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The elevator door opened, and he paced down the hallway to her room. He stopped before her door and stuffed the ring box into his pocket. He inhaled and grinned, knocking on the door.
He heard scuffling inside before Charlie swung open the door, dressed in a bathrobe with wet hair.
“Hi,” Hammer said bashfully.
“Hi,” Charlie said, smiling slightly.
Hammer chuckled and stood still, frozen in her presence. She raised her eyebrows and motioned to her room.
“Would you like to come in?”
“Yeah,” Hammer stuttered. “Yeah.”
He walked into her room and turned to watch her close the door behind him. He smiled as she faced him.
“I, uh,” he stammered, searching for the right words. He took a deep breath and continued. “I know I said a lot of psycho-babble last night, and it didn’t even make sense to me, but I have to come clean.”
He watched Charlie’s face fall into skepticism. His heart sank.
“No, no,” he assured her. “It’s not a bad thing.”
She placed her hand on her chest and exhaled, smiling. “You can’t do that!”
“I’m sorry.” He laughed. “I’m sorry, no, uh, it is a good thing.”
He took a deep breath and walked over to Charlie, taking her hands in his and leading her to the window. He spun her around so she could face the city.
“Charlie,” he said softly as he knelt on one knee.
He reached into his pocket and pulled out the box, opening it for her. Her mouth opened as she stammered to say something, but he held up a hand.
“I have to say this,” he said firmly as he took her hand. “You have shown me that trust is a valuable asset, not something to run from and that relationships aren’t always transactional. Not everyone wants something from me. You wanted nothing from me but a companion, and that love you have given me has opened me to many possibilities.”
He glanced down at the ring, then back to Charlie.
“Charlie Jackson,” he began with a smile on his face. “I want to spend the rest of my life with you, and I want to spend every day on some sort of … wild adventure, and I know as long as you are by my side, I will never falter.”
“Hammer, I …”
“Charlie, will you marry me?” he interrupted, grinning from ear to ear.
He watched as her face fell, and she knelt to meet his level. She placed her hands over the ring, clasping his hand underneath.
“Hammer,” she began softly.
His face fell as he realized this was not the answer he expected. He lowered his hands and closed the ring box, stuffing it back into his pants and gazing at her sadly.
“It’s not that I don’t want to,” she began.
“But you don’t want to.”
“I just … after what happened last time.”
“Don’t,” Hammer said, shaking his head and taking her hands. “It’s okay.”
He forced a smile and let go of her hands before standing and walking to the door.
“Hammer,” Charlie called to him.
