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For some reason, this time her heart thumped even harder, and her breath caught in her throat.
“Becca…stay. Stay here and help me make Autre the town we want it to be. Instead of leaving because it’s not what it should be, stay here and help me fix it when it needs to be fixed and make what’s good even better.”
Becca knew her eyes were wide. Her mouth was open, and her heart was pounding.
“I know I said I wanted you to go. To Houma or somewhere even bigger. Somewhere that was easier or had more resources or whatever, but…this is our town. No one will love it, and support it, and challenge it more than we will. We won’t settle for it being less than it can be. For us, and our family and friends. For our kids. And grandkids.”
Her eyes couldn’t get any rounder, but her heart could pound even harder it seemed. She almost couldn’t hear him over the thumping in her chest.
“Bec?” Beau repeated.
She felt Fletcher elbow her in the side. “Becca, he’s talking to you.”
Finally, she opened her mouth. Nothing came out.
Beau crossed to her. The people in the chairs between them scooted out of the way, the sound of metal on tile filling the room. He knelt in front of her.
“Becca, I need you to stay here. I was wrong. If you leave, you take all of your talents and your love and your passion away from Autre. And we need all of that right here. Please. Stay.Ineed all of that right here.”
“Is that a proposal?” She heard someone yell from the back of the room.
It was Savannah.
Beau’s mouth curled up in a grin. “Itisa proposal. Rebecca Jean Bollier, will you stay here and date me? For a little while? And then marry me?”
Again, Fletcher elbowed her. Suddenly Toby appeared over Beau’s shoulder.
“For God’s sake girl, say yes.”
Finally, she sniffed and threw herself at Beau. He gathered her in, crushing her to his chest as he rose to his feet.
“I’m going to assume that’s a yes, to all of that,” Beau said against the top of her head.
“It’s a yes. But only to dating for a few months.Nottwo years.”
She pulled back and he sealed his mouth over hers, kissing her deeply.
The whole room erupted into applause, laughter, and cheers.
Well, probably not the whole room. Becca very much doubted that Emmaline and Jacob were cheering.
After nearly a minute, Becca pulled back. She beamed up at him.
It seemed everyone was out of their seats and there were multiple conversations going on now.
“Becca?”
She turned to see her dad had made his way down from the dais. He was now frowning at her.
Oh, no.
She swiped a hand over her cheeks. “Thanks for agreeing to the late board meeting tonight.”
“Yes. That’s fine, of course. But I want to know what this is about you leaving?” Jonathan asked.
“Oh.” She looked at Beau. He still had his arm around her waist, but he said nothing.
“Is it true? You’re thinking about leaving?” her dad asked.
