exclaimed how great the silver decorations looked. It was classy and not at all overdone, with balloons and soft lighting throughout the room. The pictures were lit up by track lighting as well as the food and bar. Everything else was dim Tiffany-style lamps and clear twinkle lights and looked fantastic.
“I came here opening night with your grandfather. I’ll never forget how magical that felt, and here you meet Hayden. It’s such a full circle.” She smiled, and I covered her hand with mine.
“You’re here.” Hayden and Becca came over, dressed in their black-tie affair clothes. She wore a black cocktail dress that flowed to her knees in a style that took me back to another time, with her new pink hair in a loose chignon at the base of her neck.
“You both look amazing,” I told them, kissing her cheek before pressing a firm peck to his lips.
“Thank you,” Becca blushed and looked around. “Did you see Mari or Ava before you left?”
“Mari wants to be here more than anything, and Ava was sleeping. She sends her love,” Amy told her friend, hugging her. “I offered to stay with her so Mari could come, but you two are such mothers.”
“We don’t want her away from us when she’s sick. Ava is a love bug, and she needs to know that we’re there for her. I hired an amazing photographer so she will see a lot of pictures, both in-person and every media source we can get it posted on.” Becca smiled and hugged Jackson. “There’s food over there, and it’s amazing. Drinks on the other side.”
We all made a plate and wandered around to look at the front room of the theater. I watched as Hayden greeted guests, laughing and smiling as he looked around at his pride and joy. Taking the new job was the best thing he ever could’ve done, and Hayden was shaping it into something bigger than it ever was. He had a lot of help, but at the end of the day, this theater was his baby.
We worked more days now, spending nights on dates or somewhere in the apartment building. Becca stayed on nights for the sake of Ava, but they spent a lot of family time together when they were both off.
I handed Gram off to Jackson when Hayden finally had time to come to talk to us. We walked into the theater that was lit by electric candles throughout the room. They were considering having performances, but that took people that worked there out of the moment. There was a big show the following night that was set up as just a jam, where people performed various songs. It was just going to be fun and honor the numerous plays that were performed there over the years.
I glanced around to see that we were alone, swallowing the lump in my throat. I led Hayden casually to the place we met, before turning and dropping to my knee.
“I met you here for the first time, and you took my breath away. Being here now with you on your big night still makes me feel that way. Will you marry me and give me that magic every day of our lives?”
“Oh, shit,” Hayden said, starting to cry. His eyes shimmered in the candlelight as I rose to grasp his left hand. “Yes. You know I will.” I kissed him as I slipped the platinum band on his finger, feeling him tremble before me. “I love you.”
“I love you,” I breathed before kissing him again. We stayed there in the candlelight until Hayden felt like he was composed, then reentered the front room to our family with anxious looks on their faces. I held up his hand with the ring, and they swarmed in for hugs and congratulations. The rest of the guests gathered around to see what was going on, clapping when they realized it was a proposal.
We celebrated with champagne, clinking our glasses together to more cheers.
“I hope I didn’t rain on your parade. It just seemed fitting.” I held Hayden’s hand later that night at Jackson’s place as we all relaxed with a beer.
“Oh, my God. We’re getting married in two months. There’s no parade. This was a perfect night for it. You met there.” Amy snuggled against Jackson as he kissed her hair. “I wish I could’ve been in that theater. It was so romantic with candles everywhere.”
“You two saw it?” Hayden asked, raising his brow.
“We did. We liked the