“So, we went about our lives and I finally had to move away again at the end of the year. It wasn’t until I moved back to Atlanta that I saw Erica again in the airport. Funny enough, she saw me too.”
“Damn, that’s a long time to be together and hold a secret from us, Chase,” Greg spoke up, but Chase held his hand in the air.
“If only it were that simple, Greg.”
“Neither of us spoke to each other at the airport that day.” I mentioned and continued the story. “I didn’t see Chase again until I started at The Ink Well. But again, neither of us said anything about remembering each other.”
“We worked alongside each other for years and it wasn’t until a few months ago when I heard someone asking Erica out, that I felt like a ton of bricks were hitting me in the head with the realization that I needed to say something.”
“We’ve been together for only a few months now, but it’s felt like so much longer.” I finished off our story with a little bow, but somehow it didn’t feel like that was all of it. Our friends focused only on us, not minding the wedding ceremony that was still in full motion.
“So, where’s the ring?” Greg asked and I choked out a laugh, remembering Chase asking me to marry him.
“There is no ring,” I answered.
“You mean to tell me that after almost twenty-one years, you didn’t put a damn ring on her finger, Chase?” Greg scowled now, like he was a part of this relationship from the beginning.
“Greg,” Lilly admonished him and Chase’s arm tightened around me. His fingers flexed against my waist and I took my hand from his chest and placed it on top of his hand, trying to soothe him a little. It wasn’t just his arm that had gone rigid, it was his whole body.
“Don’t Greg me. He should put a ring on her finger.” Greg pointed between the two of us and I searched Chase’s face, a sad look lingering in his eyes. I stepped up on my toes and whispered into his ear.
“I don’t need a ring, husband.”
Chase’s body relaxed around me and he placed a soft kiss to my neck, with a little nip at the end.
“Wait.” Jack was now joining in on the conversation. “In college, when you mentioned your heart belonging to only one girl. Erica is her, isn’t she?”
“She is.” It was Max who answered the question, and at the admission, Alexa and Lilly put a hand over their mouths with tears in their eyes.
This was exactly what I didn’t want happening. Us hijacking Lilly’s wedding and our friends hyper focused on our relationship, but in all, this was who they were. They were protective. They were fierce. They were our family.
“You knew?” Greg asked Max.
“Of course I knew. Who do you think told Chase to get his head out of his ass and tell Erica everything?” Max pointed back to us and again all eyes held us to the position we were in.
“So.” Greg took a step forward. “The ring?”
The smile on his face told me he was kidding, but he seemed so excited to see us together that I couldn’t crush his dreams.
“At the jeweler’s being sized.” The words spilled out of my mouth. Mischief danced in Chase’s eyes now and I knew he was about to take it to the next level.
“I wanted a ring on her ringer so fast I hadn’t even thought about size, so now she can’t wear it until it’s perfect.” Chase pouted next to me and I loved the little charade we were playing. It felt like even though we were letting everyone in, we still had our own little secrets and life that they didn’t have to be a part of. “If you all don’t mind, though, I think I’d like to celebrate our announcement alone.”
Chase scooped me up into him arms and carried me out of the reception without another word from our friends. Cheering could be heard all the way to my car, the one we had carpooled in from Stone Mountain where Greg had proposed to Lilly. It was perfectly convenient, but I had no idea what Chase had planned from here.
He backed out of the parking spot and made his way back into town, with a plan of his own.
Chase
I pulled into Erica’s driveway at seven. Greg and Lilly’s wedding had been a quick one in the afternoon with a reception right after. I hadn’t expected to leave so fast, but after Lilly put everything into motion with sending Erica right into my arms, I had other plans forming in my head.
I didn’t just want our friends to know now. I wanted everyone to know. I wanted to give Erica the ring I had waiting for her and not just pretend we were waiting on it to be sized. I’d had Erica’s ring for years, after finding it the same day I’d run into her mother at McAdam’s. To say it fit us perfectly was an understatement. It was a simple platinum ring with a knot at the end.
A forget-me-knot.
Because even after all the years, we hadn’t forgotten anything.
But in order to move forward with my plans, I needed us to tell a few other people too. Starting with her parents. I needed them to know who I was, rather than just sneaking over to their daughter’s house a few nights of the week.
