she came back to see her dad. But when she wasn’t annoying him, he didn’t think about her. And I knew that because he loved me.
Always and forever.
I dropped my head to Hudson’s shoulder, placed my hand on his thigh, and squeezed. “Forget about them,” I muttered, because hearing their names still pissed him off.
His hand covered mine, warmth slid up my arm from his touch like it always did. Nine months we’d been together and every time he touched me, my body responded like it was the first. “Already forgotten.”
He kissed the top of my head and we both sat up straight as servers arrived, carrying three different pizzas. They quickly slid them onto the tables, refreshed our drinks, club soda with limes for Jenna and me, and disappeared into the background.
We dug into our food and Brandon and Jenna talked about wanting to go shopping on the Magnificent Mile the next day before we headed back to Des Moines on Sunday. I could have left tomorrow or that night and been thrilled to get out of the city. As much as I missed parts of it, and as many good memories being there brought back, I knew I wouldn’t fully settle until there were hundreds of miles between me and my parents.
I never found out where they were living. After the phone call with my mom months ago, I had Hudson delete all the texts from Shawn. There was nothing for me in the city or any reason to keep holding onto them. I had everything I needed right in front of me and surrounding me, plus the friends I was making at Drake University. With my grades and financial situation, Hudson and David helped me get some financial aid and I was accepted into their business program. I’d start part-time in the fall and continue working at Valor but for the summer, I was taking a class during each session to get ahead.
“Navy Pier?” David asked, bringing me back to the present. The food was quickly disappearing in front of me, a testament to how good it was. “Anyone in?”
“On a Saturday? It’ll be so crowded,” I said. I was getting used to crowds but still didn’t love them. The sensation of constantly being watched wasn’t as strong as it used to be, but in places like that, I’d have a difficult time enjoying it.
“I think Lilly and I will be busy tomorrow,” Hudson said.
My head jerked toward him and I pulled back. “Doing what?”
As far as I knew, we hadn’t planned anything.
He reached into his pocket and fisted something in his hand, bringing it to the tabletop. “I’m hoping we’ll be celebrating.”
“Celebrating?” My gaze scanned the others at the table. Jenna had her hand covering her mouth, Brandon had his lips pressed together and David… was he crying? A rush of nerves rolled through me, heating and cooling my blood at the same time it made me shiver. “What’s going on?”
“I was going to wait, until we were alone, and had some privacy, but I don’t think I can do that anymore.”
“Hudson—”
His hand pulled back from the table and in its place was a small box the color of a robin’s egg and the entire restaurant spun as I stared at it.
Hudson opened it, slid the box with a simple diamond on a platinum band in front of me and his words came to me, rolling through a tunnel. “I can think of no better place to propose to you than in one of your favorite places surrounded with your favorite people. At least, I hope we are.”
My head jerked and when I was able to pull my eyes off the sparkling, large diamond glittering in that box, he was cloudy through my tears. “What?” I asked.
I swore Jenna laughed. Brandon might have coughed.
All I saw was Hudson through a haze of emotions, smiling at me as he reached for the box and held the diamond ring up between us.
“What do you say, Lilliana Huntington? Will you marry me? Make me the happiest man in the world and be my wife?”
My chest squeezed, burned so hot I thought my heart would leap straight out of my chest and onto my lap. I shook my head to clear my vision, settle the emotions rioting through me like a rollercoaster and when I lifted my hands, they shook so hard there was no way I could hold anything in them.
“Yes,” I rasped through a hitched breath. “Yes,” I