“It’s over,” I say,putting my fingers over his lips. “Let’s not talk of it again.”
“Agreed.”
Rio speaks the word with something that sounds like relief.
“And now, I want to make good on the way I introduced you to Oswald.”
“And how was that?” I tease. “I have a short memory.”
Rio pulls something out of the Cracker Jack box, still wrapped in its factory paper.
He opens it, revealing a tiny gold ring. “Ha! Hit the jackpot. Looks like lady luck is with us.”
“Maddie,” he says, getting down on one knee. “I’d like to ask you to be my wife.”
It takes me a moment to catch my breath. I’d assumed that what Rio said to the concierge Oswald was a joke.
But now here’s Rio. Asking me to marry him.
And getting down on one knee.
After the emotional roller coaster of the weekend, this is almost too much to absorb.
I think about what being Rio’s wife would entail. Would it mean sitting at home, waiting for him to come back from road trips?
Clenching my fists, wondering how many groupies he slept with along the way?
“Well,” says Rio, sounding almost irked when I don’t answer right away. “Do you have any response?”
“I thought they stopped adding prizes to Cracker Jacks years ago,” is all I can think to say.
Rio rises and sits back on the sofa with me. “Answer the question.”
“Rio, if you're serious, I want to know that this is real. That you're going to trust me.”
“I will. Promise.”
“And when you're a world-famous rockstar, how will I know you'll be true? Fidelity is important to me.”
Rio's eyes lock with mine, and I see something in them I've never noticed before. A vulnerability beneath all that rockstar confidence.
"Maddie, those days are over," he says, his voice lower than usual. "The women over the years, they’vemeant nothing to me."
He takes my hand, his calloused fingers warm against mine.
"You and I have a history together. Steven's my best friend. Now that my parents are gone, you two and your mother are my only real family."
He glances toward the guest room. "And Snorty, of course," he adds, his lips quirking up slightly. "So will you be mine?"
I listen to Rio’s words, wanting to believe them.
“Maddie. That song I sang when the crowd demanded an encore. That same song ultimately won us the meeting with Midnight Records.”
He pauses, swallows. “And that was the song I wrote for you. A song meant to express how I feel about you.”
“It was a powerful song,” I begin, after a brief hesitation. “I saw it on television with my mother. I heard the emotion you put into the melody. Into the lyrics. And yes, I wanted to believe it was written about the chemistry we shared. But at that point, you had already turned your back on me.”
“I’ll never do that again. You must believe me. We have a gravity—a magical force of magnetic attraction—that brings us together. You must feel that too.”
