Chocolate for Two (2 page)

Now he looked down and started picking at the grass again. “I’ve realized that if you want to get married, it’s not enough
to find someone you can imagine spending the rest of your life with.”

I swallowed. “It’s not?”

He shook his head. “I think to be happy—truly,
truly
happy—you need to find someone you can’t imagine spending the rest of your life…
without
.”

I opened my mouth to speak, but no words came out.

“My life changed forever when I met you, Waverly.”

I gaped at him, still speechless. Our eyes were locked on each other, but—for once—I couldn’t utter a sound.

He reached over and grazed my cheek with his fingers. “I thought I had it pretty good before I met you, but then you came along and showed me how much better it could be. So much better.”

I smiled.

He cleared his throat. “I know it’s been a bit of an…
indirect
…road to get here.”

I winced.
Indirect
was a polite understatement, given how many times my irrational behavior and fear of getting hurt had nearly derailed us.

“But looking back, I wouldn’t change any of it, because it’s forced me to do a lot of thinking.” He stood up, and I tried to process his words.
Is he saying what I think he’s saying? Is what I think is happening really happening?
The cacophony of my own voice inside my head was deafening. I felt dizzy and was glad I was sitting down.

Jake, however, was standing.

I looked up at him, and slowly, very slowly, he reached into his pocket.

And pulled out a small box.

Oh my God oh my God oh my God.

My eyes welled up with tears, and through a hazy, teary blur, I watched him kneel down before me.

Then he reached for my hand.

“Waverly Bryson, I can’t imagine my life without you. I don’t
want
to imagine it without you.”

I was incapable of speech, so he just continued.

“You’ve made me so happy, you
make
me so happy, and I want to spend the rest of my life returning the favor.”

“You…do?” The words came out as a squeak.

“Yes, if you’ll let me. I love everything about you, Waverly. Absolutely everything.”

“Even my jokes?”

He laughed. “Don’t push it.”

I narrowed my eyes at him. “You love me even on those mornings when I talk too much and you—”

He smiled and put his hand over my mouth. “Just let me do this, okay?”

I nodded, tears streaming down my cheeks.

“Promise?” He raised his eyebrows, his hand still covering my mouth.

“Promise,” I whispered into his hand.

Slowly he removed it.

Then he opened the box.

It was torture waiting for the sun to rise on the West Coast. When your favorite people live in California, those extra hours cast a few raindrops on the
I have exciting news
parade.

I figured seven their time was late enough. Then I remembered it was Sunday. My dad and stepmom would probably be up, and maybe McKenna too, since her daughter was barely a year old, but I knew Andie would be asleep until at least ten.

At 7:01 their time I picked up my phone and called McKenna’s cell phone. She answered on the third ring.

“This had better be important,” she whispered. “Elizabeth’s still asleep. So is Hunter. Hang on. I’m going into the living room.”

“Why do you have your phone turned on while everyone’s sleeping?”

“I’m a mom now, Waverly. Moms don’t ever turn their phones off.”

I laughed. “You really think Elizabeth is going to call you
on your cell phone
from her crib? Can she even talk yet?”

“Touché. So, how are you?” she asked in a normal voice. “I’m in the living room now.”

“Are you sitting down?”

“Yep, I’m on the couch. What’s up?”

I took a deep breath. “I’m getting married.”

“OH MY GOD!” she shrieked. Then her voice quickly dropped a few decibels. “Oh, damn it. I hope I didn’t wake her up.”

“Can you believe it? I can’t believe it.”

Her voice stayed hushed but bubbled with enthusiasm. “Oh, Waverly, I’m so happy for you. How did it happen? Tell me everything.
Everything!
I’m so bummed that we’re doing this over the phone. I sooo wish I were right there with you.”

“I know, me too. But we’d probably be doing this over the phone even if I hadn’t moved to New York, because I sure as hell wouldn’t be driving over the Golden Gate Bridge to your place at seven in the morning.”

“You have no idea how much I miss you right now. So, start at the beginning.”

I leaned back into the couch and told her the story in glorious, girly detail. The blindfold, the secluded spot in the park, the surprise picnic, and how Jake told me he couldn’t imagine his life without me. I recounted that last part to her verbatim, or as closely as I could remember. Honestly, it was all sort of a dizzy-happy blur now.

Her voice cracked. “You’re making me cry, did you know that?”

I smiled. “I may cry too. I can’t believe how happy I am, Mackie. I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy.”

We chatted for a few more minutes, and eventually she asked the question we both knew she had to ask. We’d been friends for too long for her
not
to bring it up.

“Was it weird at all, you know, going through it…again?” McKenna had been there every step of the way through my previous engagement, which had ended most unceremoniously two weeks before the ceremony—when my fiancé showed up on my
doorstep, told me he didn’t love me, and called the whole thing off. A year later, he was married to someone else. It had taken me ages to get my self-esteem back, and I’d nearly blown things with Jake because of it.

I tucked my legs underneath me. “Actually, it wasn’t weird at all. And you know why?”

“Because Jake isn’t Aaron?”

I smiled. “Well, yes, of course, but no.”

“Because this time it feels different?”

“Yes again…but no.”

“Because this time you just know it’s right?”

I laughed. “Well…yes again. But that’s still not what I was going to say.”

“I give up.”

“Okay, listen to this. At some point, most women fantasize about hearing someone like him say the words
Will you marry me?
Right?”

“Of course.”

“But we dream about hearing them only once, right? At least, ideally?”

“I guess so. I mean, I’d like to hope so. I guess I never thought about it, to be honest.”

“Well, that’s because fortunately you never had to. Anyhow, we all know that
un
fortunately, I already heard those words once.”

“Yes…”

“And Jake knows that too.”

“Yes…”

“So he didn’t say them.”

“He didn’t?”

I shook my head. “No. You know what he said instead?”

“Please don’t make me guess. I can’t bear the suspense.”

“He told me how he couldn’t imagine his life without me…and then he…”

“And then he
what
?”

I hesitated.

“And then he asked…if he could be my husband.”

“That’s adorable!”

“I know, right?” I grinned.

“I love him, Waverly.”

“Too late for you. Did I mention
I’m
marrying him?”

“You have no idea how happy I am for you.”

“Oh, I have an idea, Mackie. I know how much you love me.”

“It sounds like everyone loves you these days.”

I laughed. “Andie’s not going to love me when I wake her up to tell her the news. That I know for sure, but I’m calling her anyway.”

“Now,
she’ll
have her cell phone turned off. Guaranteed.”

“That’s the beauty of knowing her landline, my friend.”

I told her I’d be in touch with more details soon and hung up to call Dad next.

After sharing the happy news with my father, I braced myself for a grumpy Andie and dialed her landline. She answered on the sixth ring.

“Someone had better be dead.” Her voice was raspy and groggy.

I sat up straight on the couch. “Good morning! I have news.”

“Is the news that someone is dead?”

“No.”

“Then can you call back at a reasonable hour? Some of us like to go
out
on Saturday night, you know.”

I laughed. “I love you too. So much, in fact, that I may even ask you to be a bridesmaid.”

“What?”

“You heard me.”

“Let me get this straight. You’re engaged?”

“I’m engaged.”

“You’re getting married?”

“I’m getting married.”

“Holy hell, Waverly. Let me take the phone into the living room so I don’t wake Nick up.”

I heard rustling, then the sound of a door opening and closing, then more rustling.

“You’re really getting married?”

“I’m really getting married.”

“Already?”

“Already? I’ve known him for almost three years, Andie.”

“Really? Has it been that long?”

“Indeed it has. I met him at that trade show a month after I turned twenty-nine. In October I’ll be thirty-two.”

“You’re right. Damn, that went fast. So, spill. How did he propose?”

I regaled her with the whole story, again inventing riveting dialogue where my memory failed, but I didn’t care, and neither did she, because accuracy wasn’t the point. When I was done, I leaned back into the couch and put my feet up on the wicker chest that served as a coffee table.

“And then I called you,” I said.

“Damn, Waverly.”

“I know.”

“Why did you put the ring in that box?”

I held my left hand up and stared at it. “This might sound silly, but Jake left for a work trip last night, so since he wasn’t here anyway, I decided to put it with my mom’s photo before I started wearing it, just for a little bit.”

I expected to be mocked, but Andie surprised me.

“That’s sweet, Waverly.”

I scrunched up my face. “You think? I know it’s a bit strange.”

“Well,
you’re
a bit strange.”

I laughed. “Thanks. I think.”

“Damn, another one bites the dust. You and I were in it together, you know. What am I supposed to do now?”

“Oh, please. Your awesome boyfriend is asleep in your bed right now. Given that you
live with him
, you can hardly play the single card.”

She didn’t respond to my comment and instead changed the subject.

“So, listen. I know today is all about you, but I have news too.”

I tucked my legs underneath me. “Oh yes? Do tell.”

“One of the reasons I’m so hungover right now is that my company had its annual summer party last night.”

“Since when does your company have an annual summer party?”

“Since yours truly joined the party-planning committee. Keep up.”

I laughed. “I’ve been trying to do that since the day I met you.”

“So I was talking to the COO at the party, and he asked if I could help with a company-wide performance audit.”

“A what?”

“A performance audit. Basically it’s reviewing how we do things across all departments to uncover ways to make us more efficient, that sort of thing. My role would be studying the finances and looking for ways to reduce costs without affecting productivity.”

“I forgot how boring your job is. I think I just fell asleep for a minute.”

“Do you want me to hang up?”

“Is there a point to this story?”

“The
point,
Miss Bride, is that it’s a great opportunity, but I’d have to leave my current position for three months to do it.”

“Okay…”

“You ready for it?”

I fake-yawned. “I was ready ten minutes ago.”

“Suck it. The team conducting the audit is based in our New York office.”

My eyes got big. “No way!”

“Way.”

“So you’d live here for three months?”

“I’d live there for three months.”

“Oh my God! Are you going to take it?”

“Hell yes. You know I’ve always wanted to live in New York.”

“Where will you stay?”

“They’re going to put me up in some high-rise corporate apartment downtown.”

“Won’t that cost a fortune?”

“I work in corporate America, Waverly. We’re all about wasting money.”

“Didn’t you just say that you were coming here to find ways to cut expenses?”

“
Other
departments’ expenses, not mine. Big difference.”

“My mistake. That’s so cool.”

“I know. It’s going to be awesome. I can’t wait.”

“What does Nick think about it?”

She hesitated for just a moment, long enough though to set off a tiny alarm bell in the back of my brain.

“He’s not thrilled that I’ll be so far away, but he knows it’s a great opportunity, and it’s not forever, so he thinks I should do it,” she said.

I wanted to pry, but I knew her well enough to let it go. If something was up between those two, Andie would only talk about it when she was ready.

Nevertheless, I decided to gather some information via the indirect route.

“I love that guy. Does he know how much I love him?”

“Believe me, he knows. So don’t encourage him. His head is big enough as it is.”

“He’d better come visit.”