She wished she understood swear words better because she wanted to say something really bad."Look," Mandy said urgently. "Jimmy offered $20 but Carl t...rned it down when he found out what Jimmy wanted him to do. Carl said the thought you were hot and didn't want money to hang out with you at the party. He's too shy to talk to you at school." Really?" Beth asked. "Did Carl really say that or are you just trying to make me feel good?" He really said that," Mandy reassured Beth. "I decided I had to. "He started the watch, and we watched it, for six seconds, before he called three, two, one, go. We both were about one seventy, so it was an even match even though I was up to six-foot one inch since moving in. I fell in to a rhythm that was a tick faster than Bob's, but I could tell that I had more power in my pulls. He called out at the first five hundred split. I looked down, and saw that I was pulling away."Sorry, but I didn't know that I needed to tell you at each split, but you better. For the only time in my life, I fell in love. When the bus knocked me down and you appeared, God finally answered my prayers and brought you to me.“I love you so much. Can you love me enough to be my wife ... forever?”Abby looked stunned. It was almost as if she were too stunned to react when I reaffirmed my commitment to marry her. I watched her face reflect the thing going on in her head. It was easy to understand how much difficulty she could be having since it was just a few days ago that. " Then I'll propose it to Bronwyn. She gets final approval."The meeting broke up, and everyone left the room. As Joe walked towards the exit portal, he heard Lara say, "Joe?"He turned to her. "Yes?" You must've seen the records of that vote by now. You must know I didn't vote for it." But you didn't vote against it either. You abstained, and ultimately that wound up being the same thing."Tears came to her eyes. "Please, Joe. I realize what I did was wrong, can't you ever forgive me?" Joe.