Blushing Pink (40 page)

A voice deep inside her answered,
Because we're falling in love.

And this time, she paid attention.

Epilogue

One year later

"Brock, phone call!" Tina announced, bringing Reese the receiver and slapping her on the back with camaraderie, but nearly knocking the wind out of her. Reese forced a smile to cover the pain, and took the phone.

"Hello?"

"Sweetheart? It's Mom."

"Oh, hi. Is everything okay?" Reese asked, surprised her mother was calling her at work, but not too worried about getting in trouble for a personal call. The cafe, like the rest of the store, was pretty dead because it was six-thirty on a Friday evening. In fact, soon Brian would be picking her up to take her to dinner at their favorite restaurant downtown. Anyway, Darcy had left early to go to a concert, and ever since Reese had been transferred to permanent cafe duty, and Amy had taken her place as a bookseller, the boss lady didn't dog her heels nearly as much. Too bad for Amy, but Reese wasn't about to complain.

"Oh, everything's fine!" Joanna enthused. "Actually, I have some wonderful news for you—oh, I just can't believe it!"

"What?" Reese asked, feeling her heart skip, though she had no clue what the news could be. "What is it?"

"Oh, God, Angela and I tried to call you before but the store line's been busy forever, and your cell phone's off," she said rapidly, not taking a breath, "This is just so wonderful—I'm just so proud of you, sweetheart!"

"So am I!" she heard Angela call from the background.

"Mom, slow down. Just tell me what it is."

"Okay, well, Angela and I were here baking
pain aux noir
when we got the call. Of course, Angela's been eating most of the walnuts—"

"I have cravings," Angela called, half giggling. "I can't help it!"

"All right, honey, I know, I know."

"What
is
it?" Reese said, getting impatient.

"Sorry, sweetheart. Anyway, the senior editor of Peridot Press called, and she said she loved your manuscript!"

"What!" she screamed, and Tina whipped around to see what all the commotion was.

"She wants you to call her!" Joanna cheered.

"Omigod, I don't believe it!"

"Oh, sweetheart, I'm so proud of you," Joanna said. Angela yelled, "Me, too, me, too!" They talked and celebrated for a few more minutes before Reese said, "Okay, I gotta go, 'cause I'm at work; but I'll call you when I get out."

"All right, bye, honey! We're so proud of you."

After she hung up with her mom, Reese did a little victory dance in place. And here she'd just started her dissertation a couple of months ago.
Life is so ironic it really should be predictable.
But she'd figure everything out later.

Right now, all she could think about was telling Brian. He was the first person to read her story. He'd proofread it, fact-checked it, and she knew he'd be so proud of her.

Looking up at the clock, she was definitely too excited to finish wiping down the milk steamer. Where
was
he? This was too good to be true.... God, where was that man?

Tina asked her what was going on, and after Reese told her, Tina slapped her on the back much too hard, and asked if there was any sex in the book, because Freddy might be able to use a few pointers. Reese assured her that there was a little sex, and left out the part about Brian needing
no
pointers as far as she was concerned. Actually, the best thing about sleeping with Brian was the way he always cuddled next to her afterward, and kissed her shoulder right before they went to sleep. Brian, Brian... she needed him
now.
She couldn't wait—

Then she saw him coming. Her heart pounded in her ears; her palms began to sweat. She felt a zing of exhilaration and a nervousness that didn't make much sense, but was one of the most exciting feelings she'd ever had, and just as he got to the steps of the cafe, she knew she couldn't wait for him to come to her.

Running across the shiny wood floor, she heard the frantic clicking of her heels and felt the familiar warmth and strength of his body as she flung her arms around him.

"Hey," he said, laughing. "Glad to see me?"

"Oh, Brian, you'll never believe it!" she yelped, gripping him tightly.

"What?" he asked, hugging her back, while he set her feet on the ground. "Hon, what is it?" he said as she pulled him over to an empty table.

They'd barely sat down when she blurted the news. Instantly his face broke into a warm, open smile that she knew intimately and loved to pieces. "Oh, my God!" he shouted, "That's incredible!" He pulled her up out of her seat and hugged her enough to drag her one or two inches off the ground. "Jesus, I'm so proud of you," he said.

Suddenly Tina approached them, saying, "Here's a little something special...."

Reese and Brian pulled apart as Tina carried two small mugs of espresso on little saucers. Instantly, alarm crossed Brian's face, and he started shaking his head.

"Come on, sit down, you two; have a drink before you head out," Tina said, her voice taking on a strange quality.

Reese slumped back into her seat. "What's this?" she asked, confused, since they hadn't ordered anything.

"Ah, no," Brian hedged.

"Come on, just a couple cups of espresso before you hit the road," Tina explained, a little
too
matter-of-factly. "Drink up!"

"No, no," Brian said quickly. "That's all right; we should probably just get go—"

"Hey, what's this?" Reese saw a little shiny gold thing glimmer next to her cup. She picked it up, and almost fainted. It was a ring! And not just a ring... a gold ring with a sparkling diamond in the center. Her jaw dropped so hard it almost creaked; Brian was shaking his head in his hand. "Brian?"

"Reese, I—Oh, hell, this is your moment. I planned this before I knew—"

"Okay, smile!"

She looked over to see Ally hovering over the railing that separated the bookstore and the cafe, holding up her disposable camera. Ben was standing next to her, looking guiltily uninvolved. "Wha—what are you doing here?" Reese asked, now more confused than ever.

"That's not a smile—come on, you two; get closer together," Ally ordered, motioning with one of her ring-clad hands. Reese looked to Brian again; he was looking back intently, knowingly, and maybe a little plaintively.

Then he said, "Reese, I wanted to propose to you tonight. I set the ring thing up with Tina... but now I feel like I'm totally overshadowing your big news...."

"You mean... you were gonna propose to me here?" she asked, overtaken by the sweetness. "In the cafe?"

"Well, it's where it all began. Sort of," he said.

"So... now you're not gonna propose to me anymore?" she asked, feeling a trace of a smile on her face, and some warm wetness pooling in her lower lids.

Soon it blurred her vision, and Brian's face was a little glossed over when he said, "Oh, God, of course I am." Taking her hand in his, he said, "Reese, I love you so much, and I want to marry you." He paused. "Will you marry me?"

"Yes. I will," she whispered, and bounced off her chair to fall into his arms, as Ally's camera clicked like crazy, and flashes went off like strobe lights.

Reese and Brian's mouths met in a soft, tender kiss. He murmured, "I told Ben about the proposal... I guess Ally must've gotten it out of him."

Reese laughed. "Hmm, I'm shocked." Then she leaned in to whisper in his ear, "Of
course
I'll marry you. I love you so much, I want to be with you always."

Pulling back, he looked deeply into her eyes. "I'm so proud of you about the book, I—"

"I couldn't have done it without you," she said, kissing his cheek, loving the roughened hint of his shave, and the clean smell of his skin.

"Yes, you could have," he said, "but I'm glad you didn't."

Tears touched the corners of her eyes as Brian's proposal echoed through her mind and wrapped around her heart.

Brian tightened his embrace, and smiled into her eyes.

Meanwhile, Ben was trying to steer his wife away to give Reese and Brian some privacy, but Ally was determined to take pictures first.
"Wait,"
she protested, "I need to get a 'tears of joy' shot first C'mon, Reese, work it for the camera." She clicked like crazy, while Ben put his head in his hands.

A tear slid from Reese's eye, and Brian swept it away with his thumb before she even realized it was there.

Reese supposed everything else hadn't really sunk in yet, because it was
this
that made her smile. All of this that made it hard to breathe. For a moment the cafe seemed to spin around, chaotic but wonderful because it made such perfect sense, and she laughed to herself.

Sometimes the little things just filled her up.

The End

Excerpt from

Lime Ricky

by

Jill Winters

Chapter 1