Chapter 12 #2
I turn my back to Wes and wait a few seconds. Then I can’t resist and glance over my shoulder to see him with his hand in his pocket and an impressively conflicted expression on his face as he stares down at it.
“Stop peeking, Ella!”
I groan and look away. Wait a few more seconds before I hear motion behind me and Wes murmuring, “Ella.”
I turn around.
“You can’t look excited, Ella. You don’t know what he’s about to do, and you’re still kind of annoyed with him. Try it again.”
With another groan, I turn around and wait until Wes says my name. This time I manage an impatient expression as I whirl around.
“That’s good,” Natalie says.
I don’t have to look surprised and confused as Wes shifts from foot to foot and then extends his hand with a jeweler’s ring box.
My mouth drops open as he lowers himself to one knee because he’s managing the expression so perfectly.
Nervous and hopeful and adoring all at once.
“Ella,” he says, opening the box and extending the ring toward me. “Will you marry me?” Then his mood breaks and he turns toward Natalie. “Should I do something more flowery?”
“No, I don’t see why. That looked perfect to me.”
“He should be super over-the-top and romantic,” Parker calls out.
“Yes!” Tessa chimes in. “Maybe he can burst into song.”
“Definitely not,” I say with a laugh. “No one would believe it.”
“Why not?” Wes asks with a slight scowl. “I can be romantic.”
“Sure you can.”
Without warning or prelude, Wes suddenly starts belting out the chorus of “I Will Always Love You” with impressive resonance and perfect pitch.
I fall into helpless laughter as he hams it up. The girls are rolling on the grass in hilarity, and even Natalie is smiling as she stands waiting, her hand on her hip.
Wes looks quite pleased with himself when he finishes the chorus.
“Okay, fine,” I tell him. “You can go through the motions, but I don’t think anyone would believe it. You do have a very good singing voice though.”
“Thank you.”
“Why didn’t I know you can sing?”
“You never asked.”
I huff and shake my head. Wes is still on his knee with the ring extended.
“Actually, this is good,” Natalie breaks in. “Ella, try to look kind of like this. Like you really like him, but you’re amused and impatient at the same time. It looks just like you, and it will sell that this is real and not a made-up romance.”
“Okay.” I shrug. “I’ll try.”
“Let’s take it from the beginning again and run through the whole thing.”
Wes gets up and puts the ring back in his pocket. Then we walk back to where we started and go through the motions of the rose inventory again.
“Okay,” I say softly at the moment. “Here’s our snippy argument again.”
“I think the snippiness is more your thing than mine.”
“Excuse me? I have years of experience of you being smug and condescending.”
“I think you’re making that up.”
“I definitely am not.” I don’t have to fake my grievance as I walk away from him with the annoyed eye roll shot over my shoulder.
There’s a minute’s delay as I assume Wes is doing his conflicted thing (I manage not to look back to check). Then he’s approaching and saying, “Ella.”
I turn around. Fake confusion and surprise.
He lowers himself on one knee and extends the ring. Saying, “Ella Blake, will you marry me?”
I make a choked sound and raise my hand to cover my mouth.
“Good,” Natalie says under her breath.
“Are you serious?” I ask him.
“Of course I am. So?” He stretches the ring closer to me.
Laughing, I reach down for him. “Yes!”
He gets up to pull me into a hug. Then he slips on the ring, and Natalie, Tessa, Iris, and Parker all burst into applause.
“That was good,” Natalie says. “Ella, your laugh sounded a little fake to me, but that’s probably because I know you. It will pass if you can’t do better.”
“Great. Thanks a lot.”
“But everything else is perfect. I think this will work.”
Wes and I stare at each other.
“So three o’clock tomorrow afternoon in the rose garden?” he asks at last.
I nod. “It’s a date. That’s when and where we’ll get engaged.”
The next day, it takes forever to get to three o’clock.
I go shopping with Aunt Grace in the morning to distract myself. Shopping with Grace is always the best. She knows all kinds of out-of-the-way vintage dress stores and boho boutiques, and she has better taste than anyone I’ve ever known.
She always knows exactly what will look best on me, and she talks me into buying three new dresses for the dates I’ll be going on with Wes after we get engaged.
I have a good time even with the jittery impatience shuddering through me all the while.
We have an early lunch and get back to Blossom Park by one. Then it’s time for me to shower and get ready.
Natalie and I debated a long time about what I should wear. She insists it needs to look like an everyday outfit, while I want to look cute since I assume the proposal will make the rounds on social media.
We compromise on a loose cotton dress in a pretty rose-and-tan abstract pattern.
The material and style are definitely casual, but the colors look really good on me.
And Natalie has the brainstorm of tying the infamous cardigan sweater around my waist, which has the double benefit of cinching the dress at the waist and looking haphazard rather than intentional.
We leave my hair loose with natural waves rather than styled ones, and I borrow Natalie’s cute pink sneakers to wear with the dress.
We admire the result in the full-length mirror, and we’re both happy.
Surely no one would think I’m expecting a proposal looking so casual, but I still look as pretty as it’s possible for me to look.
“Perfect!” Natalie is definitely happy with her part in my appearance. “You look gorgeous. So just do what we planned, but don’t get flustered if something isn’t exactly right. The details don’t matter as much as the general impression.”
“I’m not going to get flustered,” I tell her with more conviction than is entirely warranted.
“Positive self-talk is good.” Her lips quiver in amusement. “Even if being flustered is your most natural state of being.”
“I’m not that bad!”
“You really are, but it doesn’t matter. Not everyone needs to be cool and composed. You take yourself and the rest of the world seriously, and that’s not a bad thing.”
I sniff. “I’d rather be cool and composed.”
“Leave that to experts like me and just be your flustered self.” Her eyes glint, making it clear she’s teasing. “Wes isn’t going to complain.”
My cheeks warm in an instant. “What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You know exactly what it means.”
And that’s all she’ll say about that.