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Sara had been so, so furious when that had happened. The music had been grating and awful, the band a lively and interesting group who all seemed interested in playing different songs, and we’d been trapped up there, as after our waiter delivered the food, they forgot to bring us our check.
“Danny—come on. We’re for sure walking into another weirdo musical night. And on our anniversary?” She gripped my lapels. “Let’s go home and get takeout. We can just chill.”
“Let’s just see,” I said. “If you hate it, we’ll go.”
“You’re evil,” she growled at me and fell against the elevator wall, arms crossed. I tried to pull her against me, and she snarled. “I swear—if…”
She fell silent as the elevator doors opened onto a softly lit hallway, the path to the roof deck lined with heaps of pink petals. We almost missed getting off as Sara backed up and I had to almost carry her off the elevator. Her eyes darted around, and she shook her head at me.
“I don’t know if this is the kind of event where they want to share the space,” she whispered, and I tugged her along. “Dan, wait. I…” She glanced at her pink bouquet again as we entered the roof deck, empty except for a small string quartet, which started playing.
I watched her lips, part and she turned to me, the cutest look of bafflement on her face.
“Are we in the right place?” She whispered. “I—I… think this is a proposal.”
“I think you’re right,” I said and gently plucked the bouquet from her, then set it down on a nearby table with two seats, a bucket of champagne chilling, and more flowers.
“But…” Her gaze went to the string quartet as it slowly dawned on her that they were playing her favorite song, an instrumental version ofLift Me Upby Rihanna.
Tears were forming in her eyes, and she shook her head as she turned back to me.
“I think it might be your proposal,” I said.
Her tears overflowed now, and she’d never looked so beautiful as she stepped closer and gazed up at me, the lights of the city soft around us, the string lights twinkling along the trees and wooden trellises reflecting in her eyes. She clutched my jacket as she stared at me.
I couldn’t help the smile that curved on my face. “What?”
“How did you know?” She asked in a hushed voice. “I—I didn’t even tell Lia.”
“I know you,” I said and leaned down, kissing her again. “And I ran it by Lia, who started crying, so I knew I had it right.” I started to try to kneel, but Sara stopped me. “Beautiful, I’m supposed to kneel down.”
“You—you… But… Are you sure?”
My head fell forward, and our foreheads pressed together, as I whispered, “How can you ask me that when I haven’t even asked you, yet?”
I kissed her then, tasting her tears and joy, and she held my face, which let me go down on one knee. I pulled out the ring box, shaking as I looked up at her, and suddenly had a vivid memory of the first time I’d seen her, on that winter’s night, the way our gazes had crashed and tangled, the way I’d felt the entire universe invert and I swore, I still felt the shockwaves from that first glance.
I had a whole speech prepared but different words leapt to my lips. “I’m still not sure how you’re mine, but I know that I’ve always been yours. I think about you all the time—I’ve thought about you constantly since I first saw you. I think about your smile, your laugh, and…manyother things now that I’ve gotten to know you better.” I paused as my throat ached. “I can’t remember not loving you—I wonder if I always loved you and I just was looking for you, hoping to find you—”
“Danny,” Sara murmured.
“I hope to spend my life being worthy of you, Sara,” I said. “You make me so happy. Happy in ways that I never knew I could be happy. Happy for days and hours we haven’t spent together—and grateful for every second. You should know I’m scared as hell right now to take this leap, but I’m more scarednotto take it. I want you by my side, I want you. I love you. I want to be that man you see in me, and so much more. I want you to haveeverygoddamn happily ever after, because God, I love you.”I love you.“Let me spend all our days showing you how I love you, how I will always love you.”
I opened the ring box, revealing a pear-shaped diamond on a platinum band, with a tint of blue—the same sharp, metallic hint as a cold winter night in the city we both had come from, found each other, and almost lost each other. The diamond seemed to glitter with cold and wicked promise, an unbreakable and imperfect one—yet perfect for us.
“Will you marry me, Sara Tailor?” I asked and my voice shook.
Sara took the box in two gentle hands and lifted the ring up, her lips parted as she gazed at it, then back at me.
“Yes,” she said. “Yes.”
I surged up and took the box back, grabbing the ring with shaking fingers, and sliding it onto her ring finger, which also shook. When we kissed, I knew she tasted my tears, too, and then she squealed as I lifted her and spun her, the music switching from sweet and yearning to full of love and laughter.
Gently setting her down, I wrapped an arm around her, and pulled her close, leading her in the dance that we hadn’t had at Lia and Ty’s wedding, but had made up for time and again.
But none was as special as this one.
“I can’t wait to dance with you at our wedding,” Sara murmured into my ear, and I held her closer, nodding. “Were you thinking the same thing?”
