Page 105 of Reclaim Me

He pulls me into him, kissing me on the cheek. “Well, I have one more surprise for you.”

Every time Aaron has proposed to me, he’s gotten this look. It’s a confusing mix of determination and fear that makes his eyes wild, but his features still in the most disconcerting way. He’s got that look tonight, and as he leads me away from the elevator back toward the dining area, I glance back at Dee and Jayla to see if they know what we’re about to walk into. They both shrug and shake their heads, and I don’t know whether to feel relieved that Aaron hasn’t mentioned proposing to them or freaked the fuck out that he’s playing things close to the vest.

“SURPRISE!” The collective shout—which comes from a group of people that are mostly strangers to me—erupts as soon as we round the corner, and I jolt, placing my hand over my heart as I force myself not to scream.

“Oh!” I’m partly relieved to see so many people because Aaron has never proposed to me in public before, but I’m still on high alert because of that tell-tale expression. He’s got it turned in my direction right now, only it’s obscured by a smile as he gestures at the crowd of people gathered around one long, candle-lit table with a wide sweep of his arm.

“Do you like it?” He asks, searching my face. “It’s a surprise party. Everyone came out to celebrate you.”

“I love it,” I whisper, willing the words to be true.

Aaron grins at me. “I knew you would! Come on, let me introduce you to everyone.”

Using our linked hands, he drags me away from Dee and Jayla and into the sea of unfamiliar faces that are mostly his co-workers or old friends. Everyone, including his previously bitchy assistant, Eden, wishes me a happy birthday and tells me how beautiful I look tonight. The friendliness and generally positive vibes make me feel better about spending the last few hours of my birthday with these people. I tell Aaron as much after dinner when he’s holding me close and spinning me around the small space in front of the table that’s been designated as a dance floor.

“I wasn’t sure if you were going to like it,” he says. “I know you don’t know them all that well, but I thought it was about time that both of my worlds collided, especially since I’m about to start working on a significant merger.”

My brow furrows. “A merger? What kind of merger?”

Aaron pulls back, and my heart swan dives into my stomach as he sinks down to one knee. I cover my mouth with both my hands, aware that everyone in the crowd is now looking at us, and a few of them have their phones out.

“What are you doing?” I ask him, watching as he pulls a ring box out of his pocket. He doesn’t answer my question, but I don’t need him to because now he’s opening the box, revealing a large diamond set in a platinum band.

I never wear silver.

That’s the first thing I think when Aaron opens the box. The next thing I think is, ‘Oh no,’ because Aaron’s lips are moving, but I’m not listening. I can’t listen because my blood is roaring in my ears, and my heart is in my throat, and my knees feel weak.

This is good, right? This is how it’s supposed to feel when someone is proposing to you, and you actually want to marry them. This is the feeling I was waiting for that I didn’t have all those other times. Right? RIGHT?!

“….more than anything in this world,” Aaron says. “We’ve had our share of ups and downs over the last three months, and we’ve both made mistakes.” The emphasis he places on the word makes me sick to my stomach. “But I think the thing that’s carried us through is the knowledge that at the end of the day, we were made for each other…”

Several of the women in the audience let out breathy sighs, but I can’t draw in a single breath. My chest is tight, and there are black spots floating in my field of vision as Aaron looks up at me expectantly. And I don’t realize that I’ve done or said anything, let alone yes, until the crowd erupts in applause, and Aaron is sliding the ring onto my finger.

He drops the box, and I watch it get kicked away by the toe of his shoe when he pushes to his feet and picks me up, spinning me around in circles while everyone cheers and whoops, shouting their congratulations. Aaron sets me back on my feet, and the crowd descends on us. I’m inundated with requests to see the ring, which I grant because I don’t know what else to do. By the time I’ve finished playing the role of a hand model, Aaron has his phone out, grinning as he types out a message to someone.

I shake my head at him. “We’ve been engaged for five minutes, and you’re already giving all of your attention to your phone.”

The word ‘engaged’ feels all wrong in my mouth, but I tell myself that I’ll get used to it, that I’ll have to because I’ve said yes, and I only would have done that if I was ready to take the next step with Aaron.

“Relax, babe,” he says, turning the phone to show me what he was doing. “I was just sending the video Eden took of the proposal to my mom. She’s already shown it to Riley. She’s so psyched about being a flower girl. You don’t think Hunter will mind letting us have her the weekend of the wedding, do you?”

The moment Aaron speaks Hunter’s name, my world stops, and a sharp and incessant pain cuts a jagged line through my chest. I place my hand over my heart, and my ribs buckle under the weight of Aaron’s ring.

“Babe?” Aaron asks, confusion etching itself into his features as he watches me back away from him. “What’s wrong?”

I don’t answer him. I can’t. I just turn and run to find Dee. She’s in the corner with Jayla, and both of them look at me like I’m crazy when I stop short in front of them.

“I need your keys,” I tell Dee.

“For what?”

“I don’t have time to explain. Just give me your keys, Dee, please.”

She looks like she wants to ask me all kinds of questions, but she doesn’t. She just digs in her purse and puts the keys in my hand, letting me go without another word, even though I can feel her and Jayla’s eyes on my back as I go. I manage to avoid Aaron on my way to the elevator, and by some strange twist of fate, it’s empty and waiting when I press the call button. But I’m still impatient as I wait for it to take me down to the ground floor, as I search the parking garage for Dee’s car, as I speed across town to Hunter’s gym.

I spend the entire drive over alternating between a prayer that Riley hasn’t already called her dad and broken the news to him and a speech meant to convey my intentions to follow through with an engagement I don’t even remember agreeing to, but when I burst through the door of his office, finding him sitting at his desk doing paperwork that he immediately sets aside for me, I can’t remember the lines of my speech or the reason for my prayer.

All I see is him.

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