“You know, like tomatoes and avocados. They’re all fruits.”
“Mmm,” I hummed as I glanced continuously at the tiny flag that got closer with every step. Like a snake. I was about to be bitten, poisoned for sure, and possibly die an ugly death with anxiety-induced seizures.
When I wasn’t checking how much longer I had until it was time, I glanced at Cal, who worried his bottom lip as he checked on me.
“Every part of the pumpkin is edible too. Maybe we should get more than one so we can try out recipes.”
“Sure.”
“Not a big one, though. Those showy pumpkins don’t taste good. We need the smaller ones for sweets.”
“Okay.”
“Did you know jack-o’-lanterns were originally made out of turnips? Weird, right? They’re so small.”
“Weird.”
This continued until we were on the row with the special pumpkin. As Cal chattered along, and I mumbled one-word replies, all the things that could go wrong raced in my mind until I was dizzy. What if someone had switched pumpkins? What if bugs had taken it over? What if the carving looked stupid and Cal couldn’t read it? What if—
Oh, fuck.
Cal stopped me right next to the tiny flag.
“Princess.” He cupped my cheek and chewed the corner of his bottom lip. “You don’t look so good.”
This was it. My moment. Our moment. The words were there, floating in my brain but not even close to coming out of my mouth. I swallowed hard to wet my throat, then coughed.
Jesus, I was going to fuck this up.
Words? What were words? Had he asked me something?
Cal watched me cautiously, brows furrowing harder with every second, and only then did his pale expression strike me between the eyes. Was he sick too? Maybe therewassomething in that coffee.
Okay. I had to hurry this along, or we were both about to require a toilet.
“C-Cal.” I paced away and back, clawing my fingers through my hair. “I love you.”
“I love you too,” Cal said slowly, as if he already knew that statement was leading to something.
“You … I …” Ugh, I couldn’t remember a single line from that stupid speech. “We’re good together.”
I rolled my eyes at my own blubbering.We’re good together?Surely, I could do better.
“What I mean is, you and I, we’re special. What we have is special, uh, to me.” I rubbed my palms on my jeans, looking everywhere but at him. “Sometimes it doesn’t seem like it’s been five years since I wanted to kick your ass. Well, sometimes I still do, but only because I love you so much. You, you manage to hit all my buttons, even the red ones that piss me off. But … Fuck.”
Once again, I paced away, and this time, there was a crowd staring. Jesus, did the owners tell everyone what was going to happen?
Children ran around screaming, but some stopped and cocked their heads. A few guys tugged their girlfriends closer, or maybe it was their wives, who knew. One woman held her fingertips to her mouth and teared up. Christ, was I so transparent?
And how the fuck had Cal not figured out what was happening here, what I was trying to do? We’d talked about getting married before. We’d even exchanged ring sizes because this was fucking inevitable.
“Fuck,” I whispered again and spun on my heels to face him once more, to finish this. “What I’m saying is I only want to get pissed at—”
Cal knelt in front of me, a ring box open and stretched toward me. I swayed where I stood, and his chin shivered.
“I waited for the right day, the right time, but then I realized, all that mattered was that you said yes. Will you marry me, Princess?”
I blinked, sobering immediately as all the tension and panic bled out of me to be replaced with frustration. “Are you kidding me?”
