Page 191 of Sincerely, Your Enemy

I take it. “What?”

His mouth quirks up at the corner, mischief flooding his eyes as he intertwines our fingers. “Just come with me.”

The next thing I know, TJ’s guiding me through the house toward the back door. I’ve yet to see the backyard of the house since we moved in, but I intend to make it a cozy place. I’ve been collecting pictures of cute backyards online to give me inspiration.

The backyard is a decent size, with a wooden fence, a concrete patio with a grill for barbecues, a firepit, and a large shed sitting in the far corner. It’s pitch-black outside, but there is too much light pollution around for us to see the stars.

“What did you want to show me?” I ask, glancing around in confusion.

“Just a little farther” is all TJ says as he’s dragging me across the backyard.

He comes to a slow stop in front of the shed and turns to look at me. “You said you’re wondering how sure I am about us. Hopefully, this answers your question.”

I watch as he pushes the door open and ushers me inside the windowless shed.

The inside is pitch-black, and I can’t help snorting out a laugh. “Is this supposed to be some kind of metaphor about how your life would be nothing but darkness without me?”

He laughs. “It would be, but no.”

It becomes clear he has no intention of elaborating when he fishes his phone out of his pocket. I can’t see what he’s doing from this angle.

He presses something on his screen, and the lights come on—and by lights, I mean a thousand little lights covering every inch of the empty shed. The walls come alive with an endless sea of stars, swirling galaxies, and wisps of colors, practically transporting us into a different universe.

My mouth falls open.

Only when I spot the four constellation projectors he’s got set up in each corner of the shed do I understand what he’s doing.

He’s recreating our first time. In the observatory behind Chance’s cabin. Pillows and blankets are scattered across the floor, covered in rose petals and snacks. A telescope sits next to the blanket, and my heart melts at the gesture.

I venture farther into the shed, in complete awe of the effort he put into making this happen.

I have no idea how he even had time to do this. Things have been so crazy with his recovery and the move. But that’s just the thing, isn’t it…?

He didn’t have time, which means hemadethe time to come here and set this up. He must’ve asked the owner if he could use the shed a few days early.

“I know it’s not as impressive as the real thing,” TJ says.

Is he serious?

Tears have begun to amass in my eyes.

“No, it’s… it’s incredible,” I choke out.

“Good.”

I hear him move closer behind me, but I can’t tear my eyes away from the galaxies around me, mesmerized by the view.

“Because I have something to ask you,” he adds.

I manage to snap out of it a few seconds later. I spin around, intending to give him a big hug for surprising me like this, only to see the man I love down on one knee, holding a velvet box in his hand.

It’s as though all the air has been sucked out of the shedandmy lungs. My hand flies to my mouth, my speeding heart threatening to carve a hole through my rib cage when he opens the box and I get to see the diamond ring I’m going to be wearing for the rest of my life.

“Lacey…” His voice catches in his throat, thick with emotion. “The day we went into that observatory is the day you agreed to be my girlfriend. Only this time, I recreated it in the hope that you’ll agree to be my wife. Now, I know what you’re going to say. We haven’t even been together a year, so getting engaged would be crazy, and to that, I say, what part of our story so farhasn’tbeen crazy?”

I catch myself laughing through the tears. He has a point. Our love has been a ginormous mess from day one, but our bad luck never once made it any less real.

“And I know that we’re young, and things might be a bit difficult now that I’m leaving, but I need you to know that this isn’t a silly college romance to me. Lacey, I love you. You’reitfor me. I want forever. I want everything life has to offer, and I want to experience it with you.”

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