Page 160 of All The Happily Ever Afters

With a nervous smile, he gets down on one knee.

Oh my God.

“Aubree, I’ve had a crush on you since the first day we met.”

My mouth drops open. He did not. I had the crush on him.

Jackson laughs. “I know. I never told you, because I didn’t want to scare you off. But now the whole town can hear, and I don’t care. I want them all to know how much I love you. I want you to know how much I love you. I want to spend every Sunday with you for the rest of our lives. Will you marry me?”

“Yes,” I squeak. I take his face in my hands. “Yes, of course I do.”

“Do you want to see the ring first, maybe?”

Laughter fills the bar, and it’s so warm and welcoming. That’s the sound of my friends being happy for us. Our friends. We didn’t have to give any of them up.

I can barely get out the words as I tell him, “I’d marry you without a ring.”

Jackson shakes his head and pulls a ring box out of his pocket. He opens it with a flourish. From behind him, Cheryl gasps. “That’s way bigger than you said it was!”

“What?” he answers, sheepish and proud and before he can respond, I pull him to his feet and kiss him. Fisting his shirt and desperate to seal the deal. A cheer goes up from all around us. This is what it means to have a good life. This is what it means to be happy. As soon as I’m done kissing Jackson, he slides the ring on my finger and steps out of the way.

“What are you?—”

Cheryl throws herself at me, wrapping her arms around my neck. “Do you have any idea how hard that was to keep a secret?” She laughs. “Let me see, let me see.” Cheryl takes my hand and looks down at the diamond sparkling on my finger. “It’s perfect.”Then she tugs her brother back into place at my side. “You’re both perfect together. I’m going to give the best maid of honor speech.”

“Who said you were going to be—” Jackson begins.

“Oh, stop,” I say, cutting him off. Dani turns the game back up on the TVs. “She’s going to be my maid of honor. And you’re going to be my husband.”

He gives me that charming smile that makes everything around us fade to nothing.

“I love you, Aubree.”

“I love you too.”

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They were never meant to be together.

Charlieis a bartender with noncommittal tendencies.

Grace is looking for the opposite.

Commitment.

Marriage.

A baby.

PRETEND YOU LOVE ME

PRETEND YOU LOVE ME

W Winters and Amelia Wilde

All I have to do is pretend. When the lights go out and the chill of the cell creeps in, I know I must go along with everything he says.

His sharp gaze fades into the darkness, and nothing else matters but surviving this moment.

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