Chapter 29
“What color should I get? Something bright and fun for spring?”
“No,” I answered, more sharply than I intended. I cleared my throat and softened my voice, trying again. “No. I, uh…I think something…subtle and clean.”
Callie looked at me, raising a curious brow. “Subtle and clean…”
“Yeah. Like…milky pink or pearly white or–oh! Where they do that glazed finish look or the chrome-looking effect. Something…luxe and timeless. It’s totally in right now. And it’s good for every day.”
“Luxe and timeless…”
I nodded affirmatively. “Yes.”
Callie gave me another look and chuckled. “Okay.”
She turned her back to me to look at the nail tech, and when the woman’s eyes flickered up to me, I held up my left hand and pointed to my ring finger. She smiled with a subtle nod of understanding.
Lucas was proposing tomorrow, and as Callie’s best friend, it was my job to make sure she was going to look perfect for her special moment.
We went to get our hair done last weekend after I made an excuse about how we should have a salon day, even though I’d just gotten a trim a few weeks prior.
Afterward, we did some shopping, and at one of the boutiques, she tried on a pale pink dress that looked amazing on her; I convinced her to buy it, saying it could be worn for various occasions…
like her engagement that she knew nothing about.
Now, we were getting our nails done, and I knew she would want something that would look good in the many inevitable photos that were to come of her hand. And when I saw her finally decide on a nude pink polish, I smiled.
I pulled my ass out of my pit of self-pity with no intention of going back anytime soon. I wasn’t going to let my stupid feelings or headspace get in the way of making sure this moment went as perfect for her as it could because she deserved nothing less.
Lucas had his side of everything set but had one favor to ask from the rest of us—he wanted us to be there.
Callie didn’t have any family. We were her family.
And Lucas wanted her to have her people there to celebrate the occasion with her before he took her the rest of the night to celebrate by themselves.
So Wes, Gabe, and I were going to be hiding while taking a video and snapping some photos for them, and Blake was going to be there via video call.
I had my hands in front of me while the woman finished with my nails, and Callie turned to me once hers were done, holding up her hands to show me. “Well?”
I smiled. “They’re perfect.”
Callie chuckled. “Ya know, you’ve been saying that an awful lot lately.”
“Saying what?”
“‘Perfect,’” she said, her blue eyes sparkling with amusement. “My hair. The clothes I buy. Now my nails. It’s all…perfect.”
“Because they are. You are.”
“It makes me really nervous when you get sappy on me, Morgan Hayes.”
“Shut up. I’m not being sappy. I just…happen to be very fond of you and your choices as of late.”
Callie giggled. “Whatever you say.”
“What time are they going to be there?” Blake asked from the other side of the screen as he talked to Gabe on a video call. We were huddled in our hiding spot, out of view from where we knew Lucas and Callie would eventually be.
“They were coming from Charleston—they had some big lunch with his grandpa earlier. But he sent Wes a message nearly an hour ago that they were getting on the ferry, so I’d say any minute now.”
“Did you talk to him beforehand? How’d he seem?” Blake chuckled. “Is he shitting his pants?”
“He was fine last night,” I said. “I think he’s more anxious just to do it and have it be official.”
“Right. Because we all know she’s going to say yes,” Gabe said with a grin.
“Well, not to go all doom and gloom, but…do we have a plan here in case things go completely sideways and she doesn’t say yes?” I asked.
“Wes!” Blake, Gabe, and Morgan said in collective unison.
“It’s a valid question!” It really wasn’t, but I enjoyed fucking with them. “Because our boy is gonna be inconsolable if that happens, and we should probably have some kind of game plan in place to keep him from going off the rails on the off chance that’s how things play out.”
“You’re such an ass,” Morgan muttered. “She’s not going to say no.”
“I know,” I said with a grin. “But you’re all so easy to rile.”
“So, what…you guys are just going to go down there after he does it, say congrats, and leave?”
“Luke stashed some champagne and glasses away in the lighthouse gallery yesterday,” Morgan answered. “So, we’ll have a glass of that with them, and then they’re going to do whatever—”
“Each other,” I corrected.
She rolled her eyes. “And we’re going to The Sandbar like any other Saturday night.”
“Here they come,” Gabe said quietly.
My gaze shifted down the shore of the abandoned beach from our place in the wooded area off the brush-covered pathway that led to the old lighthouse. Lucas and Callie casually strolled hand-in-hand.
Despite what he was about to do, Lucas showed no trace of being overwrought. That was until they neared the lighthouse, and he placed his hand on her elbow to draw her to a stop. Even from my hidden place, I could see the shift in his expression. But it wasn’t a look of worry.
It was excitement.
With the sounds of the breeze and the tide lapping the shore, we couldn’t make out what was being said as he spoke, but his expression filled with emotion as he stood there, grasping her hands.
I’d known Lucas practically my whole life.
I’d seen him look at things that made him happy, things and people he loved, but none held a torch to how he looked at Callie Bennett.
And as I watched him pour his heart out to her down on that beach—and look damn near elated to do it—I found myself once again wondering what that would be like, to look at somebody with the amount of affection and adoration he looked at her with. To trust someone that much.
I couldn’t fathom willingly and happily placing your heart in someone else’s hands, giving them all the power to break you, but somehow knowing they never would. It was a wild concept for me to grasp onto.
I could see the moment Callie realized what was happening, and a breathy chuckle came from my left. I glanced over to see Morgan, her eyes glistening with unshed tears as she watched the moment unfold.
Out of the corner of my eye, I could see Lucas move, dropping to one knee…but I didn’t take my eyes off Morgan. For reasons I didn’t know, I couldn’t.
And then she looked at me. In the sunlight, her amber eyes looked like glittering pools of honey, and I found myself momentarily lost in them.
Something undecipherable passed between us as we held each other’s gazes, and I felt my chest tighten with it, but it vanished as quickly as it came when she looked away.
It was only when I heard the sound of a squeal that I finally snapped from my daze and looked away from Morgan, realizing I’d missed Lucas’s and Callie’s moment entirely.
Callie was now kneeling in the sand with him, their arms wrapped around each other, and I could see something sparkle on her hand when it caught the sunlight just right.
Lucas lifted a hand from her back and beckoned us over. Morgan was the first out of the pathway, followed by Gabe, holding his phone so Blake could see.
I let out a breath, wondering what the hell that obscure moment between me and Morgan was. Before I could think too much of it, I shook my head and brushed it off as I followed behind them.