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“It is? How?”
“I was in the middle of the dang crowd when you announced you loved me. I’m lucky I got out alive.”
A laugh stuttered out from me as I pictured him getting torn apart by a bunch of fans like he was a Backstreet Boy. “Why would they do that?”
“I’m pretty sure some of them thought they could crowd-surf me to you, but it was short-lived. And highly painful for everyone involved. Then when I finally got out of that mess, everyone I’ve ever met grabbed me to take a selfie as I clawed my way to the front. I didn’t think the people of Charlotte Oaks were so fame-hungry. They dang-near killed me tryin’ to get a photo with the guy Laney Cole just confessed to lovin’.”
I leaned into him, my fingers poking through a tear in his shirt and skimming along the heated skin underneath it. “Did you ever think it was because of how hot you are and had nothin’ to do with me?”
He leaned in and kissed me, then pulled back with a smile. “No, ma’am. But if you wanna manhandle me so you can take my picture because you think I’m hot, I’d be much obliged.”
I pushed his chest and lowered myself onto the buttery-soft leather of my seat, laughing as he trotted around to get in on the driver’s side. When he was settled, he reached for my hand and brought it to his lips, kissing the back and then holding it tenderly against the side of his face.
“I love you, Laney Cole,” he mumbled, his eyes warm and steady on mine.
“I love you too,” I replied.
“Do me a favor before we take off?”
I smiled and nodded. “Anythin’.”
“Open the glove box.”
With a short laugh at his odd request, I reached over with my free hand and flicked open the latch, letting the door of the compartment fall forward. In it, right there on top of my registration paperwork and next to my emergency supply of road trip gummy worms that I hoped were still good after all that time in the shop, was a familiar blue box that I’d seen on a cold winter night six years before.
“Is that what I think it is?” I asked breathlessly, too stunned to make a grab for it even though my fingers tingled like I’d touched a live wire.
“Sure is.”
My gaze flew to his, takin’ in the happiness mixed with nerves. “You’ve kept it all this time?”
“Sure did.”
At his silent command—which was a jerk of his chin, a trademark move—I reached forward and wrapped my shaking fingers around the soft velvet box and drew it out. He gently took it from me and opened it, revealing the same ring I’d been so dazzled by the first and last time I’d seen it.
It was a small rectangular diamond set on a white gold band with two tiny light-blue sapphires nestled on either side of it. He’d told me back when he’d first proposed that the stones reminded him of my big blue eyes, and I’d made him laugh by joking that he should be the one with sapphires on his ring, not me.
Then he’d looked up at me with a dazzling smile and said, “They’re to remind you that I love your eyes, I’m lost whenever I look into them, and no matter what happens in the future, they’ll never stop takin’ my breath away.”
“It’s still true, you know,” he said now, obviously remembering the same thing I was as we both stared down at the ring. “So I’ll ask you again, but this time, I don’t care who’s callin’—whatever you do, do not answer the phone.”
I chuckled and looked around the car. “I don’t even have it. I left all my stuff backstage.”
“Even better,” he replied with a wink. He plucked the ring from the box and held it up to me. “Laney, I’ve loved you my whole life, and I’ve never stopped. I never will. Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I replied, leaning forward and kissing him hard on the mouth. Then I watched as he finally slid that gorgeous ring on my finger. After a few more kisses and tearful I love yous, I leaned back in my seat and buckled up. “Now, take me home.”
EPILOGUE - EVERETT
Six months later …
If you’d asked me last year if I thought I’d ever see the day where Laney Cole would be standing in front of me wearing a big ol’ smile and a gorgeous white wedding dress, I’d have told you no. But on the inside, it woulda hurt like heck to say that. Because the scene playing out in front of me today has been a dream of mine since I was a teenager with no clue how quickly life could get muddier than any tires I’d ever seen.
After we said our I do’s and wrapped up the rest of the I-now-pronounce-you part, I grabbed my wife around her slim waist and kissed her like there was no tomorrow. Cheers erupted all around us, and I felt her smile against my lips. It was done. After a bumpy road and years of long-distance love and loss, we’d finally sealed the deal.
“I love you,” she said when I pulled back and grinned down at her.
“I love you too, Mrs. Wilson.”
