26. EPILOGUE
EPILOGUE
Beth
“Where are we going?” The street was dark when Carter drove through it in the direction of campus.
The streets around campus were mostly empty, and the only crowd was students making their way to party row for the Friday night tradition of drinking enough to start homecoming with a hangover.
Then he turned left. “Carter, the party is that way!”
“Lighten up, cherry,” he said, pausing to wink before he gripped my hand harder and headed toward the bridge. He was going the opposite direction of all the parties—including the one I thought we were on our way to. “It’s just a pit stop.”
When he headed up the hill we had driven so many times, I sat back.
Carter brushed his thumb over the backs of my knuckles, soothing any anxiety I had left about missing the party I didn’t care that much about going to.
Some things don’t really change. He stopped at the top of the hill, pulling off the road and into the gravel space and putting the car in park.
“Carter,” I said when the engine purred and came to a quiet stop. “What are we doing here?”
“I just wanted to do something.” He smirked. His voice echoed in the quieter-than-normal car, and nervous butterflies lodged their way in my throat when he unfastened his seatbelt.
“We’re going to be late.” That didn’t stop me from practically melting into the leather seat and watching the skyline sparkle.
“Don’t worry, I got it okayed.” What does he mean he got it okayed? “Nobody is going to mind.”
Carter leaned in, kissing me with memories that made my heart stutter. Then he reached behind the seat, rustling behind me. I furrowed my brow, curious what he was digging for until he returned with a familiar carryout container. “I thought we could have dessert in our favorite spot.”
When he opened the container, revealing a slice of cherry pie, my stomach grumbled.
Then he pulled out a fork, handing it to me.
I broke through the crust, scooping a too-large-to-be-considered-graceful bite onto the fork and stuffing it in my mouth.
Then I moaned. “Mmh, I love this pie. Seriously. ” I filled the fork again, bringing it to Carter’s lips and forgetting momentarily about the dessert when he closed his mouth around the tines.
“I love you .” He winked, chewing and swallowing the bite. “Seriously.”
I moaned again when I took another bite, not realizing that Carter had reached into his pocket until he opened the smaller, dark-velvet box. I gasped, dropping the bite back into the container. “What are you doing?” I whispered, setting the pie in my lap and hoping there wasn’t cherry on my face.
“Something I have known I was going to do for a while now.” Carter held up the box, and the diamond ring that sat in the cushion sparkled, even in the dark.
“Beth, I never craved the taste of cherry the way I have since the first moment you kissed me. I want pie for breakfast every morning because it makes me think of you, and I want to skip dinner every night because you’re the sweetest dessert I’ve ever had.
I can’t imagine what life would be like without you, and I don’t want to.
I want to spend the rest of my life eating way too much sugar and dreaming about dessert with the woman that I love.
I want to sing along to the radio badly and watch you blush when you hit the wrong note but think you nailed it.
I don’t want to live a single day where you aren’t mine. ”
My eyes stung and when I blinked, a tear rolled down my cheek, ending in the line created by my smile.
Carter pulled the ring from the box and held it out to me.
“This spot has meant something different since I brought you here, and you gave me part of you that you could never take back. Now I want to do the same. I want to give you all of me, for the rest of our lives, and I want all of you too. Will you marry me?”
I nodded. “Yes! Yeah! Absolutely!” He slipped the ring onto my finger, and a lump grew in my throat. I grabbed onto his face, kissing him with the same promise of forever he was giving me. “The easiest answer I’ve ever given,” I said, resting my forehead against his.
“Of course it was,” Carter said, smirking. “You always say yes to dessert.”