“Did they buy it?”I ask.
To my surprise, I’m not even a little nervous that his parents think we’re gonna get married.The two of us have talked about it and agreed that we like the idea of marriage sometime in the future, but this is the first time we’ve mentioned it to anyone else.
I guess that’s a thing now, I think.
“I couldn’t tell,” he says.“They seemed skeptical.”
“Should I talk incessantly about what wedding flowers I want?”I ask, my head still against his shoulder.
“Nah, then they’llknowit’s fake,” he says.“But hold on, I had an idea about that.”
He leaves the kitchen and walks into his bedroom, the only other room in the apartment.
“About wedding flowers?”I call.
That’s kind of putting the cart before the horse,I think.I hear a drawer open and close, and I yawn.
“About them believing us,” he says, walking back into the kitchen and putting his arm around me again.“Wear this, it’ll be more convincing.”
He holds up a small black box with a diamond ring in it.
I freeze, my water glass halfway to my mouth, and stare at it.For a second I thinkhe even got fake jewelry to lie to his parents with, but then I look at his face.
“Marry me?”he says.
“Wait, what?”I ask, because I’m just astonished.
He starts laughing.
“Is this for real?”I ask.
I’m trying not to laugh, but I can’t help it.
“Yeah, and I fucked it up,” Hunter says, grinning.“Stay there, I’m gonna try again.”
He walks out of the kitchen.I put my water glass on the counter, head still spinning.
I definitely wasn’t expecting this, and that’s a fucking understatement.I figured we’d move in together in a couple months, andmaybeget engaged six months after that.
But I like this, too.Iwantto marry Hunter and spend the rest of my life with him.Hell, I was planning on doing that anyway, whether we got engaged now or never.
In the next room, I can hear him clear his throat, and I sort of want to shouthurry upand get back in here alreadybut I manage to stay quiet.
The floor creaks a little.Hunter appears in the doorway, his faceveryserious.He walks up to me and gets down on one knee, holding up the ring.
I start giggling, not because it’s funny, but from sheergiddiness.
“Clementine,” he says, cracking a smile.
I start laughing harder, and now Hunter’s trying not to laugh.
“Quit it, I’m trying to propose,” he says.
“Sorry,” I say, and bite my lip so I stop.
“I love you and I think I’m always going to love you, so will you marry me?”he says.
He looks up at me, his eyes deep pools in his dark kitchen, and something about it takes my breath away.
