Page 108 of Came the Closest

“So, when you say nothing,” I say slowly, teasing, “you mean Colt and I are doing nothing?”

She glares at me.

I laugh and squish her cheeks between my palms. She looks deeply annoyed by the impulsive, sisterly gesture, but I pull her lips up into a smile before I clasp her hands.

“You know I’m insanely grateful that you’re in my life,” I say. “Right?”

She groans. “Chey, we both know I’m not good at mushy gushy stuff.”

“Good thing it’s never too late to learn,” I say cheerfully. I squeeze her fingers before I drop them. “Well, I guess we better go. I have plans to do nothing with Colton, you know.”

Indi rolls her eyes. And then, spontaneously, she hugs me. It’s discombobulated; I’m turned away from her and she doesn’t want the Rixo dress to fall, but the three second embrace means more to me than words ever could.

“Colton,” I hiss. I stop in my tracks—at least, I stop as much as I can, considering he doesn’t. “What are you doing?”

He glances over his shoulder. “What does it look like I’m doing?”

Considering we’re standing in the parking lot of the Balsam Falls Yacht Club, spying on Indi, Milo, and Grayson. When I tell him this, he laughs and turns to face me fully.

“Fini,” he says, a finger under my chin, “do you remember when you asked me to trust you a few weeks ago?”

I’m staring at his mouth, but I jerk my gaze upward and nod. “Yes, but—”

He silences me with a kiss and whispers, “This is where I need you to trust me.”

I want to question him further, but I do trust him. Wholly. Colton smiles and kisses me again slowly, savoringly. Gravel crunches beneath my sandals and his boat shoes when we resume walking, but we don’t go inside. Colton steers me to the cracked sidewalk that weaves around to the lakeside patio of the yacht club.

And then I truly do stop in my tracks. My hand lifts to cover my mouth, and Colton stops too.

I look between his crinkled eyes and the view. One of the moored sailboats, a blue one with a large white mainsail, has periwinkle ribbon strewn through its railings. A banner across its stern reads Happy Birthday! Hydrangea petals form a path down to the weathered white docks, and the boat bobs in shimmering blue water.

“But… Indi said she and Milo were…”

Colton winks at me. “From what my sister told me, she almost blew this surprise.”

“Um…” I blink. I look at the boat, and then it hits me. My eyes snap to his. “Colton, are we going on that boat?”

“We are.”

“But you don’t know how to, you know, drive it.”

Crinkles crease his smiling eyes. “Remember the agreement to trust me that we made, oh, about three minutes ago?”

“Well, yes, but—”

He lifts his brows. I bite my lip and let him lead me down to the dock. It’s so easy to ask for trust, but extending it takes significantly more effort.

Colton hops onto the sailboat first and turns back to me. I hike my skirt and reach for his hand, but Colton has other plans. He lifts me into the boat, hands on my waist, and waits until I’m steady on my feet. He leads me around the billowing sails to the bow of the boat, my hand in his.

He swiftly faces me, his back to the warm sun, and he lowers to one knee.

“Colton…” I whisper.

“From that very first day at the lake house, Cheyenne, I knew I wanted you in my life forever,” he says. His steady words are a contrast to the clamminess of his hand against mine. “That chance got away from me once, but I will never let that happen again. I want it all with you, Fini—I want cereal side by side in the mornings, and I want rainy nights folding towels, and I want to spend the rest of my summers at the lake house with you.”

He pauses, throat working. I reach out and brush a tear from his tanned, whiskered cheek. He inhales, turns his face to kiss my palm, and continues.

“But more than anything, sweetheart, I want to give you the love I said I couldn’t.” Tears fill his eyes, and his voice shakes. “I want to give you a family; the family you’ve wanted since you carried around your mama’s baby doll, telling everyone that Beatrice was your own baby. I know I wouldn’t change her diapers, but if we ever get to have our own children, I promise I will change theirs.”

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