“She was verifying that we were going to make that offer to Zhen tomorrow. I think he’ll be a good fit. He’s a great chemist and a nice person.”
“I meant before. That thing about Leighton.”
“Oh! Catalina follows Leighton on Instagram, and apparently she eloped with that kindergarten teacher she’s been dating.” Craig and Leighton had broken up not long after the Vermont trip. Catalina’s direct message to Leighton might have played a part in that, but we weren’t sure. Craig had claimed that they’d broken up because Leighton had “issues,” and I assumed one of those issues was that she didn’t want to marry a lying scumbag cheater.
Anyway, she’d met a great new guy who her family didn’t approve of, and they’d disowned her, but she seemed ridiculously happy. It turned out that Marco wasn’t quite the judge of character he had believed himself to be. I delighted in teasing him about that.
Craig, meanwhile, was apparently working his way through all the sorority houses of Southern California. Each girlfriend seemed to be younger and blonder than the last. Ken had not made Craig CEO of Minx and had brought in someone new. Tracie was apparently livid but hadn’t done anything beyond express her anger. There was no way she would ever leave her husband or her lifestyle.
Lindy told her father that she planned on becoming a cosmetic chemist and was currently working this summer as an intern at Aviary. Her love of chemistry was contagious, and she was so great to have around.
It was also nice that she could work for free. Marco had lined up several investors, but we always seemed to be worrying about money. He was sure that once our first product line launched, we would be ridiculously successful.
And I’d learned a long time ago to not doubt Marco.
“Are you ever going to tell me where we’re going?” I asked.
“Nope. It’s what we in the industry like to call a surprise.”
“So annoying,” I said, but there was no conviction behind my words. I kissed his palm, and then he threaded his fingers into my hair so that he was massaging my scalp. He knew how much I loved that and that it would most likely keep me from asking too many questions.
He was right.
I held up my phone to show him the text my grandpa had just sent me. “Grandpa’s got a new rescue. Meet Eggolas.”
He glanced at the photo. “Tell your grandfather that I’m disappointed in the name. He should have gone with Orlando Plume.”
I laughed and sent the text. Grandpa sent back a thumbs-up emoji. “I think you convinced him.”
Marco pulled the car over. We were in a nice neighborhood—the kind with big houses and tree-lined sidewalks. “Where are we?”
“So many questions.” He shook his head. “Come on. There’s something I want to show you.”
I was thoroughly confused and curious at the same time, which I loved. I got out of the car and followed him. He put on a backpack and took me by the hand. There was a sidewalk that led between two houses. “Are we allowed to be here?” I asked. This definitely seemed like a HOA type of place, and with our line about to launch, we did not need a headline that the owners of Aviary Cosmetics had just been arrested.
Maybe that was the point. Marco was trying to drum up some extra publicity. He was willing to do whatever he had to do to make our dream a reality, and I loved him for it.
We got to a locked gate, and I decided that if Marco wanted me to climb it, I was probably out. “That’s trespassing, right?”
“Not if you have a key.” He unlocked the gate, and it led into a massive park. There was an expensive-looking playground that resembled an actual fort. Trees everywhere, lush green grass, gorgeous flowers in every hue.
I had to shade my eyes as we walked toward the middle, and I realized that in the center of the park there was a large man-made lake. The path we were on wound around it.
“This is so pretty,” I told him.
He nodded. “I thought you might want to go for a walk.”
I wrapped my arms around his right arm, resting my head against his shoulder as we walked. We talked a lot about the launch and about the head of marketing for the company. Prisha was worth her weight in gold, and I told him that we were probably going to have to offer her a raise soon if we wanted to hold on to her.
He interrupted our conversation to point to our right. “Hey, a bench. Want to sit down?”
It was then that I realized what was happening. This was my fantasy. The one I’d used to have about Craig that quickly became about Marco. I’d told Marco about it the day I’d confessed that I was in love with him, but I hadn’t thought about it in so long, as I had the real thing and didn’t need to pretend.
We were together in a beautiful park, walking alongside a body of water, sitting on a bench to talk.
I sank down on the bench while he took off his backpack. My heart was already going a mile a minute, but I didn’t want to jump to any assumptions. This was enough. Being with Marco was enough.
I didn’t need more.
Even if I secretly wanted it.
He reached into his backpack and pulled out a large box. “Today the first shipment of palettes arrived, and I wanted you to be the first person to see them.” Our logo was on the side of the box, and I didn’t think the sight of that would ever grow old.
I opened the box slowly, and there were the palettes, just as he’d promised. I tried not to be disappointed, but I couldn’t help it. We had been talking marriage since we became official, but we’d agreed to focus on launching Aviary first. It would be too much to try to start a company and plan a wedding.
The palette on top was wrapped in plastic, and I undid the plastic carefully. Our logo was embossed on the top, and I ran my fingers across it. “So pretty.”
“Like you.”
I smiled at him and then flipped the lid open.
There was a ring in one of the containers where there should have been a blush. I picked up the ring. Not just any ring.
My mother’s ring.
I looked up at him, and he had gotten down on one knee. “I’ve been planning for this moment for a long time. The day you came over and told me you loved me? I wanted to ask you then. Which means I’ve had plenty of time to think about what I wanted to say. To tell you how much you mean to me and how excited I am about the life we’re building together. How deeply in love with you I am. But I couldn’t think of anything perfect. And that’s what you deserve. Perfection. So I thought I’d go for simplicity. Anna Urban Decay Ellis, would you please do me the honor of marrying me?”
I sat there, my mouth open, temporarily unable to respond. He took the ring from me and slid it onto the ring finger on my left hand. He said, “By the way, I did what your dad always wanted to do and replaced the cubic zirconia with a diamond.”
Oh. That put a lump in my throat and made it hard to breathe.
“I can’t believe you thought this wouldn’t be perfect,” I said, my eyes filling up with tears. “This is perfect. You’re perfect. I love you so much.”
“You haven’t actually answered.”
“Yes! My answer is yes!” I threw my arms around his neck and kissed him. A few moments later, I lifted my head up, the tears now falling down my face. “When we get married, can we have a theme wedding and dress up like Aragorn and Arwen?”