He chuckles. "You were really pissed. You even cut my hand with the ring."
My eyes get big. "I did?"
He walks over and holds his hand up. Shows me a teeny little scratch. "My war wound," he says in a very fake pathetic voice.
I grab his hand and kiss the scratch.
"So what made you change your mind?" he asks.
I was going to answer, but then he unbuckled his belt. I watch his slacks fall to the ground and then his boxers. All I can do is stare at his beautiful body.
"You're totally checking me out, aren't you?" he says, busting me.
"Maybe."
He does a few silly bodybuilder poses. His muscles ripple across his broad chest. He's being goofy, but he's naked. Which makes me feel very serious.
He slides into the tub with me. I lean back against him as he absentmindedly cups water in his hand and pours it down my chest.
I sigh. Close my eyes. Think this must be what heaven feels like.
"You're avoiding the question."
"What question?" Did he ask me a question?
"I asked what made you change your mind. You haven't told me yet."
"You distracted me with nakedness."
"I'll have to remember that. Seriously, tell me."
"When I was looking out into the crowd, telling them I said no, I saw you standing there. You looked sad. You weren't even looking at me. You were staring down at my ring."
"Go on," he says. He runs his hands down both my arms. I close my eyes again.
"Then I wondered what you would do if I said no. Like would you still date me? Would you give up on us forever? And just as I was about to say no again, I spotted Danny and Lori. My mind flashed back to when we were walking home after their big engagement. Do you remember how you asked me if I'd ever wanna be surprised like that in front of a bunch of people?"
"I do remember. Why do you think I did it? You said you thought it would be amazing to know a guy planned all of that just for you."
"I realized that. That's when I knew I had to say yes. I realized you did it all for me. The three dozen roses, sending me to the spa with your sister, the gorgeous dress, all the charms, the limo, the scavenger hunt, the ring, the party, all of it. I still can't believe you did all that. Planned it all out."
"I was trying to impress you. Did it work? Do you like the ring?"
I pull my hand out of the warm water and hold it in front of us. The diamond sparkles. It looks the way I feel. Sparkly, glittery, full of promise. "The ring was a slam dunk."
"You seemed shocked that I kept the drawing of your dream ring."
"I was shocked. What made you keep it?"
"When you looked at the other jewelry, Danny ripped the drawing off the pad, threw it at me, and said, You better save this, you'll need it someday."
"Did you laugh at him?"
"Not really. I kinda hoped he was right. We had a conversation about you a couple months before that. You asked me to your winter formal."
"I remember wishing you were my real date, not just my friend."
"I felt the same way. Then you came to my spring formal with me, remember?"
"Yeah, but we went as friends. Again."
"Danny chewed me out about that. Said I was a chicken shit for not asking you for real. Got me to admit I was in love with you."
"So you kept the drawing and had the ring made. It is my dream ring, but it was just that, Phillip. A dream. You spent way too much on this. On the ring, the party, all of it."
He lowers his voice and whispers into my neck as he's kissing it. "I'd spend everything I had on you." Then he laughs and runs his hand across his eyebrow. "Actually, I pretty much did. I may have to live with you now."
"You have been living with me."
"I've been spending the night with you."
"Are you trying to guilt me into letting you live with me? I know you live at your parents' for free."
"Yeah, but it's not as much fun there as it is at your place. Speaking of that, I think we should go see if that bed's as comfortable as it looks."
We get out of the tub and dry off quickly. When he picks me up and carries me into the bedroom, I'm pretty sure I know exactly what kind of fun he's referring to.
We eventually have to leave the cozy cocoon of our hotel suite and get back to reality. Reality starts with our usual Sunday night dinner at the Mackenzie house. I've been to many Sunday night dinners there. I grew up next door to them, and Mr. Mac and my dad were fraternity brothers and best friends. I've always been close to them, but when my parents were killed in a car accident my senior year of high school, they pretty much made me one of their own. I don't know what I would've done without them or the Diamonds.
Still, I'm nervous for dinner.
I'm officially going to marry their son, and I know it sounds odd, but I feel like I need to make a good impression. So I put on a pair of dark jeans, a new flouncy pale peach top with rosettes at the neck, and a pair of silver heels.
I look romantic and happy.
I see now why as soon as Lori got engaged to Danny, she started trying to set me up with Phillip. She felt all sparkly, gooey, and magical, and she wanted her friends to feel that way too.
I get it now.
I feel pretty sparkly, and I CANNOT stop looking at the sparkle on my finger during the drive over.
But when we get there, Mrs. Mac doesn't seem to notice my sparkle, how I'm dressed, or how Phillip keeps being quite naughty and running his hand dangerously high up my thigh under the kitchen table.
No.
Mrs. Mac is focused on one thing.
Which is good because I can't seem to focus on anything other than the fact that if Phillip doesn't stop it, I'm going to drag him up to his bedroom and show him exactly how I feel about him.
Oh, sorry, where was I?
Oh yes, I was saying, Mrs. Mac is focused on one thing.
And that thing is wedding planning.
Seriously?? We've been engaged for, what? Twenty-two hours?! And she's ready to start planning?
I mean, I'm still in shock that I'm even dating Phillip, let alone engaged to the boy.
Isn't there some kind of engagement buffer? Where you get a few days (weeks, months) to get used to the idea before people start bombarding you with questions about an event you're totally not mentally prepared to deal with????!!!!
The answer to that question is apparently not because she's already prepared a wedding spreadsheet of some kind. Not surprising, really, she probably has to make a spreadsheet before she can do laundry, so she does it in the proper order. To say this woman is organized is a supreme understatement.
She hands it to me, and I scan it.
Looks pretty typical. Once we figure out when we want to get married, then we'll be happy to use her list and start planning.
But I'm not in any hurry to get married.
We need to date for a while first.
Ashley, Phillip's sister, says, "So, JJ, I would recommend you start by picking a theme and your colors."
"A theme?" What is this, a frat party? "What kind of wedding theme?"
"Oh, wow," she says, "there are so many things you could do. You could have it black tie, casual, country, or beachy. Fairytale weddings are big right now. You could do like a fall wedding or even a Halloween wedding!"
"A Halloween wedding?! Like a black and orange wedding? How fun would that be? We could have people dress up and hand out candy!" I laugh. Ha! "Phillip, did you hear that? We could get married on Halloween! We could just have people ring the doorbell, stand outside, and we can get married in the entryway. We could be all dressed up and then go out and get candy for our reception! Our favors could be dozens of eggs, forks, Fruity Pebbles, and toilet paper!"