bite of last night’s leftovers.

  “I had some things to do,” he says nonchalantly. “But I ran into Harley and she said something about Thanksgiving?”

  “Oh yeah. She and Foster are hosting this year. Want to go?”

  He looks over at me. “Do you want to go?”

  “Oh, I’m going. I just didn’t know if you had plans with your family or friends.”

  “Usually, I spend the day eating a Hungry Man on the couch with Chuck,” he laughs out.

  I smile. “Then it’s settled. We’re going to Harley and Foster’s for Thanksgiving. Oh, speaking of . . . should we tell them then? About the baby?”

  “Can we wait until Thanksgiving? I have an idea I want to run by you.”

  I put down my bowl and turn my body to face him. “Okay, let’s hear it.”

  “I was thinking about planning another camping trip. Just the two of us getting cozy around a warm fire with the dark sky overhead and the sound of the lake water rippling in the breeze. I could get us one of those tents with a wood-burning stove inside so we’d be nice and toasty. What do you think?”

  “Oh,” I say, thinking over his idea. Camping was fun last time, but would it be as much fun now that the weather’s cooler? And what kind of tent is he talking about? I didn’t even know people camped in cool weather. “How many nights are you thinking?”

  He shrugs. “Just like a weekend or something.”

  I nod. A weekend? That means two nights of not being able to escape the cold temperatures and the cool breeze that’s sharp as a knife when it blows against you. Two nights of goosebumps and shivering. Two nights of waking up to wet morning dew and chattering teeth. “I don’t know, Grayson. A whole weekend? In this weather?” I point at the window to see that it’s now raining, and sheets of water are rushing down the glass.

  He glances at the window. “I’ll plan it out. I’ll make sure it’ll be on a nice weekend with no rain. It will be cool, yes, but I promise: if I get that tent, it will be so warm inside that you won’t even know how cold it really is. Come on. It’ll be fun. I promise.” He smiles and it warms my chest and makes my heart flutter.

  “Okay,” I force the word out and fake a smile.

  He immediately knows that the smile isn’t genuine and he laughs. “I promise, if you don’t have fun, I’ll never ask again.” He pulls me to his side and his warmth and scent consume me. I feel my body start to relax, and suddenly, I’m not so nervous about this cold-weather-camping thing—not when I kn
ow I’ll have him by my side through it all.

  Later that night, I’m reading a magazine while Grayson is on his laptop, looking at tents. He goes back and forth on a couple different ones, but ends up settling on the one he thinks will work best for us, and he orders it. It’s scheduled to arrive within a week. Once that task is completed, he moves on to booking our campsite and making a list of everything he wants to pack. I don’t know why this camping trip is so different from our last, but he seems to be preparing for it more than the last one. Maybe he just wants to ensure I’ll be as warm and comfortable as possible on account of the pregnancy. Either way, I let the whole thing fall from my mind when he pulls me closer and presses his lips to the top of my head.

  Time passes quickly, as it usually does when we’re together. We work every day, come home together every night, and share every minute we can. But we try to maintain a healthy balance, of course. He still spends some time with his roommate, who’s recently moved a girl into his room. That’s also putting more pressure on Grayson to move out and let them have the apartment, but we haven’t had that talk yet other than agreeing that it will happen before the baby gets here.

  I spend plenty of time with Harley—picking out baby items, going over plans for her new home and shelter, and just lying around being lazy and ordering more food than either of us can put away. It takes everything I have not to tell her about my own pregnancy. I know she’ll be a blubbering mess when she finds out. She’s asked me a few times about taking a test, and I’ve managed to avoid giving her a real answer, but I know it won’t be long before I start showing. I’m shocked she isn’t questioning the fact that I’m eating as much as she is when we’re together. She caught me crying once holding a little onesie when we were shopping, but I just told her I was thinking about her babies.

  Before I know it, it’s the weekend of Grayson’s camping trip and I don’t have to do anything but show up and bring some clothes. That I can do! He packs up the car and I walk through the apartment to make sure no candles are burning and my curling iron hasn’t been left on, plus I double-check the stove and coffee pot about a hundred times. Finally, we lock up the apartment and make our way toward the parking lot and loaded-down car.

  The drive doesn’t take long. The whole time, I play with the radio and sing along. He just sings with me or laughs at my horrible singing voice, even though he’s always polite and says I sing beautifully.

  When we arrive at our campsite, he climbs out to get to work on building a fire and setting up our tent. Even though he says I don’t have to help, I get out. Two people are faster than just one, and the sooner I can get warm, the better. I checked the weather on the drive over, and the temperature is only 43 degrees, but you also have to factor in the wind chill and the fact that the sun will be going down soon. It feels like it’s about to snow—at least to my overly-dramatic body.

  He gets to work on the tent while I gather up firewood to start a fire. I have my heavy coat on and double layers of sweaters and pants, but even though I’m dressed for a blizzard, I’m still freezing. I pick up several logs and take them over to the fire pit. After throwing them in, I go in search of some sticks to get the fire started. I’m not the best at getting the fire going, but I do what I can, and within 20 minutes I have a flame. I add some sticks and dried leaves and the fire grows.

  “Look! Look what I did!” I cheer myself on.

  Grayson has the tent up, but now he’s putting the wood-burning stove together. He looks up and smiles. “Good job. I knew you could handle it.”

  I smile proudly. “You need help over there?” I ask.

  He shakes his head. “No, I’m fine. But if you need something to do, you can start unpacking. Maybe we’ll have everything set up in time to start cooking.”

  For the next hour, we work at getting everything unpacked and set up. We unload the sleeping bags and put them in the tent along with the pillows, air mattress, and our clothes. We position the coolers—one for food and one for drinks—then we set up the mosquito net around the concrete picnic table. When everything is done, Grayson gets the fire going in the tent and I stoke the fire outside.

  We’ve been sitting down for about five minutes when he says, “Okay, guess I’ll start on the food.”

  “What’s for dinner?”

  He shrugs as he stands up and moves toward the cooler. “I thought we’d probably be tired tonight after getting everything set up, so I just got some vegetarian hot dogs, chips, and premade potato salad. Tomorrow, though, we’ll eat like kings.”

  “Vegetarian hot dogs?” I can’t hide the frown on my face.

  “Yeah, you know you can’t have nitrates when you’re pregnant, so no hot dogs or lunch meat. Oh, and no sushi.”

  I laugh. “What’s on tomorrow’s menu?”

  “For breakfast, I’m making coffee, decaf of course, and cinnamon rolls on the cast-iron skillet. For lunch, I figured we’d polish off these hot dogs. And for dinner, we’ll have steak, baked potatoes, and deviled eggs.”

  “You can make deviled eggs here?”

  He smirks. “It’s just boiling eggs in water, and we can do that over a campfire.”

  I smile. “I’m so lucky to have found a man who can make deviled eggs while camping,” I tease.

  “That’s not all I can do. I’m pretty handy at doing stuff next to a campfire too.” He winks and it makes me laugh.

  I sit and sip some water while I watch him work over the fire. He lays the hot dogs on the grill he places over the fire and uses his tongs to roll them back and forth, cooking them evenly. The hot dogs don’t take long, and pretty soon our plates are on our laps and we’re eating.

  “It’s not so bad, right?” he asks as I take the first bite of the veggie hot dog.

  “No, I always like my hot dogs a little crispy.”

  He laughs. “I meant the vegetarian dogs. And camping in the cooler weather isn’t bad either, huh?”

  “Oh,” I say, rolling my eyes, because of course he’s going to make me admit it. “No, it’s really not. Once the fire was burning, I got warm. Not having to sweat my butt off is actually pretty nice. And another plus: no bugs! And as much as I hate to admit it . . . these dogs are tasty!”

  He laughs. “Good.” He nods once. “So I should keep the tent?”

  I nod with a smile. “Keep the tent,” I agree.

  After we eat and clean up so our dinner doesn’t entice any animals, we push our chairs together. I lean to my left, against his side, and he puts his right arm over me. My head is on his chest and we’re both looking up at the sky. It’s midnight blue with millions of bright stars. It’s a cloudless night, with the moon hanging bright and high in the sky.

  “This is pretty nice,” I say.

  “I think so too,” he agrees, taking a swig of his beer.

  Even though I’m completely relaxed, I can’t help but notice the way his jaw keeps ticking. He seems anxious. His leg is jiggling up and down and the muscles in his back and arms seem tense.

  “What’s wrong?” I ask, lifting up my head to look at him.

  He shakes his head. “Nothing’s wrong. Why do you ask that?”

  I shrug, making his hand go up and down with my shoulder. “You seem anxious or tense or something. Why don’t you come into the tent and I’ll help work out all that tension?”

  He smiles. “Well, how can I refuse an offer like that?”

  I stand up and catch his hand in mine, then pull him into the tent.

  I drop down on my knees to unzip it and we both crawl in. The whole tent is warmer than my apartment. “Whoa, that little heater works wonders,” I say, crawling across the sleeping bag as I start pulling off my coat and hoodie.

  “Yeah, it does,” he agrees, crawling after me, ripping off clothes as he goes.

  It doesn’t take long before we’re both stripped down and relieving all the tension in our bodies. Sleep comes soon after, and when I wake, I’m soaked with sweat. Grayson puts off enough heat to warm the tent.


  “Ugh, too hot,” I complain, rolling over so I’m on my back and kicking the sleeping bag down my naked, sweaty body. “Where’s that fan you packed? Is it in your bag?” I ask, sitting up to dig through his bag, knowing he packed a small fan to help with kicking up the fire.

  “No!” he shouts, grabbing the bag faster than I thought possible.

  I frown. He’s never responded to me like that before. “What?” I ask.

  “I’ll get it,” he insists.

  I sit and watch as he unzips the bag, digs around for the fan, and then pulls it out. He turns it on and flips it around to blow on me. He offers up a guilty smile.

  “Thanks,” I say, weirded out by his actions.

  I lie back down with the personal fan and wonder why he acted so strangely. Is there something in that bag he doesn’t want me to see? If there is, what? He’s always been open about sharing anything and everything with me. What is he holding back . . . and why now?

  Maybe this trip isn’t just meant to be our own personal getaway. Perhaps he brought me here to tell me something? Something like he doesn’t want to see me anymore? But that doesn’t explain why he wouldn’t want me looking in his bag. Not unless he’s already moved on. No, what am I saying? This is Grayson, after all. I know him better than anyone. If there’s something in his bag he doesn’t want me to see, then there’s a good reason behind it. Like, maybe it’s a gift for me. But why would he give me a gift? It’s not like it’s our anniversary or anything, is it?

  Twenty

  Grayson

  Today is the day. The day I have to show her what I’ve been hiding, and the reason behind this whole camping thing. That is, if she’ll still talk to me after I bit her head off for trying to look in my bag. But I couldn’t let her find the ring. The time isn’t right. No, the perfect time will be tonight around the campfire with the stars shining down on us, after we’ve eaten an amazing dinner. That’s how I’ll ask. I just have to hold it back for a little while longer. I can do that. I think.