Epilogue—An Apology to Three Dog Night
Mac - Six Months Later
Okay, so I was wrong about the number one. It’s not the strongest, the best, or the easiest. The song was right—it is the loneliest. My new favorite is two. Someday, maybe we’ll add to the team and my new favorite number will be three or four. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be six. God, no, not six. But for now, I like two—as in two helmets for my bike, a table set for two every night. Well, not every night. We head over to Jack’s a few nights a week to spend the evening with him and Violet, who insist they’re keeping it casual, but are together every hour she’s not in the office.
But back to two, because my new business, Paradise Air Adventures, has two aircrafts—a Twin Otter I call Sylvester, and a Bell 206 that my new partner, Darryl, flies for people who are in too much of a hurry to go by seaplane. Darryl wanted out of the Coast Guard on account of he and his wife starting a family. Him being on call all the time, and having such unpredictable hours, isn’t exactly easy on a new mom. So now, he makes a lot more money, works a lot fewer hours, and gets to spend as much time as possible with their bouncing baby girl.
Paige started her own ad agency—Sun Splash Marketing and Ad Solutions. She works with small business owners, helping them get noticed. Two months ago, she got a call from Guy, who pretty much begged her to work as a remote consultant on their upcoming Christmas campaign for Max Factor. Turns out the boss over there wasn’t too pleased with what his team was coming up with, and was planning to jump ship if he couldn’t get Paige to come back. He’s paying her an ungodly amount of money and has agreed to work on ‘Paige Time,’ meaning no weekends, no evenings, and no calls, texts, or emails after hours.
When we’re not at work, she goes fishing with me, or we putter around in the garden together (well, I putter, and she lays in the hammock reading because she’s ‘not ninety’). We go out for brunches, dinners, and to sip icy caffeinated drinks on coffee shop patios. I’m teaching her how to surf on the windy days, and we go paddleboarding on the calm ones. We put on music and dance around the kitchen sometimes when we’re making supper. We go to bed early every night, like good wannabe boomers, except we don’t go to sleep until late, like people in love. Because that’s what we are. Just two crazy kids madly in love.
Even though she lives a lot farther away from her family now, she actually sees them more because they seem to want to come here to visit, on account of it being paradise and all. When they’re here, she takes time off work and goes for long lunches with them and they come over for awkward dinners at our place. I’m not sure her dad will ever approve of me, but her mom seems to be coming around, and hopefully with enough time, he’ll realize I’m going to treat his little girl like the queen she is, and he’ll forget all about the first time he saw me.
Steve came back, and Paige is spoiling him by leaving a bowl with a few mealworms in it on the porch every evening. It’s as disgusting as it sounds, but somehow, the effort makes me love her a little more.
All that to say, my previous views on love were all wrong. It truly is what makes the world go round. It’s all you need. It’s the start of everything. I’m going to be grateful every day of my life that I got a fresh start with Paige. And because of that, I’ve cooked up a big surprise for her.
I told Paige I need to do some work on my bike and I got Darryl to pick me up this morning for work. She’s going to come pick me up in her Jeep at the dock at sunset.
I’m currently sitting on one of Sylvester’s pontoons, waiting for her to arrive. I’ve got a ring in the pocket of my jeans and my heart is pounding already at the thought of what I’m about to do.
As soon as I see her pull into the parking lot, I hit send on a Venmo transaction for a dollar with a message for her: Can you come down to the dock? I need your professional expertise with a problem I’m having .
I watch as she parks, then checks her phone, and gets out of the Jeep with a grin on her face. She walks toward me, looking as gorgeous as ever in a flowy sundress. Emotion fills every cell of my body as she comes toward me, and even though a tiny part of me is terrified she’ll say no, the rest of me knows better. She loves me unconditionally, and she’s not going anywhere.
“Hey you,” she says, stepping onto the dock. I wait while she walks toward me, then reaches up onto her tiptoes and gives me a light kiss. “What do you need help with? ”
I wrap my arms around her waist and smile down at her. “I’ve fallen madly in love with this amazing woman, and I’ve been trying to figure out how to ask her to marry me. But it can’t just be some mediocre proposal. This woman deserves something special. Unforgettable, just like her.”
Tears fill her eyes, but she plays along. “Oh, is that so? Well, I can see how that would be a big problem.”
“Exactly. I don’t want it to sound corny.”
“No, corny would be the worst,” she says with a grin. “Why don’t you run your ideas past me and I’ll let you know when you get to the right one.”
“Perfect,” I answer, my heart pounding in my chest, but I give her a grin as if I’m just asking her what she wants for dinner. “Well, I was thinking of telling her that she’s the best thing that ever happened to me, and that these past few months have been the most incredible of my life, and how I never thought this much joy was possible until I met her.”
“Oh, that would be a good start,” she answers.
I let go of her, then say, “Next, I thought I’d get down on one knee.”
“Oh yeah, definitely do that,” she says, laughing a little as I do exactly that.
“And I thought I’d say something like this: Paige Chadwick, I want to spend the rest of my life with you, talking and laughing and arguing and beating you at poker. Occasionally, I might let you win, but I’ve got to be honest, it won’t be often.”
She wrinkles up her nose a little.
“Should I leave the poker bit out?”
“Probably.”
“Okay, how about this? I want to know your opinion on everything under the sun. I want to help you when you’re struggling, and pick you up and carry you down a mountain when you somersault into a tree. I want to be there for everything—every moment, good or bad. And I want us to make it official so that the world knows you belong to me, and I belong to you. Forever.”
“Yes, that’s good stuff. I’d go with that.”
I take the ring out of my pocket and hold it up. “So, what do you say? Would you make me the happiest man on earth and marry me?”
She nods, tears flowing down her cheeks. “Yes. Yes, Mac, I will.”
I take her left hand and slide the diamond ring on it, then stand up and wrap my arms around her, picking her up and holding her. She lowers her mouth to mine and when we kiss each other, I can taste the salt from her tears. It’s the taste of happiness, of love, and of a future together that is as wide open as the sky above the sea.
When we pull back, she rests her forehead on mine and says, “So, two and done, then?”
I burst out laughing and lower to her to the dock without letting go. “Two and done.”
“I kind of figured you were full of shit that night.”
We both chuckle, and I shake my head. “Yup. I was. Totally full of shit. Do you want to hear the whole truth?”
She narrows her eyes but keeps smiling. “I don’t know. Do I?”
I nod. “This you’ll want to know.”
“Okay, go for it.”
“I decided to propose here because this is the exact place where I fell in love with you.”
“You did not.”
“I did. I promise. I saw you running at me, all orange and panicky, and my heart just knew. I spent the next few weeks trying to talk him out of it, but there was just no way he’d change his mind. You’re it for me, Paige. And I knew it the moment I laid eyes on you.”
“Well, then, I feel sort of bad, because when I first laid eyes on you, all I knew was that you were crazy hot.”
I laugh a little more, then say, “I’ll take it.”
And I will. Because the story of how we got to where we are, right now, in this moment, unfolded exactly the way it needed to. I was such a jackass about love that it took a plane crash to set me straight, and I’m so glad it happened. Because this is it. This is the reason we’re all here. To love and be loved, as corny as that sounds.
“Should we go home and celebrate?” I ask her.
“Definitely. I’m thinking sex, then pancakes for supper.”
“That’s just one of the many reasons I love you,” I say, taking her hand as we walk down the dock to start our life together. A life of breakfast for supper, laughter, and love.
THE END