Chapter 20
He said yes.
It was five days later, and I still couldn’t believe my good luck.
Matt had said yes. Nonno’s ring had taken up residence on his finger, and I caught him looking at it multiple times a day.
I caught him studying the ring like he still couldn’t believe it was there.
When I told him where I’d gotten it Saturday night as we laid in bed together in our post-orgasmic haze, he’d almost cried.
He knew how much Nonno had meant to me. He’d heard all the stories about him when we were together in high school.
I knew Nonno would’ve approved of him wearing his ring, because the way I loved Matt, the way Matt loved me, was the same way that Nonno had loved Nonna.
It was the kind of love that grew over a lifetime and got stronger with every passing day.
We’d spent the past five days together, separating only to go to work.
We’d alternated nights, staying at his place or mine, but always together.
We’d called our parents together, telling them the news on video calls.
My mother had cried, even though she knew my plans.
She and my dad had been the ones to tell me it was a good idea, but my mother still sobbed like it was a surprise.
And then she immediately jumped into wedding planning.
Matt’s mom and stepdad started making plans, too, but they were more about what dates they’d need to come to South Carolina for everything.
By the time we’d finished telling our family, we’d picked out a few weekends for the wedding.
We’d made a list of potential wedding venues, a short list because it wasn’t like King’s Bay was the pinnacle of fancy wedding venues.
We decided we’d call around before we chose our date, find something that we liked, and then we’d do the rest of the planning.
Except we couldn’t stop talking about the wedding.
For days, we talked about our dream wedding.
We argued over the fact that he refused to wear anything other than his Converse, even if the wedding was formal.
I couldn’t be too surprised. I’d known him for a decade, and I’d never seen him wear any other kind of shoe.
He’d even worn them for our senior prom.
We existed in our loved-up cocoon for days. But on Thursday, it was time to emerge.
He wanted to tell his friends in person, and he wanted me there when he did.
He’d made the plans for everyone, asking to meet at the Rusty Nail instead of Goliath.
He invited Silas and Chris to come along with their respective boyfriends, and he’d even convinced me to invite Moira to King’s Bay for a long weekend.
She already knew that I was proposing, but at Matt’s request, I hadn’t told her the answer either.
Her flight arrived a few hours before we were set to meet his friends, so I had to kiss my fiancé goodbye.
I needed to pick her up, and we’d decided to travel separately.
Leaving him, even for a few hours, was hard.
I didn’t want to watch him drive back to his place to get changed, even though I knew he’d be meeting me hours later.
I wanted to convince him to come and pick up Moira with me, just so I wouldn’t have to spend time away from him.
But like he’d said, we had an entire future together. We could be apart for a few hours.
It was the longest few hours of my life, even with Moira by my side. And of course, because it was Matt, he was late when it was time to meet at the Rusty Nail.
“Wasn’t he supposed to be here by now?” Moira asked as we waited outside the bar. She was like me, always punctual. Unlike me, she was always annoyed when other people weren’t. It wasn’t the best first impression the love of my life could make on my best friend, but it was beyond my control.
Maybe I should have warned her. “He has a problem with punctuality.”
“You’re going to get someone to make sure he’s not late to your wedding, right?
” Moira asked. She’d snuck it into every conversation, trying to figure out if I’d asked.
Trying to figure out his answer. Not telling her was impossibly hard.
I’d told Moira everything since we met. Matt was the love of my life and my romantic soulmate, but Moira?
She was my platonic soulmate, a best friend tailor made by the universe just for me.
I bit my tongue, refusing to answer. She stomped her foot like a petulant toddler and scowled up at me.
“Fine. Don’t tell me. Torture me. Forget who stayed up with you all night Friday and listened to you agonize about choosing the perfect menu.
Forget who you called in the middle of the night—”
“Moira,” I interrupted. “Lay off the guilt trip. He will be here…” I looked around, hoping he’d pull into the parking lot. He didn’t. “Soon. He’ll be here soon.”
“And then you’ll either ask him to marry you in front of me and all his friends, or you’ll announce the engagement, right?
” She scrunched her nose in thought, head cocked to the side.
“No, you said he would hate a public proposal. You already asked! You already asked and that’s why you wanted me to fly in from New—”
“Moira!” I hissed. If she kept pushing, I was going to break. I was going to tell her every moment of the proposal and the entire last week, and Matt wanted us to tell people together. I wasn’t going to betray him by letting the cat out of the bag early.
I thought she might have seen the panic in my eyes. She sighed. “Fine.” The word sounded so dramatic coming from her lips. She carded her hand through her loose blonde waves. “I will wait until you do whatever you decide to do.”
I wrapped my arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. Less than five minutes later, Matt pulled into the parking lot. I introduced him to Moira and we went inside.
His friends had taken over the biggest table at The Rusty Nail.
Jonas and Seb had brought their boyfriends, and of course, Holden and Eli had come together.
They already had a bucket of beer in the middle of the table, and a few of them had started drinking already.
I could hear them talking and laughing as we got closer.
Jonas noticed us first. He waved, and then everyone started talking at once. I introduced Moira, and Matt introduced his friends all around. Matt and I piled into the bench with Holden and Eli, and Moira squeezed in beside me. “Maybe we should’ve gone somewhere with bigger tables,” Matt teased.
“Or we could drag a chair over,” Moira suggested. I had a feeling she did not appreciate the close quarters.
“I like her. She’s got a mind for solutions, doesn’t she?” Eli asked as Moira stood from the bench and went hunting for a chair.
Moira returned, and we all settled. Matt’s friends pulled Moira into easy conversation, the same way they’d pulled me in all those weeks ago when I’d appeared back in the group.
It was the same way they had years ago when I’d join them at the lunch table.
They accepted me then, her now, and even the addition of Chris and Silas.
Moira beamed under the attention, talking to them about her life in New York City and her career, asking them questions, and pointedly not mentioning how sticky the table was.
Conversation flowed through the first round of drinks, and when it was time for the second, Matt and I volunteered to get them.
The moment we were away from the table, I reached out for his hand. “How are we doing this?”
“Get the beer and maybe something nicer? I don’t think the Rusty Nail has champagne, but shots? And then we hand them out, announce the engagement, and hope the alcohol distracts Eli from pointing out that we’ve only been together a few months and it’s too soon?”
“You think he will?”
“I know he will,” Matt told me. He shrugged, but I couldn’t fight the nerves that rose up within me.
I knew how important Matt’s friends were to him.
I knew he valued their opinions over the opinions of anyone else he knew, even mine.
He had a bond with them that I didn’t understand until I’d met Moira and experienced it for myself.
Listening to her opinions, taking them to heart, was second nature at this point.
If it was that difficult for me, I could only imagine how it was for Matt.
He’d known his friends a lot longer than I’d known Moira.
I opened my mouth to offer reassurance, but he shook his head.
I watched as he straightened his spine and squared his shoulders.
“He will think it’s too soon,” he started, capturing my hand in his.
He gave it a little squeeze. “But I don’t care if he does.
I know that marrying you is the right choice.
It doesn’t matter if I marry you tomorrow or in ten years, it’ll still be the right choice for me.
Why waste years getting to the point we both already know we want? ”
The logical tone of his voice was somehow the most romantic thing I’d ever heard.
I leaned in and captured his mouth with mine, kissing him hard.
He opened his mouth to me, kissing back immediately, and I almost lost track of where we were.
I might have lost track completely if the bartender hadn’t cleared his throat.
We jumped back from each other like scolded school children, and Matt put the orders in.
Once we had the drinks, we made our way back to the crowded table. Matt put down the bucket of beer first and then took the tray of shots from me. They were brightly colored, fruit flavored monstrosities.
He started handing them out to everyone at the table. “What did we do to deserve this?” Eli asked, looking from the shots to Matt.
“Noah and I have an announcement to make.”
“He’s pregnant,” Holden teased.
“Which he?” Eli asked in a mock whisper.
Holden looked between us before shrugging. “Not sure. Maybe both of them.”
“Oh my god, neither one of us are pregnant!” Matt exploded. “Can you guys just listen?”
I hadn’t heard him sound this serious in a long time.
His friends straightened up immediately.
Holden and Eli had the good sense to look properly contrite.
I think they were worried that another comment would make Matt lose his temper.
It didn’t happen often, but it was legendary when it did.
He became petty. In high school, he’d hidden clowns in Jonas’s locker, because his best friend had lost one of his favorite pens and hadn’t told him for a week.
I’d hate to see what he did to any of his friends who dared to ruin our engagement announcement.
Unfortunately, his outburst meant that all his friends were staring at him. Waiting. He looked at me and drew in a deep breath. You’ve got this, I mouthed at him.
He nodded and lifted the hand that had the engagement band. “Noah asked me to marry him.”
“And he said yes,” I clarified. Just in case the ring wasn’t a dead giveaway.
Silence.
No one said a thing.
Matt reached down and grabbed his shot and threw it back. His friends followed suit. I looked at Moira, and we both grabbed the shots and threw them back. The alcohol burned the back of my throat, and the saccharine sweetness coated my tongue.
But it appeared to break the silence. “Congratulations,” Seb said after he put his shot down.
“Don’t you think it’s a bit—” Jonas started. The words trailed off, and I noticed his tight fist. Silas reached over and covered his hand, rubbing it until Jonas’s fingers relaxed and laced together with his.
“Soon?” Eli picked up where Jonas left off. “It’s too soon. You two have been back together for what? Three months?”
“Does it matter?” Matt asked, crossing his arms over his chest. He looked at each of his friends in turn.
“Three months or three years. I know I want to spend the rest of my life with Noah.” I wrapped my arm around his waist, offering what comfort I could.
He rested his head on my shoulder for a moment.
“I really want you all standing up there with me, too. I know it seems too soon, but it’s not. I promise, it’s not.”
Holden slid out of the booth and pulled Matt into a tight hug, pulling him from my embrace. “Like there’s anywhere else we’d be. Congratulations, Matt.” He grinned as he pulled away from the hug. “Jonas and Eli are happy for you, too.”
“We are,” Jonas agreed.
Eli jolted. “Y-yeah. We are very happy for you, even if it seems way too soon.” I caught the look Holden shot Eli and shuddered.
Holden was typically the human embodiment of a golden retriever.
It was almost scary for him to glower like that.
Eli seemed to catch whatever silent message was behind that dark look and transformed his face into a smile, however forced it appeared.
“I am happy for you. If there is any planning help you need, let me know, okay?”
“Between Eli and your mother, we’re not going to have to plan anything for our wedding,” Matt joked.
The comment drew laughter from his friends, and a few moments later, they were all piling out of the booth, pulling us into hugs and congratulating us.
Moira got smushed in the middle of a group hug, and I knew that all of Matt’s worries were for nothing.
Even if Jonas and Eli thought it was too soon for us to get married, they’d stand beside us.
They’d come around, and they’d make sure it was the perfect day for me and Matt.
We stayed at the bar for a few more hours, and I kissed Matt goodbye at his car. He was going back to his apartment, so Moira and I could have some time alone together.
After all, we had the rest of our lives to spend together.