Page 62 of Forget Me Knot

Dinah. Loves. Me.

New, new calming words. Ones I’ll always remember.

“Bro, what’s up?” Owen’s annoyed. The usual chipperness in his greeting is completely lacking. “You’re so stinking late, man. The crowd is crazy here.”

“I know. I know.” Pinning the phone between my ear and my shoulder, I roll the sleeves of my denim shirt up to the elbows and slide my feet into a pair of boots. “I’m leaving the loft right now.”

“He’s leaving now,” Owen echoes.

“No, he isn’t!” Winnie yells over the sound of an eclectic playlist bopping in the background of my phone call. “He’s probably just gettin’ dressed. Get your rear over here, Jacky!”

I growl, quickly set everything in place like I planned, and jog down the stairs to the shop, pausing to grab the bouquet I made ahead of time.

“Everyone’s here, man. I can’t believe you haven’t made it over yet,” Owen continues.

“Walking out the door. I’m hanging up now.” Pressing end, I take a deep breath and prep myself for the noise and crowd next door. Since the accident, my sensitivity to cumulative sounds and stimuli is heightened. My head’s already buzzing with a potential migraine, but I’m praying tonight doesn’t get cut short.

The party inside Knotty & Nice sounds like the beginning of a rave. The place is packed. So when I walk through the door, I don’t think anyone has really noticed my presence. I nod to a few locals. When someone offers me a pretzel bite, I gladly accept and pop it in my mouth. Andholy butter and beer, this thing is good. I don’t make it more than a few steps before I see her.

She's wearing a croppedHide Your Bootyt-shirt with a cartoon pirate on the back wearing patterned underwear. And Ican guarantee Molly—who has to be around here somewhere—has a tee to match. But it’s the pair of high-waisted, distressed jeans that have my gaze lingering for too long. Dinah’s the most beautiful woman I’ve ever seen.

Maloy says something—likely delinquent in nature—and she tilts her head back in a laugh that I feel all the way across the room. I want all her laughs and smiles and secrets.

I’m not one to subscribe to love at first sight or fated mates or whatever it is they call it in the romance books we read together every night, but when it comes to this woman, I’m a believer.

Chloe announces the last of the Cracker Jacker Crumble Bites. I smirk because I couldn’t have planned her timing better myself. A groan of disappointment sounds through the crowd, and I’m so proud, my chest puffs a bit. I wanna boost Dinah up on my shoulders right now and throw her a whole different party. One with just the two of us. Maybe Chipper can come, too, as long as he keeps his squirmy little paws to himself.

Charlie waddles over to me in a pair of those crazy, floral shoes she can barely walk in. “Hey, boy.” She hugs me, pulls me low so I can hear, and kisses my cheek. “You're gonna do just fine. Love the scruff.”

She pats my jaw and pushes me forward as I catch a chaotic medley of salutes, hollering, and catcalls from my parents, siblings, and their friends in the far corner of the shop. And Emory and Molly are there, too, mixed in with the others, wearing their pirate panty shirts. Dinah’s right, that word’s the worst.

I love that as my family quickly embraced Dinah, they pulled the two most important people in her life into the fold too. Molly has even started calling my parents Lolli and Pop, something Mom insisted on almost the moment she met her.

Molly jumps up on her chair and gives me our secret signal: two thumbs up, then pushed into her perfect cheek dimples.Dinah lost her best pal to me, and I’m not sorry in the least. I shoot her a wink and continue my trek across the pink tiled floors. The crowd parts, leaving Dinah and me at either end.

Gram yells, “Take her to the closet!” Earning a swift fist-bump from Maloy.

Dinah finally sees me, and her perfect, pink lips—my absolute favorite color—tilt in a smile as she starts slowly bouncing off the heels of her pink Converse-covered feet. The shoes that mean:Dinah loves J. Jones. And she is radiating excitement. She’s a cartoon character revving up for a race, and I’m ready to catch her. When she finally gives in, she runs and jumps into my arms, wrapping her legs around my waist. Dinah is the cutest koala ever.

I will keep her.

“Hi. I was wonderin’ when I'd see you, handsome.” Her fingers find their home in my hair. Although we pushed this celebration off for three long months while I recovered after my second, once-in-a-lifetime freak accident—and this is her night—Dinah looks worried. “Is the music too loud? You don’t have to stay if it's too much.”

I kiss her cheek before setting her on the ground. “Definitely too loud. Should probably shut the place down, head upstairs, read a book.”

“And will you feed me?” She taps her lips like she’s really thinking it over.

“Yup. A special donut recipe I have lying around. You can eat and we’ll… pass the time.”

Dinah’s eyes light with mischief. Girl loves some donuts. And me.

“As enticing as that sounds, I can’t do it. Sorry. I owe the people pretzels.”

“Youarethe pretzel queen.”

“Yup.” She smacks a kiss to my lips and pouts. “I just ran out of Crumble Bites. They’re a fan favorite. You’ll have to settle for Cinnamon Twists.”

“It’s a shame.” I take her hand and pull her towards the bright orange door that leads to our hallway. I know everyone’s eyes are on us, yet when I’m in Dinah’s orbit, everything else fades away. She’s all I see.

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