Chapter 21 #3
“My goodness, thank you for sharing them,” Rose said, nodding her appreciation to Jo and Dulcie.
Jo led Rose and Hugo toward the tasting stations, aware of Blue falling into step behind them. She helped her grandmother onto a stool and made sure she had coffee and cookies. Blue’s gaze shifted toward Rocky.
The two men stared at each other. Blue’s jaw tightened, and a territorial glare flickered across his face before he caught himself and looked away.
Please, not tonight, Jo thought. Blue was showing great restraint.
Rocky, seemingly unbothered, crossed the room and clapped Blue on the shoulder like they were old friends.
“Relax, Officer Blumenthal,” Rocky said, low enough that only they and Jo could hear. “You’re the one she loves. Even when she was pretending otherwise.”
Blue exhaled, and most of the tension left his shoulders. He offered his hand, and Rocky shook it.
“Congratulations on your job with Ryan,” Blue said. “I heard about it.”
Rocky grinned. “Congratulations on not being an idiot anymore.”
A hushed moment followed, then Blue broke into a laugh. “You’re alright, I guess.”
The two men shared a bro hug, and Jo smiled, noticing that Maileah had recorded the entire exchange on video. Maybe they would all laugh about this later.
“Thank you,” Jo said to Blue, her hand on her heart. “Bringing them was the best gift I could have asked for.”
“For you, anything.” Blue reached for Jo’s hand and kissed it.
As she gazed into his eyes, the noise of the party seemed to recede.
He leaned closer to her. “Have you thought about my question?”
His warmth drew her in, and her skin tingled at the nearness of him. From the corner of her eye, Jo saw Junie watching them with excitement and Maileah lifting her phone to record again.
She glanced at her grandmother, almost feeling the waves of support.
“Ask me again,” Jo said with confidence.
Her words rippled to those surrounding them, and Junie and Maileah took a step back. Knox picked up Penny so she could see.
Blue knelt on one knee and took her hand.
As the circle around them widened, people turned to look and parted to give them room.
Adrian’s guitar went quiet, his fingers stilling on the strings.
Jo stood in front of the red Formica counter where she’d poured Blue’s first cup of coffee years ago. At the time, she hadn’t the faintest idea what he would come to mean to her.
Blue gazed up at her, his face wreathed with love. “I gave you all the reasons yesterday on the beach.”
“You did,” she said, squeezing his hand.
With a smile full of hope, Blue held up a glittering ring in his other hand. “Sharing our lives would be a dream. Jo Dufour, will you marry me?”
Jo let his words wash over her. She’d built her life with her own hands, long before he’d worked up the nerve to ask for her heart. She didn’t need Blue Blumenthal to be complete.
She simply loved him.
All of him, the stubborn and the steady, the pride he’d finally set aside, and the heart that had never stopped loving her. They would be there for each other.
“Yes,” she finally replied, and the diner erupted. She laughed through her tears.
When she extended her other hand to him, Blue was on his feet in an instant, sliding the ring onto her finger. He kissed her, then swung her up and around while the whole room cheered.
As she let herself go, spinning dizzily in his arms while the skirt of her dress flared around her legs, Jo saw her grandmother’s glowing face and Hugo’s wide grin. Junie’s hands were pressed to her mouth, and tears spilled onto her cheeks.
Blue caught Adrian’s eye and gave him a nod. Adrian grinned, said something to his bandmates, and a moment later the opening notes of “Here Comes the Bride” rang out over the diner. The whole crowd laughed and clapped along.
Nearly breathless with joy, Jo pulled back from Blue just far enough to look into his bright blue eyes.
“This is so perfect,” she said, her heart bursting with love.
She kissed him again and glanced around at the packed diner, at her family, her friends, her whole life crowded into this space. “You wanted to propose on a mountaintop. Well, here we are, at the peak.”
“Why couldn’t I see that sooner?” Blue kissed her again, right at the spot where they’d first met. “This is only the beginning, my love. We’ll climb even higher peaks together.”
For the first time, Jo was certain they would.
Thank you for reading Summer Street.