Page 109 of Second Chance with Seth

“Hearing what he said got me thinking.”

“What about?”

“About how Aunt Clare made a family here. Because she did, didn’t she?”

Everly nods her head. “It always felt like that.”

“And you’ve carried it on.” She blushes, clearly embarrassed by my compliment. “You have, Everly. It’s easy to see how much you’ve done for Owen. He said he had no confidence when hecame here, and yet now he’s confident enough to put me in my place.”

“Me too,” she says, rolling her eyes.

“Really?”

“Yeah. He’s been defending you, telling me where I’ve gone wrong.”

“You haven’t.”

“Yes, I have… Owen was right about that. He wasn’t just saying it because he likes you. It’s the truth.”

“Well… he might not like me so much when I go to work downstairs, and he realizes I can’t operate the barista machine, and I don’t know which table is which.”

“Hmm… I can see I’ll have to give you some training.”

“That sounds exciting,” I say, flexing my hips into her again, which makes her giggle, although I stop her with a kiss. “Can I confess I was kinda hoping you’d go with the house in Maple Street?”

“You were?”

“Yes.”

“Then why didn’t you say so?”

“Because I wanted you to choose for yourself, and I could see the practicalities of the house in Cedar Street. It’s just that the one in Maple Street means we’ll get to see more of each other.”

“I know. We can…”

“We can work out the details later,” I say, interrupting her, because there are more important things to talk about now. “For the moment, I need you to make one more decision?”

“You do?”

“Yeah. I need you to decide whether you wanna get married before or after we move.”

She pulls away from me, then sits up, staring down into my eyes. “G—Get married?”

“Yeah.”

“Where did that come from? We weren’t thinking of getting married before, and just because…”

“I was. To be honest, I was more than thinking of it,” I say. “I was actively planning it.”

“You were?”

I nod my head and climb out of bed, going into the living room, where I retrieve my jacket from the back of the couch, bringing it into the bedroom with me.

“What are you doing?” Everly asks as I delve into the left-hand pocket, kicking the door closed behind me.

“Proving that I was planning this all along.”

“How?”

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