me that someone else has the same car. I run toward the car with my heart beating like a bass drum in my ears.
“Juno!” I yell.
Kingston looks up from talking to the driver and puts out his hands. “Colton, dude, you can’t be here.”
“Yes, I can. Is it her? Is Juno in that car?” I try to go around him, but his hands are on my chest and he dodges every attempt. “Kingston.”
He stops and nods. “She’s gotta go to the hospital to get checked out. Meet us there. I’ll keep you updated, okay?”
“Bailey, what the hell?” one of his firefighter friends says. I think his name is Lou. I’ve met him a few times. “It’s your day off.”
“It’s my sister.” He walks away from me, pointing at her car. “Her door is jammed.”
“Shit. Okay.” Lou follows Kingston’s lead.
With their attention away from me, I run over to her car. Juno’s head is bleeding, and her face is pale, but she’s breathing. She’s alive.
Thank God.
“Juno, are you okay?” I go to the door.
“Colton, out of the way,” Kingston says, so I go around the car to the passenger side.
Lou uses a crowbar to pry open the door.
“I’m sorry. I never should’ve given you crap. If you don’t want to marry me, that’s fine. I’d rather just—”
Juno shakes her head, tears spilling down her face. Lou gets the door open, and Kingston undoes her seat belt.
“Slow, Juno,” he says. “Let’s wait for a stretcher.”
She shakes her head. “I’m just a little shaken up. I’m fine.” As she says it, her head lazily goes in a circle and falls to the headrest.
It’s good to have connections because a paramedic comes over, fist-bumps Kingston, and they put Juno on a stretcher right away.
“Wait!” She tries to sit up. “I need my purse.”
I snatch the purse and follow them to the ambulance. “I’m going with you.”
“Your car?” Kingston points toward where I ditched my car.
“Tow it. I’m not leaving her again.”
Juno smiles at me as we climb into the ambulance, Kingston saying he’ll catch up with us.
As the paramedics do her vitals and make sure her injuries aren’t worse, Juno points at her purse hanging off my arm. “Can I have that?”
“No, I got it. Just worry about letting them check you out.” I grab her hand, thankful she’s here and alive and talking to me. Forget marriage, I can deal with cohabitation common law marriage. As soon as I get her to move in, that is.
“Please, Colton, I need something.” I hand it to her, and she smiles at the paramedic. “I swear, I’m good.” She digs through her purse and hands me the ring box, tears in her eyes. “Ask me again.”
“Juno,” I whisper and shake my head.
“Ask me again.” She nudges the box closer to me.
The paramedic smiles and stops working on her.
“If this is because you thought I was leaving, then don’t. I’m not leaving. You’re stuck with me regardless of whether you’ll marry me or not.”
She shakes her head. “No, I realized that I was an idiot and I was ruining our future because I was scared to lose you. But there’s no difference. I love you, and if something bad happens, just because I’m not your wife doesn’t mean my heartache would be less. I guess Grandma Dori is pretty damn wise. But don’t ever tell her I said that.”
A small smile tilts my lips. “So?”
She eyes the box in my hand. “Ask me again.”
I remove the ring and hold it out. “Juno, will you—”
“Yes! I’ll marry you!”
I laugh. The paramedic laughs.
Juno waves me over to her, where she wraps her arms around my neck and kisses me all over my face. “Forgive me for being so stupid?”
“I forgive you, but let me get the ring on your finger.”
She pulls back, watching me take her left ringer finger and slide the round diamond with a silver band on her finger. She takes my head in her hands and rests her forehead to mine. “Do you think they’ll feed us at the hospital?”
“You’re hungry?”
“It was a very emotional day,” she says.
An hour later, she gets her release papers.
“You do realize you ruined my proposal?” I say as we walk out of the hospital room.
“Want to do it over again?”
Kingston turns the corner and smiles when he sees us in the hallway. “What’s up? Glad to see it was only a minor injury.”
I shake his hand. “Yeah, she’s pretty lucky.”
Kingston widens his stance, crossing his arms. “I have a question