“Nothing too long or too far,” he says confidently, turning back to face me.
“You aren’t making any sense. What are you talking about, Jesse?”
He smiles, then gestures toward the desk again. “We’re doing it all, Hal.”
“I don’t—” But then my eyes drop to the desk. It wasn’t a folder he was holding at all, but a calendar that’s now flipped open to the current month. I recognize it as the one from his kitchen, the one I’ve admired a dozen times over, not because I particularly enjoy the naturescapes, but because I love seeing his life all in one place. I love seeing Emma’s sleepovers and days off from school in hot pink, alongside Jesse’s plans in dark blue. Family events and birthdays are in green, and more recently, he has started adding my plans in purple.
“I used the most recent one, since that felt the most doable. And I used Emma’s too, though that one was a bit more…reckless.”
“The most recent what?” I ask, but he doesn’t explain. Instead, he flips to June, where Emma has put hearts and stars in her signature hot pink around the last day of school, then points to the Tuesday after.
“This week, we’re heading to Seaside Point. It’s not on your vision board, but it was on Emma’s. Learning to surf is on yours,though, which is good because Madden’s got a buddy down that way who gives lessons.” I open my mouth to ask a question or maybe argue that he’s lost his mind, but he speaks again. “I know it’s not crystal clear like the water in Hawaii, but we’re working with what we’ve got.” When I step closer to look at the calendar, the last week of June hasSEASIDE POINTwritten there in Jesse’s messy scrawl.
“In winter.” He moves to the front of the calendar, where there’s a calendar for the next year, much smaller, and he points to what I know from experience now is Emma’s winter break. “We’re doing Salt Lake City, like in that movie.” He pushes the calendar aside, and beneath it, there’s a recognizable stack of papers. Gently, almost reverently, he sifts through them and finds the vision board in question, pointing to theGetting Theremovie cover. My pulse races as pieces fall into place. “I think I can get Emma ice skating lessons for Christmas. That’s on hers.”
“Jesse,” I whisper as realization begins to crash through me. He must know because he turns to me, a broad, happy, love-drunk grin on his lips, before he pulls me into him.
“We’re doing it all. Not right now, but eventually. Over time. Everything on every one of your lists—we’re doing it. You’re going to have it all, because I’m going to give it to you. A familyandadventure.”
My throat swells with his words.
“This is why you were ignoring me all day?”
He blushes and shrugs. “I had to talk to Wren this morning, then I had to talk to Colt,thenI had to go a town over to find a travel agent open on a Sunday. Then I had to get Wren and Nat again.”
“You talked to Colt?” I ask, confused, and then the rest of his sentence settles in. “You were with Wren and Nat today?” The bitches didn’t even say awordto me about it, and I talked to them multiple times today. He just grins. “While I was panickingthat you were trying to plan how to dump me gently, you were bebopping around with my best friends?”
“I had to make sure it was just right,” he says.
“What was just right? This…” I gesture to the table, at the evidence of how much he knows me, how much he cares about me, my eyes welling again. “This is perfect. You didn’t need them for this. You didn’t even have todothis.”
He nods, then once more sifts through the boards, pulling out five and lining them up. They’re from various years, including the very first one Wren and I ever made.
“There’s one last thing I needed to get straight, and I needed their help for it. One thing on your boards that I wanted to make happen as soon as possible.”
My brow furrows as I scan the pages and try to figure out what he’s talking about. But it doesn’t take long to realize, there’s only one thing all of them have in common.
“Jesse—” I start, but when I turn back to him, everything stops.
Because Jesse King is on one knee before me, a black box in his hands.
“On all of the boards, you never put your dream ring on it, so I needed backup.” He flips open the ring box, and inside is a simple gold ring, one larger diamond with two smaller triangles on either side, and a hand flies to my mouth, a choked sob escaping my lips—his tip up in a soft smile. “I thought I’d wait to do this, give you time to settle. Give us time to ease into things so I don’t scare you, but I think you need this as much as I do.”
“Jesse,” I whisper, watching as he removes the delicate ring and holds it up to me.
“I want you forever. I want to take care of you and keep you safe, to catch you well before you fall. I love you, Hallie. I might not be everything you deserve, but I love you enough to work every day to be what you need. I know your favorite color is blueand that you hate ketchup touching your fries. I know that your eyes are green and that you made friends with a deer because she made you feel seen. I know that you love the Mary-Kate and Ashley movies because they were what you binge-watched when you were sad when your mom left. I know I’ll never have to worry about you fitting in with my family because you’re already family. I know that you’ll do anything to put a smile on my daughter’s face. I still know that you have a freckle on your hip that drives me wild.” I let out a tear-filled laugh when he winks at me. “But most of all, I know you are meant to be mine, forever.”
He reaches out, grabbing my hand, and when I notice his is shaking, the first tear falls.
“Jesse.” The word aches as it moves through the tears building in my throat.
“Marry me,” he whispers, his own eyes shimmering.
“It’s the only thing I’ve ever wanted,” I reply, a confession and an answer all in one, because it’s the truth. All I’ve ever wanted was to be someone’s, but most of all, Jesse’s. Those fears have melted away, fading to nothing in the bright sunshine of his love.
With my words, he grins wide and slides the ring, a perfect fit, over my finger before leaning down to press a kiss to the three stones that somehow, I already know are symbolic of the three of us becoming one family, a reminder and a tie to them both to carry with me always.
When he stands, he cups my jaw and pulls me in hard and fast for a kiss. My arms move around his neck, and tears fall as I melt into him. In this moment, I know I have it all. Everything I never thought I could have in my arms, and that void in my chest is filled once and for all. He kisses me and kisses me, then peppers more, softer, sweeter kisses over my face. My chin, my cheeks, my forehead, my nose, as if he doesn’t want a single partof me not to feel wholly and completely loved. Finally, he pulls back and rests his forehead against mine as I grin up at him.
