Page 114 of You Found Me
“Of course we can go. I know how much you love Christmas. And I’ll never pass up going to Edie’s.”
Emmaline leans over, kissing me on the cheek. “Thank you, Daredevil.”
I smile at the nickname. “Anything for you, Buttercup.”
Twenty minutes later, I witness what’s probably the most disorganized tree lighting in the history of town tree lightings. When I look around at the people in the crowd, none of them have the same reaction as me. They’re all smiling, Emmaline included.
“Whyis no one as shocked as I am? The mayor just spent ten minutes looking for the glasses that were clearly in his breast pocket just so that he could read the sentence ‘thank you all for being here to witness the magic of Christmas in our beautiful town of Meadow Springs.’Ten minutesfor something he could have easily remembered. I was expecting a long-winded speech, leading into making a big show of plugging in the lights for them to not even work. Causing another ten minutes to go by only for them to realize some of the lights weren’t connected.”
“Spence,” she laughs, then continues, “this happens every single year—at least all the years I can remember. Mayor Caldwell has been like, ninety years old my whole life. No one says anything because he means well, and also it’s become a sort of tradition on top of the ceremony.”
I can’t keep the disbelief off of my face. “This town is something else.”
She smiles, wide and full of humor. “Aren’t you happy to call ithome?”
Rolling my eyes, I chuckle, “Only because you’re a part of it.”
Emmy lets out a slow whistle. “That was cheesy, even for you. Come on, let’s get to the diner before there’s nowhere to sit.”
“Is this also part of the tradition?” I ask out of curiosity.
“It’s not a town tradition. Just one that I always did with my parents. We’d grab a table and have milkshakes with fries, or a banana split in my dad’s case, before going home.”
I pull her closer to me as we walk to the diner. “Thank you for including me in this tradition then.”
Emmaline gazes up at me, cheeks all rosy. “You’re welcome.”
The bell above the door jingles as we enter and I’m already looking for a place to sit when I hear her intake of breath. I follow her gaze only to find Susannah and Andrew sitting at a table in the middle of the room—a peanut butter milkshake and plate of fries placed directly across from her. I can’t stop mysmile as Emmaline nods at her mom, causing her to rush over and hug Emmy.
I place a kiss on her forehead and excuse myself—hearing them both apologize—and walk towards Andrew at the table.
He reaches out his hand and asks, “How was your trip?”
I shake it before sitting down. “It was nice. I think it was much needed for both of us, but especially her.”
I hear a gasp followed by shushing, causing me to turn around in time to see Emmy twist her mom back towards her. I’m sure I look crazy, watching the two of them so intensely but I know how important Emmaline’s relationship with her mom is. I truly hope they can start to repair their relationship, they clearly needed and missed one another.
Andrew clears his throat to get my attention and when I turn around, he’s smiling. “So, when are you going to propose?”
If I were a cartoon character, my eyes would be buggedcompletelyout of my head right now. I’m not usually one to panic, but I’m taken aback by how straightforward and out of left field his question is.
He laughs. “Sorry, kid. I know you two have only been together a few months, it’s just the way you look at her is exactly how I look at my Suze—with pure love and adoration.” Andrew clears his throat before quietly saying, “Pardon my language, but that asshole never looked at her as anything other than a piece of property.”
“No need to apologize for your language. My favorite thing to call him is a douche-canoe,” I tell him with a shrug.
“Oh, that’s a good one. I’ll have to use it the next time he does something colossally stupid. It’s safe to say that I never really liked him. I mean I played nice when she first brought him around. The second time though, he nonchalantly pointed out how much she was eating, I told Suze I couldn’t do it anymore. She talked me down, saying his frontal lobe hadn’t fully developed and that our girl would put him in his place if he continued.”
“But she didn’t,” I state.
He shakes his head with a sigh. “No, she didn’t. Instead of telling him to kiss her ass, she started eating less of the thingsshe loved. She also started pulling away from her best friends. Her visits became less frequent and rarely included him if she was able to make it into town. No matter how hard I tried to talk to her about it, she’d brush it off with a laugh. “Seeing her after she broke it off left me feeling a mixed bag of emotions. Then, once she moved in with Mia, started hanging out with the group again, and started dating you—her sparkle came back. So thank you for helping her find it again. Now,” he claps and continues, “back to my original question, when are you going to propose?”
“It’s kind of you to think I had anything to do with her getting her sparkle back, but it was all her. And as far as your question, I only just told her yesterday that I loved her—albeit unplanned.”
“Did she say it back?”
Shaking my head, I tell him, “No. I didn’t expect her to though. I’m not going to rush her. So to answer your question: no, not yet, I think we’re a little ways off from that.”
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