I give her a few seconds to take it all in with a smile on my face as I watch the love of my life stare at me with tears rolling down her face.
“Are you going to come closer, or do I have to get up off my knee and come to you?” I ask with a smirk, which makes her laugh out loud.
She slowly makes her way to me, looking around at the thousands of petals covering the ground.
Once she’s in front of me, I look up at her, even though she’s not much taller than me while I’m on one knee.
“Hi,” I say with a chuckle.
“Hi,” she replies with a grin.
I reach in my pocket and take out the box I’ve been holding on to for a few weeks now, waiting for this perfect moment. As I open it, I look into her eyes that are freely spilling tears, but she doesn’t wipe them away.
“I love that you give me shit. I love that you keep me on my toes. But most of all, I love the way you make me feel alive. I don’t care where I am in this world as long as you’re by my side. Zoe Jones, will you marry me?”
She jumps up and down. “Yes, David. Yes, I’ll marry you!”
I slip the ring Macy helped me pick out onto her hand and kiss her with every ounce of love that I have.
“Yay!” Macy, Candace, and Chasity come running out of the restaurant in celebration.
“OMG!” Zoe lets me go and hugs her friends before she sees her parents. “You guys are here too?”
“Of course we are, sweetie,” her mom says before they hug.
Her dad shakes my hand. “Welcome to the family, son.”
“Thank you.”
We smile at each other, and then her mom comes over to give me a hug.
“We finally have another kid in the family!” she jokes, making us all laugh.
“Hey!” Macy admonishes, making us all laugh harder.
Zoe’s mom places her hand on Zoe’s arm. “I’m sorry. I meant to say, we finally have a son in the family.”
“That’s better!” She grins from ear to ear.
“So, now you tell him your surprise!” Macy blurts out like she’s ready to explode if she has to hold on to it for one more minute.
“What surprise?” I ask.
Zoe rubs her lips together, getting ready to say something, but then turns to Macy. “Wait, you knew I was planning mine and that he was planning his surprise?”
“Yes!” she yells out. “Why do you think I was pushing you so hard to go through with it?! The suspense of it all has been killing me!”
“What’s going on?” I ask with that same feeling working its way through me.
Zoe reaches for my hand, biting her lower lip. “I talked to Christina at work about what our options would be if, you know, we wanted to raise a family together in Montana.”
I open my mouth wide in absolute shock. “Are you serious?”
She nods her head dramatically.
“What did she say?” My heart is beating so fast that I don’t know what to do with myself. I never dreamed of being able to move back to Montana while keeping my job.
“She agreed we that could move and continue to work for her.” Tears fill her eyes again. “She thought it was a great idea, especially with Samantha’s plant being there and the new business we could bring in without the seeminglyscary New Yorkvibe that people might be afraid to deal with.”
