Page 97 of Without a Doubt

She turns to me with a grin. “Another one so soon?”

I laugh. The last surprise was yesterday when I baked brownies after dinner. “Yeah.”

“When do I get it?”

Shit. I'm talking about proposing and I don't have a plan! I shrug. “You'll get it when you get it.”

She rolls her eyes at me. “Fine. You can cook again tonight. I want steaks on the grill.”

“Done,” I agree, walking over to her. I do most of the cooking anyway. I kiss her softly once before pulling away. “Don't forget to pay the water bill on your lunch break.”

Eva sighs. “You just had to ruin the moment, didn't you?”

I laugh and we leave for work.

How long can I get away with not giving this surprise to her?

I don't want to mess this up for her. Yet, I don't know what I'm doing either! This is impossible. Thoughts of proposing plague me all day. My plan to call Glen for his input on my lunch break is ruined when I have to work through it. I'm screwed. This shouldn't be so damn hard! As the day wears on, things don't look up. I text Eva that I'll be an hour or so late. Part of me wishes I were still in college. School didn't last as long as work, and sometimes, I miss it.

When I get home, I find Eva on the back porch. “What are you doing?” I ask, seeing her standing in front of my grill.

“I'm starving, so I started it myself.”

I frown. She's never operated my grill. I stand next to her and begin to check that she hasn't somehow messed it up.

“I've seen you do it enough, I know how to work it,” she tells me.

“Appears so.” I sit down on a chair and she sits in my lap, resting her head on my shoulder. “Did you have a good day?”

“Yeah, it was just long. Glen wanted us to meet for drinks later, but I didn't feel like it. It's going to be a lazy evening, Emerson.”

“Lazy sounds good.”

We finish cooking dinner, eat our steaks and drink a beer, and then lie down on the couch to watch a movie. I'm pretty sure we've nearly watched everything Netflix has to offer. A movie starts and like always, I'm waiting for Eva to fall asleep. It's impossible to get through an entire movie with her. I'm about to check to see if she's asleep when she lifts her head, her eyes sleepy as I predicted.

“I don't get my surprise tonight?”

“What if I said I wasn't sure if you should get it tonight?”

She frowns, her eyebrows pulling together. “I'd say give it to me anyway.”

I laugh. “Of course you would. Just remember, you could have waited and it could have been better. Sit up and wait here.”

She does and I leave to get the ring from my nightstand. Hey, if I could hide the key to my apartment there, it had to make a good hiding spot for her engagement ring. I pull out the black box. This is a terrible idea. I need to tell her she needs to wait. Or come up with another surprise. This isn't how I should propose to her. It's not special. It's not romantic. It's too simple.

I sit on the bed, staring at it. I want to ask her so badly already. Maybe she wouldn't mind something simple. Shouldn't I have figured this out by now?

“Emerson?”

I look up to see Eva standing in the doorway, her eyes focused on the jewelry box. She walks over and sits next to me, finally lifting her gaze to meet mine.

“Having doubts?” she carefully asks, trying to keep the emotions out of her voice.

“Yeah, but about how to do this the way you want,” I confess.

Her grin surprises me. “Want me to give you a hint?” Eva doesn't give me a chance to answer. Her voice lowers to a whisper and there's a hint of laughter as she says, “Get on one knee and ask me.”

I watch her for a moment before dropping to both of my knees in front of her. The words begin to pour out. “I love you, Eva. I love everything about you, about us, and our lives for the last four years. There's never been any doubts when it comes to you. I want all your time, all the years in the future, and I want to love you for the rest of our lives. I want us to grow old together. I want you to eventually burp your abc's.” She laughs. “I want to make all those dreams we've been talking about come true. I want to make you happy. I want you. Will you please marry me?”

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