“Peach cobbler?” Suddenly, Lucy appeared out of nowhere in front of her. She was holding a dish wrapped in aluminum foil, a big smile on her face.
“What?”
“Peach cobbler. You love it, right? I made it for your dinner with Dawson. You take it to him?”
Julie laughed under her breath, her adrenaline still pumping like she’d been chasing a lion. “Of course. Thank you, Lucy. Good to see you.”
As Lucy made her way back into the house, Julie tried to catch her breath. All of that courage and bravery she’d just mustered had escaped and she was left with a pounding heart and boatloads of stress hormones coursing through her veins. As much as she loved Lucy, she wanted to pinch her hard right about now.
“Oh, you’re here,” Dawson said, a broad smile on his face. Why was he so good looking? It made it very hard to concentrate sometimes, especially when the setting sun was casting orange and yellow light on his stubbled jawline.
“Lucy gave me this,” she said, handing it to him. He set it on the picnic table behind him and then pulled her into a tight embrace. Okay, this was a good sign. He wouldn’t hug her like that if he was dumping her, right? Or maybe it was a long goodbye hug to last her the rest of her life?
As Dawson held her in his arms, he didn’t want to let go. What if she said no to his proposal? What if she laughed? What if she said he had to choose between her and Dylan?
Finally, he pulled back and looked down at her. She was so beautiful, especially in the streaking lights of a lowcountry sunset. “Ready to eat?”
“Sure,” she said, seeming a little nervous. Maybe she was trying to figure out how to let him down easy, tell him if he adopted a kid she was moving on with her life.
“Lucy made brisket today, so I hope that’s okay?”
“I love her brisket. And her baked beans. That woman is a whiz in the kitchen, huh?”
Was her voice shaking? Something was different, but he couldn’t put his finger on it.
“I hear y’all are planning a surprise wedding reception for Dixie and Harry this Sunday?”
She stared at him. “Please tell me Janine asked if we can have it here?”
He laughed. “She did. Lucy is all prepared to help out. Of course, I’ll do whatever y’all need me to do.”
“We’ll need the arbor pulled down to the beach. I thought it’d be a nice touch to have them renew their vows in front of the water with Reverend Lumpkin.”
“That sounds great,” Dawson said, unable to take in her words as he tried to formulate what he wanted to say. He passed the bowl of baked beans to her.
“So, you said you wanted to talk to me about something?”
Crud. He wasn’t ready yet. He needed more time to not sound like a moron when he asked her. He had to stall.
“Well, I wanted to talk to you more about Dylan.”
“Dawson, I already told you that I think you adopting him would be a great idea.”
“I know. But, I guess I’m wondering where that would leave us?”
There was a long pause. Longer than he liked or anticipated. “I love you. That’s all that matters, right?”
Not what he wanted to hear. That was a non-answer. Maybe he should just abort this mission and be okay with single dad-hood and long-term dating.
No. It was time to go for broke. Put it all out there. Lay it on the line…
“Julie, I…”
“You forgot the sweet tea!” Lucy suddenly called out from the side door. Dawson felt like he might have a heart attack.
That darn Lucy! She had the world’s worst timing. Just when Julie thought she was brave enough to say the words… to ask the question… Lucy had yelled out the door and scared them both to death.
Dawson put the tea on the table and let out a breath. “She scared me.”
“Me too.”
“Listen, do you want to take a walk on the beach before the sun finishes setting? The food is hot, so we can come right back.”
“Sure. I’m not sure I can eat right now anyway. She startled me,” Julie said, laughing. The truth was, her stomach was churning like a million butterflies were in there having a keg party.
He took her hand and led her onto the fluffy sand. As they got closer to the water, it was more packed and easier to walk. She could smell that salty sea air, and it started to calm her in the way it always did. Being with Dawson by the ocean was her favorite place to be.
“I visited with William today. Sounds like his fishing charter business is going really well,” Dawson said.
“Yeah, Janine said he's really happy. I'm always happy for people when they find happiness.” What kind of a stupid sentence was that? How many times had she just said happy?
They walked a bit without speaking, and Julie tried to summon the courage to just ask the question. Finally, they stopped, the sun starting to disappear behind the horizon. Dawson turned around and held both of her hands.
“I need to talk to you about something else.”
She took a deep breath and blew it out. “I know. But before you do that…”
“I just can't keep going on like this…” he said at the same time.
“But I just need to say…”
“If you'll just let me speak for a minute…” he said.
“Will you marry me?”
“Will you marry me?”
Wait. What had just happened? Had they both just asked each other to get married at the same time? They stood there for a moment, staring at each other, both of their mouths hanging open. It was like time was standing still and they were both frozen. She wondered if she was still alive.
“Did that just really happen?” she asked, her heart pounding in her chest.
“I think so. Did you just propose to me?”
“I did. Did you just propose to me?” she asked, smiling.
He laughed. “I did.”
“Oh my gosh. We just proposed to each other at the same time?”
“That seems to be the case. I never expected you to propose to me.”
“And I was afraid you would never ask me, so I decided to take the bull by the horns at Dixie's urging.”
“Yeah, I kind of got the same speech from William today.”
Again, they just stood there staring at each other for a moment. “So does that mean you felt pressured to ask me?”
He ran his thumb down her cheek. “Absolutely not. I've been wanting to ask you almost since the moment we met. But I knew you weren't ready after the whole fiasco with he who shall not be named.”
“Yes, let's not name him.”
“Did you feel pressured by Dixie?”
“No. She encouraged me to do what I already wanted to do. I have known for months that I wanted you to be my husband one day.”
“I have to ask. What about Dylan?”
“What about him?”
“I mean, if we get married and I adopt him, you would be his mother.”
“You can't adopt him, Dawson.”
He looked at her, his face falling. “What? So if we get married, Dylan can't be…”
She put her hand on his chest. “Relax. I just meant that you can't adopt him alone. I think we should do it together if we're both going to be his parents.”