Page 165 of The Shot You Missed
The crowd lets out a collectiveawwwww, and so does Griffin, which starts a cascade of laughter in the audience.
“Not only did he stand guard the way he promised, but he offered to do it again the next day. By the end of the week, he was my best friend.” When I meet Bash’s gaze, it’s soft and happy. It took us a long time and plenty of twists and turns to get to this point, but we found our way back to each other. And we’ll never allow ourselves to be separated again. “I was completely in love with him by the end of the summer.”
“So, how did he propose?” a fan asks, leaning forward in her seat with wide-eyed interest.
Chuckling, I recall our second to last evening in Bar Harbor.
“Where are we going?”I ask Bash as he leads me down the beach with our fingers intertwined. He’s been uncharacteristically quiet tonight. Maybe he’s as sad to leave this little island as I am.
Spending the last month here has been amazing. We got to relive the best parts of our summers together and rewrite the worst. We even crashed the periphery of a teenage bonfire in the same place where I saw that girl kiss Bash all those summers ago. We watched from the outskirts and speculated about what life might have been like if I’d watched even five seconds longer before running away that night. But ultimately, we agreed that, while we hate that we missed all that time together, things ended up the way they should have in the end.
“Almost there,” he says with a gentle smile over his shoulder. “I promise it will be worth it.”
“It better be,” I say right before we walk around a bend in the beach and I see it.
Right there, in the spot where he saved me as kids, is a beautiful table set with a gauzy white tablecloth, a massive floral arrangement, two spindly chairs, and lights strung up on poles planted in the sand around the table. Sheer curtain panels flutter in the breeze, strung up along wires between the poles, giving the setting an air of privacy while not obscuring the view of the ocean.
“Oh my god,” I whisper as I take it all in.
“I’m told the curtain panels should keep the seagulls away.” Bash grins cheekily at me. “But if they don’t, I’ll protect you.”
Turning, I wrap my arms around him and press my face to his chest. “I know you will.”
Because he always has.
My stomach chooses that moment to growl, which makes Sebastian laugh. “Come on, Rosebud. I promise I’m going to feed you.” We wander over to the beautiful setup, but whenwe’re bathed in the golden glow of the string lights, he pauses. “But first, I need to ask you something.”
Butterflies take flight in my stomach. Is he…?
“I was going to wait until after dinner,” he says, laughing quietly to himself and shaking his head. “But the more I thought about it, the more I realized we’ve waited long enough.”
My hands flutter to my chest when he pulls a black velvet box out of his pocket and drops to one knee in the sand. Tears pool in my eyes, and I can’t stifle my gasp. The princess-cut diamond sparkles under the string lights. It’s beautiful. Radiant.
But it has nothing on the sparkle in the love of my life’s eyes.
“I can’t even tell you how many times I imagined doing this. Because it started when I was seventeen. I didn’t have the guts to tell you how I felt then, but trust me when I say that I loved you. Completely. Even throughout the years we were apart, I imagined this moment. Held on to the hope that we’d get here, eventually. I couldn’t let myself believe I’d lost you because, out of all the shots I’ve missed in my life, losing you was my biggest regret.”
When Bash reaches out to take my hand, I give it to him eagerly. Both of our hands tremble.
“I’m never letting you go again, Rosebud. Never. Which is why I’m down on one knee, more nervous than I was even in the third period of the last game of the Cup, asking you to be mine forever.” A tear slips down my cheek when he plucks the ring out of the box and positions it in front of my ring finger. “You’re my person, Indie. The love of my life. Time, distance, heartbreak…none of that could touch my love for you. Because you were made for me, and I was made for you. Will you make me the happiest man alive and agree to become my wife?” He sucks in a deep breath, his own rich brown eyes swimming with unshed tears. “Indie, will you marry me?”
“Yes,” I choke out through the tears that now pour freely. “Of course, yes. I’ve only been waiting for ten years.”
The moment he has the ring on my finger, he stands, wrapping his arms around me, and he spins us until I’m dizzy. We kiss under the stars and the twinkling strands of lights, and, for the first time since I broke both of our hearts that summer ten years ago, I know I’m going to get my own happily ever after. And it’s going to be with the boy who has always protected me and loved me better than anyone else ever could.
Shakingmy head to bring myself back to the present, I smile at the curious fan and say, “Let’s just say, he redeemed the spot where I was dive-bombed, and it was the most romantic moment of my life.”
I can tell the fans want the rest of the story, but some love stories are private.
“Any other questions?” Lola asks.
“I have one.” Griffin raises his hand like he’s in school, waving it in the air. His wife shakes her head affectionately, chuckling.
“Yes, Griffin?” Lola says through laughter.
“Uh, yeah. My name is Griffin. I’m your biggest fan,Violet.”He gives me a wink that is anything but subtle, and the crowd breaks out into laughter. “And I was wondering if you could sign something for me?”
“Of course I’d love to sign something for mybiggest fan, but you’ll have time after the Q and A is done. Or, you know, later tonight when we’re having dinner at your house.”
