SCARLETT
Ezra drops to one knee in front of St. Louis Cathedral, and my entire focus narrows to him. Everything around me fades away. He pulls a velvet box from his pocket, and his hands are trembling. When he opens it, I forget how to breathe.
The ring is stunning with a large diamond that looks pale pink in the glow of golden hour. It’s everything I’ve ever wanted, the ring of my dreams.
I make a sound that’s half sob, half gasp.
“Scarlett Collins,” Ezra confidently says, “will you do me the honor of making me the luckiest man on this earth and marry me?”
“Yes.” It doesn’t release from my lips fast enough. “Yes, yes, yes!”
Ezra slides the ring onto my finger. The second it’s on, he’s on his feet, and his mouth crashes into mine.
I kiss him through my tears and grab fistfuls of his shirt to pull him closer. I’m vaguely aware of people clapping and cheering around us, but none of it really registers. All I can focus on is him and the way he’s holding me like I’m the most precious thing in the universe.
“You’re going to be my husband,” I whisper against his lips.
“You’re going to be my wife,” he says back.
We nearly lose ourselves in front of the cathedral, not able to get enough as emotions pour out of us. I selfishly never want this moment to end and would freeze time right here if I could.
“This might be the happiest day of my life,” I confess.
“It’s the happiest of mine,” he says.
My phone buzzes in my pocket.
“You should probably check that,” Ezra says with a breathless laugh.
The screen is flooded with notifications. Text messages, Instagram tags, Threads mentions, missed calls. I scroll through and see at least five different videos of the proposal already posted from different angles.
“Shit,” I whisper, my voice coming out hoarse as I look around, noticing we have an audience.
Ezra laughs and wipes tears from my cheeks with his thumbs. “Let’s get out of here.”
He leads me away from the crowd until we mix in with other tourists. I’m in shock as I glance down at the ring.
“We should call people before everyone finds out from social media,” I say, knowing how many people would want us to tell them first.
“Good idea. Who first?”
“Hallie. Millie. My parents.”
We find a bench and sit. I pull up Hallie’s contact and video call her. She answers on the first ring, and her face fills my screen. Her eyes are bloodshot and swollen. Mascara is smudged in dark streaks down her cheeks, and her nose is red. She looks like she’s been crying for hours.
“Hey,” she says, and I can hear the sadness in her tone.
My smile fades. “Wait, what’s wrong? Why are you crying?”
“Nothing,” she says, shaking her head. “Have you been crying, too? Is everything—”
“Something’s really, really right,” I tell her.
“What do you mean—” She stops midsentence and her eyes go wide. “Oh my goodness. Did Ezr—”
“Proposed!” I hold up my left hand to the camera so she can see the ring.
She screams so loud that I have to turn the volume down because people on the sidewalk are turning to look at us. “SCARLETT! YOU’RE ENGAGED! YOU’RE GOING TO GET MARRIED!”
I’m laughing and crying at the same time, and Ezra moves into the frame.
“I’m so happy for you two. This is the best news I’ve heard today. Let me see the ring! Move the camera closer!”
I adjust the angle, and she gasps. “That’s gorgeous. And so you!” Her voice breaks, and fresh tears spill down her cheeks, but these look different. Then a second later, she’s full-on sobbing.
“Hal, talk to me. Tell me what happened.”
“No, you’re having the best day of your life. We can chat about this later. Enjoy your engagement!”
“Hallie…”
“This is your moment!”
I narrow my eyes at the screen. “Hallie Rose, I’m not celebrating until you tell me what the hell is going on.”
She breaks completely. “It’s Landon.”
“What did he do this time?”
“He’s trying to get me fired.” Her voice sounds broken. “He told the publisher he refuses to do the book tour with me. Said I’m unprofessional and impossible to work with, and he won’t participate unless they replace me.”
“He can’t do that!”
“He already did. Dennis called me an hour ago, and he’s not happy.” She wipes her nose with some tissues. “If he backs out, the entire tour falls apart. He’s furious with me. Like it’s somehow my fault he’s being a vindictive asshole.”
“When do you have to leave?”
“Next month.” Her laugh is bitter. “I don’t know how I’m going to survive an entire month stuck in a car with him. If I even still have a job by then.”
“Hallie, you have to talk to him. You have to smooth this over.”
“I can’t.” Her voice breaks again. “I physically cannot be in the same room as that man without wanting to strangle him.”
“You need to figure out how because this is your career. You’ve worked too hard to let that meathead destroy everything.”
She nods and wipes her rosy-red nose. “You’re right. I know you’re right. I’ll fix it. I have to.” She takes a shaky breath and attempts a smile. “But seriously, congratulations. I’m so happy for you both. You two deserve all the love. You’re living your dream, Scarlett.”
“Thank you. I love you.”
“Love you, too. Now go celebrate with your fiancé.” She makes a kissy face at the camera and hangs up.
I stare at the blank screen for a second before Ezra wraps his arm around my shoulders and pulls me against him.
“You think she’s going to be okay?” he asks. “I’ve never seen her that upset.”
“Eventually. Maybe.” I lean my head on his shoulder. “She’s tougher and more stubborn than she looks. She’ll figure it out.”
“A month riding in a car with someone you hate sounds like actual hell.”
“It does. But she’s also a problem solver, so this is right up her alley. I just feel bad for her.”
He kisses my temple, and I turn my head to kiss him properly. It’s softer this time, as I realize we really do have forever.
When we pull apart, I catch a glimpse of my left hand resting on his knee. The ring catches in the light and throws those tiny rainbow reflections all around.
“This is perfect,” I whisper. “But I can’t figure out how you knew.”
“Knew what?”
“This ring. The style, everything about it, is exactly what I always wanted. Lucky guess?”
He grins and kisses my knuckles just above the ring. “You always wrote about this ring in all of your books. The heroine always gets a solitaire platinum ring. It’s in all of your novels. Figured you were trying to tell your future husband something.”
Tears blur my vision again. “I didn’t even realize I did that. But also, good job paying attention to detail.”
He chuckles as I kiss him. I don’t have the words to describe how in love I am with him and how he goes above and beyond to make me happy.
“Okay,” he says against my lips. “I just heard your stomach growl. Where do you want to eat, fiancée?”
Fiancée. I feel like I’m dreaming.
Before I can answer, his eyes go wide, and he pulls back. “Oh shit. We have to call Millie.”
I burst out laughing. “Hope she doesn’t murder us for not calling her first.”
“She’s definitely going to. Just don’t mention it.” He pulls out his phone and scrolls to his favorites, where she’s at the top. “Are you ready for this?”
“Not even a little bit.”
He presses her name and holds the phone between us so we can both see the screen. We look at each other with matching grins as it starts ringing.
“Hi, kiddos,” Millie says.
Ezra and I glance at each other, then back at the phone. “We’re engaged!”
Millie immediately starts crying. “Please tell me I’m the first to know.”
We exchange another knowing look.
“Of course, you are,” Ezra says, shooting me a wink.
My smile widens. As I glance down at the ring on my finger, I can’t help but think about how this started with a rental listing I almost didn’t click on, and the man I didn’t want to fall in love with because I was too scared to take the risk.
Now I’m going to be his wife, and we’ll both get our happily ever after.