Chapter Seven
Craig had a housewarming party a couple of weeks after closing. He’d wanted to hold it on a weekend that Jack was with him. Carol’s flightiness meant he’d suddenly had options.
He invited friends from work, some of Jack’s friends from his basketball team along with their parents. Bianca and Rob came. So did Ada, but he hadn’t had a chance to actually talk to her yet. Jack and his teammates had cornered her immediately and pulled her outside to shoot some hoops.
Craig stepped into the garage to grab a couple bags of chips. Bianca slipped in behind him.
“You’re happy,” she said.
It was a weird and kind of random thing to say. “Party’s going well. And the chips are a hit.” He grabbed a couple bags from the wire shelves. “I can’t complain.”
She shook her head in amusement. “I don’t mean happy about the party. I haven’t seen you this happy with life in all the years I’ve known you.” Bianca smiled at him. “Ada’s good for you.”
“But am I good for her?” Craig wondered a lot about that. “I come with a lot of baggage.”
“But you like her,” Bianca said. “Admit it.”
“I’ve known her only about six weeks. But—” His words stopped short, but then the confession slipped out. “But I think I love her.”
He expected Bianca to be surprised. And she was. But her gaze wasn’t on him; it was frozen, wide-eyed on the space behind him.
“She’s right behind me, isn’t she?”
Bianca only nodded.
Craig didn’t look back, though he turned his head just enough to direct his next words at Ada. “You’re probably entirely freaked out now.”
“Could you give us a minute, Bianca?”
His sister-in-law snatched the chips from his hands and fled without a second glance.
Craig pushed out a tight breath and slowly turned around. Tension rolled off of him. He’d managed to mess things up again. How many times could he do that before she just walked away?
Ada stepped up to him. “Craig.”
“If you just want to go, I—”
She set her hands on either side of his face and held his gaze. “I don’t run out on people. I never have. I’m not so easily scared off.”
His shoulders rose and fell with a tight breath. “Even if a guy you’ve known for only six weeks says he’s falling in love with you? Most women would run and never look back.”
“Then it’s a very good thing I’m not ‘most women.’” She slid her hands to his shoulders, very nearly embracing him.
Relief. Amazement. A little confusion. He was feeling all of it. But also a surprising amount of hope.
He wrapped his arms around her. “You really are out of my league.”
“Something to shoot for.”
He bent closer, pulling her to him. His mouth brushed over hers so lightly that his lips hardly felt the kiss, but his heart definitely did. His pulse hammered through every inch of him.
She threaded her fingers through his hair and whispered his name.
His next kiss was ardent. Fervent. And she matched him with exactly the kiss he’d been dreaming of for weeks, a kiss telling him that her feelings ran as deep and passionate as his. That she was falling in love with him too.
Laughter floated in from the house. Craig broke the seal of their lips but didn’t release her. “If we just stay in here, do you think they’ll leave on their own?”
She pressed one more quick kiss to his lips before stepping backward. “You need to go be a good host.”
“Being a good host is not that important to me.”
She laughed. “You’re only saying that because you don’t want to go back inside.”
“You’re going to make me, aren’t you?”
She held her hand out to him.
He took it, but shook his head. “You’re so mean.”
“A good point guard knows when to take her team up the court.”
The metaphor earned her a kiss on the back of her hand. Then the tips of her fingers. Her palm. The inside of her wrist.
“Your guests, Craig.” She tugged him toward the door.
As the night dragged on, he regularly caught Ada looking in his direction. The entire party must have known they were both wishing the other guests would call it an early night. It was hard to be in love in public.
“Peter says he’s gonna come over and practice layups,” Jack said to Ada as the three of them were cleaning up that night after the guests finally left to go home. “And we’re gonna work on three-pointers too.”
“You both hit more than half of your shots from the free-throw line tonight,” she said. “That was awesome.”
Jack smiled at her. “We didn’t beat you, though.”
“Not yet.”
Jack’s smile turned to a grin. “Do you think I’ll ever beat you in Horse?”
“Absolutely. Especially with you working on your three-pointers.”
Jack grabbed a crushed soda can and tossed it into the recycle can. He threw his hands in the air and ran around the kitchen, mimicking the sound of a crowded arena cheering for a basketball star.
Craig slipped up behind Ada and wrapped his arms around her. He kissed her temple. “You’re amazing. You know that?”
“My business cards assure me that I’m ‘the best.’” She turned in his arms, facing him. “But I’m willing to be reminded.”
He kissed her soundly and thoroughly.
“Gross!” Jack called out with a laugh from across the kitchen.
That set Craig and Ada laughing as well. He kept her in his arms. Meeting Ada really was the best thing that had happened to him in years, and he never wanted to let her go.
***
Craig had made a habit of walking with Ada along the beach on Friday evenings. Even as summer came to an end, they’d kept at it. She’d become a necessary part of his life. He never wanted to be without her again.
Walking on the sand in the cool mid-December breeze as the sun dipped low over the Pacific, Craig was keenly aware of the ring box in the pocket of his windbreaker.
He couldn’t deny the fact that he was more nervous than he could ever remember being.
He knew Ada loved him. And there wasn’t even a hint of doubt about whether he loved her as well.
But asking her to marry him was a nerve-racking prospect, no matter how much evidence he had that her answer would be yes.
“You’re very quiet tonight,” Ada said, wrapping her arm around his. “Did something happen at work or with Jack?”
“No, nothing like that.” He shook his head. Quit being a wimp. He put his free hand in the pocket with the ring. He could do this. He could.
“So, we’ve. . . we’ve had a great six months, haven’t we?”
“Had?” She eyed him questioningly.
That came out wrong. “We’ve had a great first six months.”
“Much better.” She leaned her head on his shoulder as they walked.
“The next six are going to be even better,” he said.
“I like the sound of that.”
He liked the sound of it too. He just needed to summon the courage to say what he wanted to say. “You didn’t freak out when I accidentally told you that I loved you after only six weeks, so I’m hoping you won’t freak out over what I’m about to say after only six months.”
“When have you ever known me to freak out over anything?”
True enough. She was probably the most mellow, levelheaded person he knew. “That’s one of my top ten favorite things I like about you.”
She smiled. “You have a list?”
On any other night, he would have tossed back something witty, but he was a little too stressed. He pulled her over to an outcropping of rocks. They sat, and he faced her.
“Ada, I— I love you.”
“I know you do.”
He took her hand in his, then took a breath. “I love you, and I can’t imagine my life without you in it. You are everything— everything— I could have hoped to find in a woman. With you, my life feels complete.”
He swallowed against the lump in his throat. Willing his pulse to calm long enough for him to get through this, Craig pulled the ring box from his pocket.
Her mouth dropped open the tiniest bit, but he didn’t sense any sign of panic or horror.
“Ada Canton,” he said, opening the box. “Will you marry me?”
The words weren’t flowery, but they were all he could manage.
Ada didn’t grab the ring, didn’t stare at it. She didn’t look shocked or disgusted. She gently set her hands on either side of his face and closed the distance between them.
She kissed him, soft and slow, like a whisper. He couldn’t fully enjoy it, though, not yet having an answer.
“Ada?” He knew he sounded a little desperate, but he was starting to feel that way.
“Of course I will marry you, Craig.” She kissed him again. “Of course I will.”