Page 61 of Forever Love-Reimagined

“All right. Let’s see what this surprise is. The anticipation is killing me!”

Haley took off, and I almost sprinted to catch up to her. She knew where the park was, but she had no idea where “our bench” was, so I wasn’t too concerned she’d find out before me, but I still didn’t want to risk it.

Once we got to the park, I took a left, and Haley followed close behind. We were almost out of breath, but it was worth it. When I came around the corner to our bench, I stopped dead in my tracks. I had to Heisman Haley to keep her back, and she ran right into my arm before she realized we were there.

The scene was heart-stopping, or more accurately, the opposite. My heart beat so incredibly fast that it could have stopped from overexertion.

Blake stood in front of the bench in the sexiest dress I’d ever seen. It was short and black, with a V that went to the middle of her stomach. Her hair was down and wild, the way I loved, and she beamed at me but then appeared shocked. I followed her eyes, and she was staring at Haley.

I realized this was a private moment, and it was time to say goodbye. “Hales, thank you so much for your help today, but I think I got it from here. Go home, and I’ll call you later.”

“What? I can’t see the surprise?”

I cocked my head, and she bowed out gracefully. She leaned in and hugged me. “You better call me ASAP. The anticipation is killing me!”

“Okay. Bye.”

Then I faced Blake again, and my heart was back in sprint mode. I walked toward her, trying to calm my nerves, but I never once took my gaze off her. I was totally, irrevocably hers, and I was going to tell her.

Chapter Thirty

Blake - Monday

Oh my God. What was Haley doing here? I couldn’t do this. Not in front of her. What if Leia said no? I had to abort this plan now! This was a bad idea.

But then I saw Leia striding toward me with a purposeful look on her face, and my excitement kicked into high gear. When we locked eyes, nothing was more right. This was where I was supposed to be and what I wanted to do.

“Hey,” she whispered in that husky voice of hers that made my insides liquefy.

“Hey, yourself. I see you solved the puzzle?”

“I did, but I wasn’t sure if this was going to be a good ending or not. I owe you an apology.” She smiled sadly, and I hated that she was holding on to those emotions.

“An apology for what? You didn’t do anything wrong. This was sort of my way of showing you I was sorry.”

She shook her head. “What did you do wrong? I didn’t let you in on what I was going through, and that was why I had been so quiet.”

“Because you were upset about the wedding stuff?” I probed, but she appeared confused.

“What wedding stuff?” Her response gave me pause.

“What were you talking about?”

“We can talk about my stuff later. Did you at least get my flowers?”

I was lost: “Her stuff,” “flowers.” None of that made sense to me.

“No. I was planning this, so I have been running around. But sit with me?” I laced my fingers with hers, and she brought my hand to her lips, kissing the back of it.

As we sat down, the comfort inside of me soared. Being with her in this place was like a never-ending dream, a perfect forever.

“You are so breathtaking,” she exhaled as she rested her forehead on mine. “I can’t believe how lucky I am to have found you.”

“Technically, I found you,” I teased, but I understood what she meant.

“This was the sweetest thing anyone has ever done for me. Since you didn’t get my gift, you wouldn’t realize I was planning on making you a nice dinner to make up for missing out yesterday.”

“You don’t need to make anything up to me. But I’m not going to say no to dinner if that’s still on the table. But I do have something I want to talk about first. If you don’t mind.”

---