New Year by Bonnie Dee Read Free Book Online Page B

like kids.”
    “Sure. Why not? They’re fun.”
    I figured both of us were thinking of our possible future. If we stayed together… If we got married… If we had kids… What would that be like?
    But neither of us was ready to dive into any of those heavy topics right then, and besides, Baby was about to escape. I’d let go of her leash while we were goofing around. Now she was exploring at the far edge of the yard, sniffing some interesting scent underneath a bush.
    I cl imbed to my feet and winced. My body ached from too much running and rolling in snowdrifts. I called Baby, and she came, for a change. She was getting better at obeying.
    In the garage, w e took off our snowy things and put the sad dog in her crate. She whimpered pitifully.
    “Only a couple more days,” Anna promised Baby, and maybe me too, because she squeezed my hand when she said it.
    Or maybe she was reminding herself . She seemed to be having more trouble with this visit than I was. So far, her parents and cousins had been polite enough and the food was good. There were worse things than spending the holidays with relatives.
     
    Anna
    After we came in from playing in the snow, we went up to our room to change. While Jason was taking a shower, I finally had the opportunity to look at the engagement ring. A silver band with a tiny diamond in the center, flanked by two sapphire chips, it was exactly the sort of unpretentious, delicate, rather old-fashioned design I would’ve chosen.
    Jason might not have consciously picked something that so exactly suited me. Perhaps it was the only ring he could afford, given his minimum-wage job. But as I slipped the ring on my finger, I felt as if he had a real sense of my taste, my personality, who I was as a person. Of course, I already knew this about him. He got me in a way no one else did.
    S o why was it so hard for me to make a leap and accept his proposal?
    Because wearing this ring indicated a long-term promise. Although my heart felt ready to make that step, my logical lawyer brain continued to weigh pros and cons.
    I heard Jason’s footsteps in the hallway and quickly pulled the ring off my finger and jammed it into the box, which I put in my suitcase.
     
    My mom had prepared another culinary treat for lunch. I complimented her on her newfound cooking skill. “But I shouldn’t be surprised. Whatever you decide to do, you always accomplish it one hundred percent.”
    “As do you,” she said. “Like it or not, you’re your mother’s daughter. Success is in your genes.”
    She was joking in her own way, but good Lord, couldn’t she hear how arrogant that sounded? I quickly changed the subject. Gossiping about Chloe’s boys was the only thing I could think of that we might agree on, so I commented on how energetic they were. That set my Mom off and running about destructive tendencies and proper behavior.
    That topic saw us through lunch, after which my dad took Jason off to the garage to show him his woodworking tools. This left me alone with my mom at last , and the private time I’d dreaded was at hand.
    “Your young man seems very sweet.” She sipped tea from the fine bone china I remembered so well from my childhood and the two cups I’d managed to break from this family heirloom.
    “He is,” I agreed. “Very sweet and funny. And clever.”
    “Oh? In what way.”
    “The way he thinks of things. I don’t know. Did you want specific examples?”
    She set her cup onto its saucer with a gentle click and set it on the table. “It’s just… I understand that you like him, even love him. But do you really have enough in common with him to make a life together?”
    I opened my mouth to argue , and she put up a hand.
    “I’m not trying to be negative or judgmental. That’s not my intent at all. I only want you to truly think about what your life together might be like as you move forward in your career and he… Well, what do you imagine Jason doing in a year, two years, ten? Will