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It screamed Anne—it had her royalty-like flair but also her unflinching uniqueness. It had her mystery, her wildness, everything.
“It’s from the Victorian era,” Luna continued, giving me more information even though I was already in love.
“I’ll take it,” I said before she could continue.
“Oh, wonderful,” she said. “We can get it sized if it doesn’t fit after she says yes.” She winked at me. “I’ll head over to the register and wrap this up for you.”
After she said yes.
God, I hoped she said yes.
She might not. I mean, I would understand. She’d been married before. Several times. Who was to say she ever wanted to do that again?
Nerves threatened to steal all my newfound confidence away. Maybe I was rushing things. Maybe—
“Get out of your head,” Ridge snapped, gripping my shoulder.
I blinked a few times, nodding. “Right.”
“When are you asking?”
“A few days after Christmas.”
Ridge nodded, motioning me toward where Luna was waiting for us. “You’ve got time then,” he said. “Breathe.”
A week.
I had a week until I planned to ask her, but honestly, if I felt for a second she wasn’t ready, I wouldn’t put that on her. I could feel her out. Make sure I wasn’t going to cause her any kind of pressure or stress. I could buy this ring and hold onto it for however long I needed till the time was right.
But from the way we’d been living these past few weeks? Either at her place or mine, sharing the love of a chaotic little beast of a cat she’d named Binx?
I felt likeforeverwas just a question away.
CHAPTER15
Anne
“Anne, are you good to cover a few extra hours?” Lyla asked as I cleaned up in between the afternoon rush and dinner rush.
“Definitely,” I said.
“You’re a life saver,” Lyla said, wrapping me in a quick hug. “Bonnie called in sick, and you know how the day after Christmas is.”
“Totally get it,” I said waving her off.
“I’ll make it up to you,” she said as she headed back to the kitchen. “I owe you dinner somewhere other than here already. One of these days we will get that girls’ night.”
“Keep telling yourself that, work-a-holic,” I teased, holding my smile until she’d disappeared behind the kitchen door.
I let it drop once she was out of sight. I had no problem covering another shift tonight, I was just exhausted. Christmas with my parents had been…well, it wasn’t awful but it wasn’t a Norman Rockwell painting either. It had meant everything to see Mom so happy and to have a meal that just revolved around the three of us, but I couldn’t exactly ignore the wedge between my father and myself.
He had been kind though, and even said he was proud of me, so that was something. And it was also something to realize that I no longerneededthat approval or attention. It was a sad discovery, but a necessary one. I’d told Dr. Casson all about it this morning, and she’d helped me work through the sort of grief-like feeling that accompanied the realization that my worth wasn’t dependent on my father’s or any of my family’s opinions anymore.
I was worthy of love.
I was worthy of happiness.
I was a good person doing my best to do good things.
