Max presses a hand to his chest. “After all this time, I’m still the prime suspect?”
“You give mysterious rich-guy energy,” she says seriously.
I laugh as Max groans under his breath.
“Save us seats,” I call as he takes my hand and leads me toward the shoreline.
The sand is warm beneath our feet as we walk.
“How are you?” Max asks, squeezing my hand twice.
“Good,” I answer honestly. “Really good. How was your meeting?”
His grin appears instantly. “We finally got approval for an Alder Haus market on the other side of town.”
“That’s amazing.”
“It only took a year to convince city council.”
I laugh. “So you won the bet with Aiden?”
“Unfortunately not. I was a week over my estimate, which means I’m paying the next time all the guys go to dinner.”
“That doesn’t sound so terrible.”
“It is if Aiden chooses the restaurant.”
I laugh again, loving the sound of his voice mixing with the ocean breeze.
And then I look up.
Huge letters covered in flowers stand farther down the beach.
MARRY ME
I stop short, immediately glancing around for the couple this is obviously meant for.
Max gently tugs me forward.
My heart starts pounding.
We stop a few feet in front of the flowers, the ocean stretching endlessly behind them.
“I’ve spent most of my life chasing expectations,” Max says quietly. “Trying to become the person everyone else needed me to be.”
He looks at me then, hesitant in a way that still undoes me.
“But you…” He lets out a breath. “You made me feel like I could just be myself.”
Emotion climbs into my throat instantly.
“Avery, when everything in my life felt like it was falling apart, you were the person who reminded me what mattered. You showed me that it’s okay to change direction. That letting go of something doesn’t mean you failed.”
His thumb brushes across my hand.
“You stood up to my parents. You stood up for us. And somehow, you made Penrose Beach feel more like home than anywhere else ever has.”
My eyes sting.
