Page 119 of Without You

“You can stay for dinner,” Deacon offers.

“I’m not much company at the moment,” he confesses. “But, please, please stay in touch.”

The man walks away without a second glance, or another word. Almost like the whole conversation never happened.

I look back at everyone behind us, all staring at Deacon, their eyes as sympathetic as they can be.

“Are you okay?” I ask him.

He takes a deep breath and releases the energy. “I think so.”

“We can go home,” Wade offers, breaking the ice.

“No way. We’re going to order dinner, that was the deal,” Deacon insists. “I promise I’m fine.”

“Ok,” Wade puts his hand up in surrender. “If you say so.”

“Do you guys want to hear how Wade proposed?” Christy interjects, her voice cheerful.

“No,” Wade groans. “Please don’t.”

His plea only forces us all to look at Christy expectantly.

“So, Wade didn’t even end up proposing,” she announces. “I found the ring and decided to wear it until he noticed it.”

“Oh my God,” Victoria exclaims. “I can’t believe it went down like that.”

“Thankfully, it wasn’t that long till he noticed,” Christy confirmed.

“Please don’t tell this story,” Wade begs.

“Why? It’s my absolute favorite,” she says, her eyes giddy with mischief.

“I noticed it when she was giving me a hand job,” he blurts out really quickly. The bark of laughter that sounds from multiple people around the room is deafening, but the revelation is hysterical and none of us can stop laughing.

“Holy shit,” I gasp. “Then what happened?”

“He was speechless, I was almost sure he was about to pass out,” she laughs. “He was stuttering, and his eyes were bugging out of his head. ‘Uh. Uh. Uh. Where’d you find that ring?’” she mocks.

“I just asked him if he wanted to finish.” Christie gives Wade a knowing smile, and then looks back at her interested crowd. “Or if he wanted to know my answer.”

“Why do I feel like that was a test?” Deacon says.

“Because it was,” she agrees. “Thankfully, he asked for my answer. I told him it was too pretty for me to take it off, so he was just going to have to deal with the fact that the wrong girlfriend found it.”

The room breaks out in laughter as Deacon sidles up next to me, throwing his arm around my shoulders and kissing my temple. It’s an ‘I’m glad you’re here’ move. He does it often, and I always plan on being here.

“Now I know why you were skimpy with the details,” Deacon accuses Wade. “Christy always tells a killer story.”

“I still can’t get over it,” I say, still laughing with Christy.

“Just wait until it’s your turn,” Wade says nonchalantly, pointing between Deacon and me.

Looking up, I expect to see a freaked out Deacon, or even feel a little taken aback by the assumption, myself, but it neither happens.

He’s got his blue eyes and bright smile aimed at me like he just realized that was an option for us. He lowers his mouth to my ear. “Are you going to marry me one day?”

“Are you going to ask?”

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