She felt her eyes filling again. “You told me you didn’t want to be that guy! Remember?”
Cary’s face fell. “I’m sorry—I panicked. I needed some time to think.”
She sniffed. “I thinkIneed some time to think.”
“Okay,” he said. He looked down. After a second, he closed the ring box.
“Wait—” Shiloh put her hand over the box.
He looked up at her, more with his eyes than his head. “Wait?”
“I can’t not say yes to you,” she said, rolling her eyes at herself, feeling her chin pucker, blinking out a few more tears. “If you’re still asking.”
Cary raised an eyebrow, confused. “I thought you wanted to think.”
“I want to say yes, andthenI want to think.”
“Is that a tentative yes?”
“No.” She shook her head. “It’s more like a yes with an asterisk.”
“What’s the footnote?”
“It’s like ‘yes,’ asterisk, and then ‘Let the record show I think this is probably a bad idea.’”
He took her hand again. “But you still want... to be with me?”
“Cary,” she said, chastising him, “I always want that. I’m obviously in love with you.”
“Obviously?”
She nodded her head.
His eyes were wide again. “Shiloh... will you marry me?”
“Yes,” she whispered. “Asterisk.”
Cary whispered, too: “Let the record show you think this is a bad idea.”
“Let the record show I’m terrified of losing you completely.”
After a second he let go of her hand and opened the ring box. He took out the ring. “Do you want this?”
“Yeah,” she said softly. She didn’t hold out her hand, so he picked it up.
The ring slid easily over Shiloh’s knuckles. She shivered. Her fingers were trembling. When she closed her mouth, her teeth chattered.
“You okay?” Cary asked.
She nodded. She held out her hand so they could both see. “It’s pretty,” she said.
“We can have it resized. It’s white gold.”
“It’s pretty,” she said again.
“Yeah.” Cary’s voice broke. He lifted Shiloh’s chin, rubbing his thumb along the scar there. His eyes were searching, shining. “You want to try this with me?”
Shiloh nodded, without moving her head out of his hand. “Yeah. I do.”
