Page 56 of Dancing in the Dark
Nash opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, the lights in the room went down, and Mason hopped up on the stage, grabbing the microphone in both hands.
“Welcome, everyone, to the Road Block and our very first Thursday Night Karaoke Party! In case you don’t know me, I’m Mason Wallace, and I own this humble little establishment. If you’re a regular, thanks for supporting us over the years, and if this is your first time at the Road Block, welcome! We’re so glad you’re here.” Mason paused, his eyes scanning the room and then settling on our party in the front. “For anyone who wants to take a turn at the mic tonight, the song slips are on the bar, so just go on over and fill one out. But for our first song, we have a very special guest—someone who was the inspiration for this new event at the Road Block. Give it up for Burton’s own . . . Nash Sampson!”
I looked around in surprise, but Nash was no longer sitting next to me. Instead, he was jumping onto the stage, taking the mic from Mason and then facing the crowd.
“Good evening.” Nash grinned at the crowd. “Mason isn’t lying—I did come up with the idea for karaoke on Thursday nights. And I did it for a purely selfish reason: I needed to sing a song to the woman I love, and I really didn’t want to drag her down to Crystal Cove to make it happen.”
There was a ripple of laughter over the crowd. Down the table, Charlie leaned forward and smiled at me, her eyes dancing.
“Thirty-six years ago, circumstance and just plain bad luck separated me from the girl I’d loved all through high school. For thirty-five years, the two of us navigated life’s highs and lows without each other—which brought us both some incredible blessings and some hard times.” Nash paused, his gaze sweeping over our group. “Then a year ago tonight, on the first night of the high school class reunion that we attended—separately—under duress, both of us?—”
Across from me, Reggie laughed.
“—the woman I’d been missing for most of my life walked in, and from that moment, my world has been brighter. Happier. Filled with the kind of love, laughter and joy that I had only dreamed could be possible.”
Tears stung my eyes, and I blinked them back, unwilling to look away from Nash.
“We have a history with karaoke—if you want to know, ask either of us, and we may or may not tell you—but tonight, I wanted to take this unique opportunity to tell Peyton Rivers how much I love her.”
Nash nodded to someone offstage, and music began to play. It took me a second to recognize the song as John Lennon’sWoman, a tune that had been released early in the 1980s but had remained popular throughout the decade.
But as Nash started to sing, I realized he had altered the lyrics. Every place John would have sung the wordwoman, Nash replaced it with my name.
It was a sweet and goofy gesture, but he sang with such heartfelt earnestness that I melted all over again.
What had I done right in this life to deserve a second chance like this—with a man like Nash? I might never know, but I was going to be grateful forever.
The song ended, and I stood up, ready to reward Nash with a hug and kiss—down payment for what would come later—but he didn’t set down the microphone or move from the stage. Instead, as the music faded, he looked out in the audience, his gaze focused on me and me alone.
“Peyton, over the last year, I’ve tried to show you and tell you every possible way that I can how much I love you. How much richer my life is because you’re in it—that I never want to live another day without you by my side.” He dropped down to one knee and held out his hand. A small box rested on his palm.
“Marry me, Peyton. Marry me not only because I love you now but because I loved you then. Marry me because our best days as still to come. Marry me because our lives are so much sweeter together.
“Marry me because I love you, and I always will.”
I was stunned into paralysis, but then Charlie was next to me, pushing me toward the stage. Once I was within reach, Nash rose to his feet and offered his hand, which I took as he pulled me up to stand within his arms.
“So . . . how about it?” he murmured, the microphone dropped on the floor next to us. “Will you marry me, Peyton?”
Slowly, I nodded my head. “Of course, I’ll marry you, Nash. I’ve only been waiting forever.”
A beautiful smile broke over his handsome face just before he lowered his head to cover my lips with his.
I was vaguely aware of wild applause, of whistles from our family and friends. When we paused to come up for air, I glanced out into the crowd and saw with happy surprise that in the back, Jude and Logan were there with Meghan, Sam, and a bunch of other Burton folks whom I’d come to know over the past year. How incredible it was that after a life lived mostly alone, with only Charlie and Peg by my side, I was now surrounded by the family I’d tried so hard to push away and forget.
And it was all because of the man who held me in his arms, the man who once upon a time had offered me his future and his heart . . . and even though I’d broken that heart, tonight he’d had the courage to place it in my hands once again.
This time, I was never going to let him go.
This time, my future was twined with his.
This time, we were going to live happily ever after.
