Her mind and body were tired, but her heart felt full. Work was going great; she had already been promoted to a Marketing Associate I, a full six months early. She got her first dedicated client, and her supervisor had loved her campaign plan so far. She even got an email from her boss’s boss expressing what an asset she was to the team since she had volunteered for a special project.
She was slowly chipping away at the debt, and Jonathan was working on his too. They checked in every month to give updates to each other. Their goal was to both be paid off by the end of the next year so they could save for a house.
She had also started acquiring art supplies to start painting again in her free time. She had already started a piece and could spend hours lost in the paint and the brush strokes. It helped quiet the monkey brain. Jonathan would check on her, bringing her wine or a snack when she worked, letting her paint when she was in the zone. Addison and Zoey had even discussed doing another children’s book and trying to publish it.
She had started making friends. It helped she had no problem talking to strangers. When she started going to Jonathan’s gym, she became close with two women around her age, Natalie and Desi. Wine Wednesday had become a thing since they all worked in the same area in Scottsdale, and they were even planning a girls’ trip to Vegas, a cheap airfare away.
Life with Jonathan was uncomplicated and beautiful. A trip to the grocery store could be a raging good time. They were rewatching shows they’d watched separately, but now they were sharing together. He took her around Phoenix, visiting all the touristy places, but also the places only the locals would know about.
She loved him like crazy.
Zoey leaned against the headboard and held her coffee in her lap. “Are Caroline and Brady here yet?”
Jonathan shook his head. He kept staring at Zoey’s cup.
Caroline and Brady were visiting them for Thanksgiving as promised. They planned to fly back early Sunday morning. They’d had a relaxing Thanksgiving and served fajitas, a thing Zoey had wanted to do for a while. She wasn’t a big fan of most of the traditional sides and swore when she got to host, it would be Mexican food. They got drunk off of margaritas and sat on their patio, even going into the apartment complex’s pool a few times. It had finally started to cool off, but Zoey had adapted to the heat well. Caroline had said it was her favorite Thanksgiving yet. Supposedly, Aunt Lisa’s new boyfriend said the Earth was flat, and Caroline’s dad had given a forty-five-minute-long dissertation on why that wasn’t true.
Zoey sipped her iced coffee, and Jonathan still stared at her cup. “What?”
Jonathan looked up. “What?”
“You keep looking at my cup,” Zoey said. “Do you want some?”
“No, I drank mine in the car,” Jonathan said.
Zoey was so confused. Jonathan leaned next to her on the floor, his elbows propped on the bed. Zoey furrowed her brows as she sipped the coffee. She was halfway done when she noticed some black writing on the cup. She held it up to read it since it looked longer than Jonathan’s name or the drink order.
“What does this say here…? Will…you…marry...me?” Zoey asked. Her eyes bugged out of her face, and she turned to Jonathan, who was now on one knee holding up a sparking diamond in a vintage white gold setting.
“Zoey Elizabeth Benton, I’ve loved you for thirteen years, and I know we’ve only been at this again for three months, but I want you in my life forever and I want you to marry me and grow old with me and have babies with me…”
One tear slid down her cheek and she nodded her head and said, “Yes!” Jonathan put the ring on her left ring finger. Jonathan climbed into bed with her and burrowed his head into her boobs as she laughed.
She held her hand up with her fingers splayed to look at the ring. “Is this Grandma Edith’s ring?”
Jonathan nodded with a big grin. “My mom told me that night after we saw her at Garden Coffee that you were only one allowed to wear her ring. She burst into tears when I asked for it.”
“It’s perfect,” Zoey said. She took his face into her hands to kiss her fiancé.
“So, I lied. Caroline and Brady are here,” Jonathan said. They decided to stay in a hotel less than a mile from their apartment.
Zoey sat up in excitement. “I can’t wait to tell her.” Zoey exploded out of bed and raced out of the room. She heard her fiancé following behind her.
Fiancé. That word made her giddy.
Caroline sat at the counter in one of the high-top chairs, holding her own coffee in her hands. She smiled as Zoey attacked her with a big hug. Caroline petted her hair as they embraced.
“Let’s take a look at this fabled family heirloom,” Caroline said. “It’s gorgeous!”
“Thank you,” Zoey said. Brady came out of the bathroom with a hesitant smile, stalking toward the kitchen.
“It happened,” Caroline said.
“Oh, thank God,” Brady said, sitting down at another highchair at the ledge.
“So, does this mean we need a best man and a matron of honor?” Zoey asked.
“Absolutely,” Jonathan said. “Brady, will you be my best man?”
Brady walked around the island and hugged Jonathan with both arms. “I would be honored.”
“Caroline, will you be my matron of honor?”
“Of course,” Caroline said, hugging her again.
Zoey turned to Jonathan. “You’re not going to ask Dan to be in the wedding, are you?”
“Well…” Jonathan said.
“It’s already weird I was in a wedding with my three ex-boyfriends. Now I’m marrying one of them and the other two are the attendants? No way. NO WAY.”
“I mean, I really like him.”
“Dan is a crowd pleaser,” Brady said. “He got my ninety-six-year-old great-grandmother to dance at our wedding. He taught her the chicken dance.”
Brady slapped the counter. “I got it. Officiant.”
Caroline lifted her hands to her face. “It’s perfect.”
“No,” Zoey said, putting her hands out like she was a baseball umpire.
Brady faked a text to Dan asking if he was available, and Zoey pressed her hand to her forehead. Time to change the subject.
“Do you think Taylor would recant her ‘I will not be a bridesmaid’ rule to be in my wedding?” Zoey asked. Everyone shook their head.
“Oh, I have new gossip about Taylor,” Caroline said. “A new gym moved in next door to her studio, and she’s pissed at the owner. She called me ranting the other day.”
“How is that gossip?” Zoey asked. “Is he cute?”
“Oh totally,” Caroline said. Brady threw her a look with wide eyes, signaling for her to tread lightly. “He has this total Prince Harry vibe going on. Incredible shape and red hair. Supposedly, he went to Lillyvale, but no one I know who went there remembers him. Addison isn’t sure.”
Lillyvale High School was the more affluent high school in the north part of town. Hudson and Lillyvale had a deep rivalry, probably from being within a few miles of each other.
“Just watch, he’ll be her date at our wedding,” Jonathan said as he took a sip of coffee from a mug.
When no one laughed, Caroline said, “I smell a wager.”