“Well, I have to go to work,” Rosie said, and Daddy immediately spun to wrap her in a hug.
“Have a great day, bug.”
“’Bye, my Rosie-Roo.” Sunny hugged her too, and they all watched as Rosie pulled on her coat and exited the house into the garage. Then, Sunny’s and Daddy’s eyes came right back to Cole.
“I can’t be talked out of it,” Cole said, making his voice as strong as possible. “We’ve talked it through probably ten times, and I just want to take a step in that direction. This is it.”
“We’re not going to talk you out if it,” Sunny said. “Are we, Jem?”
He sighed and shook his head, sending a cartwheel of shock through Cole.
“You’re not?”
Daddy actually smiled as he came around the island and pulled out the chair Rosie had been sitting in. “No. Sit. Let’s talk.”
“Daddy,” Cole said, a sigh falling out of his mouth too. “I have to get to work too.”
“You’ve got time for this.”
Sunny arrived at the table too, and she placed a manila folder in front of Daddy before she took the seat at the head of the table, sandwiching Cole between them. His heartbeat bucked the way the horses did up at Whispering Pines, as they tried to get their riders off their backs.
Cole sometimes felt like one of those broncs, as his daddy had been riding him hard for a while now, pressing him tobe careful, watch your thoughts, stay safe, don’t drive when you’re tired, get a job, what are you going to do with your life?
And so many more lectures, advice, and questions.
“What’s that?” he asked.
“This.” Daddy flipped open the folder. “Is our gift to you.” He slid it in front of Cole.
He looked at it, but the words blurred together and Cole didn’t have the brain cells to decipher anything right now. “What is it?” he asked again. “Daddy, I’m going blind, I swear.” He looked up at his father, who smiled down at him softly, though Cole stood as tall as him now, and when seated, they certainly sat shoulder-to-shoulder.
“Why are you so nervous?” his father asked.
“Because girls talk about their proposal for decades,” Cole said, and he lay his arms over the folder and rested his face in them. “And I’m…simple.” He raised his head. “I’m simple, Daddy, and girls don’t want a simple proposal.”
“Coley-Cub,” Sunny said, and he looked at her as she covered his elbow with both of hers.
He raised his head, because Sunny still used Rosie’s nickname but she’d stopped using his a couple of years ago, after his friends had teased him about it.
“She loves you.” Sunny slid her hand down to his and patted his fingers. “I’ve seen the two of you together, andshe loves you. The proposal is going to feel magical to her, no matter what it is, because she loves you.”
She nodded, her gaze flicking over to Daddy. Cole’s emotions stormed through him, and he nodded when Sunny looked back to him. “I’m just having Harry delay her from coming into dinner, and that will give me, her parents, Charcoal, and Warren time to decorate the dinner table with flowers and candy.”
Cole had spent his time alone last night in downtown Coral Canyon, getting all the things he needed for this proposal, but now it didn’t feel like enough. “It’s flowers and candy. It’s going to be so lame.”
“What kind of flowers?” Daddy asked, as if that mattered at all.
“Rachel likes lilies,” Cole said, his voice betraying the fact that he’d barely slept last night. “And sunflowers. So lilies and sunflowers. And she loves Bit-O-Honey and those Starburst packs that are all red. I got a bunch of those.”
“Then she’ll love it,” Sunny said. “Cole, it’s not aboutthe what. The fact that you’re showing up with lilies and not roses will tell her that you know her. That you love her. That you’re trying to please her—and that means a lot to a woman.”
Daddy tapped the corner of the folder. “Cole, I know you’ve been worried about what you have to offer this woman, and Sunny and I have prayed and prayed over you.”
“And Rachel,” Sunny whispered.
“Right.” Daddy cleared his throat and tugged the folder free. “I think you’re a stellar young man, and I maybe haven’t made that clear to you.”
Cole stared at his father, trying to make sense of what was happening right in front of him.
