Billie hops toward me on one foot, her voice bouncing as she proclaims how she’s eleven and doesn’t need to be babysat no more. I bend to pick up her lost shoe, letting out a long sigh. Roy sighs too. But Roy also looks like a puppy that’s been kicked.
“Will the surprise take long?” I ask him. “Buster doesn’t need to be at work for another two hours.”
“Actually an hour,” my brother says. “But Roy here probably only needs a few minutes, tops.” He winks, and Roy playfully charges him.
My cheeks flush, and not ’cause Roy and I have done that. Roy hasn’t even looked at me in a way that would lead to that.
“Let’s go.” I bounce on my toes and push Roy down the dirt-packed street, then realize I don’t know where I’m going and let Roy lead. Buster’s laugher trails us.
We go over one block, passing my house, nestled between the cemetery and the library. An old picket fence that Ma’s been harping on my brother to paint for ages stretches ’cross the front.
Cement City is barely more than an intersection, and there ain’t much farther to go; just the cement plant, a few farms, and the river. Then there are the railroad tracks, separating us from Dallas.
I glance up at Roy, confused, when we stop at a home just past the library.
He motions toward the house, his sweaty hand taking mine with his. He swallows, his Adam’s apple bobbing.
“What is it?” I ask him. “Why’re we here?”
“My father said they are going to tear down this old shack.”
With its crooked shutters, chipped paint, caved-in roof, I can understand why. No one’s lived here for years, and Ma doesn’t go a day without complaining ’bout its drab looks and how it’s bad for our little town.
I nod in agreement.
“But,” he says, “I’ve been squirreling away my pennies, and I’ve enough to save her.”
A cool heat rushes me, but I’m not sure how that’s possible. I wipe a strand of hair from my face. “You’re buying this here house?”
“I am,” he says, his Adam’s apple bouncing again. “For you and me. Our house.” Roy keeps talking before I can get a word—or thought—in. “Bonnelyn…” He trails off, digs into his pocket. “Here’s another one for your jar.”
My eyes light up, recognizing one of Roy’s infamous black-and-white doodles.
It’s our church.
It’s Roy.
It’s me, in a puffy dress.
I look up from the doodle. It’s Roy no longer standing in front of me but down on one knee.
“Bonnelyn Elizabeth Parker,” he says, “I’m fixin’ to take you down the middle aisle.”
I knit my brows. “Are you proposing?”
“Well I ain’t down here to tie my shoe.”
I’d laugh, but I’m stunned. Marriage? With Roy? I swallow and stare at the drawing, his lovely, heartfelt drawing.
Sure, marrying Roy has always been in the cards. But … I’m not sure I’m ready yet. Some people wait ’til their twenties to get married, in today’s day and age, giving ’em plenty of time to make their own mark.
Roy taps the underside of my chin, forcing my gaze away from his doodle and down to him.
“I … um … I’m flattered Roy. I am. But we’re only seventeen—”
“Not now.” He stands slowly and palms my cheek that’s probably as flushed as his own. “We’ve got some growing up to do first. I know you got dreams for yourself.”
I sigh, in a good way. Hearing him acknowledge my goals relaxes me. Those jitterbugs change a smidge to butterflies. “You really want to marry me?”
“I do, Bonn.” Roy leans down, quite the feat to my five-foot-nothin’ height, and presses his lips lightly to mine. “When we’re good and ready. You tell me when, and that’ll be it. We’ll create a life together. How does that sound?”
I smile, even while my chest rises from a shaky breath. I curse my nerves for dulling my excitement. My boyfriend declaring he’s ready to build a life with me shouldn’t give me the heebie-jeebies. It doesn’t, I decide.
“We’ll finish school,” Roy says.
I force my smile wider.
“I’ll get a good-paying job as a reporter,” he goes on. “You can become a teacher, like you’ve always wanted. You can lead the drama club, be onstage, do pageants with our little girls.”
Now my grin is genuine. “We’re going to have little girls?”
“Of course. A little fella, too. ’Til then, I’ll fix this house up. She’ll be spiffy when I’m done with her, white picket fence and everything.”
“You think?”
“I know it.” He dips to my eye level. “You’re happy, right?”
Am I happy? I roll those five letters ’round my head. Yes, I’ve been stuck on Roy for ages. He made me happy when we were seven and he picked me dandelions, when we were ten and he stopped Buster from making me kiss a frog, when we were thirteen and he patched up my knee after I fell off my bike. The memories keep on coming, and I don’t want that happiness to stop. His proposal caught me off guard, that’s all. But, yes, we’ll make something of ourselves, and we’ll do it together.
I lean onto my tiptoes and peck his lips with a kiss. “Roy Thornton, I’d be honored to be your wife one day.”
He hoots, swooping his arms under me. Before I know it, I’m cradled against his chest, and we’re swinging in a circle.
I scream, but it’s playful. “You better not drop me, you clumsy fool.”
He answers me with a kiss on the side of my head, and then another and another, as he carries me toward my ma’s house.
Freeze, I think. I don’t want the secure way he holds me, the way the air catches my skirt, the hope for what’s to come, to stop, ever.
ALSO BY JENNI L. WALSH
Becoming Bonnie
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
JENNI L. WALSH has spent the past decade enticing readers as an award-winning advertising copywriter. Her passion lies in transporting readers to another world, be it in historical or contemporary settings. She is a proud graduate of Villanova University and lives in the Philly ’burbs with her husband, daughter, son, and newfypoo. You can sign up for email updates here.
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CONTENTS
Title Page
Copyright Notice
Part One: Bonnie Parker
Chapter 1
Chapter 2
Chapter 4
Chapter 5
Chapter 6
Chapter 7
Chapter 8
Chapter 9
Chapter 10
Chapter 11
Part Two: The Barrow Gang
Chapter 12
Chapter 13
Chapter 14
Chapter 15
Chapter 16
Chapter 17
Chapter 18
Chapter 19
Chapter 20
Chapter 21
Chapter 22
Chapter 23
Part Three: Bonnie and Clyde
Chapter 24
Chapter 25
Chapter 26
Chapter 27
Chapter 28
Chapter 29
Chapter 30
Chapter 31
Chapter 32
Chapter 33
Chapter 34
Chapter 35
Author’s Note
Excerpt: Becoming Bonnie
Also by Jenni L. Walsh
About the Author
Copyright
This is a work of fiction. All of the characters, organizations, and events portrayed in this novel are either products of the
author’s imagination or are used fictitiously.
SIDE BY SIDE
Copyright © 2018 by Jennifer Leigh Walsh
All rights reserved.
Cover photograph by Buffy Cooper
A Forge Book
Published by Tom Doherty Associates
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Forge® is a registered trademark of Macmillan Publishing Group, LLC.
The Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data is available upon request.
ISBN 978-0-7653-9845-1 (hardcover)
ISBN 978-0-7653-9846-8 (ebook)
eISBN 9780765398468
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First Edition: June 2018