44
Denise - Well, She’s No Elvis, But…
We pull up to a large sized house on the lake about half an hour out of town. It’s a beautiful spot where most people build enormous houses on small properties. My parents have one, and it’s so pretentious. People from all over the country come here to summer at Westborough’s not-so-well-kept secret, but this place has a huge piece of property surrounding it and the neighbour’s homes are so far away I can’t even make out lights through the trees.
“This place is gorgeous,” I tell Ryder when he opens my door for me. “Who lives here?”
Ryder smiles and reaches for my hand. “This is Gran’s lake house, where my brother and I used to spend half of every summer with her when we were kids. I’ve been having it renovated for her these last few months and the contractor just finished work last week. My grandfather bought this property and built this house around 60 years ago. Even when people started building those huge houses on the other properties, they kept this normal sized house and refused to sell off parts of the property, even though they had plenty of offers. Now it’s a beautiful, private hideaway close to the city. It’s one of my favourite places.”
I adjust the black body-con dress I’m wearing underneath a vintage, cropped, off-the-shoulder Mötley Crüe t-shirt before wrapping my arm around Ryder’s waist. We make our way around the house to the side facing the lake. There’s a screened-in porch facing the lake, and I can imagine how beautiful it would be to sit out there and watch the sunrise. But before my imagination can take me any further, I notice all of our friends gathered on the beach, closer to the water.
They’ve taken a wooden pergola and strung it with twinkle lights, filmy curtains, and flowers. The effect is ethereal. That our friends all got together and did this in such a short amount of time has me a little misty eyed.
“Wow,” Ryder says, awe clear in his voice. “I should have told them all to piss off and proposed here. This is amazing.”
“Do you think they’ll be disappointed that you asked before we came?” I ask with a laugh.
“I guess there’s only one way to find out.”
The pathway ends where the sand starts, so I stop to take off my heels. Holding Ryder’s arm for balance, I slip them off and drop them in the grass. Walking in sand in heels is just asking for disaster. I’m a pregnant lady, after all. I don’t need to be taking unnecessary risks.
“There you are!” Gran throws up both hands and waves them around. “What do you think? Not too shabby, if I do say so myself.”
Noises of protest crop up here and there from the rest of our friends and I hear snippets of people taking credit for their own parts in bringing it all together. Gran just waves them off with a smile and is met with chuckles in return.
“Hey Dad,” Ryder says, reaching out his hand when his dad is the first to come up to greet us.
“Get that out of here, son.” Ryder’s dad smacks his hand out of the way and pulls him into an enormous hug. “It’s so good to see you.”
Ryder hugs his dad with only one arm because he refuses to let go of my hand.
“Dad, you remember Denise, right?”
“Of course,” he says, stepping over and pulling me into a hug, too. “How are you? This boy behaving for you? Or do I need to get in there and start smacking him around a bit?”
I laugh and am about to refuse his kind offer when another older man pipes in.
“Save some for me,” he says, walking toward us. “I’ve been trying to slap this one around ever since we met. Even if he is teaching classes for free at my gym.”
“Pops!” Ryder extends his hand and is again pulled into a hug instead. “It looks like the guys really outdid themselves with getting everyone here.”
“Not everyone,” Devon says, stepping up to join our little circle. “Your parents had something else to do tonight, Denise. I’m sorry.” He gives my arm a reassuring squeeze.
“That’s fine, Dev. Thanks for trying. I’ve sort of kicked them out of my life for now, anyway. Their opinions on the whole Andrew situation made me realize that they’re not very good people. Definitely not the kind of people I want around our baby.”
Ryder’s head snaps toward me. “Our baby?” He smiles.
“Yeah. Should I not-”
Ryder pulls me into a kiss, dropping my hand in favour of cupping my face while he kisses the hell out of me. I have a feeling I shouldn’t be getting so hot and bothered standing in the middle of his dad and Alex’s grandfather, but when Ryder’s kissing me, I can’t focus on anything else. The man can kiss, that’s for damn sure. I grab the front of his shirt, pulling him closer to me, and through a fog of lust I think I hear whistles and cheers coming from our friends.
“Alright lovebirds, save the kissing for after. That part comes at the end of the ceremony.” Gran pulls us apart and grins. “Now let’s get this show on the road.”
“Oh Gran,” Ryder starts. “About that…”
“You proposed already, and she said yes?” she asks with a wink. “I knew that was going to happen. So this isn’t just a surprise for Denise, it’s also a surprise for you.”
Ryder looks at me with his eyebrows drawn and shrugs. “I have no idea what’s happening,” he says. “Any ideas?”
