My siblings had absolutely outdone themselves. Every surface was covered in candles and bouquets of roses in various shades of pink. Rose petals scattered across the bed, silver trays arranged with chocolate-covered strawberries and cupcakes from the bakery in Denver that we loved.
She stood in the middle of it and turned in a slow circle.
“Declan,” she said softly. “What’s happening?”
I got down on one knee and took her hand.
“Kelsey, these last couple of months have been the best of my life. I know this whole thing started with you trying to run a showmance, but you are the realest thing I’ve ever had. And I know it’s fast, but I love you so damn much I can’t let another minute go by without asking you to be my wife.” I opened the box. “Will you marry me?”
She answered by leaning forward and kissing me, which I was going to take as a yes. Then Pooh took it as her personal cue to join in and immediately stuck her tongue directly into my ear.
“Aw, Pooh girl, are you excited we’re getting married?” Kelsey said, laughing and crying at the same time, scooping Pooh out of the pack. “Did you just kiss your Daddy?”
I was going to have to sit with how much I liked hearing that.
Once our sausage demon was safely on the floor investigating a rose petal, Kelsey kissed me properly. I slipped the ring onto her finger, round cut diamond in platinum, a double halodesigned to look like a snowflake, because I’d known exactly what I was doing since the day I’d ordered it.
“Declan.” She held her hand up and looked at it. “It’s beautiful.”
I got up off the floor before my knee could file a formal complaint, we had a game Sunday, and pulled her against me, kissing her deep, already thinking through the logistics of all these layers, when Kelsey squeaked and pulled back.
“What’s wrong?”
“I thought I saw someone at the window,” she muttered.
I rolled my eyes.
I opened the front door and walked around the side of the cabin.
All three of them were scattered across the yard in white snow suits. Jules had curled herself into a ball on the ground, apparently under the impression this made her look like a snowball. Flynn had wedged his entire enormous frame behind a tree that was, very generously, half his size. Isak had flung himself face down in the snow in what I could only call a reverse snow angel.
“I can see all three of you,” I said.
“Fine, fine.” Jules uncurled herself and stood up. She was wearing the beard from Dad’s Cause for the Paws Santa costume, but upside down, so it fanned out around her head in a white halo.
“What are you supposed to be?” I asked.
“A yeti. Duh.” Like this was obvious. Like this was the only logical conclusion anyone would reach.
Flynn and Isak climbed to their feet. Flynn at least had the grace to look slightly guilty. Isak still had snow packed into both eyebrows.
“Stop spying through my windows and go home,” I said, in the football voice.
“Why is it always ‘stop spying through my windows’ and never ‘hey, thanks for lighting two hundred electric candles and arranging all my fancy snacks’?” Jules asked, completely unbothered by the football voice. Nothing bothered Jules. It was genuinely unsettling.
“We wanted to see if she said yes,” Isak said. “We feel that entitles us to a small payoff.”
“You got your payoff. One of the strawberries is missing and I know it was you,” I said.
“I told you he would notice,” Jules said, smacking him in the stomach.
“And one of the cupcakes,” I added.
“It had to be even,” she muttered. “And I split it with Flynn.”
“Traitor,” Flynn gasped.
“Get out of here, all three of you,” I growled.
