Page 80 of The Weekend Crashers
“Something I should have done before now,” he says. She steps back just enough to look at him and he drops to one knee. Before she can say something, the ring she thought was gone is in his hand.
“Piper, I’ll never forget the expression on your face the first day I saw you at the animal shelter. You were so defensive on behalf of that cat. I thought,This is a woman who cares. A lot of people don’t. As I got to know you, I realized your compassion runs even deeper than I imagined, and you’re even more beautiful inside than out. I’ve loved you for three years now, and I’ll always love you.” He pauses, and she feels like she’s suspended in midair. “Piper, will you marry me?”
This is actually happening.Piper tears up, nodding and saying yes as he slips the ring on her finger. He hugs her and she clings to him, eyes shut tight. But then she has a troubling thought. She steps back.
“Wait. You didn’t drive out here and propose to me because of Cole, did you?”
Ethan smiles and shakes his head. “No. But I can see how the timing looks like that. Piper, the truth is I was planning to ask you this weekend all along. But between you having a rough time with the show, and what your mother said—”
“Hold it right there,” Piper says. “What, exactly, did my mother say?”
Maggie feels bubbly and light, as if she’d had a few glasses of champagne. But she’s sober and simply lit up with the joy of the moment. She sits with Aidan on the sidelines of the improvised dance floor, where the younger people are dancing to theseventies song “Funkytown.” Cole’s dramatic little announcement was like the uncorking of a champagne bottle: a big pop and the party really gets started.
“You know, I gotta hand it to Cole. The timing of going public with their relationship was a pro move,” she says. “It’s like a politician waiting until five o’clock on a summer Friday to announce they were ‘consciously uncoupling.’ A few seconds of attention, and then a collective shrug.”
“I have to admit, I’m surprised,” Aidan says. “That was a very un-Cole-like thing to do. And I’m still not sure about this whole thing.”
“Well, the headline here is that Cole took a big stand tonight. Critics be damned.”
“Critics be damned? I’m afraid that includes me.”
“Well, in the words of Lenny Kravitz: Let love rule.”
“You did not just quote Lenny Kravitz.”
“I did. You’re not just talking to another single parent; you’re talking to a fellow Gen Xer.”
“I knew there was something I liked about you.”
He seems about to put his arm around her, then changes his mind. Cole might be ready to go public, but clearly Aidan is not. And that’s just fine with her. She just liked spending time with him.
“And things with Piper are all patched up?” he says.
“Completely.” She and Piper not only resolved the tension—they’re closer than ever. This weekend was exactly what they needed. Maybe they can make an annual tradition out of it—return every autumn for a New Hope Knitting Retreat.
Aidan hands her his gift bag.
“Trade you.”
“Are you complaining about your knitting kit? Because you should be grateful.”
He looks dubious. “How do you figure?”
“You got out of paying me fifty bucks.” This gets a smile out of him.
“So you think you won?” he says.
In that moment? Definitely. “Yeah. I do,” she says.
Their eyes lock. She has the surprising realization she’s happy. Just happy in the moment. But then he says, “Do you want to hang out later?” And she feels her smile fade. Last night was one thing. But if they spend time together again, like that, it will open up the question of keeping in touch. And where’s that going to go? Her life is in New York.
“Aidan, I like spending time with you. A lot. But I’m really bad at this.”
“Parties?”
“No. Relationships. I’ve gotten comfortable with a simple life. Just work and being a mom.”
“I get it. I have too. But maybe it’s time to get uncomfortable,” he says. “Cole and I had a conversation earlier. I told him what I thought about his precarious relationship status, but it turns out he had some things to say to me too.”
