My Challenge…Ranger.
Lindsay
"One Ranger is all you'll ever need."
Her eyes widened and she choked in the iced cream rose I had just fed her. A myriad of expressions crossed her face, and suddenly she looked way too close to tears. I put the fork down, and carefully maneuvered my chair, then motioned her over. She climbed into my lap, resting against my good side and burying her face in my neck. I hugged her close with my good arm, resting the other hand on her knee. Her bare knee. That little skirt left nothing to the imagination.
"Disapointed, Babe?" I asked her. I hoped I could tease a smile out of her, but she just took a breath and shuddered in my arms.
"You could have died." Her voice was so soft that I had to strain to hear her.
"I didn't." And that was the truth. There was no point in dwelling on what happened. It was over, it was done, everyone came out of it alive, move on. I couldn't deny that it made me think more about how precious life was, but I knew that before, too. It still didn't change anything. She still had to come to me by choice, not coercion, and not with the cop hanging in the background either.
"I told Joe I loved him. I could never say it before." she mumbled into my neck. I felt my heart stop for a minute. I had always hoped...No, I was always positive she would come to me eventually. She shifted away, and pulled back enough, looking up into my face. Tears streamed down her cheeks and her eyes were bluer than the ocean. She opened her mouth, then closed it again. Her fingers came up to play with my hair, and I resisted the urge to push her hand away.
"Babe?"
"It's not just Joe." she whispered, another tear spilling out. "I...I realized... Iloveyoutoo." she rushed out, then burried her face back in my neck. I couldn't help wincing as she shuddered, jarring my ribs. She stiffened and stilled instantly. "I'm sorry." she said into my neck.
"Never be sorry." I told her.
"I'm so pathetic. In love with two men." I tightened my arm around her.
"Not pathetic, Babe." And someday, she would choose. She nuzzled my neck, trying to get closer. I rested my chin against her head, savoring the feel of her in my arms. I loved feeling her in my arms.
"You could have died." She said again. "You could have died, and never known I loved you."
"I knew." I felt her stiffen at my words, and she pushed back to look at me again. Her eyes shone like liquid cristal, and I carefully moved my arm to brush the tears from her cheeks.
"You were going to sacrifice yourself for me. And Julie. You knew you were going to get shot." She accused. "Don't EVER do that again."
I realized then, how serious she was. She couldn't bear to lose me. But that goes both ways. My life would be empty without her. I focused my thoughts back to her demand.
"Babe. It's what I do."