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I’ve gotten a small rental apartment in town, because it seemed too soon to move in with the two of them. “Sure,” I say, smiling.
“Good,” Mia answers with a nod. “Bailey wants pancakes tomorrow morning.”
I laugh, happy to be of service.
A week later,on the first of January, I glance at myself one last time in the mirror, straighten my bowtie, and put on the black suit jacket I’ve recently had dry cleaned. A dozen roses wait for me near the front door, and I slip my feet into gleaming black dress shoes before taking the flowers and heading out.
Tonight, to go along with the first day of the New Year, Mia and I have special plans—our first official date. Bailey is having an overnight sleepover at Trina’s place, and Mia will be all mine.
My nerves are wound up tighter than ever by the time I make it behind the barbershop and knock on the door. My palm sweats around the rose stems, and I touch my bowtie for the thousandth time to make sure it isn’t crooked.
Then the door opens, and everything is all right in the world.
Mia is radiant. She smiles at me in a plunging black gown, her feet clad in strappy, rhinestone-encrusted shoes that are not at all season appropriate. Her gaze drops to the flowers, and she glows.
“No one’s ever bought me flowers before,” she admits.
I store that tidbit away for future use. “They won’t be the last you get from me,” I answer, handing them over. I enter the space and watch her fuss with the roses as she puts them in water, positioning the blooming red roses in the center of the table with a happy smile on her face. Her blond hair gleams, falling in delicate tendrils around her face. She’s beautiful. She’s mine.
“Okay,” Mia finally says, throwing a wool jacket over her shoulders. “I’m ready.”
I extend my arm and lead her to my car. When she’s safely seated inside, I jog to the driver’s side and get in. We spend the evening watching a show at a nearby theater—a romantic musical that makes me want to put my arms around Mia and never let go. Then I take her to the restaurant for a do-over.
“Dolce Vita,” Mia says with a laugh as we pull into the parking lot. She grins at me. “I hear the cannolis are divine.”
“I wouldn’t know,” I answer. “My last date walked out on me before I got to try any of the food.”
She laughs, then takes my arm. We enter the restaurant together, then have a beautiful meal with delicious wine. All those weeks ago, this is what I craved—but the reality is better.
I’m not pretending to be anyone other than who I am. Mia sees me—all of me—and loves me for me. So, after the waiter brings out our cannolis for dessert, I clear my throat, reach into my breast pocket, and stand up from my chair to get down on bended knee.
Mia has a mouthful of creamy, crunchy cannoli, and she stares at me with wide eyes. I flip open the ring box to show her the diamond ring I picked out the day after I got back to Heart’s Cove. She stops chewing, a bit of creamy filling dotted on the corner of her lip.
I reach over, pick it up with my thumb, then lick it clean. Then I smile and say, “Mia. I know it’s soon, but no matter how much time goes by, I’ll always know you’re the one for me. I love you so much, looking at you feels like staring directly at the sun. Please, make me the happiest man in the world and be my wife.”
It takes a while for Mia to chew and swallow. She throws me a few glares, eyes shining with tears, and finally swallows her dessert before saying, “You couldn’t have warned me about this before I stuffed an entire cannoli in my mouth?”
I laugh, plucking the ring from its velvet embrace. “Is that a yes?”
“Insolent man,” she grumbles, but she reaches her hand forward anyway. A tear rolls down her cheek as she meets my gaze and says, “It’s a yes.”
“Yay!” Bailey’s voice echoes in the restaurant as the rest of the dinner patrons applaud. Bailey comes sprinting over from the hostess’s stand where she’d been hiding and crashes into her mother’s arms. Mia snorts and sniffles, surprised, delighted, happy—and mine.
I stand up and wrap my arms around the two most important ladies in my life, before leaning down to kiss Mia’s cannoli-flavored mouth. “I love you,” I whisper.
“I’m very angry at you,” she whispers back, not looking angry at all, “and I love you too.”
MIA
We decideto set the date of our wedding for a full year later, to give us time to plan the biggest, most wonderful party this town has seen. Des and I are both loners, but our friends and family in Heart’s Cove have dragged us out of our shells kicking and screaming, and the wedding is a way for us to show how much we appreciate it.
In between wedding planning, I run my barbershop, I spend time with Bailey and Des, and I make sure to stop in at Four Cups at least once a day to see the girls. The library above the café becomes a sanctuary for me too, and when Georgia hears about her sister’s adventures in Lovers’ Peak (and her hot, infuriating new boss, Rhett Baldwin), I’m the one who ends up falling on the floor because I’m laughing so hard. The girls were telling the truth. It really is more fun from this side of things.
Des ends up working with Grant as a project manager to help with a lot of the in-office work while Grant manages the construction crews. The two of them build a friendship as well as a partnership, with Des eventually buying into the business so they can expand, using some of the proceeds from the sale of his home.
Surprisingly, Colin sticks around. He rents out the condo Des had been living in and spends about six months of the year in Heart’s Cove. Bailey develops a relationship with him but decides she doesn’t want to call him Dad. That honor goes to Des, bestowed upon him a week before the wedding. She says it while they’re watching basketball on the couch, casually saying, “Hey, Dad, pass me the remote.”
Later, in bed, Des tells me it was one of the best moments of his life. We both end up in tears, arms wrapped around each other, elated and emotional and overwhelmed.
