He sat up and took my hand in both of his. He slid the ring onto my finger and I pulled my hand back toward my face to look at it properly.
I stopped breathing.
It caught what little moonlight there was, giving me enough light to see it. Stones clustered together in a way that looked like something pulled from the bottom of the ocean. It was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen in my life and it looked like it had been made specifically for my hand.
“Colt,” I whispered.
“You like it.”
It wasn’t a question. He could see my face.
“I’ve been carrying that around for three weeks,” he said.
I looked up at him. “Three weeks.”
“Just been waiting for the right moment.”
“Oh.”
“I kept telling myself I was going to wait, but sitting here with you tonight, I had to do it. I’m tired of waiting.”
I looked down at the ring again. I was going to be doing this a lot. I was engaged to Colt Anderson. The man that stole my heart. Broke it and put it back together even better.
I stood up and immediately held my hand out toward the thin strip of moonlight to look at the ring again. He was already folding the chairs. I grabbed the paper bag and the wine glasses while he tucked a chair under each arm. We went up the path through the dune grass. The lights were still on at the house. Through the glass of the sliding door I could see the warm glow of the kitchen and Becca moving around inside.
I stopped at the bottom of the porch steps.
“Go,” Colt said from behind me. “Tell her. Come over when you’re done. I’m so not done with you. I know what you’re wearing and I have every intention of taking it off—with my teeth.”
I giggled and handed him the wine and jogged up the stairs with the glasses. I pulled the sliding door open. Becca was at the sink, her back to me, rinsing the last of the dinner dishes. The kids had gone to bed.
“Hey,” she said without turning around. “How was the beach?”
I walked up behind her and put my left hand flat on the counter beside the sink where she couldn’t miss it. She looked down.
“Summer,” she gasped.
“I know,” I squealed.
She spun around, grabbed my hand, and pulled it toward her face. Her eyes were already filling. She pressed her free hand over her mouth.
“Oh my God,” she said behind her fingers. “Oh my God.”
“I know.”
“He proposed on the beach.”
“Yep.”
“Dad is going to be thrilled. He left about five minutes ago and said he’d see you tomorrow.” She pulled me into a hug so hard I feared she might crack a rib. I hugged her back just as fiercely, my chin on her shoulder, blinking hard at the ceiling.
“Mom would have loved him,” she said quietly into my hair.
I closed my eyes. “I know.”
She pulled back and looked at me. “Don’t let it scare you,” she said. “Go for it. He’s the one. You waited and you got the one that was always meant for you.”
I nodded because the lump in my throat prevented me from speaking.