What. Was. Happening?
“Matt,” he started. His voice shook on my name. “Matthew Jacob Bennett.” He took another deep breath and shook hishead. “Oh god, I had this whole romantic speech planned. I practiced it with Moira four times last night, and I recited it the entire drive here, but now that I’m here looking at you, I don’t remember a single word I had prepared.”
I pulled my bottom lip in between my teeth and bit down, needing the flash of pain to tell me that this wasn’t a dream. It wasn’t. “Noa—”
“No,” he interrupted. “Don’t say anything, not yet. Let me finish.” I nodded. I would let him say or do anything right now. “You were the first person I ever loved. You taught me what love was when we were sixteen years old. And then you taught me what love was again over the past few months. You taught me that my heart still beat, that I could fall in love again. I don’t want to ever lose this feeling. I want that future we dreamed about when we were kids: the house with the porch and the rocking chairs, the grandchildren playing in the yard. I want all the years leading up to it. I want to wake up next to you every morning, fall asleep with you every night.” His voice cracked, and I saw the tears welling in his beautiful green eyes. “I want to spend hours debating you over stupid things and cook dinner with you. I want the good and the bad with you. You’re the love of my life, Matt. I knew this when we were kids, and I know it now.”
I opened my mouth to say something, but there were no words. It was rare that I was struck speechless, but seeing the man I loved on one knee, pulling a wooden box from his pocket, had made me forget every word I’d ever known.
He opened the box, revealing a simple yellow gold band. “Matt, will you marry me?”
“Yes.”
The word fell from my lips without thought. I didn’t care that it was too soon. I didn’t care that we’d only been back together for a few months. I wanted the future he’d talked about. Iwanted the porch and the rocking chairs and the gray hair and the grandkids. I wanted the days it took to get there. I wanted to spend my life getting to know him again, and then I wanted to change and grow alongside him. Because there would be changes. Neither one of us were the same boys we’d been when we were in high school, and I doubted we’d be the same people at fifty that we were at twenty-six.
But I knew I would still want this man beside me in fifty years.
I wanted Noah to walk through life with me every step of the way.
“Yes, Noah,” I repeated because he was frozen in shock. My voice quivered and my vision blurred. “I will marry you. I would marry you tomorrow if I didn’t know you want a big wedding with your family around.”
“Really?” he gasped.
“Yes, really.”
He slipped the ring on my finger. It fit perfectly, like it was made for me. It belonged there, and I never wanted to take it off. I looked at the ring for a moment and then, because I couldn’t resist any longer, I kissed my future husband.
My future husband.
We would have a lifetime together, and that lifetime was beginning today.
20
Hesaidyes.
It was five days later, and I still couldn’t believe my good luck. Matt had said yes. Nonno’s ring had taken up residence on his finger, and I caught him looking at it multiple times a day. I caught him studying the ring like he still couldn’t believe it was there. When I told him where I’d gotten it Saturday night as we laid in bed together in our post-orgasmic haze, he’d almost cried.
He knew how much Nonno had meant to me. He’d heard all the stories about him when we were together in high school. I knew Nonno would’ve approved of him wearing his ring, because the way I loved Matt, the way Matt loved me, was the same way that Nonno had loved Nonna. It was the kind of love that grew over a lifetime and got stronger with every passing day.
We’d spent the past five days together, separating only to go to work. We’d alternated nights, staying at his place or mine, but always together. We’d called our parents together, telling them the news on video calls. My mother had cried, even though she knew my plans. She and my dad had been the ones totell me it was a good idea, but my mother still sobbed like it was a surprise. And then she immediately jumped into wedding planning. Matt’s mom and stepdad started making plans, too, but they were more about what dates they’d need to come to South Carolina for everything.
By the time we’d finished telling our family, we’d picked out a few weekends for the wedding. We’d made a list of potential wedding venues, a short list because it wasn’t like King’s Bay was the pinnacle of fancy wedding venues. We decided we’d call around before we chose our date, find something that we liked, and then we’d do the rest of the planning. Except we couldn’t stop talking about the wedding.
For days, we talked about our dream wedding. We argued over the fact that he refused to wear anything other than his Converse, even if the wedding was formal. I couldn’t be too surprised. I’d known him for a decade, and I’d never seen him wear any other kind of shoe. He’d even worn them for our senior prom.
We existed in our loved-up cocoon for days. But on Thursday, it was time to emerge.
He wanted to tell his friends in person, and he wanted me there when he did. He’d made the plans for everyone, asking to meet at the Rusty Nail instead of Goliath. He invited Silas and Chris to come along with their respective boyfriends, and he’d even convinced me to invite Moira to King’s Bay for a long weekend. She already knew that I was proposing, but at Matt’s request, I hadn’t told her the answer either.
Her flight arrived a few hours before we were set to meet his friends, so I had to kiss my fiancé goodbye. I needed to pick her up, and we’d decided to travel separately. Leaving him, even for a few hours, was hard. I didn’t want to watch him drive back to his place to get changed, even though I knew he’d be meeting mehours later. I wanted to convince him to come and pick up Moira with me, just so I wouldn’t have to spend time away from him.
But like he’d said, we had an entire future together. We could be apart for a few hours.
It was the longest few hours of my life, even with Moira by my side. And of course, because it was Matt, he was late when it was time to meet at the Rusty Nail.
“Wasn’t he supposed to be here by now?” Moira asked as we waited outside the bar. She was like me, always punctual. Unlike me, she was always annoyed when other people weren’t. It wasn’t the best first impression the love of my life could make on my best friend, but it was beyond my control.
Maybe I should have warned her. “He has a problem with punctuality.”
