“You know you really should give yourself more credit,” Birdie said when they were far enough away that there was no risk of being ambushed for selfies.
“I have you for that,” Alexis said and winked.
It wasn’t long before Birdie spotted the restaurant up ahead. The sign was a panel of wrought-iron painted midnight blue. From behind, a back-light made the name shine. And when a man in his early forties walked out with a phone pressed to his ear, Birdie caught a wave of saffron and cinnamon. Her mouth suddenly watered. She hadn’t realized how hungry she was, and for a moment, she couldn’t wait to get a forkful of Moroccan food in her mouth. But Alexis didn’t lead them to the door. She continued walking and pulled a very confused and rather starving Birdie with her.
“I thought you said we were going to Juniper?” Birdie asked, glancing back at the sign.
“I did,” Alexis said. “But I thought we would walk first.”
Birdie wasn’t about to argue. Yes, she was hungry, but wouldn’t she rather hold Alexis’s hand and swing their arms like a metronome than sit across from her at a table in a noisy restaurant while the waiter interrupted every five minutes? Even if it was only for a few minutes before her stomach said otherwise. At least now she could lean into Alexis, even bump her shoulder against hers just for the excuse of touching her. Which she did. Several times.
They reached a small park tucked between apartments and old Victorians. The lamps had just blinked on. Alexis stopped at a bench and sat down. She patted the spot beside her. Not that Birdie needed an invitation. She was already sliding close as Alexis draped an arm over her shoulder.
“I don’t know if you know this,” Alexis said, glancing up as a man walked past with a tiny fluffy Pomeranian trotting along on a bright pink leash. “But usually at the end ofThe Sapphic Match, the bachelorette has a choice. They can either propose or they can take a step back and see where things go. Every season’s been different. Jemima from season two proposed to Veronica, but Frankie from season three decided she wanted to take things slower and only asked Mimi out.”
Birdie wasn’t sure where this was going. Or maybe she was. She hadn’t watched the other seasons. She didn’t care about Jemima or Frankie. In fact, she didn’t care about anyone but Alexis. And now Alexis had dropped the word ‘propose’ and Birdie felt her heart somersault. Because surely it was too early for that. Surely they weren’t going to get engaged here, in this park. Not that she wouldn’t say yes. Of course she would. Yes. Yes. Yes.
Alexis slipped her hand into her pocket and brought out a black velvet box. “Vivian sent it over. I don’t think she was allowed to, but apparently she doesn’t follow the rules either. And no, this isn’t an engagement ring,” she added quickly when she spotted Birdie’s face. Her expression was somewhere between horrified, delighted, and utterly flabbergasted.
“It isn’t?” Birdie squeaked, her voice way too high.
“It isn’t,” Alexis said, smiling. “If I’m going to propose to you, it’s not going to be with a ring designed byThe Sapphic Match’sproduction team. And I definitely won’t do it here. I want it to be perfect, somewhere beautiful. Somewhere that’s just ours.” She reached for Birdie’s right hand. Her thumb brushed over her knuckles and then, slowly and deliberately, she slipped the ring onto Birdie’s middle finger. “Think of this as a promise ring.”
“You’re joking, right?” Birdie laughed, a little breathlessly.
Alexis leaned closer. She smelled like coffee and freshly baked cookies. Birdie was completely intoxicated. “Consider it a promise that the real thing will happen one day.”
“I feel like a teenager.” And she did. Birdie felt like a giddy teenager who had just kissed her first girl and had butterflies flapping so hard she was sure they were going to escape through her ribcage.
Alexis laughed. And then she pressed a quick kiss to Birdie’s lips, just enough to make the world hush for a second before Birdie rested her head against Alexis’s shoulder and listened to the hum of the city and the occasional bark from a particular Pomeranian who was fighting her leash.
“Tell me again how you fell in love with me,” Birdie said dreamily.
Alexis shook her head, rolled her eyes, and let out a deep sigh. For a second Birdie thought she wasn’t going to say it, especially since Birdie had asked multiple times already, but then she did.
“It all started when you climbed on that damn horse.”
Epilogue
One year later
“I knew I made the right decision booking Greece for our honeymoon,” Alexis said slowly, testing the waters, because the truth was Birdie had done all the organizing.
Birdie rolled her eyes. “Are you trying to get a reaction out of me?”
“Depends on the reaction,” Alexis said, smiling. She adjusted the wide-brimmed hat shading her face and pretended to enjoy the view. Their villa was perched on the caldera’s edge. From their terrace, the Aegean glittered below in impossible shades of blue stitched with whitecaps. Sunlight bounced off the domed rooftops and narrow stone stairways bleached white by the sun spiraled down to the water where the horizon melted into the sky.
But who was she kidding? The view didn’t stand a chance. Not with Birdie stretched out on top of her, wearing a bikini suit far too tiny for anyone’s own good. Her sun-kissed skin pressed against Alexis’s body. Her body was warm and smooth and just a little wet from their swim earlier in their infinity pool that seemed to spill straight into the sea.
“You’re ridiculous,” Birdie murmured, pressing a kiss to Alexis’s lips.
“And you love it,” Alexis countered, capturing another kiss before Birdie could protest. “That’s why you married me.”
Birdie laughed. It was so light and airy Alexis had to remind herself she wasn’t floating away on a cloud, but then again honeymoons should feel like that. Otherwise, you weren’t doing it right. “I married you because you proposed at a bookfair,” Birdie reminded her. “In front of a cardboard cutout of Virginia Woolf, no less.”
“When you say it like that, it sounds absolutely terrible,” Alexis replied, groaning. She’d spent weeks trying to plan the perfect proposal while simultaneously racing against the clock. Birdie had asked her for a Pinterest login, which was a dead giveaway since Alexis had a secret board full of ring styles and proposal ideas. The only reason Birdie would want her details was to get a glimpse of that. But Alexis had hoped to get there first. She wanted to surprise Birdie and propose first.
“And it wasn’t a book fair; it was a literary festival. There were fairy lights. I hired a jazz trio to pretend to spontaneously play our song.” The songKitchen Doorby Wolf Alice became their song after Birdie had played it on a loop for hours without either noticing. “It took a lot of planning to get your friends to hide behind the table of first editions waiting to pop champagne. Believe me, it wasn’t easy. Jade was rather—”
