It’s now or never.
I step closer, taking her hands and clearing my throat.
“Mel.” My voice comes out serious and suddenly she’s paying attention.
“Yeah…” She meets my gaze expectantly.
I lick my lips. “You doing this with me, it means everything to me. I thought just making music with you was special, but this? This is freaking incredible. I’ve never been happier in my life.”
A gentle, unassuming smile spreads across her face. “I’m happy too.”
“I know you don’t love the limelight, so I wanted this moment, just for us.” My heart pounds in my chest so hard, I’m sure she can hear it.
“Okay…”
“Make me even happier than I already am? Be my business partner, my band mate,andmy wife?” I reach in my pocket for the navy-blue ring box I’ve been carrying around for weeks until I finally decided today was the day.
“Oh, Josh…” Melanie’s voice is breathless. “Of course I’ll be your wife.”
Then a laugh bubbles out of her, and she pulls my face toward hers, kissing me deeply.
“Ofcourse!” she says again.
I slip the oval diamond on a simple rose gold band on her ring finger. It’s understated, elegant, so perfectly Mel. I must have sent Sophie a thousand photos of ring options. As soon as I sent this one, she replied with two words: That’s it.
I pull Mel into a tight hug, lifting her off the ground and pressing a kiss to her mouth.
“Thank you,” I murmur.
Our private celebration is interrupted by a knock on the glass window. Outside, a crowd has gathered—the mayor and councilmen, people from the chamber of commerce. And of course, everyone we know and love made the trip from Cape May. Mel and I step outside and the crowd cheers. In the sea of faces, we find Frank and Joan, Liam, Sophie, Miles, Jenna, Jack, Stephanie, Danny, and Kristen. Even Ellie and Robert, and next to them, my parents who recently decided they wanted to come home to Cape May.
“Thank you all so much for coming,” I say to the small crowd.
The mayor turns and shakes my hand, then Melanie’s, before addressing the crowd.
“Good morning, everyone,” he says, nodding hello to the people before him. “As mayor, I get to be a witness to a lot of exciting things here in Nashville. I get to see a lot of projects come to life. But this one is special. It’s more than a music school; it’s a statement about the kind of city we want to be.” He looks at the crowd, smiling and nodding in agreement. Then he continues.
“Josh and Melanie, you didn’t just build a program, you built a bridge. Between access and opportunity, between community and creativity. You reminded us that music isn’t a luxury; it’s a language shared between all of us, especially our kids. Thank you for using your platform and passion to give back. Nashville is proud to call you our own.”
The crowd applauds, some of our friends let out long whistles. Melanie wipes her eyes.
“Before we cut this ribbon, did either of you want to say a few words?” the mayor asks.
I step up. “I’d like to, yes. First off, I’d like to thank you all for being here, especially our friends and family who traveled quite a distance to celebrate with us. Common Chord has been a dream in the making for a while now. Music is what brought us together all those years ago, and we wanted to build a safe place for kids to walk through the door, no matter their zip code, and know they belong. And so many of you helped us with that. Thank you to all of you for believing in us and our mission, long before the sign was even up on the door. Thank you for opening your hearts to us.”
I pause as the crowd applauds, looping an arm around Melanie’s waist and tugging her close.
“And as long as we’re talking about open hearts, there’s one more thing I want to share before we cut this ribbon.” I take a deep breath and plant a kiss on Melanie’s head.
“You all know Melanie. She’s the heart and soul of our duo, the melody to my rhythm, the reason I believe in second chances. But what most of you don’t know is that just moments ago, I asked her to marry me.”
I pause just as Sophie, Jenna, Steph, and Kristen let out various shrieks of excitement.
“And she said yes.” I grin before pulling Melanie to me and kissing her softly. “So not only are we building a music school, we’re building a beautiful life together. One filled with joy and purpose, and hopefully a whole lot of off-key beginner singing in these halls. Thank you for being part of our beginning. Let’s get this party started!”
The mayor hands us the pair of jumbo scissors, and we each take a side.
“On three,” I say, looking at Mel.
