Page 103 of As You Ice It

“Yes. But I’m not asking you that—yet. I have plans for it, but I needed to talk to you about all this first. Because our lives are both a little more complicated.”

“Camden Cole, are you asking me if you can ask me to marry you?”

“Yes.”

“Then, yes. You can ask me to marry you. Want me to tell me what I’m going to say when you do?”

His smile is slow and a little smug. “I feel pretty good about the answer.”

“Yeah? Maybe I should make you sweat a little more.”

“Please don’t.”

I laugh, feeling a lightness in my limbs. Like the cork popped on a bottle of champagne inside me, and now my blood is fizzy with joy. “Okay. I won’t. I meant what I said on the phone. I want to put down roots with you. And I guess I can wait for an actual proposal. If you don’t make me wait too long.”

“How long is too long?” he asks.

I weigh my words, not wanting to sound desperate and also not wanting to hold back.

“Let’s just say … if you had asked tonight, I would have happily said yes.”

His eyes flare. “Good to know. Before that, two more things.”

“Anything.”

“First, I want to call my family.” I can see the shift in his features and the nervousness written there. His hands shake a little, and I squeeze. “Will you sit with me while I do?”

My breath catches, and a warm wave of tenderness unfurls in my chest. Leaning forward, I place a kiss on his lips. I mean it to be soft and quick, but I realize as Camden kisses me back that we didn’t kiss when I greeted him. My mouth seems bent on reminding me how remiss I was.

After a moment, I pull back, dizzy and breathless. “Sorry, I got a little distracted.”

“You’re not the only one,” Camden mutters.

“I’d love to sit with you while you call. Anything you need. Did you mean right now?”

“I’m tired of running,” he says.

“Then I’ll be with you when you stop.” I climb into his lap, handing back his phone as I wrap an arm around his neck. “You’re really doing this now?”

He scrolls through his phone, and it makes my heart squeeze when I see he still has his parents on his Favorites list. “I don’t want to. I’m scared,” he confesses. “But I don’t want it hanging over me any longer. I’m so tired.”

I snuggle in closer, leaning my head on his shoulder. “I know. And I’m here.”

For a moment, we sit there in the darkness. I hadn’t realized that dusk fully fell while we were talking, and now everything is cast in the soft, forgiving light of a full moon. Camden stares at the phone in his hand for what feels like forever. Then he taps the screen and puts the phone up to his ear.

I can feel his breathing and heart rate both quicken, and I continue pressing closer, wanting my weight and warmth to reassure him as I let myself envision a future of moments like this—sitting on the front porch with Liam and Panda. I expand the vision to include Mike and Jordan, then picture us all having dinner in the house Camden showed me earlier.

It feels like a dream. Better than a dream. The kind of wish so good that I never could have imagined it becoming a reality.

I’m sitting close enough that I can hear a man’s voice saying hello on the line. Camden clears his throat. “Hey, Dad? It’s me. Cam.”

I sit with him through the call, trying to hold back tears. It’s an emotional call, though slightly awkward as Camden talks to his dad and his mom, who sobs so loudly I can hear her through the phone. Though Camden doesn’t cry, at times, I can feel him shake a little, and I continue to hold him, pressing a hand to his chest.

At some point, Liam lets Panda out front, and he sits at Camden’s feet, head in his lap.

When they finish, Camden sets the phone down and wraps his arms around me. “Thank you,” he whispers into my hair.

“Anytime.”

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