Page 83 of Second Swing
He backs up, setting me down and wipes away my tears with his thumb. He's so beautiful. Somine.His smile is so wide and bright, I don't know how I was lucky enough to have another chance with a man who loves me so thoroughly.
Sliding the ring on my finger, I press my lips to his once more. A smoky burning smell floats into the room and my eyes go wide and then I’m running. “My waffle!” I yell.
Clint shouts through a chuckle, I’m sure following behind me, “I thought we said no more running.”
Once the waffle is in the trash and we’ve eaten our fill, I look down at the canary yellow diamond sitting on my finger. It's wrapped in a halo of diamonds on a gold band and tears well up in my eyes again. “Do we have to wait?”
His head whips to mine. “What do you mean? You want to get married right now?”
“Would I be completely nuts if I said yes? We’ve waited for so long, I don't want to wait anymore. The only thing I want to do is forever with you.”
Clint rises from the couch and slips his sneakers on. He already has hisdeep green joggers on and a crisp, clean T-shirt. He turns to me and says, “Let’s go get married.”
A squeal falls from my lips, and I run to my room and slide on a pair of jeans and a white top. When I make it back to him, he’s holding a pair of my sneakers, ones that almost match his, and I slide them on.
The courthouse is almost a ghost town with it being later in the afternoon. Walking hand in hand with Clint, the only noise is soft chatter and our shoes against the floor. I don’t feel the urge to run…it’s nowhere in sight.
“Welcome. What can I do for you today?” the clerk asks and smiles as she notices our hands clasped together. “Lo-Lo, it's so good to see you.”
Hearing my childhood nickname surprises me. “Oh my goodness, Mrs. Stevens.”
“It's good to see you doing well. Your mom talks about you every time I stop into Sweet Bean.” She looks down at my hand, noticing the engagement ring. “It looks like congratulations are in order.”
I smile at her. My mom’s customers are all over the town. She makes everyone feel like family. “Sweet Bean is her pride and joy…and yes, we would like to get a marriage license.” Bouncing on my heels, I can't hold back my excitement while Clint rubs small circles on the hand he’s holding.
“You getting married soon? It has to be within sixty days.”
“We are going to see if our friend has time to do it today, actually,” Clinton responds. On our way to the courthouse we discussed getting married on the course by Glen, who happens to be a notary. Wildly, he is the only one we know.
No sooner does she hand us our certificate than we are rushing to the car. The excitement as we run to our forever feels incredible, and I laughas we make it to the car and on our way to where it all started.
It's Clint and me, and our future is so close I can taste it. All we have to do is rush home to change into something morebridal.There’s a dress that stops just above my ankles I haven’t gotten the chance to wear yet that’ll drive Clint crazy in the naughtiest of ways.
With joy stretching across both of our faces, Clint turns to me. “Let’s get ready for our forever, Dove.” I give his hand a squeeze as he leans in, giving me a lingering kiss before he makes his way to take a quick shower as I get ready. I take in a deep breath and massage my cheeks, trying to lessen the hurt from how much I’ve been smiling. I can’t contain my joy and how free I feel.
I smooth a makeup wipe over my face before I dab on a bit of cream blush, lip gloss, and a few swipes of mascara after curling my lashes.Holy shit, I’m getting married.Rushing into my closet, I grab the cream-colored satin dress and unzip the side. I turn to the mirror and take in my reflection as I pull the zipper back up.
The dress fits me like a glove. The neckline puddles at my clavicle. I smooth my hands over the fitted bodice and down my hips before turning around. It’s completely backless and sits dangerously low above my ass. I feel beautiful and more of a bride than I ever imagined I would.
My eyes well with tears, and I do a terrible job holding them back. I hear Clinton’s keys right before I dab the mascara from under my eyes.
I tuck one side of my hair behind my ear. It’s grown out to right above my shoulders, and I think I may like this length.
“You are…Wow.” Clinton stands in the doorway of my room, emotions clear in his eyes. He has a crisp, white button-up tucked into a pair of dark blue slacks. He looks so handsome. “You’re…Wow,I can’t believe Iget to marry you.”
“Let’s go get married.”
The hills of the golf course are still my favorite. How the wind carries over each one, sending the fragrance of fresh cut grass our way. No matter what, it always seems to feel like a fresh start here. All the running around, we are finally here at this moment.
When we get out of Penelope and walk toward the sixteenth hole, I can hear chatter. “I hope we aren't interrupting anyone's game.” We picked this hole because it's so open, and in front of the water with the most beautiful view of the sunset.
“It's sunset. No one should be playing right now,” Clint says, and I want to believe him. When we hit the peak of the hill, we hear shouts of surprise. It's only been a couple of hours, but somehow our friends have been tipped off.
There are two rows of white chairs sitting in a semicircle in front of an arch made up of books. It's beautiful.
All I could focus on when Clint proposed was him. I didn’t have time, or the emotional capacity, to call our friends. I knew they would understand when we called them afterwards. I didn't want to wait a moment longer. I wanted him. Our mulligan. But having my closest friends, both my parents, and Clinton’s family here with us…This feels complete and so very real.
Glen is standing in the front, near the arch of romance novels, while Cassidy and my mom are standing at the start of the aisle. Instead of the fear I was so certain I would experience if I ever let someone close for too long, I feel at peace as the sun warms my skin.
