Her nostrils flared, and the muscles in her jaw flickered. “I don’t ever want to say good-bye either.”
“I knew I loved you when we slow danced at prom. I knew that I never stopped loving you when all I did was wonder when our paths would cross. I knew that I was in love with you when you told me you got the internship, and my response was being a crying mess. I was so incredibly happy.”
“Me too, babe. Me too.”
“You were there for me during the lowest point of my life, when I was terrified of the future because I had no idea what it would look like. I had no idea what my purpose was. But now I’m not terrified of the future if it means you’re in it. I want to be with you for the rest of my life, Ken. You’ve been on my mind constantly and consistently since high school.”
Another cry slipped out of her. She retrieved her hands to cover her mouth again, probably attempting to mute the rest of the sobs blubbering in her throat. It allowed me to reach into my pocket and snatch that velvet box that had been poking me in the butt cheek this whole time. I let out one last heavy breath before holding it in front of my stomach.
I gulped at the dryness in my mouth. God, I needed water.
When I opened the box, Kennedy’s stare grew at the sight of the blue topaz surrounded by little diamonds on the platinum band. “Oh my God,” she said through an airy exhale and rested both of her hands on her stomach.
“You remember this ring?” I asked. But she couldn’t even speak. Seeing the glaze in her eyes caused mine to water too.
“Quinn…” she said in her quivering voice.
“Kennedy,” I began but my stupid throat started closing up because I couldn’t hold it in anymore. It was like our whole relationship flashed through my mind, and I saw the Kennedy Reed who was my childhood best friend in a fishtail braid and a crooked kid smile, asking to color with Liam and me on our driveway, to the Kennedy Reed in high school who was so beautiful I had to train myself not to look at her in the hallways, to the Kennedy Reed she was now, standing in front of me seconds before I asked her to be my wife. Right as those words were on the tip of my tongue, my blink cut the tears running down my face. “Damn it.” I wiped my face, and she let out a nervous laugh.
After a staggered exhale, I decided to go for it. “Kennedy, I’m so in love with you. I’ll be in love with you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”
“Oh my God,” she said and let out the cry I could tell was hanging in her throat. “Quinn…”
“That’s not an answer.”
“Yes, God, yes!”
A wet blubber escaped me when I heard the words that made it official. “Do you promise?” I asked, crying harder because she’d said yes, and I wanted to make sure I heard it correctly because if I did, I was going to be the luckiest woman in the world.
Kennedy let out a giggle and cupped my damp face. I looked into her beautiful watery eyes that still glistened from the patio lights. “Do I promise to marry you? Yes, I promise.”
She pulled me in for a kiss, and I wrapped my arms around her neck so I could kiss her back before I needed to give her the ring.
Once I made our engagement official, I took my first look at that gem on her ring finger, smiled, and noticed her smile had grown even wider, if that was possible.
“It’s…I…I loved that ring, this ring,” she said.
“I know. You said you always wanted another blue topaz. Now you have one forever.”
“I can’t believe you remembered.”
“Of course I remembered. I remember everything about that day. I didn’t want it to end.”
“But it was so exp—”
I pressed my finger against her lips to shut her up. “You deserve this ring. Just please don’t lose it,” I said with a laugh and freed her lips.
“I love it, Quinn. So much. And you. I love you more.”
She clasped my face and reeled me back in. We wasted no time celebrating our engagement with another kiss.
Kennedy Reed was my fiancée, and the rush of warmth in my chest never felt so fucking good.
“Ah!” Liam screamed behind us, ruining the moment as he always did and promising to ruin many more moments in our future.
I’d gotten so wrapped up in the moment, I’d completely forgotten our families in the living room, witnessing it all unfold, including the intimate celebratory make-out. I shuddered despite the fluttering in my stomach.
They poured out the back door. Both of our moms cried as hard as we did, their eyes almost unrecognizable underneath their tears. Liam bulldozed into me and picked me up to twirl me around and then did the same to Kennedy. There was a lot of hugging, crying, and smiling. My dad held Kennedy’s yellow Polaroid camera and snapped a candid picture and then wiggled it around impatiently to see how his first shot turned out. Everyone applauded Jacob for his superb acting. The dads grilled steaks and burgers. Everyone drank lots of champagne. Liam took another Polaroid of Kennedy sitting on my lap while flaunting the ring.
“Ah, so basic,” Liam said when he handed us the picture. “Perfect for the Gram.”
The new pictures added to the collection I’d used for the proposal. Our families passed them around and beamed at the memories.
We ate a delicious barbecue on the back patio. Laughed, cried, and drank more champagne. I guess the parents had really stocked the fridge. Good thing Kennedy said yes, or that would have been really awkward.
As the day flickered into night, Dad fixed up the fire pit, and I cozied into the chair with a beer in hand. Kennedy came over with a fresh glass of something red, probably a Petit Verdot. She slung one arm around my neck and took a sip.
“So I’m thinking a fall wedding,” Kennedy said. “Here in Aspen Grove. The leaves changing colors in our pictures. Burgundy and navy blue for our colors. Oh, and we can use all of our pictures as centerpieces.” She pointed to the pictures on the table next to me.
“You already have a Pinterest wedding board up, don’t you?”
She grinned. “I’ve had one since I moved in with you.”
“That’s disgusting.”
She tickled my side. “Don’t ruin our engagement night by being a jerk.”
“You’re going to have to deal with that for the rest of your life. You’ve already come this far.”
“Yeah, and I think I might have said yes too soon.”
“Don’t even joke. My nerves are still going.”
“Aw, babe, really?”
“I wanted to vomit all day. I still feel like you’re going to say ‘just joking.’”
She kissed my cheek. “I’m not taking my yes back. It was the most perfect day and the most perfect proposal.”
“Was it really?” I asked. She responded with a nod and nudged my forehead with hers. “When did you know you weren’t going to the grocery store?”
“When I found Honey Bear chilling out under that mailbox, I was like ‘what the fuck is going on?’ But it probably wasn’t until I got to my old house when I started really wondering if this was some kind of scheme. I had no idea, Quinn. We’ve only really talked about it a handful of times.”
“I know, that was the point. You know I bought the ring like a month after you moved?”