There was a commotion behind Parker. We looked around to see Davy holding a cup of sausage gravy and biscuit chunks. He was eating it like cereal and had managed to pour it half over himself.
“Seriously?” Parker muttered as Puff waddled over faster than I’d seen him move before and began to clean Davy off. I pulled the corgi away.
“Now that you have a house,” Jasmine said, “you should adopt him.”
“I don’t have it yet,” I said. “It needs a lot of work.”
“I can’t wait until it’s done! We’re going to decorate,” Erika said, hugging me. “It’s going to be amazing. Now let’s toast!” She handed out drinks.
“To Sadie, who lost her virginity and found a super-awesome guy!”
I looked over to Parker, who was scolding Archer for not watching Davy. Archer patted him on the head affectionately, and Parker swiped at him.
“He is pretty awesome.” I clinked glasses with my friends then tried to look sharp as Barbara waved and came over.
“Glad to see you back where you belong,” she said. “And you’ve managed to snag yourself a man. Hold onto him. I do want to apologize for the miscommunication. You never know with some men.”
“I intend to keep Sadie perfectly safe and happy. And satisfied,” Parker said, coming up behind me.
I blushed.
“And I’m sure he’s going to be very happy when you move in with him. You seem like the type of man that likes having a woman around,” Barbara told Parker.
“Yes, ma’am,” Parker said. “I’m still trying to convince her to move in with me.”
Barbara and the other seniors were aghast. “Why wouldn’t you move in with this nice young man?” Barbara admonished. “Aren’t you living out of your car?”
Luckily, Remy waved me up to the front, microphone in hand. Parker helped me up onto a large wooden crate so that people could see me.
“Thank you, everyone, for coming,” I said into the microphone. “Things were a little messy a couple weeks ago, but we are back on track! In addition to housing the offices for the Rural Trust, the Harrogate Foundation, and ThinkX—which is a sponsor, so thank you, Weston and Blade—this former factory is going to be an awesome maker space and incubator for small businesses. We’re all going to work together to make sure Harrogate is great for everyone who lives here.”
I motioned around the room.
“Have some snacks and drinks, stop by the visioning board, and let us know what you’d like to see in these spaces. Because we are community focused, and you can’t have community without food, there is going to be a mini food hall here. We envision it as a place for people in the community to meet up, hang out, get to know each other on a more casual basis, and form lasting bonds that make our town unique. I would also like to use it as an incubator for new restaurants.”
“We want your biscuits!” Ida called.
Parker’s little brothers cheered, and Hunter barked at them.
“I’m not going to take a lot of convincing to make biscuits!” I said. “Hopefully there are other small entrepreneurs out there who want to sell food! There’s sign-up tables around to get more information about initiatives and join a committee. Thanks for all your support.”
I looked around to hand off the microphone to Meg, who was going to say some words as the deputy mayor. But before I could find her, the speakers crackled, and Parker jumped up on another box, a second microphone in hand.
“What are you doing?” I mouthed.
Parker just smiled at me. “I just wanted to say a few words,” he said. “Sadie, from the moment you dumped the entirety of a very nice dinner on me, I knew that you and I were never going to get along. And I pride myself on always being right. However, this is one instance in which I’m so glad I was wrong. Though I’m sure being my girlfriend isn’t as exciting as scrolling through Tinder, I hope that I make you happy. Because you make me happy, Sadie. You’re like a perfect biscuit: warm, inviting, wholesome, honest, and, of course, delicious.” His mouth quirked, and I blushed.
“Now, as much as I want this to be a marriage proposal, in light of recent events, that might be a bit much. But this is me asking you to move in with me. I love you, and I don’t want us to be apart. You can decorate the condo however you want. You can even bring Bob,” he said. “I don’t want to be apart from you any more than I have to.”
“I love you too, but are you sure?” I said to him.
“Do it!” Ida called. “You can’t live in the apartment anymore anyway.”
“What? Why?” I asked, confused.
Parker jumped off of the box to help me down and settle an arm around my waist.
“The whole building is going to be gutted and renovated, starting with your apartment. You have to vamoose!” the older woman said. “Besides, Parker just acquired a sex hammock for you. You don’t have high enough ceilings for it in the studio apartment.”
