“What you said about how it was for you our first time was the same for me.I’ve been with a man before, but with you, it’s a whole different experience.You don’t get what you are to me, tapper.You’ve gone through all this stuff, and you’re working on all that stuff so we can be together.No one’s ever done that for me before.”
“Fuck, Eddie.”I started crying.I curled up on the bed and covered my face, because it was fucking embarrassing.
I felt his hand on my side again.
“What’s wrong?”he said.
“I was gonna ask you to marry me.”
“Guess that’s a yes, then?”
I hiccuped, because I was crying and laughing at the same time.I nodded.He held me, and we lay like that, and I gradually relaxed.Then I fell asleep.
Chapter Twenty-Four: Eddie Turns the Tables
Iblinked and didn’tknow where I was.The light was dim but not dark.He was still holding me, stroking my hair, and looking at me with this half smile, his warm breath on my skin.
“Hey,” I said.
“Hey.”
“...did we get engaged or did I dream that?”
“You didn’t dream it.”
All that planning.I’d written a speech, made him a ring.And he just proposed to me off-the-cuff, like it was easy.I felt like I’d been climbing stairs in the dark, and I’d lifted my foot, but I was already at the top, and I’d pitched forward, off balance.I felt like I’d made it to the top, but I hadn’t earned it.
“You wanna go out and celebrate?”he said.
“Where?”
“There must be a restaurant around here.”
“I could make us dinner.”I felt like I owed him for proposing.
“If you want,” he said.
