Page 83 of Inviting Trouble
“Or nursing his broken heart because she left him again.”
Her jaw dropped. She hadn’t thought of that.
“Just saying.”
“Yeah, call Ty.”
“I will, but first…” He went down on one knee.
“Aah!” she shrieked in the second girly scream of her life. A cheer went up nearby and she turned to see her friends on the other side of the large picture window, watching, bright eyed and eager. She turned back to Park. “Yes.”
He smiled, his hazel eyes warm and tender. “Let me ask you the question first.”
“I worship you.”
He chuckled. “I worship you too. Will you be my wife so I can do that for the rest of my life?”
“Yes!”
He reached into his pocket, pulled out a round diamond ring and slid it on her finger.
She stared at it. “Where did you get this?”
“LA.” He rose in one fluid motion and held her ring hand between his two large hands. He smiled into her eyes. “Do you like it?”
“Yes!” the women hollered through the window.
She looked at her friends, grinned, and turned back to Park. “It’s unanimous. Yes.”
And then her friends rushed out the front door to hug and congratulate them both. It was a little nuts with all their jumping-up-and-down enthusiasm. Hailey was so thrilled they got to witness the proposal she promptly made Park an honorary book club member. There was really no polite way to say no.
Epilogue
“Boxers, briefs, or boxer briefs?” Hailey asked. Once again she was digging for the nitty-gritty at the Happy Endings Book Club meeting.
The women leaned in. Except Mad, who rolled her eyes and crossed her black work boots over each other.
“Boxer briefs,” Park answered honestly.
Hailey scribbled that down in a notebook.
Park was the token male, honorary book club member, and her devoted fiancé. It was Mad’s spring break and she’d finally, after much prodding on Hailey’s part, dragged Park along to book club. He’d been pretty cool about the whole thing. Probably because he was in good spirits because, after four months of intense training under his new boss, Nico Marino, Park had his first solo project, a 1988 Ferrari F40. Or maybe he was just used to a mouthy woman in his face, though Park always made Mad sound better than that. He called her sassy. A bunch of other cute girly names too. Was it any wonder she loved him?
Hailey looked up from her notebook, her brows drawn together in concentration. “Now what do guys think about after a first date?”
Park shot Mad a sly look. “They think where’s this hot babe been all my life? Is this the same twerpy kid that told all the guys to grow a pair?”
“Be serious, please,” Hailey said. “We’ve all had a number of underwhelming post-date experiences. Men who don’t call—”
“Who vague-text you three days later,” Charlotte added.
“Who don’t show up on your second date and you just keep waiting and waiting, hoping he was in a car accident,” Lauren said sweetly.
Park cleared his throat. “I’m really not sure how my answer will help with the general male population. Don’t you want a larger sample size?”
“Can you get us one?” Hailey asked. “They have to be single.”
“You bet.” He turned to Mad. “Whadda ya think? Bring your brothers in on this?” He meant her single brothers and blood brothers, the honorary brothers they’d grown up with.
