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“Yeah, Bruno’s in town too, so he said he would stop by.”

“That’s great. I know you said you don’t see enough of him.”

“Nobody does. I can’t wait.”

We talked for a few more minutes until Carrie showed up with her hoard and I was pulled away.

I didn't see Adam disappear from the room.

I noticed he was gone, and then I noticed James was gone, and then I found both of them in the kitchen, heads together over something on the counter. Adam straightened when he heard me come in, looking like a man who had just been caught.

"Everything okay?" I asked.

"Fine." He was suspiciously relaxed about it. "James was showing me his new card trick."

James held up a deck of cards. "It's not ready yet," he said seriously. "I need to practice more."

"Okay," I said slowly, and went back to the party.

Twenty minutes later, Adam found me.

He put his hand on the small of my back and leaned in. "Come outside for a second."

Adam had strung lights along the railing, and they were just starting to glow in the early evening dimness. Half the party had drifted out behind us, the way party guests do when something pulls them without their knowing why. Renzo and Millie. Ford and Ruby. Carrie with Tommy's hand in hers. Little Grandma was already installed in a chair someone had carried out for her, which told me she'd known something was coming. Little Grandma always knew.

Angelica drifted out with Malik and his family.

James materialized at my elbow.

Adam turned to face me.

The lights caught the line of his jaw, the steadiness in his eyes. He reached into his jacket pocket and I stopped breathing. He held out a ring.

The ring was simple and perfect and entirely him — clean lines, a single stone, no fuss.

"Zoe Avery." His voice was low enough to be private and clear enough to carry. "I came to Jasper Creek to build something. I didn't know you were what I was building toward." The corner of his mouth moved. "You are the best surprise of my life. You are my heart. And I would very much like to spend the rest of mine being yours."

He went down on one knee.

The porch went completely silent.

"Dad," James said clearly into the silence.

Adam kept his eyes on me. "Not right now, bud."

"But Dad, I have the ring box."

Adam blinked.

The ring was in his hand.

James was striding over to us and thrust the box up beside the ring. “Here, Miss Zoe. You’re going to need someplace to put the ring.”

I looked around, and sure enough, everybody was recording this.

“I think I want to wear the ring, Honey.”

He frowned. Then Adam slipped the ring on my finger.