Chapter 10
CHAPTER TEN
Josie hummed quietly to herself as she tidied up the kitchen after breakfast. It was a sunny Saturday morning, with a beautiful blue sky. She’d just made herself waffles with a side of bacon and a strawberry mango smoothie, and even though she was a firm believer in cooking for oneself as a form of self-love, she’d felt a little lonely making a fancy breakfast like that without Paige there to share it with.
As she was tucking a quilted coaster back into one of the kitchen drawers, she saw Paige’s favorite oven mitt lying inside it. It was green, with a pattern of white flowers, and had been burnt in a couple of places when Paige had been a little too daring in her culinary adventures.
Josie sighed as she looked at it. She missed her sister more than usual in that moment, since her mind was suddenly flooded with happy memories of cooking and baking there in the kitchen with Paige.
She glanced at the calendar hanging on her refrigerator, reflecting that she had been hoping to go visit Paige that weekend. She bit her lip, again worried that there was something her sister was hiding from her. She still didn’t know why this weekend hadn’t worked out for her to visit Paige in Providence —Paige would never quite tell her why she wasn’t saying yes, but had kept saying that it wasn’t a good time for Josie to come visit.
I hope she’s okay, Josie fretted as she wrestled with the frying pan, scrubbing it thoroughly to remove all the bacon grease. I hope she knows that she can tell me about anything, if she needs help or advice.
She noticed the time and hurriedly rinsed off the frying pan. She was running a little late, and she decided that she could call Wesley. They had made plans to spend time together that morning at a local park, but she was running about ten minutes behind schedule.
She reached into her back pocket and pulled out her phone, dialing Wesley’s number. She felt a little sad and lonely, missing Paige, and it made her heart lift to hear his voice when he answered the phone.
“Hello?”
“Hey, sweetheart! I wanted to let you know that I’m running a little behind this morning. About ten minutes or so.”
There was silence on the other end for a few moments, and Josie frowned, since that wasn’t like Wesley. When he spoke again, his tone sounded odd—almost careful.
“Josie, I’m so sorry, but something came up for work. I’m not going to be able to meet you this morning after all.”
“Oh!” She blinked rapidly, feeling disappointed. “For work?” She knew that Wesley did have to work on the weekends sometimes, since he was a social worker.
“Yeah, kind of an emergency. I’m sorry. I haven’t gotten a chance to tell you yet. I guess you could say I’m also running behind.”
“It’s okay!” She realized that she was going to have to spend the rest of the day by herself, and her heart sank. She had been looking forward to Wesley’s company—not only because she loved him, but also as a way of feeling better about missing her sister. “Don’t worry about it, Wesley.”
“I did do something for you, though.” She was struck again by how odd his tone was—as kind and affectionate as ever, but he was speaking his words a little more slowly than usual. “To make up for not being able to be with you this morning, I left something outside for you. On the stoop.”
Her heart lifted, and she grinned. “You’re so thoughtful! Thank you. I’m really touched by that.”
“Well, I felt bad about disappointing you. Hopefully you like what’s on the stoop even more than what we’d had planned for today.”
Her eyebrows lifted when she heard his words. Whatever he’d left there for her, it must be something pretty exciting. “I’ll go downstairs and look at it now,” she said, grabbing her keys off the wall. “I can’t wait to see what it is.”
“Yeah, you should.” Was it her imagination, or did he sound… nervous?
“I’m taking the staircase,” she told him, laughing as she clattered down the steps so quickly she was soon out of breath. “That’s why I’m panting.”
He chuckled. “Are you almost there?”
“Yup—I’m in the downstairs lobby now. Now I’m opening the door—”
She tugged the front door open, and her jaw dropped when she saw what was on the stoop.
It wasn’t a present. Or at least it wasn’t the kind that she’d expected. What she saw made her so happy that she clapped both her hands to her mouth in shock.
Wesley was standing there, grinning at her, and beside him—was Paige.
“Ahh!” Josie cried, throwing her arms around both of them at once. Her heart was pounding and she couldn’t stop laughing. “How—what—why are you both—”
And then all at once, Wesley dropped down onto one knee, and she understood.
“Josie,” he said, gazing up at her with his kind eyes aglow with warmth. “I knew right away that you were a special person. As I’ve gotten to know you better, I’ve been able to see more clearly what a wonderful heart you have, and what a brilliant mind. I love you, and I can’t imagine spending my life with anyone else.”
He took a deep breath, grinning, and she felt tears starting to leak out of her eyes. Beside Wesley, Paige was beaming from ear to ear and snapping pictures.
“Will you marry me?” He opened a small black velvet box, revealing a beautiful ring made of diamonds and silver.
“Yes!” she cried, letting the tears fall freely. She was stunned, still holding her phone in her hand. “Yes, of course, Wesley, I would love to marry you.”
He took her hand and slid the ring onto her ring finger. Then he stood up and wrapped her in his arms, rocking her back and forth a little.
“This is such a surprise,” she gasped. She felt overwhelmed with happiness. “I had no idea either of you were going to be here today.”
“I’ve planned a fun day for the three of us,” Wesley said. “Sort of a small engagement party. Assuming you were going to say yes, which I really hoped you would.”
He grinned as he spoke, and she laughed. “As if there was any chance I would say anything else! Of course I said yes!”
“I’ve been dying to see you,” Paige said, giving Josie a big hug. “I couldn’t commit to you coming to visit me, since Wesley and I have been trying to plan this for a while. I didn’t know when I was going to be here in Blueberry Bay.”
Josie’s heart lifted as she understood. “I’m so happy you’re here,” she said, squeezing her sister tighter. She felt a rush of relief to know that her sister wasn’t in any kind of trouble or hiding something from her after all.
“I knew how much you missed Paige, so I wanted her to be here with us today,” Wesley said, his eyes warm behind the frames of his glasses.
“I told him once that if he didn’t let me take pictures of his proposal to you, I would never speak to him again,” Paige said, grinning.
“Oh yeah?” Josie still felt dazed—as light and airy as a balloon. “When was that?”
“Mmm, about four weeks after you two started dating.”
Josie threw her head back laughing, and then Wesley pulled her into another hug. The two of them shared a kiss, and she knew that in that sweet moment, her heart was completely full.
“Oh my goodness!” Alissa was lying on the couch in the living room, staring at the ceiling and grinning from ear to ear. Josie was on the phone with her, telling her all about Wesley’s romantic proposal and the fun day they’d had afterward. “I can’t wait to see pictures of the ring!”
“It’s beautiful,” Josie said, sounding like she was smiling broadly. “Paige helped him pick it out. Simple, classic, and elegant. I’m in love with it.”
“And Wesley.”
Josie laughed, and Alissa wiggled her toes in excitement. She felt happy—not just about her friend’s wonderful news, but also about the fact that Josie had wanted to call her and tell her all about it.
They continued to chat about Josie’s engagement for a while longer. Soon their conversation turned to wedding planning, and Alissa begged to be invited to help Josie pick out her wedding dress.
“Oh, I’d love that,” Josie assured her. “I want all the feminine advice I can get.”
“Of course, you’d look beautiful in anything,” Alissa said warmly. “But it’s fun if you have people there with you to help you pick the dress out. Or at least I thought so.”
“Makes sense to me! I’d love to have you there. There will be at least three of us then, since I know Paige wants to come with me too.”
Finally, Josie said she needed to go, and they hung up. When the call was over, Alissa continued to stare at the ceiling for a while, smiling happily to herself.
“You look cheerful,” Dane said, coming into the living room and kissing her forehead.
“Guess what happened,” she said, grinning.
“What?” He sat down on the couch next to her feet and started to massage them.
“Oh, wow, thank you—no, I’m serious, guess.”
“Um, Josie got engaged.”
“Yes! How did you know that?”
“What?” His jaw dropped. “I was just joking—she actually got engaged?”
She wiggled closer to him, laughing. “Are you psychic or something?”
He shook his head, smiling. “I just thought, ‘What would make Alissa really excited’ and that’s the first thing that came to mind. I knew you were on the phone, but I didn’t even know it was with Josie.” He laughed.
They talked excitedly about the good news for a few minutes. She shared how happy she was that Josie had reached out to her right away about the engagement.
“She really seems to be opening up.” She stared into space, smiling to herself. “You know I’d been wanting to become better friends with her for a while, and I think we’ve finally reached a really good place.”
“Yeah, you’d said she wasn’t really opening up to you for a while there.”
She shook her head. “She wasn’t, and it made me worried that she didn’t really want to be my friend. But she changed after Paige and Wesley came into her life. She opened up more—to them, me, and everyone else. She seems to have really come into herself.” She sighed happily, feeling aglow for her friend.
“You had a part in that too,” her husband assured her warmly. “You offered her your openhearted friendship, and I really think it helped her feel like she could be genuine with you. You really have a way of helping people open up.”
“I do?” she asked coyly, wiggling her feet in his lap.
He laughed. “Yes, you do. You helped me open up, and Josie and—” He paused, and smiled. “And my mom.”
She grinned. “Your mom and I have been getting along better and better. It’s been really nice.”
“It’s that renovation show, huh?” He laughed.
“That’s what started it! We bonded over that, and then the fact that we’re both dealing with big clunky casts right now, and… well, it’s starting to develop into something almost like a true friendship.” She smiled. “I’m really starting to enjoy spending time with her.”
His face lit up when he heard her words. “That’s great. That makes me really happy. I think we’re both going to miss her a lot when she moves back to New York.”
She nodded, frowning in thought.
“What is it?” he asked, squeezing her toes.
“Well, I think Johanna isn’t as happy in New York as she’s been telling us,” she said thoughtfully. “She hasn’t come right out and said that, but whenever she talks about New York, she gets this kind of clouded expression and her tone starts to sound forced.”
“Huh. I think I know what you mean. I couldn’t put my finger on it at the time, but I’ve noticed that too.”
“I think she’s not really all that happy in New York, and she is happy here. When we were in town the other day when you dropped us off at Tidal Wave Coffee, everyone was so nice and accommodating toward her. I think she started to understand then how great it is here. People care about each other here—they look out for each other.”
He nodded, smiling affectionately at her.
“So even though your mom hasn’t said as much yet, I think she might like to stay in Blueberry Bay, even after she’s recovered. I think she might want to live here.”
His eyebrows lifted in surprise. “Do you really think so?”
She nodded. “I do. I think she’s really starting to love it here.”
“I love the idea of her living closer.” He grinned at her. “I hope you’re right.”
“We’ll have to wait and see.”
They smiled at each other, and she felt excited as she wondered what the future would hold.