“Can you two focus, please?” I bark out. “You need to give me some solid advice on timing.”
“If you don’t,” Marco adds, “this dummy is gonna go out there, like a fucking bull in a china shop, and do it right fucking now.”
Nicola gasps. “Oh, God, Roman, no. Don’t do ittoday. She’s just met all these people. Give her a minute to process before you hit her with the next thing.”
“How about after everyone leaves today?” I ask hopefully.
Nicola scowls. “Roman, no. She’ll be exhausted after the party.”
“Okay, Plan B,” I mutter, feeling disheartened. “What about me doing it on her birthday?”
I tell Nicola the date in October, and she shakes her head.
“Sorry, but I don’t think you should mix her birthday with her engagement day.”
“Goddammit Nicola,” I say. “I only agreed to get your input because I thought you’d side with me.”
Nicola juts out her lower lip. “Sorry, honey, but a woman’s birthday is a national holiday. Don’t deny her two separatecelebrations and sets of presents.”
Luca nods emphatically. “It’s like those poor people who have their birthday on Christmas!”
“Exactly,” Nicola agrees. “Well said, Luc.”
“I’m smart like that.”
“Yes, you are.”
While Nicola and Luca giggle together, I stare in frustration at the glittering diamond nestled against black velvet in my hand. “She’s my future wife,” I murmur. “I’m sure of it. You know how much I hate waiting for something when I’m sure it’s what I want.”
Everyone around me offers comments that say, in essence, “Yes, we know. All too well.”
“The minute I saw this ring,” I continue, “I said to myself, ‘That’s the one. It’s so Iris.’ And now that I have it—”
“What’s so Iris?” Iris asks, waltzing onto the deck, and I almosthuck the five-hundred-thousand-dollar bauble in my hand over the railing.
Thank God clever Luca deftly hurls his body between Iris and me, thereby blocking Iris’s view of the ring. “It’s so Iris that everyone at this party has fallen madly in love with you, kid,” Luca says brightly, wrapping his muscled arm around Iris’s shoulders and guiding her back toward the house. “I was actually about to come find you, sis. I can’t get that ‘Baby Shark’ song out of my head, ever since you taught it to Mavvy and me. It’s driving me insane, so I need you to teach me a new, catchy song before I bash my head against a wall.”
As Luca guides Iris back into the house, he glances over his shoulder at me, and I shoot him a look that says, “That was a close call.” When they’re gone, I pull the ring box out from under my ass cheek with a trembling hand and slide it into my pocket again.
“I’ve got to be more careful from now on,” I say, wiping my brow. “If I’m sloppy like that again, she’ll figure me out before the big proposal.”
“Which will be when?” Nicola asks.
I shrug. “Sorry, Nico. What you said about keeping birthdays and engagements separate makes logical sense, but Iris’s birthday in six weeks falls during my bye week, so it’ll be the perfect time. Plus, that’s definitely the longest I could possibly wait to make Iris Benedetto my future wife.”
Chapter 34
Iris
Three Weeks Later
“Should I sitor stand?” I ask Luca, wringing my hands. We’re in Roman’s reserved box at his new home stadium for the first regular-season game of the new NFL season on a Thursday night. To maximize ratings and buzz, the football powers that be scheduled Roman’s new team for tonight’s highly anticipated matchup.
“Sit for now,” Luca replies. “When the game starts, you’ll sit until something big happens, at which point you’ll instinctively leap out of your chair and scream.”
I snort. “I think you’re giving my instincts way too much credit, Luc.”
“Nah. You’re gonna be a natural. You’ll see.”
