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That was the moment where my thinking about the situation parted ways from my girlfriend’s. While Hannah was certainly right that nothing will ever change our love or the lifetime commitment we’ve both already made, I’m not nearly as patient about taking our relationship to the next level. In fact, knowing for certain I want to be with Hannah forever only makes me that much more excited—and impatient—to start our forever, as soon as possible, especially when the ring I bought for Hannah in Maui has been burning a hole in my pocket ever since.
The good news is that Hannah has recovered enough from the kidnapping for me to start thinking seriously about proposing again. Also, we’ve both agreed we don’t need to live together at my new place to be engaged. The bad news, however, is that, for the past month or so, it’s taken all my willpower not to spontaneously kneel and pop the question to Hannah every time I have so much as a couple beers. The only thing holding me back, each and every time, has been the voice memo left deep inside my brain by my sober self—the one that says, “When you finally pop the question, you have to do it right, Peter. You promised her that in Maui.”
Hopefully, I’ll be able to put together the perfect plan soon. Because now that Maddy is finally here, and Hannah is doing so great, and our relationship is going so fantastically well, and I’ve finally moved into our dream house, I’ve never felt more excited and impatient to turn my beloved girlfriend into my beloved fiancée and future wife.
48
HENN
I look around my crowded living room in drunken awe at the raucous party in front of me. Leaning into Hannah to be heard above the music, I say, “Thanks for ordering all that food. That was a stroke of brilliance.”
“Door Dash, dude.” She snaps her fingers. “Easy peasy lemon squeezy.”
My heart skips a beat. To my knowledge, that’s the first time Hannah’s said lemon squeezy, instead of pumpkin. It’s stupid, I know, but I can’t help feeling like her conversion to lemon is a love letter to me.
Returning my huge smile, Hannah says, “The thing that should impress you far more than my uncanny ability to order from Door Dash is Reed’s jaw-dropping ability to get a DJ here at the drop of a hat, plus all these fancy party people. How did he do this?”
“He’s Reed Rivers, babe. Throwing the best parties in town, even at a moment’s notice and at someone else’s house, is one of his many superpowers. Thanks for saying lemon squeezy, by the way. Be still, my heart.”
Hannah bats her eyelashes. “What can I say? You’ve rubbed off on me, kid.”
We’re at my new house in the Hollywood Hills in the midst of my ad hoc housewarming party—and it’s quite the spontaneous shindig, thanks to the magical powers of one Reed fucking Rivers. When I texted Reed with the idea for a party mere hours ago from the club where Keane Morgan had performed in that stripper showcase tonight—Keane was surprisingly entertaining, by the way—Reed somehow managed to quickly wrangle not only a DJ, but also a bunch of artists from his label and some of their friends and entourages, too. And now, here we are, having a blast, other than the fact that I keep looking at the front door, hoping Maddy will get here soon. I want her to meet Reed and his artists for the sheer fun of it, but also in furtherance of her stated professional aspirations.
After Maddy and Keane’s arrival last night, Hannah and I had a pizza-poker night with them and the three Goats across the hall, and that’s when Maddy said she’s hoping to break into directing music videos as a side gig to her documentaries. Well, if becoming a music video director is one of Maddy’s career goals, then coming to this party and chatting up Reed and some of his artists would be a huge boon for her. So, why the fuck isn’t she here yet?
When Hannah and I left the club after Keane’s performance, Maddy said she, Keane, and Keane’s buddy, Zander, who’d flown down to cheer on Keane’s performance tonight, were all heading backstage to chat with some strippers from the show and they’d come to my house after that. But that was over two hours ago. How long does it take to chat up a few strippers about a possible documentary movie idea?
I lean into Hannah again. “Reed is playing Patron pong over there. Not beer pong. If Maddy wants to have a conversation with him that he actually remembers tomorrow, she’d better get here soon.”
Hannah snickers. “Maddy will have to meet Reed another time, babe. She’s not coming to the party.”
