An (Almost) Perfect Love Story (Love Story Book Three) (6 page)

We were in a clearing deep in the woods. A path and small square of ground had been shoveled, within which stood a table and two chairs. A metal fire pit stood beside the table, the fire already burning brightly. The clearing was further lit by tiki torches, spaced at even intervals.

I found myself laughing uncontrollably. “What?” Chris said, sounding slightly hurt. “Don’t you like it?”

“I love it!” I cried, throwing my arms around him again. “I can’t believe it! How did you do all this?”

“I told you, Brooke. She really knows what she’s doing with this whole customer satisfaction thing.”

We climbed down from the sleigh, Chris wrapping the reins around a nearby tree, then picked our way across the shoveled path to the table. A bottle of white wine was chilling a foot away in the snow. Two covered plates sat atop warming stones, keeping our meal warm despite the frigid air around us. As we settled into our chairs, Chris lifted the lids, revealing chicken Kiev, my all-time favorite meal. “Dig in,” he said, grinning at me.

I had a hard time eating though; I couldn’t seem to keep the grin off my face for long enough to do more than eat a bite or two at a time. I felt like laughing again, not because it was funny, but just because I was so completely happy. For Chris to go to so much trouble for me completely blew me away.

He had told me on numerous occasions that he thought Valentine’s Day was stupid, that people shouldn’t need a day to remember that they loved each other. The whole gooey romance thing was so not his scene; he made fun of my romance novels, rolled his eyes at love songs, and flat out left the room when I watched chick flicks. But he had forgone all of that tonight, just because he knew it would make me happy.

“I can’t believe this,” I said again, staring at him over the candle lit table. “Seriously. I can’t believe you did all this.”

He shrugged slightly, smiling at me. “I want to make you happy, Ashley. It’s all I ever want to do.”

My stomach squirmed happily at his words, at the intensity in his eyes. He looked down at my half-finished dinner and raised an eyebrow. “If you want your present you better eat up.”

“You already gave me a present,” I said, holding out my arms to indicate my gorgeous coat.

“There’s one more, something small. Come on, eat. Brooke and her staff went through a lot of trouble getting this all out here.”

Obediently, I took a bite, marveling that the food was still warm. “How’d they do it?” I asked. “Get everything here, I mean.”

“Snowmobiles,” he said, pouring me more white wine. “They used them to tow sleds filled with all the supplies. They brought out everything but the food earlier and got it set up. Then Brooke came out right before we left in the sleigh to bring the food and light the fires.”

“Wow.” I shook my head. “That’s so much work!”

“You’re worth it,” he said simply, making my tummy squirm again.

Once we’d finished dinner, I sat back in my chair, gazing happily around at the clearing. “This is really beautiful,” I said with a sigh.

“You’re beautiful,” Chris said, standing suddenly. “Come on, let’s do a toast.”

I reached for my wine glass but he pushed my hand away, pulling a Thermos from under the table.

“We have hot chocolate,” he said.

I moved to stand next to him, but suddenly, he was kneeling in front of me. Assuming he was getting something else from the under the table, I looked at him stupidly until it suddenly struck me that he had set the Thermos down in the snow. Instead, he was holding both of my hands and looking more nervous than I had ever seen him. My heart seemed to stop beating.

“You know I’m not very good with all the hearts and flowers stuff,” he said, his voice rough. “I’m not the best with words, Ash. But I also know you like the grand gesture thing.” He shot me a grin before his face grew serious again. “That’s why I wanted to do all this for you, so I could show you how much you…how much I…I love you, Ashley. I always have and I always will.”

I was crying long before he pulled the small box from his pocket, long before he opened it to show me the dazzling ring inside. And before he’d even managed to finish the words, “Will you marry me?” I was throwing my arms around his neck, kneeling with him in the snow, nodding my head as hard as I could, the tears making it impossible to speak.

Everything seemed to pass in a blur after that. Chris kissing me, both of us laughing there in the snow, tears on our faces, Chris pouring hot chocolate from the Thermos so we could toast each other and our engagement. “We should go back,” he said finally. “Emily’s probably dying by now.”

“Does she know?” I asked, staring down at the ring in the fading light from the dying fire.

“Yeah, I told her, and Brooke. I needed their help to get it all organized. Is that okay?”

“Of course!” I said. He could have told me that I was the last person on earth to know, and I wouldn’t have cared. I was too happy to care much about anything else.

“Come on,” he said, pulling on my hand. “Put your glove back on, it’s freezing out here.”

“But it’s so pretty,” I said, laughing again. Chris pulled me to my feet, grabbing the Thermos from the snow beside me. “Should we do something with all of this?” I asked, gesturing at our dishes and the tiki torches still burning.

Chris shook his head. “Brooke said she’d send someone out when we got back. Come on.”

I couldn’t decide if the ride back to the inn was too fast or too slow. Part of me never wanted to emerge from the dark woods, never wanted the magic spell that Chris had created there to end. Yet I was desperate to see Emily, to hug her and get a look at my ring in the light. I held his arm tightly in my own, unable to wipe the grin off my face.

Before we had even reached the steps of the porch, Emily was throwing the door open wide, calling out to me. I saw her hopping from foot to foot in the light from the foyer, and I took off running to get to her. She threw her arms around me, and we jumped up and down, squealing like little kids and laughing our heads off. In a blur of hugs and yells, Chris and I were pulled into the entryway. Brooke was hugging Chris, Elliot was hugging me, and then, from the back of the hallway, I saw Ryan emerge, tears in his eyes as he came forward to pull me and Chris into a huge hug.

“You’re here!” I cried, shocked at the sight of him, feeling my tears start all over again.

“Chris told me what was going on. I couldn’t miss this!”

I felt Emily’s arms reach around me as well, joining our group hug. As I stood there in the circle of my friends, I felt like my heart would actually burst with happiness. Nothing,
nothing
, could ever compare with this night.

Chapter Six

Many hours later, I sat curled up on the couch with Emily, staring at the fire, still unwilling and unable to wipe the goofy grin from my face.

“Let me see it again,” she said, for at least the tenth time that night. Obligingly, I held out my hand, happy to be back on one of my favorite subjects: how gorgeous my new ring was.

“He did such a great job,” she sighed, staring down at the bling.

“I know,” I said, snatching my hand back so I, too, could gaze down at the ring. It was perfect, exactly what I would have picked for myself. A smallish round cut diamond surrounded by side clusters of baguettes. It sparkled nicely in the light from the fire, and I sighed, loving the look of it on my finger. The diamonds weren’t huge, not by any means, but I didn’t care about that. His budget might not have been big, but I knew Chris had put a lot of effort into finding something special and beautiful.

“I’m glad he didn’t let me help him,” Emily said. “I wanted to, you know. When he told me what he had planned for this weekend, I begged him to let me pick it out. But he said he wanted to do it himself. I think he picked perfectly.”

I smiled at that, thinking how sweet my fiancé was. Fiancé! I still couldn’t believe I got to call him that now.

“When did he tell you?” I asked, looking across the room. Chris, Ryan, Brooke, and Elliot were standing near the kitchen, drinking spiked hot chocolate from large mugs, and laughing about something. Paul had gone off to do something inn related, leaving Brooke to enjoy the time with her friends. A few guests were at the other side of the room, playing a board game, but mostly everyone else had drifted up to their rooms by now, leaving us to enjoy the fire and each other’s company in relative privacy.

“Just last week,” she said, leaning back against the pillows of the couch. “He told me he wanted to bring you up here as a surprise ages ago, though. Said he wanted Elliot and me to come, too. I think he’d been planning to do it this weekend ever since then.”

“What about Ryan?” I asked softly, looking up to see our friend head into the kitchen, probably in search of more Bailey’s for his drink.

Emily shook her head. “I felt so bad about that, last weekend. Chris didn’t invite him because he knew he wouldn’t have anyone to bring with him. You know how weird he gets when we’re all paired up and he isn’t.” She had a point. At first, Ryan had been dead set against Chris and me even dating. He thought it would ruin the group dynamic. I think he was really just worried that Chris wouldn’t be able to spend as much time with him. Once Emily and Elliot had gotten together, he got even weirder about being around the four of us. I hated to think about him feeling left out.

“So why’d he decide to ask him after all?”

“I think he just realized it would be really sad to have this great news and not have Ry here to share it.”

“I’m glad he asked him,” I said firmly as Ryan came back into the room. He caught sight of us from across the doorway and began to make his way over. I imagined telling Ryan about the engagement when we got back to town, pictured his face falling as he realized we had all celebrated it together without him.
Thank God Chris changed his mind
, I thought.

“Are the two of you still gaga over the ring?” he asked, squeezing himself between us on the couch.

I laughed. “Pretty much.” He took my hand and smiled.

“The boy did good,” he said, looking down at the diamond. “So, Ash, do I get to be your maid of honor?”

“I think my fiancé might have a problem with that,” I said. “Considering he’ll probably need you to be the best man.”

“I do look pretty fantastic in a black tux,” he said. I watched his face carefully for any sign of worry or sadness, but he seemed genuinely happy. Maybe he had finally realized that Chris and I would never ditch him, no matter what happened.

“Did you call your folks yet?” he asked.

I shook my head. “I want to tell them in person.” I felt a shiver of excitement. “I can’t wait to see my mom’s face.”

“She’ll be over the moon,” Emily agreed. “She’ll have the entire thing planned within a month.”

I laughed. “I miss your mom,” Ryan said wistfully, pulling his feet up on the coffee table in front of us. “I haven’t had food half as good as hers in months.”

My mom and Ryan had gotten along perfectly from the first time they’d met. They were very similar in a lot of ways; both stylish, put together, and appreciative of the finer things in life. My parents lived in a big old rambling house on the Detroit River. The house was my mom’s pride and joy. She spent most of her life taking care of it, decorating, and searching for the perfect pieces to keep it just modern enough and up to her standard of traditional chic. Ryan had always loved coming to stay at their house; he spent most of our school breaks there since he wasn’t on the best terms with his own family.

“I bet you’ll be seeing a lot of her now,” I said. “She’ll want your opinion on everything.”

“She knows good taste when she sees it,” he said airily, and Emily snorted. Ryan turned to her. “Well, she’ll need some help from
someone
. God knows she won’t be able to get any style advice from you—the girl who doesn’t know the difference between lilies and roses.”

Emily punched him. “Hey, hey, no violence,” Chris said, coming over to join us with Elliot at his side. Chris sprawled out on the floor at my feet, and I immediately reached down to take his hand. Our few minutes apart while we talked in different groups were the first we’d spent all evening.

“Where’s Brooke?” Emily asked.

“She had some things to check on in the dining room,” Chris said. “Apparently there are some guests playing poker back there. So, what were you guys talking about?”

“About how happy my mom will be to have the expert help of Ryan in planning the wedding,” I explained. Chris groaned.

“Oh God,” he muttered, making Emily and me laugh.

“You had no idea what you were getting yourself into, did you?” Emily asked.

“Oh, I knew, believe me, I knew,” he said, winking at me. “Doesn’t mean I have to like it.”

“We’ll be planning our own wedding,” I assured him. “Whatever Ryan and my mother might say.”

“When are you gonna tell them?” Elliot asked.

“Aren’t we supposed to be having dinner there this week?” Chris asked, looking up at me.

“Oh, that’s right, Tuesday!” I said, remembering. I tried to see my parents ever other week, at the very least, but my dad had been out of town on business. We had arranged to go have dinner on Tuesday, one of the few weeknights they weren’t bogged down with charity, church, or bridge club meetings. My parents were pretty active socially.

“Well, that will work out perfectly,” I said, looking down at my ring again. “I was thinking we’d just drive down tomorrow instead of going straight home. But, this way they won’t be suspicious when we show up Tuesday because they’ll be expecting us anyhow.”

“Do you think you can manage to wait that long?” Chris gave me a knowing look. “It is three whole days away. You’ll probably talk to your mom at least four times between now and then.”

I laughed, as did Emily and Ryan. I knew I had a reputation of talking to my mom more than most people. I wasn’t embarrassed though; I was proud of the fact that we were close.
Everyone
loved my mom. “Man, I hope I can wait,” I said, sighing mock-dramatically. “You know me though, I’ll probably just spill it the next time she calls.”