Isaac
“Isaac, will you marry me?”I read the words for a second time just to be sure.
Max ran his hand through his hair like he always did when he was nervous and didn’t make eye contact with me.
So this was why he’d been so weird on the flight. I’d known we wouldn‘t have a proper conversation until we got home, but I’d wanted to know if he’d shared his past with Joel. I needed to know if he was ready to face the future together with no secrets from those he loved the most.
I was glad for the very small difference in height between us because it didn’t take much to get him to look me in the eye as I got closer.
“Max, there is no situation, no lifetime, no universe in which the answer to that question would be no.”
“You don’t think it’s too early?” he asked.
“I know we’ve only been together a few months, but I’ve loved you for a year. Even when I was mad because I thought you’d given me the wrong email, I still loved you. It is most definitely not too early.”
His face lit up, and in a split second, his mouth was on mine. The people dragging suitcases around us disappeared, the noise of the PA system disappeared, and the entire world disappeared. In that moment, there was only Max and I saying with our kiss all the things for which words came up short.
A loud cheer of whoops and claps brought us out of our bubble, and I nearly dropped the box I’d been holding with the glass Christmas decoration.
Despite the noise that had pulled us apart, my eyes didn’t leave his as our mouths separated.
“We’re getting married,” I whispered.
“Today, baby.”
“What?”
Max gave me a small peck on the lips and turned my face to where the loud cheers had come from. There, at the airport arrivals area, were Alex, Joana with Sofia in her arms, David, and Joel.
“Oh my god, Max, what’s happening? What are they doing here?”
My question went unanswered because the group came over and took us in a massive hug.
Between the congratulations, I heard someone say, “Come on, guys. We’ve got to get a move on. Cars are waiting outside.”
They ushered me with Max into a fancy car that had its own driver and big seats at the back. The rest of the group shared another car that had been parked in front of ours.
“Max, did you say we’re getting married today?”
“We’re getting married today,” he confirmed as he put his hand around my neck to pull me in for a kiss.
“How? Where?”
“We’re going to Jojo’s house in the Hamptons. Lucy, Diogo, Fernando, Micah, and Peter are already there making everything pretty for us.”
I would always have said yes to a proposal from Max, but I didn’t think it would happen so soon, like today. I also thought we needed to talk about the last few days.
I was so happy I didn’t even know how to quantify how much, but this was on the back of my mind, and if we were really getting married today, we needed to talk first.
We were getting married today. Fuck. I chuckled.
Max turned to me, crossing one leg under the other on the leather seat of the car, and reached over to press a button that made the partition between us and the driver go dark.
“Wow, I thought thatonly happened in movies,” I said.
“Isaac, we are getting married today.” He said it and then repeated it as though even he was suddenly realizing it. His hand came up to put somestray curls behind my ear, and he let his thumb caress my skin and tracemy lips.
“We have an hour until we get there.” For a moment, I thought he meant we were going to make use of the large comfortable seats of the car to make out, but Max drew out a breath and started talking.
