Page 73 of Adrift

Kieran giggles, and to be honest, that noise alone makes it easier to endure everyone’s gaze turning to me as Berty talks about the pleasure of seeing the orchard finally restored to its former glory.

The round of applause is still pretty painful, but then Berty hands me the microphone and steps away to pick up a couple of shovels.

I draw a quick breath of air and get started, before I can second-guess anything.

No more second-guessing. It’s way too late for that.

“Folks—all of you here, and boy, there’s a lot of you—thank you for coming out today. It really means a lot to me and my whole family.” I clear my throat, and then I put my hand on Kieran’s shoulder. “And to Kieran Walsh.”

Kieran waves as a few people applaud—my family included.

“You might recognise him from all the posters about the festival. But for those of you who don’t know him, he’s the reason we’re all here today. Me more so than anyone.”

A few people whoop and holler, and Kieran bows and curtsies at almost the same time, which gets a laugh.

What do I say now? Do I do it? Do I tell them who he is to me…?

I freeze up for a moment, but Kieran’s there to lean into the mic. “I just helped here and there. Gage did all the hard parts,” he says, winking up at me. “Especially the manual labour. These hands arefartoo soft for that.”

The crowd laughs again, and I grin slowly back at him. He barely has to say a word and he’s got the crowd in the palm of his hand. That’s the Kieran I know and love. And it makes it a lot easier to be the Gage he deserves.

As much as I hate the spotlight… Kieran was made to be in the sun.

I swallow hard, my fingers closing around the smooth, simple ring in my pocket. I wrap it up in my fingers and draw my hand out of my pocket, holding it behind my back.

The crowd goes quiet suddenly. Everyone can sense that something is happening—everyone but Kieran, that is.

“And now that I’ve found you,” I tell Kieran, my voice a little bit shaky, “I don’t want to imagine a life without you in it.”

He beams back at me so encouragingly, and I can’t help grinning at how charmingly oblivious he is so far.

“I didn’t think that chasing the past would lead me to my future,” I tell him simply. “But then I realised that I get the best of both worlds whenever I’m right here in the present with you.”

Kieran’s smile is slowly fading. His brow furrows, like he’s starting to realise something doesn’t soundquitelike a tree-planting speech.

So I drop to one knee, right here in the dirt, and open up my palm to carefully show him the carved wood ring.

The crowd gasps and leans in, and I grin sheepishly up at him. “I hope apple wood’s all right. It’s from this orchard, of course.”

And it’s a lot smoother than it was last night… just like us.

I stayed up pretty much all night to finish it and risked most of my fingers in the process. It was worth it to render Kieran completely speechless for a good five seconds, which has to be a record.

“Gage…” Kieran whispers, blinking down at me as both his hands rise to cover his mouth.

I clear my throat hastily as I remember the whole point of this. This time, I’m going to do it right and ask him—the way he deserves.

“Would you marry me, Kieran Walsh?”

Kieran starts jumping up and down and screaming into his palms as the crowd bursts out laughing and applauding.

“Yes yes yes yes yes…!”

Kieran flings himself at me—practically leaping on me, almost knocking us both right into the hole for the apple tree.

“Oof!” I grunt, catching him with one arm as I clutch the ring for dear life with the other. The last thing I want is a neighbourhood-wide scavenger hunt for a little piece of wood in an orchard.

“Yes,” Kieran breathes out one more time, pulling back to gaze at me with shining, wet eyes.

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