She made her eyes round. “Oh, I couldn’t possibly rifle through your shelves.”
“Never stopped you before,” Betsy chimed in.
“Shut it,” Amanda growled under her breath before blinking and resuming her fake guileless expression. She patted my arm. “Maybe some pretzels?”
What was she up to? I stared at her. Waited. Her right eye twitched, then her façade broke as she huffed out a breath.
“Fine. I didn’t want to do this, but you’ve left me no choice.” As if she’d seen the snap of an invisible football, she charged me like a linebacker, wrapping her arms around my middle and driving me into the couch cushions. “Grab it! Grab her phone!” she shrieked in my ear.
Nicole, Molly, and Betsy ignored both the tackle and the crazy command.
Molly pointed to Nicole’s fabric. “Have you got a design picked out?”
I shoved at Amanda and she fell off me, her teeth gritting in pain, but I hadn’t pushed her that hard. Probably acting again.
I looked to the couch cushion where I’d been sitting, but it was empty. Where had my phone gone?
Molly held it out to me while pinning a look at Amanda. “She’ll tell us when she’s ready. In the meantime, I have some news to share if you’re done tackling people.”
My gaze snapped to her left hand. There, resting between her knuckles, lay a diamond solitaire. How had we all missed that? Squeals erupted in the room, and we all started talking over each other.
“When did he propose?”
“Howdid he propose?”
“Let me see the ring.”
“I’m so excited for you!”
“Do you have a date set yet?”
“Or a location? Or a dress? Ah! The dress!”
Molly laughed and let us maul her hand to get better looks at the ring. Simple yet elegant. Ben had chosen well.
I wrapped my best friend in a fierce hug. “You deserve all the happiness in the world.”
She squeezed me back. “So do you.”
Our eyes met when we pulled apart. In them I saw her hope and joy—not only for her own future but for mine as well. I hadn’t told her about Malachi, but she knew anyway. Somehow. Although, I shouldn’t have been surprised. Keeping secrets from one’s girlfriends was like trying to hide a whale in a fish tank. Not possible and inadvisable.
“How did he propose?” Amanda asked again. “Was a unicorn involved?”
Ben and Molly had a history with unicorns.
Molly smiled. “No unicorns, but still quite romantic.”
“You better get on with the story or she might explode,” Betsy said, pointing to Amanda.
“That’s right.” Amanda nodded seriously. “And I don’t think anyone wants to clean that up.”
Molly stretched out her arm and wiggled her fingers as she took in her sparkly ring. “It happened last night. He came home from a twelve-hour shift, exhausted and a little smelly because he hadn’t showered and changed out of his scrubs like he normally does.”
“Disheveled and stinky equals romantic?” Betsy made a clicking sound with her tongue. “Whatever floats your boat, sister.”
“Itwasromantic! He didn’t shower or change because he needed to see me right then and he couldn’t stand even the few minutes longer for us to be apart.”
I covered her hand with mine. “I think it sounds perfect.”
