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“Is that what this is, a grand gesture?”
“A declaration, actually,” he said with a firm nod. “But it’s the same thing.”
“Now what?”
Jackson cleared his throat and took a step back. “I’m declaring my love for you.”
“I thought you already did that once.”
“No, this is different,” he told her, a stupid smile on his face. “I wanted to recreate our first date, I wanted to remind you of all the good times we had when we first went out together. I wanted to show you that you always come first.”
Ollie blinked back tears, smiling at him. “We didn’t have Ninja Turtles on our first date.”
“No, that came much later.”
“Speaking of which, I’m wearing them today,” she told him, because of course she was wearing her famous TMNT undies.
“You’re killing me, babe,” Jackson groaned and Ollie smirked.
“So, your declaration, let’s hear it.”
“Right.” He straightened up and smiled. “I wanted to bring all of the important people in our lives to remindusabout why we got together in the first place.”
“And why is that?”
Jackson smiled. “Because of the Turtles, of course.”
“And my shakes!” Niles called out from his truck.
“And Niles’ shakes,” Jackson added, waving a hand at their friend while keeping his eyes on her. “But also because we both felt more like ourselves with each other than we did with any other partner we’ve ever had. Because when we’re together, everything else fades away.”
“And we come into focus.”
Jackson nodded. “And the only thing I see is you. It’s been you since the day we met and it’ll be you till the day I die.”
“Oh my, was that a proposal?”
Ollie laughed at Mindy’s interruption, which got a glare from Jackson. “I’m not rushing us into marriage yet, but I hope in the distant future, you might be open to marrying me.”
“I’ve got conditions.”
“Of course you do,” Jackson teased. “Let’s hear them.”
Ollie chuckled, not really having any serious conditions, but she wasn’t going to back out now. “We must woo each other once a month. You need to learn how to make me pancakes. I will spoil you constantly. We’ll also learn how to make pizza the right way. But most importantly, some days, I won’t feel like being a human and you’ll have to deal with that.”
Jackson nodded. “Deal.”
Ollie grinned and they stared at each other till Jackson stepped forward.
“I didn’t want to do this in front of the whole world, but apparently they don’t like being left out of the good stuff, so here we go.” Jackson took another step closer. “I love you, Oleander Bowen. I know these last few months have been rough and I’ve not made it any easier. But I also know that my life without you is empty, there hasn’t been a single day when I’ve felt like myself. I amnothingwithout you.” Ollie smiled and Jackson continued. “I vow, for the rest of our lives, to be more receptive and spend every single day learning about being the man you deserve.”
Ollie sniffled, nodding as she looked at Jackson.
“So I have one last thing to say, a question if you will.” Jackson cleared his throat and dipped his head to look at her properly. “Oleander…will you let me woo you again?”
She laughed loudly and nodded. The smile on his face waseverything.
“I always promise you more wooing, food trucks, lots of dancing and our friends.”
