Total pages in book: 93
Estimated words: 89553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 89553 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 448(@200wpm)___ 358(@250wpm)___ 299(@300wpm)
Ed and Hunter exchange a look. They’ve clearly had a conversation about this: our mom and the power she wields over us. Or at least, she did. Her power is waning as we move forward in our own lives.
“We have news,” I say, squeezing Hunter’s hand under the table. “We’re apartment-hunting.”
Katherine squeals. “You’re moving in together?”
We’re not just moving in together. It’s more serious than that, but from the outside looking in, we’re taking the next step.
“Yeah, we’re looking in this area, actually. A few blocks south.”
“So we can both walk to work,” Hunter adds. “Eventually, the nanny will walk the kids with us, so we can have as much time with them as possible.”
Katherine’s eyes flare. “You’re pregnant?”
Hunter laughs. “Not yet.” He turns to me. “Are you?”
It’s my turn to laugh, and I shake my head. “Very definitely not pregnant,” I confirm.
“Right,” Hunter says. “But later on. When we have kids.”
“So this is a real thing,” Katherine says.
I shrug. “He’s it for me.”
Hunter grins, leans across, and kisses my cheek. “She’s more than enough for me.” He laughs, and I elbow him in the ribs. “In the best possible way. She’s the woman I want to spend the rest of my life with. I want her to be the mother of my children and . . . yeah, I want us to grow old together.”
Katherine sits back in her seat. “Well, this isn’t what I was expecting to hear today. I thought you were going to tell us you’d split up and that it was all amicable, but that was that, or that you’d only ever pretended to be together to keep me happy.”
Hunter squeezes my thigh, but neither of us say anything.
“I didn’t think that,” Ed says. “I knew when Hunter came to Boston that things had changed for him. And Lucy was that change.”
“You’re right,” Hunter says. “Lucy showed me the man I want to become.”
I glance across at him. How did I get so lucky? I feel like he plucked me out of a hurricane of desperation. Desperate to be the good sister, the loved daughter, the capable paralegal. And now I’m . . . me. Not desperate to be anything or anyone but who I am.
“You were always that man,” I say to him.
“Not until I met you,” he replies.
“Good grief,” Katherine says. “Who are the two of you? What have you done with my feisty sister and my husband’s grumpy business partner?”
I shrug. “We fell in love, I guess.”
Katherine reaches for my hand. “I’m so happy for you. And I’m also happy for us, because we get to go on double dates, go on vacations together, live life . . . the four of us.”
“Wanna move to New York?” I suggest.
“Wanna come to Boston?” Katherine asks.
“It’s not so far away,” Hunter says. “We should all go in on a beach house for the summers.”
“On Martha’s Vineyard,” Katherine and I chorus.
“That’s where we should get married,” Hunter says, his face full of possibility and hopefulness. “We should rent out that house again and get married where we first fell in love.”
“You’re so romantic,” I say. I narrow my eyes. “And did you just propose?”
“I thought I had already,” he says. “Are you in any doubt that there’s anyone else for me but you?”
I shake my head and try to bite back a grin. Hearing how he loves me still hits me right in the chest. I’m not sure that feeling of surprise and bliss will ever go away. At least, I hope it doesn’t.
“Me neither,” he says. “I’d like to take your last name, if that’s okay, and know we’re bound together in law as well as love. I want all of that with you. So will you marry me?”
Contentment unfurls through my body like internal sunshine, leaving me warm and satiated, and I smile at the man beside me whom I’m going to marry. So this is how good life can get. I really had no idea. I stare at him, his cheeks rosy, his hair deliciously ruffled. There’s not much for me to say. If he wants to marry me, my answer’s yes. Of course it is. “I’ll marry you on Martha’s Vineyard,” I say. “Or at the top of the Empire State Building, or out at sea. I’ll follow wherever you lead me.”
Hunter cups my head and presses his lips to mine. The familiar buzz is back, and I sink into him, wanting no space between us.
We end our kiss and press our foreheads together.
“Can we get some champagne?” Ed asks a passing waiter. “Our best friends just got engaged.”
We turn back to the table, linking our hands and fingers.
“I’m matron of honor, right?” Katherine asks.
I wince. “I mean, yeah, of course, there’s no one else. But I don’t want a big fancy wedding.” I turn to Hunter. “Unless you do?”