I release Warner and ask, “Now that you got me here all dressed up in my graduation outfit, what are you going to do with me?”
Swinging his arm over my shoulders, he begins to lead me to the entrance. “First. We’re getting the photo you should have gotten the first time without asking.” Placing me beneath the Luna Park sign, he kisses my forehead and says, “Stay here.” But then he comes back, running his hand along my exposed neck and says, “You look beautiful, Sass.”
I’ve never felt more beautiful than how he makes me feel when he looks at me just like that. He steals a quick kiss, takes the flowers when I hand them to him, and backs up ten feet or so. Holding his phone in front of his stupidly handsome face, he says, “Say Warner.”
Putting my hand behind my head and posing for him, I say, “Hotshot.”
He lowers the phone and signals to my family. They rush in, surrounding me. My dad wraps his arm around me and says, “Love you, Cannoli.”
“Love you.”
My mom hops in next to me with her arm around my waist. Lorenzo is on her other side, while Joe stretches his arm around my dad’s shoulders. My heart is so full that I struggle to hold back the tears that threatened to fall earlier. Just as one slips down, Warner says, “Say cheese.”
“Parmigiano Reggiano,” we say in unison, then crack up laughing.
My mom says, “One more.” They disperse as she walks to Warner, taking his phone. She holds it up. The slow-motion walk of my man coming to me sends my heart racing. Fine, that was all in my imagination, but Warner has a damn good walk. He wraps himself around me from behind, kisses the top of my head, and then says, “I do.”
I glance up at him and laugh. “I do? She said, ‘Say cheese.’”
Coming around, he drops to one knee in front of me. My mouth falls open. “Warner?” I don’t know what I mean because words are lost under the shock of what’s happening.
Holding my hand, he says, “I don’t want to fight you.”
“Not the romantic start I imagined for my proposal.”
He chuckles. “Felt like a good preface for the rest.”
“I’ll allow it.” It doesn’t matter what he says, my heart was already his from the moment we met. Okay, maybe not themomentwe met, but a few days after, I was all his, and he was mine.
“I think we both know the lies we got caught up in. They served a purpose, and then when they didn’t, we fell apart. That’s not going to happen this time. I want to start over with you.”
“I want that too. Clean slate. No past. Just moving forward from here.”
He nods as if I stole the words out of his mouth. Oh no, maybe I did. I need to let him do this proposal how he wants. I don’t need to control this. I’ll let him work his magic. Because that’s what he is to me—the dream I never thought could come true.
He says, “The one thing I will carry with us from the past is how you showed me how to live. I have loved every off-the-wall and unhinged moment we’ve had and don’t regret a thing. But what I love more is the way your heart is always at the center of it. I’ve never known anyone as selfless as you, putting your family first, and then a total stranger that you hated. You helped me when you didn’t have to.” His head bobbles. “After you left me for dead, that is.”
“I didn’t leave you for dead. I debated, sure, but you were an asshole back then.” I cup his cheek. “I have no regrets saving you,” I smirk and give him a littlewink.
“Glad to hear it.” He chuckles again. “Whatever happened then led us here. I don’t want to miss another day of your gelato-hating, cookie-in-bed eating ways.”
“If it makes a difference, I prefer gelato these days.”
“I knew I’d convert you.”
Bending down, I kiss his cheek and whisper, “You converted me, alright. I’m a full-on fool in love with you, Warner Landers.”
“You’re lucky you’re so hot since you’re stealing all my good lines.”
I stand back up. “Well, skip to the good part, then.”
“I love you so much, Delaney Bayetti. Will you be my wife?”
When he stands, I reply, “I will.” I lift on my toes, and he leans down to meet me in the middle. “I do from this day forward, Hotshot.”
We kiss. Just as it deepens, the rest of the world disappears, and that song starts playing again, making us laugh. He digs in his pocket and says, I got you something. He lifts the hinged lid on the blue velvet box, leaving me gasping. “Warner.”
“It’s real this time,” a woman calls, getting our attention. We turn to see his mother standing next to mine. Two families becoming one for us makes my heart clench.
