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We’re hiding in the kitchen of the diner where Brock’s about to propose. To some, it might not seem romantic, but it is to them. The diner means something to Brock and Naomi.
“What happens if she says no because she’s going to wait for me to be older?” Cody asks with a smirk.
I give him a noogie and he swats my hand away. “You’re a stinker, you know that?”
“Just statin’ facts. You know all the girls want this.” He points at himself and gives me a cheesy grin.
I bust up laughing. Cody’s only twelve and doesn’t lack self-confidence. At all. It’s both hilarious and somewhat annoying because he has so little fear of what he can accomplish and do on his own.
“She won’t say no,” I affirm his earlier question. He might have played it off with a joke, but I know my nephew. He’s truly wondering what would happen if she did. Brock would be devastated, that’s what. But I know the love Naomi has for my brother matches the love he has for her. There’s not a snowball’s chance in hell she’ll say no to his proposal.
“Are you sure?”
“I’m sure, buddy.” I tuck him in for a hug and we inch closer. All of us wanting to see what’s happening but not be seen. We’re like a herd of elephants back here so I have no idea how Naomi hasn’t noticed us. Subtle is not in the Lake family DNA.
“Good. That would suck.”
“Yes, it would. But no worries. Auntie Naomi will officially be your auntie, and not just because she’s a friend of the family.”
He grins up at me and then we hear it. The start of his proposal.
“…You’re my other half. My best friend. The woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. Will you do me the honor of becoming my wife? Will you marry me?”
“Yes,” Naomi whispers, but since we’re all paying close attention we can hear it. We have to look like a bunch of idiots, crouching down behind the large window that orders are handed through. Like a group of meerkats poking our heads up over the counter. We’re all too nosy to care how we look, though. A sob escapes her throat and this time it’s louder when she says, “Yes, Brock. I’ll marry you.”
Brock slides the ring onto her finger and tugs her out of the booth, crushing her in a kiss that has me covering Cody’s eyes. We all fight to get through the door at the same time, shooting confetti guns and playing “When a Man Loves a Woman”by Percy Sledge through the portable speaker Cody’s carrying.
“She said yes!” Brock hollers unnecessarily.
We let my mom hug them first, because no one would consider getting in the way of Leah Lake-Montgomery in this situation. The ladies are crying and Cody looks confused as to why they’re crying in a happy situation.
“Happy tears, buddy. Women cry when they’re sadandwhen they’re happy.”
His little face screws up. “Women are weird.”
“Yup,” I agree.
We continue to celebrate, even with some champagne I smuggled into the diner that’s a dry establishment. I used my Cash Lake charm on Dorothy, the long-time owner, and she agreed. Considering she’s a huge romantic, and loves Brock and Naomi, it didn’t take much convincing.
“Wow! It’s a party in here!” I hear a slightly familiar voice say from behind me. But the voice comes from a woman I knew a lifetime ago so it couldn’t be her. It’s a voice I never expected to hear again but one I’ve thought of time and time again. When I turn around, the face I also never expected to see again is looking around the room, eyes bright and smile wide. Until her eyes connect with mine. Her smile dies instantly and she looks like she’s seen a ghost. I have no doubt my expression is the same.
“Hadley?” My voice is hoarse and filled with shock. Shock. That’s putting seeing Hadley here in this tiny diner in Red Oak, Tennessee, my hometown, mildly. “What… what are you doing here?”
“Cash?” Hadley replies. Her voice, though, is something I can only call… nervous. Why is she nervous? I’m bouncing between excited to see her and confused as to why she’s standing in the diner in Red Oak. What is she doing here? The last time I saw her she was boarding a plane in New York City to go home to Chicago.
We stare at each other, both of us blinking repeatedly.
“I’m Dorothy’s great niece,” Hadley explains, though it still doesn’t make sense to me. I understand that she’s her niece, but how is it that she’shere.
“I knew it!” Naomi shouts. “You were our waitress one time. Remember, Leah?” she says, turning to Mom whose face is full of confusion. Mom nods but doesn’t pull her gaze away from me. She can read me like a book and right now that’s making me a little itchy. She knows Hadley meanssomethingto me; she just doesn’t know what. Well, that makes two of us. Sure, we spent the best night of my life together, but that was years ago.
“Cash, honey? Do you know Hadley already?”
I clear my throat which feels like it’s full of rocks. “Yeah, Mom. We’ve… uh… met.”
“Mom! I brought in the cups!” Someone else has entered the party and this time, I feel like my world is rocked.
Hadley spins around on her toes and rushes to where the girl is standing. “Okay, honey, thanks. Just…”
