Page 122 of The One I Need
“I did. And I was,” I say, bringing her closer to me. “If there’s one thing I’ve learned these past few months, it’s that I need to be where you are. Would I have missed my friends and Mom? Yes. I’d have missed my kids and the team. I’ve never lived anywhere other than Rolling Hills. But where you are is where I want to be. That’s my home. So if that was in London, I’d be here. I figured I could be a real-life Ted Lasso.”
Izzy starts laughing. Fuck I’ve missed that sound. “I don't think you could have pulled off the mustache.”
“That’s fair.”
“Thank you,” she says, giving me a quick kiss on the cheek. “The fact that you were going to pick up your life—your entire life—and move here with me means the world to me. But this isn’t home.”
Even though I know she’s already made her decision, I still want to hear this. “It’s not?”
“It’s not,” Izzy says as she laces her fingers with mine. “This was a once-in-a-lifetime experience. While I missed you every day, and Hazel—hell, I even missed Simon a few times—I’m glad I did it. I can say I did this major thing. This really amazing thing that I never dreamed in a million years I’d ever do. Sixteen years ago I thought I was going to be working at a furniture store for the rest of my life, in between popping out children. I thought that's all I had to offer the world. But I did this. I helped launch a major project with a company I love.”
“You did. And I’m so damn proud of you.”
“Thank you. But while this was fun and exciting, this isn’t what I want for the rest of my life. I want you to love me like only you know how to. I want to get a greasy meal at Mona’s on Saturday mornings before you drag me to a farmers’ market. I want to see you in action while you mold the young lives of Rolling Hills. I want to argue with you about why you don’t need another drawer for your socks. I want to have a family. Maybe we’ll have biological kids. Maybe we’ll be the ones to receive a precious gift from another mother, like your Mom did. Who knows? We have so much time to do this, but we can’t do it here.”
Holy shit, I know I was here to make the grand gesture, but she’s kind of stealing my thunder right now. I don’t care though. She can have it all if everything she just said one day happens.
“You want to move to Rolling Hills?”
She nods. “Despite years of saying I’d never go back to small-town life, yes, I want to move to Rolling Hills.”
I have so much more I want to say to her, but none of it seems to matter right now. All that matters is kissing the living daylights out of her.
And I do. My force sends her down to the couch, which causes her to laugh. Or maybe it’s me peppering her cheek, lips, neck, and everywhere else I can find, with kisses.
“I love you,” I say, hating that I have to keep her clothes on for at least a little while longer.
“I love you, too. And I’ve missed you.”
“I’ve missed you.”
Our kisses turn from playful to passionate. I wonder if anyone will be walking by or if they’re going to stay occupied at the party in the conference room. But just as I’m trying to figure out how far I need to take off my pants to be able to have sex with my wife, I remember that I forgot one very important thing.
“Wait!” I yell, popping up off Izzy. “Hold on.”
“What?”
I take Izzy’s hands and sit her back up as I move to the floor and go down on one knee.
“Oliver…”
I grab the ring box from the table and open it. Izzy immediately gasps when she sees the oval-cut diamond.
“Elizabeth McCall, I bought—”
“Wait! Wait for me!”
Izzy and I turn our heads to see Hazel running into the room, phone in hand. “I need to get this on video. I was given strict instructions by Betsy.”
We both laugh as we turn back to face each other. She gives me a reassuring smile as I take her left hand in mine.
“Elizabeth McCall, I bought this ring days after we got back from Vegas. You had just told me you wanted a divorce and were going to start a countdown of our sixty days to singledom. But just like I had a feeling about us when I first met you, I had a feeling about us then. What we have is too special to ignore. Most things about us don’t make sense. I think the only thing we have in common is each other. But that’s all we need. Because what we have is special. What we have is for life.”
I need to take a breath, because even though I’ve done this thirty-four other times, it never gets easier. Even if you’re already married.
“Izzy, I want to love you forever. I already know I’m going to, because I don’t think I know how tonotlove you. I’ve done this part a lot, but it’s never felt like this. But that’s because I’ve never had a love like yours.”
I pause to take the ring out of the box and take Izzy’s left hand.
