Page 104 of Pity Prank
Thomas takes it and opens it up. Inside are two calendars. The first is the initial one we shot for his parents that I never had printed. The second is a project Thomas and I have been working on over the last few months. We’ve taken inspiration from Margaret and Bob’s photo shoots and have been reenacting romance novel covers of our own. The final product is pretty amazing.
Thomas opens that calendar and exclaims, “I don’t care what anyone says, we could do this for a living.”
“We do look pretty great,” I tell him. “I can see why Margaret and Bob never seem to tire of it.”
“I will model for you anytime you want me to,” he says. And I believe him. Thomas has been nothing but supportive and excited about what I do. He puts the calendars away before handing me a small box of his own.
I take it greedily but before I can get the lid off, he says, “This isn’t the only gift.”
“You spoil me,” I tell him with a smile on my face. Then I untie the bow and open the lid. Inside is a car key.
As I hold it up, Thomas tells me, “It’s the key to this car. Now that you’ve become such a great driver, I think it’s time for you to own it.”
“You’re giving me my dream car?!” I have no words.
Thomas points to the glove box. “The rest of your gift is in there.”
I excitedly open the glove compartment, and sure enough it’s full of all my favorite snacks. There are granola bars, mini boxes of raisins, and my favorite strawberry wafer cookies. “You remembered!” I say before throwing my arms around him. “You are the best boyfriend in the whole world!”
He holds me tightly before whispering in my ear, “You missed something,”
Turning back toward the glove compartment, I start to take out my snacks, and that’s when I see it. A small robin’s egg blue velvet box. My whole world feels like it’s stopped moving, and the gravitational fluctuation that results makes me a little dizzy.
“Open it,” Thomas says.
So, I do. Inside is the most beautiful diamond solitaire ring I could ever imagine. It’s huge, too. “Thomas …” I start to say but the rest of the sentence gets caught in my throat.
He takes my hand in his. “Finley Harper, you have been the most unexpected, delightful, and all-around surprising gift of my life. I love you and I never want to spend a day without you. Would you do me the great honor of becoming my wife?”
My body erupts in a sensation of pure joy. “I would be honored to be married to such a fabulous and sexy model,” I tell him. “My answer is yes, Thomas.”
He takes the ring out of the box and puts it on the appropriate finger before saying, “I will always be your model, but I think I’d better keep my day job, too.” Thomas loves being a general practitioner. He’s become friends with a surprising number of people doing what he does.
In the end, Elk Lake has given us both the gift of a lifetime. It has brought us together and we are going to create our own family here as a tribute.
