"Nervous?"
"Terrified."
"Good. You should be. Marriage is terrifying. Also wonderful. Mostly terrifying." Tom grinned. "But if you love her, really love her, it's worth it."
"I really love her."
"Then go get her."
54
Mac
The sun was setting over Evergreen Cove, painting the sky in shades of orange and pink. The festival was winding down, families heading home, vendors packing up, but the main square was still alive with music and laughter.
Mac found Rachel near Sophie's café booth, helping clean up.
"Hey." Mac's voice came out slightly strangled. Smooth, MacKenzie. Very smooth. "Can I steal you for a minute?"
Rachel looked up, and something in his expression must have given him away because her eyes went soft. "You okay? You look like you're about to pass out."
"I'm fine. Great. Excellent. Possibly having a cardiac event, but that's normal." Mac took her hand. "Come with me?"
Rachel let him lead her away from the booth, through the thinning crowd, toward the gazebo at the edge of the town square. The same gazebo where they'd had their seventh date. Where Mac had rambled about hockey statistics for twenty minutes before Rachel had kissed him to shut him up.
"Mac, what are we—"
"Just... give me a second." Mac stopped at the gazebo steps,turning to face her. The fairy lights strung overhead cast a warm glow across Rachel's face, and Mac's heart jumped.
He'd had a speech prepared. He'd practiced it in the mirror for a week. He'd written it down, revised it, memorized it.
And now, looking at Rachel, every word vanished.
"Okay," Mac said, taking a breath. "I had this whole thing planned. There were going to be flowers, sunflowers, obviously, and I was going to say something eloquent about how you changed my life. Very romantic. Very smooth."
Rachel's lips twitched. "What happened to the flowers?"
"Jamie was supposed to bring them but he got distracted arguing with Sophie about booth placement and now they're probably collecting chairs somewhere." Mac ran a hand through his hair. "So this is going to be less polished than I wanted. Which is probably fitting, actually, because nothing about us has been polished."
"Mac—"
"I'm talking too much. I know. Just... let me get this out." Mac took both her hands in his. "Rachel, a few months ago I walked into a library with a decent amount of flowers and made a complete fool of myself in front of the most beautiful woman I'd ever seen."
"You weren't a fool—"
"I knocked over an entire display of mystery novels."
"Okay, you were a little bit of a fool."
Mac laughed, but his eyes were wet. "And then you gave me a chance anyway. You let me take you to coffee. You let me into your life. You trusted me with your heart even though trusting was the hardest thing you could do."
Rachel's eyes were shining now too.
"We've been through hell together," Mac continued. "Derek. The breakup. All of it. And every time, we found our way back to each other. Because that's what we do. That's who we are."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a small velvet box.
Rachel's breath stuttered.
