Page 44 of Terms + Conditions
That was a week ago, so we’re going for round two, and almost everyone is here. Uncle Jim had a doctor’s appointment, and Alex had class. Nick had to run the garage. At least, that was his excuse. Could he take off? Yeah, probably. But I knew he wouldn’t show without his dad or brother, not if it meant having to deal with the Villas. When I called to inform him of the new date, he declined, and I reminded him he wouldn’t be able to avoid the Villas forever. For example, at the wedding. “I’m not avoiding them, I’m just busy,” he said, but we both knew that was (mostly) a lie.
Everyone else is here, except Nina and Elizabeth. Since the weather was nice and considerably warm for the end of November, the ruse was the girls were coming to meet Michaelafor wine and sunset-watching on Jupiter Beach. Poor Nina. She is so excited to surprise Elizabeth that I can only hope Elizabeth is able to play along to spare Nin’s feelings. My parents, Michaela, and the Villas hide, trying to stay out of sight but still get a view of the action.
In the distance, I can see Nina lead Elizabeth down the boardwalk and over the dunes, ending at the beach. They slow their approach, reaching the candles that have been buried in the white sand to create a pathway leading her to me. I stand on a white sheet laid out in the middle of a large square formed by roses—their stems stuck down in the sand to stand at attention.
Seeing her walk toward me, that feeling I got while I helped her decorate the house for Christmas a few weeks ago forms in the pit of my stomach. The same one I felt when I proposed two weeks ago in her bedroom. It’s hard to explain, the feeling, but I think it’s…love.
Yeah, it’s love.
I’ve fallen in love with the woman in front of me, but I don’t know how to tell her.
You became my husband the second we signed that damn paper three years ago.
Her words have echoed in my mind ever since, and even if she’s never said it, those words told me she feels the same way I do. There isn’t anyone else I’d want to do this with. How sick and twisted is that? I mean, what a fucked up way to find the woman you want to spend the rest of your life with, right?
Nina hangs back a few steps and Elizabeth’s steps falter when our eyes meet just outside of the box of roses.
Wow,she mouths, and I laugh.
Wow, indeed.
This isn’t how I would have chosen to propose. The simple ask in her bedroom is more my style, but the Villas would neverallow it—well, Ric maybe, but not Nina or Brina. Especially not Brina.
Elizabeth takes a final look around and takes a deep breath. “Nina?” she asks, implicating her friend in the choice of décor.
“More Brina and Michaela, but she had some input.”
She laughs, and it’s a sweet melody that puts my nerves at ease. Taking a deep breath, I whisper, “You ready?”
“No turning back.”
I drop to one knee, this time digging a small velvet box from my pocket, and Elizabeth covers her mouth in a shocked expression, really selling the moment. “Maybe a little less dramatic.” I chuckle.
I was proud of myself. I had picked the ring out without help (unless you count Nick). Nina had offered to set me up with a jeweler in Charlotte—it was Tiffany & Co., shocker, I know—but I told her I already had one in mind. There was a local jeweler in Winchester that Finn introduced me to years ago and I wanted to see what they had before I went running off to endure my firstPretty Womanmoment.
It only took five minutes from walking in the door to finding the ring I wanted. The diamond was cut into the perfect oval shape—not too thick, but not too slender either—and it sparkled like the stars in the sky on a cloudless night. It rested in a white gold diamond-studded band. It was on display with a wedding band full of diamonds slightly larger than the ones embedded in the engagement band. The two rings looked beautiful together and they were exactly the kind of thing Elizabeth would want. I wasn’t nervous about my choice until I brought Nina along to pick them up, but my worries faded the moment she opened the box. She didn’t stop smiling even after we walked out of the jeweler, telling me over and over that Elizabeth was going to “be over the moon about them.”
“You know they’re eating it up,” Elizabeth says.
With another calming breath, I open the box to reveal the ring and her eyes widen. “I meant what I said the other night in your bedroom, Sugar.”
Her smile falters slightly when she realizes I’m no longer playing around. She looks between me and the ring three times before finally landing on me. And this time, she covers her mouth in true shock, as real tears cloud her vision. “Josh,” she whispers.
“I can’t imagine life without you. Regardless of how this ends for us…I don’t want a life without you in it. I know this isn’t how you imagined your life would turn out or how you’d find your husband, but I don’t regret it. And I promise to make this whole thing as painless as possible. So, I’m going to ask one more time…Elizabeth Regina Cain, will you be my wife?”
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
NOW
AFTER THE WAY THINGS turned out at the market, I’m thankful the rest of the day was uneventful. Georgie even spared Jeremy one of her grilling sessions. I’m still confused about that. No one has ever been spared, so why now? Is it because he’s an actor? Maybe Lola introduced them before, or maybe Lola warned Georgie not to after everything that just happened. That seems more likely. Lola is one of the few people in the world Georgie actually listens to. I’ve never heard the full story, but from the little bit I’ve heard over the years, something went down their freshman year at SCAD, and Lola had no problem putting Georgie in her place.
Elizabeth’s legs rest across my lap underneath the fleece blanket Selena had tossed our way when we sat down. She sips on a glass of red wine—Pinot Noir, her favorite—and I swirl the last sip of whiskey in my glass, committing the scene to memory. On the way back from town, I decided if this was going to be my last year here, if this was truly our last hoorah, I was going to make the most of it.
Somewhere in between Selena telling us she’d be moving to Dallas at the beginning of the year and Lola announcing she decided to get back into producing for a special project withone of her old Hollywood friends Elizabeth had closed the gap between us. Her arms draped around my chest, still clutching her wine glass, as she laughed along to a story one of her friends told. A little while later, she moved to lay back against the couch, with her legs across my lap and her perfectly manicured left hand resting on my shoulder, occasionally playing with the hair at the base of my neck.
The other couples lounge in similar positions, minus Georgie and Noah. They had kept a small gap between them as they sipped on their hot apple cider—keeping up with Georgie’s no-alcohol stance this weekend. She slipped away quietly about ten minutes ago and has yet to surface to help the other girls reminisce not just about their times at Palm Valley but their years of friendship in general.
“Oh no,” Selena groans when Lola asks if she remembersthatguy. How in the hell is she supposed to remember him by calling him “that guy?”
