Chapter 23
RAFE
“I think I love you. I think you’re the one. I think I love you, Juniper. And I think this is our time. Tell me you love me. Tell me you can’t be with anyone else. Make my life. Make my day. Tell me I’m the only one who can sway you in my arms.”
I look down at the crowd of people at Cocktails & Chaos as I sing to Juniper.
She’s staring at me, her mouth wide open.
I can’t tell if she appreciates the song I created for her or not, but I can definitely tell that Mia is trying not to laugh, even though Sage and Rosie are looking at me and clapping in admiration.
“Should I stop now?” I call out from the stage. “I don’t want to embarrass myself.”
“Continue. That’s lovely,” Rosie shouts out.
I look down at Juniper, and she nods.
“It’s amazing, honey. Continue.”
“Okay. Juniper, will you come up on the stage?”
“Really?” she says, giggling. “Don’t tell me this is going to be another wet T-shirt competition sort of night.”
“No, darling,” I say, laughing, as she climbs up. I grab her hand. “Is this cheesy?”
“I think every woman in the world would want their guy serenading them in front of other people,” she says. “And you have such a lovely voice, Rafe.”
“Thank you.” Then I say, “So, everyone, I’m sure you’re all wondering why I’m up here tonight. My name is Rafe. Some of you may know me as the town vet. Some of you may know me as your brother.” I point at Mia.
“That’s my brother.” She cheers, and Luke claps his hands.
“Some of you may know me just from seeing me around, and many of you have no idea who I am.”
A group of college guys near the bar starts laughing.
I see that Preston is holding a beer up for me, and I grin. I’ve been so grateful that he readily accepted my idea to sing to Juniper.
“So, what many of you don’t know is that Juniper has been best friends with my younger sister for a really long time.
And when she was in high school, I knew she had a crush on me, and I always thought that she was absolutely stunning and adorable, but she was still my youngest sister’s best friend, so obviously, nothing was going to happen.
“When she turned eighteen, she had a big birthday party, and we shared a kiss, and it was magical. And I let Juniper down. I thought it was kindly, but I don’t know that she appreciated it.”
“I didn’t appreciate it,” she says loudly, and people start laughing.
“More recently, I’ve come to realize that the beautiful young woman I always admired and shared that amazing kiss with grew into an even more beautiful and desirable—”
“Hey, keep it PG,” Preston shouts from the bar, and I laugh.
“Well, let’s just say, recently, I came to realize that I had strong feelings for Juniper. And it turns out that she actually still had strong feelings for me.
“And I really was made aware of this fact when Juniper came up on this very stage to perform in a wet T-shirt competition. Of course, I, being a gentleman, carried her off the stage and then promptly devoured her.”
Sage cries out, and Juniper blushes.
“Well, we’re not going to go into details.
But I thought, as this is our second official date, I wanted to make it special.
I wrote a song about much of our relationship, and I wanted to sing it to her and to everyone else.
Now remember, I’m not David Bowie or Prince or Michael Jackson.
I’m not going to be in NSYNC or One Direction anytime soon, but I can play a simple tune on a guitar.
And I hope that you all enjoy this song just like the others. ”
I grab ahold of Juniper’s hand.
“But you, my darling, I hope you love it and you feel how heartfelt this is. And I hope this is an amazing second date.”
“It is,” she says.
I point toward the chair, and she takes a seat.
“I know this is cheesy, but I’m going to serenade my girl if you guys don’t mind.”
“Let’s hear it.”
The boys at the bar start cheering, and I strum the C chord and clear my throat.
“Eighteen years old, and you kissed me. Eighteen years old, and you had fire in your eyes. Brown eyes that confused me. That told me that you would never tell me lies.
And that kiss was one I remember. That kiss is one I will never forget. And when you told me that it was over, I said you will never know regrets.
Juniper, you are the only one I’ve ever loved. You are the only one I dream about. You’re the only one who holds my heart.
Juniper, when I look at you, I feel intense. You know I want you to be my end game.
I know I’ve not always been the perfect man, but I’m trying to be the one you need. I’m trying to be the one you want.
Juniper, tell me you’ll be my girlfriend. Tell me you love me till the end.
I want you to know you own my heart, and I don’t think I could ever restart it if you weren’t in my life.
Oh, Juniper. I love you, so I mean it. Yeah.
And if this song isn’t good, please forgive me because I just love you, and I want you to love me.
Oh.”
I strung the last chord, and Juniper jumps up and rushes into my arms.
“I love it. And, yes, of course I’ll be your girlfriend. Rafe, I love you.”
“She loves me, everyone!” I call out to the crowd.
I watch Sage and Rosie and Mia all clapping.
“I’m the happiest man in the world.”
“And I’m the happiest woman,” Juniper says, grabbing the microphone. “I love you. This is such an amazing second date.”
“What if I told you the third date was in Paris?”
She giggles. “That would be even cooler.”
“Well, surprise, surprise, my darling. Pack your bags because this weekend, we’re flying to Paris.”
“No way,” Sage screams. “Oh my gosh. Oh my gosh. This is so romantic.”
“Are you serious?” Juniper’s eyes widen. “But, Rafe …”
“What?”
“You can’t take me to Paris for the third date. That’s crazy.”
“I don’t think it’s crazy.”
“But that’s, like, something you do for a year anniversary or a five-year anniversary or something further down the road.”
“I don’t think we’re following the usual timeline. Do you? I mean, we made love before we even went on our official first date.”
“No, we didn’t,” she says, giggling.
“Okay, that’s true, but we did do other stuff.”
“Yeah, but …” She touches the side of my face. “Are you going to spoil me our entire relationship?”
“I hope so. Would that be a problem?”
“No,” she says, grinning widely at me. “It would not be a problem whatsoever.”
“I may not be a billionaire, Juniper, but I do okay, and I promise I will take care of you forever if you’ll let me.”
“Oh my gosh, are you proposing?” Rosie screams.
“No, he’s not.” Juniper glares at me. “As much as I have wanted to be in a relationship with you, Rafe Bishop, we are not rushing to get engaged because I want you to treat me and spoil me and do all the things that a boyfriend does before he proposes.”
“I can treat you and spoil you as your fiancé.”
“Yeah, but I want to really enjoy it. Like every moment of it,” she says softly. “And I want the engagement to be really, really special. I don’t want it to be a surprise. It’s something I’ve thought about for a long time.”
“I hope with me and not with August.”
“Really?”
She rolls her eyes, and I laugh.
“Okay, guys, sorry. We were having a little bit of a private conversation on the stage. Would anyone else like to sing?”
“Let’s hear Juniper sing,” Rosie calls out.
I look over at Juniper. “You want to sing something?”
“I don’t think I’m the best singer.” She giggles.
“You were going to be in a singing competition though,” I remind her.
She glares at me. “We both know I would have lost.”
“Yeah, true. But maybe there’s a song you want to sing now.”
“I did sing one to you, but you know I can’t sing.”
“I love your voice though.”
“Fine, I’m going to sing a song to my darling, darling, darling boyfriend.”
She grabs the microphone from me, sticks her hand up in the air, and starts moving her hips back and forth. “Rafe, Rafe, Rafe. You want my heart? Go yay, yay, yay. You make me want to sing, sing, sing. I can’t wait for the bling, bling, bling. When I have a diamond as a ring, ring, ring.
“Yeah, baby, that’s all I can do is sing, sing, sing.
She doubles over and bursts out laughing, and I grab the microphone and place it back on the stand. I pull her into my arms and kiss her deep and hard, and she melts against me.
“I love you, Juniper.”
“Even with my goofy little song, talking about diamond rings?”
“That’s why I love you—because you’re so fun, and you always have been.”
“You know, I think you were made for me.”
“Maybe you were made for me.”
“True, or we were made for each other.”
“Come on. I want to take you somewhere.”
“Where are we going?” she says.
“You’ll see.”
I quickly pull her down off the stage, and we head back to the bar, where Preston has two drinks waiting for us.
“Good job, guys.” He grins. “I wasn’t sure how it was going to go, but it seemed to be successful. Also, congratulations, Rafe. You finally got your girl.”
“Thank you.”
“I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you.”
“Hey, I’m okay,” Preston says. “You made me believe in true love again.”
“I’m glad,” I say.
“Hey, bro.” Mia sidles over to me. “You didn’t tell me you had a thing for my best friend.”
“Well, you didn’t tell me you had a thing for Luke.”
“I guess we both had secrets.”
“Yeah, well, I don’t mind because now you’re going to make Juniper my sister.”
“At some point,” Juniper says. “Not right away.”
“Soon though,” I say, squeezing her hand. “At least we can agree on that.”
“Yeah, maybe.” She giggles.
“Congratulations, man.” Luke offers me his hand, and I shake it. “I’m happy for you.”
“Thanks.”
Rosie and Sage come running over to us, jumping up and down.
“Oh my gosh, I’m so excited for you guys, but I’m also so excited for me,” Sage says quickly. “Guess what! Guess what!”
“What?” Juniper looks at her in confusion.
“I got a job in Billionaires Valley, so Rosie and I are going to move there next week.”
“But you just got to town,” Juniper says sadly. “I’ve barely spent time with you.”
“I know, and it sucks, but this is the opportunity of a lifetime for me and Rosie. You don’t mind, right?”
“Of course not. I hope it’s going to be amazing,” Juniper says.