She glanced around, almost like she expected the coffee shop’s walls to rescue her. Until she must have realized that, just maybe, I was right. “All right. You win. I’ll go. Happy now?”
“Yep.” I waited until she disappeared to the kitchen before I fist pumped.
“Thank you,” Crystal mouthed, checking over her shoulder to make sure Lyla was gone. Then she leaned in closer. “You guys don’t need to stick around. I’m just fine on my own.”
“Oh, we don’t mind.” I shrugged. If it would make Lyla feel better that we were here to help close and clean up for the day, we’d stay. “But we might wander around for a while if you don’t mind.”
“Fine by me.”
It had been months since I’d walked aimlessly up and down Quincy’s sidewalks. Not since before the summer rush.
So I waited to shoo Lyla out the back door, lingering on the threshold to make sure she actually got in her car and drove away. Then I found Jasper at his table. “Feel like taking a walk?”
“Sure.” He stood and took my hand, leading me out of the coffee shop.
Like I’d told Lyla, it was a beautiful day. The air was beginning to cool. The leaves were just barely tinted with yellow. Fall was never a long season in Montana. Maybe that was why I liked it so much. You had to appreciate it while it lasted.
“You okay?” Jasper asked as we settled into an easy stroll.
“I don’t know. We’re having a baby. Are you?”
Jasper clasped my hand tighter, leaning down to kiss my hair. “I’m good, angel.”
“Then I’ll be good too.”
We walked for a while, holding hands, staring into windows and smiling at the people we passed. When we reached the end of the block, Jasper turned us around and we meandered back toward Eden Coffee.
“Will you marry me?”
Wait. What? I stopped, forcing him to stop too. No way I’d heard that right. “Say that again.”
“Will you marry me?”
I reached up and felt his forehead with the back of my hand. “Are you sick?”
Jasper chuckled, his eyes crinkling at the sides. “Are you going to answer me?”
“I already married you.”
“But do you want a wedding? A real wedding. Have a party. Invite your family. Have your dad walk you down the aisle. All that?”
Oh. Would I marry him? Did I want the fancy ceremony and lavish party?
I’d thought so. Once. But if we had a wedding, it would overshadow our night at the Clover Chapel. A night that was as imperfect as it was beautiful. The idea of erasing it made my heart sink.
“Do you?” I asked Jasper.
Maybe he wanted a wedding. A new memory to conceal the old. A wedding not tainted by his ugly ex-wife.
“No.” He shook his head. “I don’t want a wedding. But if you want to wear a white gown, if you want me in a tux, just say the word.”
We didn’t need a gown or a tux.
Our love story wasn’t typical. It certainly wasn’t what I’d imagined as a little girl. But it was ours.
“No wedding. But I’d take a honeymoon.”
“Deal.” Jasper clasped my hand again, holding it tight. Holding it the way Dad held Mom’s. Then he started us down the sidewalk again. “Where do you want to go?”
A thousand places came to mind. They were all from that list I’d created as a kid with Mom, places that our hotel guests called home.
Where did I want to go? Anywhere. I’d go anywhere with Jasper.
I lifted our clasped hands, bringing his knuckles to my mouth for a kiss. “Surprise me.”