Page 62 of Bidding on a Second Chance

She chewed her bottom lip, focused on the watch. “You …” She lifted her line of sight to meet his. “You, Graham Lockhart, are my favorite what-if. What if he loves me? What if we start a family? What if we grow old and gray and happier than we can even imagine together? Thanks to you, I’m not afraid anymore.” She scooted closer and gripped his hands around the watch. “When I fall, you catch me. When I crawl under a table during our proposal, you follow me. When I worry, you point me back to God. I’d be most grateful if you’d allow me to spend the rest of my life doing those things in return for you. Will you marry me?”

He turned his right hand, revealing the ring he held between his thumb and pointer finger. “You are my favorite what-if too. Your creativity and your generosity inspire me. Like you’ve made my house a home, with you, my life is full of warmth and love. Will you marry me?”

She held out her hand so he could slide the ring on. “Yes.”

“Then I’ll marry you too.”

Her shoulders shuddered with a shiver of joy, and she helped secure the watch around his wrist. Hands linked, he leaned in for their first kiss as an engaged couple. The sweet moment lasted until footsteps and a pair of all-black sneakers—probably one of the servers—passed their table.

Piper’s breath fluttered against his cheek as she resumed giggling. “You know what the problem with an under-the-table proposal is.”

“We have to crawl out of here and face a room full of people.”

With a laughing smile, she nodded.

“Together?” he asked.

“Always.”

He lifted the tablecloth, and they exited their makeshift privacy. He helped her to her feet as Clint Taylor started a slow clap. All around the restaurant, their family, friends, and acquaintances—the people they didn’t know at all, even—grinned at them.

He lifted her hand. “She said yes.”

“He said yes,” Piper declared at the same time.

The clapping turned into outright applause, but as Graham turned back to Piper and gathered her in his arms for another kiss, his attention did what it’d been doing for months. Years, even. It tunneled down until there was only one person who mattered: Piper Wells.