ELLERY
“I think I have everything,”I said, patting my jacket pocket one last time. My hands were sweaty and I felt as if I may jump out of my skin.
“She’s going to love it.” Rachel encouraged.
“Thanks.”
“Yeah. Look at you, turning into a sap,” Samuel said.
“Oh, stop,” Rachel said. “He’s nervous.”
Samuel sputtered. “Do you know how nervousIwas when I was proposing to you? And you know what this asshole did?”
“Make fun of how sweaty you were?” I butted in.
“Yes! And told me I was being ridiculous.”
“You were,” I asserted. “But I guess nowI’mbeing ridiculous.” And I was. It’d been a year of bliss already. Our first official date turned into a sleepover, which quickly turned into moving her into my penthouse. It got a bit inconvenient when she needed to see Casey every day to work, with her previously living across town, but with some of the first profits they madeCasey got an apartment in my building so now they were neighbors.
And the app went off without a hitch. After a lot of back and forth, Veronica and Arthur invested, raising more money then they knew what to do with. In this short year they were able to build a team that was able to get the user interface running and even look towards the future of expanding the app to integrate with other existing calendar apps. Though they weren’t quite profitable, they were projected to be in the next few years, which was more than could be said about a lot of businesses.
We had also begun to talk about me moving to help the start up once it was profitable. Right now I was still pushing papers for my father’s company, but Arthur knew of my plans and supported me. Plus, it turned out I am excellent with potential large customers. I’ve been able to get us into multiple large firms that now use it across their entire corporation. Juniper wants to be able to afford a nice salary for me before she takes me on full time, but doing work that’s actually useful felt good. Plus, the app worked for me too, and made me much better at making my meetings and keeping me organized.
“Are you at least excited?” Rachel asked.
I nodded with a slight smile. I was excited. I’d dreamed of completing Junipers set since the day I’d given her the necklace. It was technically the last piece before the ring, but because we speed ran things in the beginning, I hadn’t given her a new one all year.
But now I had the ring box resting against my chest and I was ready to complete it.
“Good luck,” Arthur said from the dining room table. He was rocking his son Peter in his arms. I still couldn’t believe this guy who’d spent our childhood looking at spreadsheets was now a father. And a good one at that.
“We’re rooting for you,” Tiffany said from the other side of the table where she had her laptop open. “Juniper would be a great addition to this family. And there’s no way you will ever do better.”
“Thanks.” Tiffany was still… Tiffany, even in motherhood. But she was also great with him.
With those final words of encouragement I left, ready to meet Juniper and take her to Selina’s, where it all really started. This was our first vacation as a true couple, but having all these memories around everything made coming here that much better.
Juniper was with my mother having a spa day beforehand so she could feel her best. I told her we had a dinner planned, but not where. Everything was set, I just needed my girl to say yes.
I knocked on our suite door and heard the padding of footsteps behind it before she swung the door open. She was a vision in a forest green shimmery dress that clung to her everywhere. Her red hair was pulled partially back off of her face and her makeup complimented her hazel eyes. Her earrings, bracelet, and necklace were all on display, and soon she’d have the ring to match.
“Hey there handsome,” she said. “Why did you knock on the door?”
“Just wanted to pick up my date in the traditional way.” I waggled my brows at her.
“You’re ridiculous. Let me grab my purse and slid on my shoes and we can go.”
I watched as she bent to grab her purse, showing off her thick back side. She then grabbed her shoes and sat at the bench in front of the door.
I stepped in front of her, grabbing the silvery heel from her hand. “Let me.”
She handed it over and I took it, sliding it on over her purple painted toes and clasped the strap. I did it to the other, running my hands up her smooth calves, wanting to let them travel further.
“Enough of that,” she chided. “I don’t want to miss our dinner reservation.”
“Are you sure?” I asked. “It’s a good reason to be late.” I’d been late for a lot of reservations, but never for a reason as good as this.
“I’m sure. Lets go.”
