hold off. Told her you and Parker needed the spotlight for a little while after the wedding.” Matt tapped Dameon’s shoulder. “Then you come along and suddenly Grace is the center of attention.”
“You’re welcome?” Dameon said with a laugh.
“Thanks.” Matt took a puff of the cigar. “So, Sunday . . .”
Colin just kept shaking his head. “Damn . . .”
“I need your help . . .”
Ten minutes later, straight faces in place, the three of them walked back in the house.
Dameon’s mom was talking about something and laughing while Nora and Emmitt laughed with her. Grace was sitting beside Erin.
Parker slid up next to Colin.
She sniffed a few times and asked, “Have you guys been smoking?”
Dameon couldn’t help but laugh.
Colin looked guilty, and Matt shrugged.
“Smoking?” Emmitt asked as his eyes narrowed to all three of them.
“Oh, you don’t have to smoke that stuff anymore,” Dameon’s mom said. “It comes in cookies.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
Dameon found the way to get Grace and him into the local paper.
All he had to do was sweet-talk a reporter to show up at a certain fire station on a certain Sunday when a certain someone might be popping the question to his girlfriend. And with Valentine’s Day but a couple of weeks away, who could resist?
“Where are you taking me?” Grace sat in the passenger seat wearing a classic little black dress and high heels.
“It’s a surprise.”
He’d told her they were going to catch the sunset somewhere special and they needed to get an early start.
Dameon had the easy job. Get Grace to the fire station by five.
Colin had to manage Parker and Erin.
“Have I told you I don’t like surprises?”
He glanced at her. “Everyone likes a surprise.”
“Are we going to the beach? Sunset over the ocean?”
Dameon drove east on a back road. “I’m not telling.”
“Fine.”
He laughed.
She moaned. “Whatever.”
He stopped at a light, looked at the time. They were cutting it a little close.
“Isn’t he cute?” Grace was peering out the window at a black and white husky that had its head sticking out the window.
“Adorable.”
“Have you ever had a dog?”
What was up with the traffic light? They had five minutes.
“Dameon?”
“What?” Oh, the dog. “Yeah. My dad was partial to German shepherds.”
Finally the light turned green.
Dameon tapped the steering wheel with his thumbs.
“I love dogs. But I never thought it was right for a dog to be cooped up in a condo.”
He made it through the light on the yellow. Only a few more blocks.
“. . . don’t you think?”
“What?” Something about dogs.
“You haven’t heard a thing I’ve said.”
He glanced over, smiled. “We were talking about dogs.”
Grace shook her head.
He sighed when the fire station was in sight. “Isn’t that the station your brother works in?”
“Yeah.”
“Would you mind if we took a little side trip? I’ve never been in an actual fire station before.” He moved into the turn lane.
“I don’t know if Matt is even working today.”
“Isn’t that his truck?”
Grace leaned forward. “Okay, what’s going on?” She pointed out the window. “That’s my parents’ car.”
“Huh . . .”
“Dameon?”
He pulled in and put the truck in park. He cut the engine and unbuckled his belt. “C’mon.”
They both got out, and he rounded the truck to take Grace’s hand.
On the side of the station, Nora and Emmitt stood next to three firefighters and a woman with a camera.
“Oh my God.” Grace squeezed his hand. “Matt’s going to pop the question.”
Dameon smiled and placed a finger over his lips. “Shhh.”
Grace kept squeezing his hand. “Eeekkk!”
When they stopped in front of Grace’s parents, Dameon shook Emmitt’s hand. “Fancy meeting you here,” Emmitt said with a grin.
Grace and her mom hugged. “This is awesome.”
“Where is Matt?”
“He’s inside sweating,” one of the firefighters said.
The woman Dameon assumed was the reporter walked up to them and introduced herself. She barely finished her introduction when Colin’s car pulled into the driveway.
One of the firefighters spoke into a radio. “She’s here.”
Colin, Parker, and Erin piled out of the car right as the garage doors of the station started to open.
Dameon stood behind Grace and wrapped his arms around her as they watched.
The photographer snapped pictures as Erin’s eyes took it all in.
Matt stood in full uniform holding at least two dozen red roses. Draped across the fire engines was a massive banner in red and white and dozens of heart-shaped balloons with the question Erin, will you marry me?
Grace shivered in Dameon’s arms.
He looked at her and saw a single tear fall off her cheek.
Dameon kissed the side of her head.
Matt walked straight up to