“He does. But you don’t see because your attention is elsewhere.” Aspen stared at the spot where Callie knew Lock was standing.
“Every time I look his way, he’s staring at me,” Callie whispered, not even sure why she was saying it out loud.
“Of course he is. He’s made it clear he wants you back.”
“I’m going to tell him this week.” Reliving the past would be hard, but he had a right to know. And it was time. Past time.
Aspen’s expression softened. “I can be with you if you need me.”
“No, I need to do this by myself. I should have told him already. I just…” She sucked in a breath, and she lowered her voice to almost a whisper. “Talking about it is already so hard. And telling him…it will hurt.”
Aspen gripped her arm. “You’re right, itwillbe hard. But you can do hard things.”
Emotion welled in her throat, and she pulled her friend into a hug. “Thank you for always being here for me.”
“I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.”
The music quieted, and Cody and Harper stepped in front of the room. Their smiles were wide, but there was something about Cody’s expression that seemed…different.
Was he nervous? He never looked nervous. In fact, most of the time he was the king of calm, cool, and collected.
“Hi, everyone,” Harper said, her voice quieting the crowd. “Cody and I just want to thank you all for coming tonight. This house has become our home, and it means the world to us that everyone we love can celebrate it with us.”
Cody wet his lips. “Itisour home. It’s the place where we live…and it’s the place we’ll one day start a family.”
Callie’s heart constricted at the word “family,” and her gaze wanted to seek out Lock.
No. She needed to stop looking at him.
Cody kept talking, but she was so caught up in her thoughts that she was barely listening…until he got down on one knee.
Callie’s breath caught.
“Harper Rain, you walked into my life in the middle of a storm, and nothing’s been the same since. You added color to my life. Vibrant rays of color. And a love so fierce that I now don’t know how I ever lived without it. I’ve forgotten how to live without you, and I never want to remember.”
Callie’s pulse sped a bit faster with every word.
He took out a small box from his back pocket and opened it, causing a collective gasp to slip through the room.
Harper’s eyes widened, her lips separating and tears shining in her eyes.
“Marry me,” Cody said softly. “I’m already yours but make me yours on paper too. Make me the luckiest man in the world.”
She couldn’t stop herself. She looked at Lock, and his expression held…pain? Regret? Because they both knew the same thing. That this was a story they’d written for themselves. A story that had been erased and rewritten with a different ending.
“Yes!”
Callie forced her attention back to the couple in front of them as the crowd erupted in cheers. Cody lifted Harper into his arms.
And suddenly, the crowd around her, the noise, the emotion…it was all too much.
She lowered her head to Aspen’s ear. “I’m just going outside to get some air.”
Her friend looked at her, concern brimming her eyes. “Are you okay?”
“Of course. I just need a few minutes.”
Understanding crossed Aspen’s features, and she squeezed Callie’s arm and nodded.
