“I don’t know what I was thinking. Honestly. I feel so stupid.”
“You’re not stupid. Nobody thought this was stupid.”
“I wasted a year of my life. Ayear, Landon. A year I could have been doing something that mattered. I’ll never get it back.”
Landon grabbed one hand, then the other. “Someday,” he said, “when we’re old and gray and sitting on the enormous wraparound front porch I built with my bare hands, this is all going to be a blip.”
Rose wanted to wallow but couldn’t help taking the bait. “A wraparound porch, huh?”
“Enormous. It’s going to take me a full decade to finish, but it’s going to be worth it.”
Rose almost chuckled, but something about his statement wasn’t sitting right with her. “Why are you so sure it all turns out?” Rose asked. “Bad things happen, Landon.”People leave you, she thought.People die.
“Because my bar is low. As long as I’m with you in the end, it’s all turned out.”
All year, Rose had been waiting for the other shoe to drop—for her dissatisfaction with her life to bleed into dissatisfaction with her relationship. But it hadn’t. If anything, it had proven to her that Landon had something she desperately needed: unwavering faith in her abilities. “That helped,” she said. “A little.”
“Good,” he said. “Can I convince you to come out from under the covers, just for a minute?”
“That’s going to be a hard sell.”
“I have a surprise.”
She squinted. “A good surprise?”
“I think so.”
“You’re not sure if it’s good or bad?”
“You’re going to need to tell me.”
If nothing else, he’d piqued her curiosity. “Fine,” she said. “But if this ends up being a bad surprise, just know it’s all your fault when I wallow for the entire weekend.”
“Noted,” he said. “Give me a minute, before you come out?”
“Landon, I swear to God, if it’s a puppy, I am going to kill you.”
“I feel like a puppy would be an unambiguouslygoodsurprise.”
“Landon!”
“Okay,” he said, brushing his fingers along her cheekbones. “You’ll wait a minute?”
“Yes.” Landon placed a light kiss on her lips and rolled out from under the covers. “You’re not usually this mysterious,” Rose said.
“And you’re usually nosier,” he shot back. “I did not think you were actually going to wait.”
Rose rolled her eyes and poked her head up and out of her sadness cave. “You’re—” she began, then gasped.
While she’d lain in the dark, Landon had transformed her room into a fairy glade. White rose petals peppered the floor with no clear pattern, as a flower girl might toss them from a basket. He’d strung delicate string lights—surrounded her bed with them—and pasted glowing stars to the ceiling, like the ones in her childhood bedroom that had seen their firstI love yous. Candles flickered on top of the mini fridge.What is this, she wanted to say, but her hummingbird heart would not allow it. The soft lighting made Landon look both years younger and older than he was: in one flicker, a hopeful boy; the next, a confident man. He leaned down and sat on the floor beside her. “Do you like it?” he asked.
Rose nodded, her every synapse alight.
“I’ve been thinking about this for months,” Landon said. The candles flickered: boy, man. “Thinking about how to do it, what to say to you. But, Rose, I’ve known since the day I met you—” He paused. “From the day I met you, I knew this was different. That you were different. You don’t have to believe in yourself right now, because I can do that for the both of us until you’re ready. But believe, Rose, that I want to spend whatever comes next with you. I love younow, for everything you were, are, and will be.” Landonpulled a red velvet box from his pocket. The hinge gave way with a soft click.
“Oh my God,” Rose breathed, finally. “Oh my God, Landon.”
“This was my grandmother’s,” he said, plucking the ring from its cushion. It was like no ring Rose had ever seen, with a deep blue sapphire at its center, its surface smooth and polished. When the light hit it just right, a perfect six-pointed star flickered into view. “She loved my grandfather for sixty years. This ring has seen so much joy, but it’s also seen belt tightening, and fights, and loss. If you don’t like it, I will buy you any ring you want—we can go together and pick one out, or you could design something. But if you do like it…” He paused, his eyes searching hers. “Oh God, I’m rambling. I haven’t even said the thing yet.”
