Page 100 of The Plus Ones
He flips open the box and presents me with a stunning platinum ring with a light-blue jewel in the center. It matches the color of my irises almost exactly, glinting in the sunlight spectacularly.
“What is that—aquamarine?”
“It’s a blue diamond, dummy. They’re very rare.”
I can’t even speak. That thing must be three carats. I don’t even want to know how many hundreds of thousands of dollars it’s worth.
“It was my grandmother’s engagement ring. When she passed, my grandfather gave it directly to me because he didn’t trust my mother to ever part with it when the time came. I’ve been keeping it in a safe at a bank for a few years. I went to get it this morning.”
I gulp and carefully place my bottle on the ground, so I don’t spill beer on that thing.
“How perfect is it for you? Ice blue. My new favorite color.”
“Keaton. Are you asking me to marry you?”
“No. I’m telling you to marry me.”
“Are you out of your motherflorking mind? We haven’t even been dating for a month!”
“Really? Because it feels like it’s been a motherflorking century.”
“Holy Schmidt, Keaton. This is insane. That is the most beautiful ring I have ever seen.”
“Then take the damn thing out of my hand, put it on, and marry me.”
I cover my mouth with both hands and shake my head before finally reaching for the little box. “Okay, fine. It’ll be fine.”
“Damn right it will.” He gulps down about half his bottle of beer.
“I know that.”
“Good.”
I grab his stupid handsome face and kiss him. “I love you.”
“You ducking better.”
“I really do. I’m going to marry you. But I’m not going to wear the ring until after the party’s over. So we don’t take the attention away from Finn.”
He grins at me. “You’ve got a good heart, Roxy Carter.” He holds his hand out for me to return the box to him. I snap it shut, close to his fingers, like Richard Gere does to Julia Roberts with the necklace box inPretty Woman. He gets the reference and fakes a big toothy laugh, and then he returns the box to his jacket pocket like it’s a pack of gum or something. “I cannot wait to knock you up.”
“I cannot wait for you to knock me up.” I grab his face to kiss him again, and I may never stop.
We pull away from each other when we hear the patio door slide open and Finn’s little voice. “Ewww. Why are you guys kissing?” His face is painted green with one big eye in the center and a huge smiling mouth full of teeth.
“He had something on his mouth,” I say. “I was just wiping it off. With my mouth.”
Finn wrinkles his nose. That seems to be the only reaction I’m getting from children today. “That’s not what you were doing.”
“I couldn’t breathe, so she was giving me mouth-to-mouth.”
“Was not. You guys are gross.”
“Oh, buddy,” Keaton says. “You have no idea.”
“What’s going on out here?” Aimee pokes her head out, assesses the situation, and smiles. “All good?”
“It’ll be fine,” I say as casual as I can be, knowing that I’m engaged and Keaton has a priceless blue diamond ring in his pocket.
