Page 164 of Square Deal

“I think they like it.” I giggled as the swans swarmed the boat in a sea of white feathers.

Isaac sprinkled the feed into the water on his end of the boat and then wiped his hands clean.

“Oh!” I squeaked as a swan stretched its neck out and pecked at the bag in my lap. A few of the pellets spilled out into my dress. My attempt to scoop them back into the bagthoroughlydispleased the bird.

He hovered over the water and billowed out his broad wings as he zeroed in on me.

“Hannah!” Isaac shouted as I jumped up, spilling the feed all over the boat. It was a siren song for evil waterfowl.

The swan kamikazed toward me, and panic paralyzed me.

“Hannah, no!” Isaac’s warning came too late.

I shrieked as the boat rocked right, and then left, and then right again—tossing us into the water.

The swans scattered, and I screamed as my head went under. Isaac’s arms wrapped around my waist and pulled me back to the surface.

Swamp water didnottaste good.Great, now I’d have to go get booster shots for a million unknown river diseases.

Something slithered against my ankle, and I lost my shit. “Ohmy God! Oh my God!” I screeched, thrashing around in the water. “Holy shit, there’s a snake! Out! Get me out!”

Isaac, as if nothing was wrong, pulled me close to the shore and hoisted me up onto the riverbed. He grabbed a low-hanging branch and pulled himself up, plopping down beside me.

I didn’t know if it was the horror of seeing my life flash before my eyes when a swan wanted to murder me, or the sheer terror of capsizing a rowboat, but I started giggling and couldn’t do a damn thing about it.

I leaned back on the muddy bank and laughed until my stomach hurt.

Isaac sluggishly rolled over and rested his forehead against mine. He wiped the tears from my face, smearing dirt across my cheeks in the process.

We were a soggy, muddy mess. My dress was soaked, see-through, and clinging to me in the most unflattering way. Isaac had lake weed wrapped around his waterlogged tie.

He peeled my wet hair off my face and caressed my cheeks. “You okay, Princess?”

Our legs were tangled together, and we were probably being feasted on by a legion of nuclear mosquitoes, but I didn’t care. “Never better.”

Isaac pulled me in for a kiss, but right before our lips touched, he said, “This isnotgoing according to plan.”

I grinned. “Life never does.”

“Says the wedding planner.” He chuckled. Our noses bumped, and his lashes tickled my cheek.

“How did you expect this to go?” I whispered.

His thumb caressed my hand, and his blue eyes sparkled as they searched mine. “Maybe we should pick up where we left off.”

My eyes widened. “For the love of God, no more swans. Noah and Allie were batshit crazy.”

Isaac threw his head back and laughed. It was the kind of laughwhere his smile reached the corners of his eyes, and everything felt right in the world. “C’mere,” he said as he hopped up to his feet, dragging me up with him.

We were filthy. Absolutely wrecked. Goodness gracious, would the driver even let us back in the car?

I looked back at the water where the rowboat was slowly sinking to its unfortunate demise.

“Hannah Jane?”

I turned back to find Isaac down on one knee.

I clapped my hands over my mouth. “Oh my God. You—the knee thing. You’re doing the knee thing. Is this real?”

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