summer I’m devoting to enjoying myself with my best friend and lover, the phenomenal Brendan Rourke. Brendan and I sort of learned together how to navigate our relationship. We’re each other’s first love, which I think is pretty special.
He lifts my chin. “You’re gazing at me worshipfully again. Keep it up.” He kisses me and grins.
I’m so crazy about him and let him know so often he’s gotten a big head about it. “Always the modest one.”
“Someone has to be, Ms. Summa Cum Laude. I swear I’m calling Mensa to have you tested.”
I shake my head, smiling. “Stop. You know I work my ass off. It’s dedication to your chosen interest that makes the results look easy. If I really was a genius, I wouldn’t have sweated my way through finals.” I actually do sweat. My brain is working so hard I sweat through exams like a workout.
The waiter appears to read us the specials. And one of them is freshly made tortellini!
I turn to Brendan. “Tortellini! I’m definitely getting that. Remember when we made it? It was so hard, but fun too.”
He grins and takes in the table. “Chloe and I were pseudo-friends for a month last summer and made tortellini together.”
Everyone smiles at us.
I cock my head. “Wait, pseudo-friends? No, we were actual friends.”
He gives me a deadpan look. “Do not pretend you weren’t fighting major chemistry the whole time.”
“Busted!” Lindsey crows. Her hair is short and back to its natural brown. I kinda miss the purple she had before. “I heard all about the hot neighbor living next door that she had to keep in the friend zone.”
“Lindsey!” I exclaim. “Those desperate texts were private.”
We laugh.
A short while later, I’m enjoying tortellini. So is Brendan. “What do you think?” I ask him. “Better than ours?” I’m teasing. This is way better.
“Considering it was our first time cooking a real dinner, I’d say…” He laughs. “Theirs is way better. I think we cooked ours too long, it was kinda chewy. And some of them hardly had any meat filling. But I did love it because we made it together.”
My heart squeezes. I want to kiss him, but I don’t want to get all mushy in front of my sister’s family and Lindsey. Instead I just smile and turn to Henry, offering him one of my tortellini. He has a tiny bowl of mac ’n cheese that he’s mostly been ignoring. He chews the tortellini eagerly and grunts, leaning forward and doing the sign for more. Sara taught him baby signs since he’s a late talker. All he says is mama, dada, and no.
After we finish eating and the dishes are cleared, Brendan says to me, “I got you a cake.”
“You did?” I rub my full stomach. “You should’ve told me so I’d save room.”
“There’s always room for cake.”
I shake my head. “I don’t know. I might just have a bite of yours.”
Sara catches me up on the latest with the casino she runs with Adrian, which is always a fascinating update. They do a lot of cool stuff as far as events and new games to attract repeat customers.
Brendan whispers in my ear, “Look.”
I turn just as a waiter sets down a round chocolate cake with a giant sparkler on top of it. Gold sparks fizzle out of the skinny stick. I’ve never seen a celebration cake like that before. Usually it’s just boring candles.
“How cool!” I turn to Henry, whose eyes are wide as saucers, his mouth hanging open. He thinks it’s cool too. I take in the rest of the table for their reaction. They’re all smiling at me. I smile back. Lindsey lifts her brows, pointing over to Brendan.
I turn, but he’s not there. And then I realize his chair has been pushed out of the way because he’s down on one knee, holding up a diamond ring to me.
My hand flies to my mouth, my eyes watering. He said he wanted me to graduate before we were engaged. I just didn’t know he meant the same day.
“Chloe, you are my world, my heart, my forever love. My first, my last. Will you be my wife?”
I nod, unable to speak over the lump in my throat. He slides the ring on my finger and stands, pulling me into his arms. I wrap my arms around his waist and squeeze him tight, my tears soaking his nice shirt.
He strokes my hair. “I love you.”
I lift my head. “I love you too!”
“Yay!” Sara exclaims. “Congratulations! I was