Page 55 of The Cupcake Cottage

And there was no better feeling in the world.

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“I told Maverick to get me a ring.” Daisy-Mae paced her office the next day while Violet listened.

“Wait. You’re getting engaged?” Violet froze, her expression confused, her arms out like she was ready to dance if given the word.

“If things don’t get crazy in the media by the new year, he is proposing. Publicly.”

Violet’s hands went to her mouth, her dark eyes wide. “And are you going to say yes?”

“I don’t know.”

“What!”

“It felt so right sitting there in the diner yesterday.”

Violet sat. “But it doesn’t feel right now?”

“I mean… Yes?” Daisy-Mae eased into the chair behind her desk.

“Don’t ask me.” Violet shook her head, hands held out as though she might have to ward off a clingy friend. “This is something only you and Maverick can answer. Y’all are talking about gettingmarried.”

Daisy-Mae sighed, a happy feeling warming her from the inside out. Married.

Wedding dresses. Invitations. Happily ever after and living in the same house with a man that made her feel happy and content.

“You love him,” Violet stated.

“It’s all so fast.”

Violet lifted a shoulder as if to say,So?

“Violet!Helpme.”

“Okay. Is it real?” Violet asked. “I mean, do you have a wedding date chosen? That sort of thing? Or is this part of the fake thing?”

“He said we’d take our relationship—the real one—at my pace. But I told him to buy a ring.” Daisy-Mae covered her mouth and started laughing, rocking back in her chair. When she put it like that, she couldn’t even imagine what had come over her to say such a thing.

“And that felt right?” Violet confirmed.

“Yes.” Daisy-Mae sighed and melted over the top of her desk, resting her head in her arms. It had felt right, but now she had to take action, had to consider the possible painful repercussions that might occur if things didn’t work out or went south. She wanted to be excited, but she was scared. “He said we could have a long engagement.”

“That’s good. That’ll help lessen the freakout factor, right?”

“But what if we break up?”

“What if you don’t?Mrs.Blades?”

Daisy-Mae popped up from her slouch, feeling as though someone had teased her skin with a blowtorch. Mrs. Blades. Her. The Mrs.

Maverick’s Mrs.

The idea made her feel faint.

“We haven’t even outright said I love you, or spent the night together. And we’re getting engaged?”

“Neither of you would get engaged for publicity,” Violet said after a moment.

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