Page 125 of The Complication
“I love you,” she says first, straight and to the point. “You know I love you madly, right?”
“Yeah,” he says, one corner of his mouth lifting in a smile. “Yeah, I know you do.”
Sloane slides her thumb under the lid of the plastic bubble and pops off the top. Inside is a silver ring with a princess cut diamond set in the middle. She stares at its sparkle in the sunlight. She looks up at James and sees him impatient for her response.
“It’s bigger than I thought,” she says, taking it out of the plastic.
“I get that a lot,” James returns, eyes still impatient. Sloane laughs and studies the ring, finding their initials connected with a heart. James reaches for the ring and then takes her hand.
Sloane and James stare at each other as James waits for permission to put it on, his confidence only waning when it comes to the possibility of Sloane not feeling the same.
“Well?” Sloane whispers. “I think this is your part.”
James’s lips flinch with a smile, and then he shifts to get one knee down on the blanket in front of her. Sloane gets to her knees in return.
They’re both in damp bathing suits with sand sticking to their skin, but Sloane can’t imagine a better place. A more important place than next to the river.
“Will you marry me?” James asks suddenly, his voice tight with emotion. Sloane watches as tears slip onto his cheeks, his chest rising and falling rapidly.
It’s all come to this. The pain and grief are over; they’re free.
Sloane blinks and feels her own tears drip down. James slides the ring onto her finger, but she doesn’t want to look down. Doesn’t want to look away from him.
And the weight of the ring feels natural; it feels right.
Sloane brings her arms over James’s shoulders, threading her fingers through the back of his hair.
“Yes,” she says simply. “The answer was always yes, even when you were just joking.”
“I was never joking,” James says. “Because it’s always been about us.” He leans in and kisses her, laying her back on the blanket. Their tears fade away, evaporating from the heat of their skin pressed together.
“It’s us forever, Sloane,” he murmurs. “Just like I promised.” It’s a promise he’s never broken.
•••
And so later, when Sloane stares at the top of their tent, James between her legs as her fingernails dig into his back, she knows he was right.
It has always been about them. And it always will be.
