Page 97 of Sweet Spot
“No.” He chuckles. “She’d probably be thrilled.”
I close my eyes and breathe in the scent of jasmine and grass. “Someday I’m going to live on the golf course where I can just walk out and play golf any time I want. We can sit on the patio and you can critique swings of everyone who passes by.”
“I bet they’d love that.”
“Not to them, just to me. For fun.”
“I can think of a lot of things to do in this hypothetical house that would be a lot more fun than that.”
“Oh yeah? Like what?”
“Like surprising the hell out of you by telling you it isn’t so hypothetical.” He stops walking and turns to face the back of a house across the fairway from Gram’s. It’s down from the tee box a hundred yards or so and has a big For Sale sign hanging just off the course.
“Gonna buy me a house someday, sugar daddy?” I joke and lean against him. “That one is nice. Good patio. That pool is great too. Yep, one just like this will do. Got a cool million I could borrow?”
“It won’t cost you quite that much.”
I pull back and look up at his face because he’s gone along with this charade far too long and sounds far too serious.
“What’ll it cost me?” I ask tentatively, my pulse speeding.
He takes out his yo-yo, which makes me laugh.
“I have to learn a trick? You know I’m hopeless with that thing.” He’s tried to teach me a few basic tricks, but it seems that I can add yo-yoing to the list of things I’m not very good at.
He takes my left hand and guides my ring finger through the slipknot, still holding the yo-yo in his palm. “Ready?”
I nod. I have no idea what he’s up to, but I’m ready for it all—anything he wants to throw at me.
“It’ll cost you forever.” He opens his palm, and a beautiful platinum ring slides down the string and onto my finger.
I gasp as Lincoln gets down on one knee. His lips are wrenched into a tight, nervous smile, and he looks at me with such hope and want that I’m utterly floored.
“You’re sure?” I have zero doubts that the man loves me, but this? I’m stunned.
“I’ve never been more sure of anything.” He pushes the ring down my finger. “I want us together in this house.” He nods toward the home behind us. “I want your stuff strewn all around it, and I want to wake up every morning and try to figure out how to be the best husband and coach that I can be. I’ll never stop wanting you. Never stop wanting to be better for you. Not in a million lifetimes together. Marry me?”
“Yes! Yes, of course, I’ll marry you.”
He stands and brushes a quick kiss against my lips before tipping his head back and screaming, “She said yes! She said yes!”
I’m laughing as he sweeps my legs out from under me and carries me back toward Gram’s house, kissing me and telling me how much he loves me the whole way. When he sets me down, he does so in front of a bunch of people who are all smiling and holding champagne glasses.
“What if I’d said no?”
He smiles. “It was going to be a really lame party.”
“Dad?” I spot him off to the side dressed fancier than I’ve maybe ever seen. I rush to him. “What are you doing here?”
“Heard my baby girl might be getting engaged.”
Lincoln’s at my side and extends a hand to him. “Good to see you again, Mr. Brooks.”
“Now that you’re getting married, I think Dan will do just fine.”
I squeeze my dad and then pull back and check him out. Face clean-shaven, and I think I smell cologne. I pat the pocket on his button-down shirt. “You clean up well.”
Leaving him was the hardest part of moving away from Valley.
