Page 116 of Pieces of Us

‘Give him a break. Not like either of us has great experience,’ Dad says, going in to bat for me.

‘You’re right. Go ahead, Linc.’

Placing my tumbler down on the table next to me, I lean forward and look at Uncle Mark dead in his eyes. I definitely don’t need alcohol to be with his daughter.

‘I want to ask Amity to marry me.’

‘Why?’ What the fuck? He knows why. Do I have to spell it out for him? Apparently so.

‘Because I am deeply in love with her. I’ve loved her from the moment we met at daycare, and there isn’t a day that my soul hasn’t burned for her. She is my heart. I promise you, on my life, on the life of your future grandkids, no one will cherish her more than me. She’s everything I want in a friend, a wife and a mother. She’s always been the other half of me, even when I was too young and dumb to see it. Please let me marry her,’ I plead.

At some point, Dad’s clutched onto my shoulder, and I’m taking it as a good sign that Uncle Mark’s eyes are glistening, which I don’t think is from the whisky.

‘Come here,’ Uncle Mark pulls me from the cushion into a hug. ‘You’ve always been like a son to me. There’s no one else she has ever belonged to.’ He pats my back over.

‘Proud of you, son. You two belong together. She’s already my daughter in every sense of the word, but making it official makes me so damn happy. Do you have a ring?’ Dad asks as he steals me away from Uncle Mark to give me his own hug.

‘Yeah. Want to see?’ I start flicking through a secret folder in my phone. I chose a four carat oval cut that sits on a thin band encrusted with diamond paves. I hope like hell her tastes haven’t changed over the years, because that’s the one she said she wanted way back when we were fourteen, when she saw some celebrity wearing it. She then became obsessed with buying fake ones and wearing them as fashion jewellery. I could have asked Crystal, Lily, Jas or Ella, but knowing them they’d spill the beans to Amity, and I want this to be out of the blue. She’s had enough surprises for a lifetime—and not many good ones—so I need to make this the most memorable and special, since this will be the first ‘first’ we share together.

‘Phwoar, that thing is going to way her hand down,’ Dad said. ‘Good job.’

‘Only the best for my girl,’ Uncle Mark said, whistling.

‘When are you going to do it?’

‘In a couple of days. We’re having a low key New Year, which is a big deal, because she’s always off somewhere. I told her I booked us an Airbnb, which I did, but I’m going to intentionally get lost and blame it on the navigator. Where I’m taking her is the land I bought for our new home. Thought New Year. New home. New fiancé—hopefully—and new beginnings.’

‘She’ll love it. She might lead a life in front of the world, but you know better than anyone how notoriously private she is,’ Uncle Mark says.

Do I ever. She is currently suing one of the media outlets for posting intimate pictures of us online. Thank fuck we weren’t naked, but anyone could hazard a guess that it was headed in that direction with her straddling my lap. I don’t even know how they spotted us. Jag loaned us his boat and we were somewhere in the Mediterranean Sea. Fortunately for Amity, it didn’t affect her sponsors and seemed to bolster her popularity, but even in the midst of chaos, I was the one she was worried about—and her Dad. She said she didn’t want me getting unwanted attention or harassed. She was mortified that Uncle Mark saw her in that position, as any sane daughter would be if they were caught by their parents.

‘I know,’ I chuckle.

A series of thuds hit the door. ‘Come on or you won’t get any pie,’ Amity threatens. That’s enough for the three of us to clamour to the door.

‘Linc, sweetie, baby, cookie, honey. I think you’re lost,’ Amity teases.

I fake furrow my brow in confusion over where the navigator seems to be taking us. We’ve a leisurely afternoon of fucking and packing for our mini staycation. It’s just the distraction I need to calm my nervous energy. I know that tonight will go as planned, but it’s still stressful as fuck, making it perfect.

‘It says a few more minutes,’ I shrug, taking her hand in mine and kissing it. It’s taking a few more minutes because the company I hired to set everything up were running late as was the photographer so I had to stall. Dad texted about ten minutes ago with a code message telling me that it was good to loop back around and head in the right direction again.

‘Okayyyy.’ She extends the word, like she doesn’t believe me.

As I give her a ‘just trust me’ look I’m breathless at how perfect she is. I have to pinch myself every day to remind myself what a lucky son of a cunt I am that she’s mine. Her hair looks like she’s just been fucked, or at the beach all day. It’s wavy and has a bounce and gloss to it that I swear other women would pay hundreds for in the salon. Even though we’re staying in, she still needs to shoot a reel or a fake reel when midnight comes around, so she’s wearing shimmery eye shadow that accentuates her forest green eyes. Her lashes are thick and long but not drag-queen long, and her pouty mouth is covered in a light pink. She said she’ll do a quick outfit change before she presses record, but right now she’s in a light pink sundress that brings out her golden tan. It’s a babydoll dress I’m told—whatever that means—but if it has anything to do with looking like a barbie doll, I’d say she’s nailed it. Deciding to not do the douchey thing and match her, I’m in jeans and a button up white shirt.

It’s funny because as we draw closer to the engagement site—AKA where our home will be built—all my nerves start to dissipate. My heart’s thump is steadily paced out now, and I don’t feel any wetness coating the areas of my body where sweat usually would. I feel like it’s one more step to our forever.

In the distance, I see glares of flames. It’s like fireflies are dotting the skies from where we are, but I know better. I know that as we get closer an outline of our home will be drawn with hundreds of candles—just like Derek did for Meredith when he proposed.

I’m grateful that Amity is looking at her phone. She’s entranced as I pull to a stop and open my door. I thank my lucky stars that she hasn’t looked up from her phone yet. She probably just thinks we’re here. As I walk to the passenger door, I silently but happily say goodbye to my single life forever. ‘Ready, Hart?’ I hold my breath as I take her hands in mine. She’s turned to the side, so she doesn’t even see out of her periphery the oranges and yellows.

When she stands fully, I bend down to kiss her. Our last kiss before she’s wearing my ring.

As I turn her, clasping her hand in mine, she gasps and stills. I have to say the set up is pretty as a picture. Not only do the hundreds and hundreds of candles light the open space, but the view is spectacular. As dusk sets in, it’s just light enough to see that we’re standing on the edge of a cliff, overlooking the sea.

‘W-what is this? Where are we?’ Her whisper is almost inaudible, as if she can’t believe what she’s seeing. I don’t even think it’s registered that this is all for her.

I gently push us further to the outline, leading us to the heart of our home. I haven’t let go of her hand the entire time, but I feel it start to shake as I wobble down on one knee and retrieve the ring box from my back pocket. She jerks both hands back, covering her mouth. Audible sobs slip from her lips as her eyes shed tears.

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