Page 80 of Sunset

“I love you, Brynn, and I want to marry you. Sooner rather than later, but I will wait as long as it takes for you to be ready.” I say, laying my cards on the table.

She deserves so much more than a proposal from a hospital bed that I can’t even get out of. Hell, I don’t even have a ring, but I need her to know I’m serious about this and all in.

“Jasper…” She gasps.

“Say yes, and I will make sure to give you the proposal and wedding of your dreams. We can move into your parents’ house and run The Sunset together, like we always dreamed of. I swear, every dream we talked about all those late nights, I’ll make them come true. The dog, the kids, and the large family trips. All of it.”

Tears are flowing down Brynn’s cheeks, and all I want to do is reach over and wipe them away, but I can barely move.

“Yes.” She whispers and more tears flow.

“Yes?” I smile so big that my whole face hurts, but I don’t care.

“Yes!” She says more certain this time, drawing the attention of Lin, Kade, and my mom, but I don’t care.

“Come here, Firefly,” I say, and when her lips land on mine, I know there isn’t a moment better than this.

* * *

“Do I need to move the couch? Can you get around the coffee table? Maybe, I should put the coffee table in storage for right now. No, you’ll need it to put your leg up on.” Brynn fires off question after question without giving me time to respond. I got out of the hospital today and decided to take the next step and move in with Brynn. I hated to do it to my mom right after the accident, but her smile, when I told her, could have lit up a Christmas tree brighter than Christmas morning. She then reminded me, daughter-in-law before grandbabies.

“It’s fine where it is, I swear, and if it’s not, I promise to tell you,” I say, sitting on the couch and setting my crutches down.

“How are you feeling? You still have time before your next round of medicine. Are you hungry?” She says, starting down the road of never-ending questions again.

Smiling, I grab hold of her hand and pull her onto my lap.

“Don’t do that. You could hurt yourself.” She says.

“I’m not as fragile as you think,” I say and lean in to kiss her.

My fiancé.

I run my thumb over the ring on her hand, as I pull back from the kiss.

When we told Lin and Kade we were going to get married, Lin made Kade drive her all the way back here, and then back to the hospital to give me Brynn’s mom’s ring. She has been wearing it ever since.

My mom was over the moon to hear we are engaged and spent the rest of my hospital time, wedding planning with Brynn. Though, Brynn insisted I be out of the cast and walking on my own again for our wedding, so it will be after the season, but before Christmas. Anything she plans will be perfect.

“Tomorrow, I want to go check on the kitchen here. I need to apologize to the guys.” I tell her.

“Jasper, you can’t work!” She says.

Leaning in to give her another kiss.

“You can come with me. I have no plans to work. I just want to apologize and make sure they’re okay. I want to run the kitchen here with you, and to do that, I need to make things right with them.” I say.

“Okay, but I’m going with you.” She says.

“I also need to peek in at Samuel’s and The Hummingbird Bar. My dad set them up to run on their own, and they do, but I wasn’t very nice there either. I need to make amends and check to see if they’re okay, too. If not tomorrow, then the next day. Then, I promise not to leave this room for a week.” I say and start kissing her neck.

“Jasper.” She moans. “We can’t.”

“I can’t, but you can,” I say and start running my hand up her thigh.

“Make you a deal. If you take a nap, we can go to the kitchen, have dinner in bed, and then we have some fun. But only if you nap, it was a long car ride.” She says.

“Deal,” I say.

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