Page 132 of At First Flight
And then, like a freight train of glitter and noise, Ashvi finally catches up. She halts just feet away, eyes bouncing from Lila to the ring and back again.
“Wait. Wait. What?!” she shouts, hands flailing. “You gotengaged?!”
Lila ducks her head, but there’s no hiding her glow. “Yeah. It just… happened. At the top.”
“I’ve been wrangling this duo, and you were out here gettingproposed toon the Ferris wheel?!”
“She said yes,” I add, uselessly.
Ashvi barrels into Lila with a squeal so loud I think I lose hearing in one ear. “You’re getting married.You’re getting married!”
Lila’s laughing and holding Evelyn in one arm and hugging her best friend with the other, and I swear I could live in this moment forever. Pure chaos and absolute perfection.
But then Ashvi turns on me.
“You.” She stabs a finger into my chest. “You better treat her like she hung the damn moon. She’s not just the smart girlor the beautiful one. She’s the whole freaking galaxy. And if you ever hurt her, I’ll curse your Wi-Fi and hex your shampoo.”
“I believe you,” I say seriously even though a chuckle is working its way up. “And I plan on treating her like the marvel she is, every single day.”
She nods once, satisfied, then turns back to Lila and grabs her hand, inspecting the ring. “Oh, this is so you. Understated, timeless, deceptively sparkly.”
Lila rolls her eyes, but her voice is soft when she says, “I still can’t believe it’s real.”
Ashvi brushes a tear from her cheek, smiling like a proud parent. “You deserve every second of this, Lil. I knew from that first week, when you panic called me because you were moving in with a stranger, you were already halfway gone. Oh my gosh, your family is going to flip!”
I glance at Lila, and her eyes meet mine across the space. There’s no hesitation anymore. Just warmth. Certainty. And something deeper than all of it—love.
A love that takes root quietly and then blooms all at once.
Oliver squints at the oversized ring on Lila’s finger. “Is that a real diamond?”
“Real as it gets,” I say. “What do you think?”
He shrugs, but he’s smiling. “Cool. Do I have to wear a penguin costume?”
“No. You can wear a cape if you want,” Lila says, laughing.
We spend the next hour indulging every whim: a second round of cotton candy, another ride on the Tilt-A-Whirl, even the dunk tank where Rowan volunteers as the local hero. Evelynthrows her ball and misses by a mile, but Rowan plays along, and the entire booth cheers like she knocked him into the water herself. Rowan winks at her behind the splash, though I don’t miss his narrowed eyes when they clock in on Lila’s new accessory.
A pair of teenagers offer to snap a photo for us in front of the fair sign, and I say yes before I can overthink it. We pose with the kids, Lila between us, the flash capturing our joy in a frame I’ll carry in my wallet for the rest of my life.
As we wander through the midway again, we pass a neighbor I barely know. She pauses, glancing between the kids and me, and then at Lila.
“Aren’t you the nanny?” she asks, voice syrupy with judgment.
I don’t even blink. I wrap my arm around Lila and kiss her temple. “She’s my everything.”
The woman blinks, startled. “Oh. Well… congratulations.”
We keep walking.
The lights dance across the pavement. Evelyn squeals when she sees a cart selling glow-in-the-dark necklaces, and Oliver tugs at my hand, begging for one more ride.
I glance at Lila, and she just nods. “Go.”
Later, when we’re home, and the kids are in bed, she sits on the porch swing, one leg curled beneath her. I hand her a cup of tea and sit beside her. The mug warms her hands, and the sound of frogs and crickets fills the silence between us.
She turns toward me, her fingers brushing my jaw. “That was perfect.”
