Page 23 of Why Not Forever?

He huffs a laugh. “No. That won’t bother me at all.” He takes another box out of his pocket and opens it, showing me the ring that accompanies this one. It’s also rose gold, but is two slim bands twisted together. On some of the twists is a line of tiny diamonds. “They weren’t terribly expensive.”

The words come out stilted and I catch his hand, stopping him. “I don’t care how much they cost. They’re beautiful.” I reach up and kiss his cheek. “Thank you.” Then I step back. “And thank you for the distraction from my nerves. Ready to brave the lion’s den?”

He nods and takes my hand as we leave the apartment, his thumb swiping across my finger, as though checking to make sure the ring is there. He puts the wedding band into his pocket again as we ride the elevator down to the parking garage.

“I want to buy you your ring,” I say.

He looks at me, head tilted to one side. “Sure. If you want to.”

I nod. “Now that I see what you got, I’ll get something that will match, but that I think will suit you.”

His smile spreads slowly. “Yeah? Am I going to have to wait until the wedding to see it?”

“Yes.”

“So I have to be patient, but you don’t?”

I raise my eyebrows. “That’s right. Do you have a problem with that?”

His mouth quirks up in half a smile. “None at all.”

We walk to my car and it isn’t until we reach it and are forced to let go that I realize we’ve been holding hands the whole time.

At the restaurant, Mom and Dad are already there with my brother Liam. Tanner and I walk up together, our hands linked. I notice it the second Mom sees us, the way her brow tightens in confusion for a moment before relaxing into a smile. She touches Dad’s arm and gestures to us.

“I’m not sure I can do this,” I whisper to Tanner, but he doesn’t slow down.

“It’ll be okay,” he says. “I’m right next to you. We’re in this together.”

I pause, drawing him to a stop a few feet from the table. I meet his eyes, coming to the startling realization that I trust him. It feels almost like when I have Spencer with me, that same sense of someone having my back, no matter what. We nod at the same time, like we’re a team. Completely in sync.

“Hi,” I say as we reach the table.

Tanner lets go of my hand to pull my chair out for me. I sit, and he sits next to me.

“Tanner and I have some news,” I say next. We’d discussed how this would go and that I would take the lead, since this is my family. He’s going to tell his family this weekend and I’ll be with him, but for now, this is my show. “We went on a date a couple weeks ago and have been talking a lot over the last little while. We’d actually been friends at UBC and it turns out, we’ve had feelings for each other for a long time. So we’re dating now. But then, this morning before work, Tanner asked me to marry him.” I hold up my hand. “I said yes.”

Mom gasps, Liam looks confused. Dad narrows his eyes at Tanner.

“This is awfully fast, don’t you think?” Dad asks.

“When you know, you know,” I say, turning to smile at Tanner. His eyes are full of adoration. He makes it easy for me to look at him the same way. I turn back to my family. “As I said, we were really close in university, but with all the craziness of him starting at Sterling, and me starting Blue Vista, we kind of lost touch right after. We decided we’ve already wasted so much time. We don’t want to waste any more.”

Mom takes my hand to examine the ring. “It’s not what I would have chosen for you. Rose gold isn’t as elegant as white gold. And the diamond is a little on the small side.”

I take my hand back, placing it over Tanner’s on the table. “I love it.”

And that statement is one hundred per cent true. I wouldn’t ask for anything to change about it. The rest of what we say tonight might be lies and stretched truths, but that one thing is not.

“Congratulations, then,” Liam says. “I guess if you’re happy with this, great.”

I smile at my brother. We’ve never really been close. He’s six years younger than me and by the time he was born, I’d already become friends with Spencer. As we grew, we never became close. He was always interested in doing what he wanted while I did what I was told, searching for my parents’ approval that never came.

“When’s the big day?” Dad asks.

I turn to him with a smile. “Actually, we decided to have the wedding really soon. Ours will be the first wedding at the new Blue Vista location at Crescent Beach.” I smile at Tanner and he smiles back, turning his hand under mine so our fingers link. “We thought it would be special to be the first wedding there. We know it’s really soon, but what’s the difference between three weeks and three years other than how long you need to plan?”

“Three weeks?” Dad says, bringing my attention back to him. “You’re getting married in three weeks?”

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