Page 251 of ClickBack

“You did.”

“Did Graves complain?”

“Graves had plenty to say.”

“I imagine he did.”

“He told me we had to go. I told him to give me a minute. Then I kept standing there.”

She leans against the passenger door while I put her bag inside. “You were very sure of yourself when you finally came over.”

“I was trying to get you to dinner.”

“You were trying to get me upstairs.”

“That, too.”

Her laugh comes out full and immediate. I love that I know it now, and that it can still make me look at her as hard as I did the first time.

“I liked talking to you,” I say. “Even when you were giving me a hard time.”

“I remember you participating.”

“I wanted you to keep looking at me.”

She stops smiling quite so much. “I was having trouble doing anything else.”

I step closer. She has to look up a little, but she holds my eyes. I reach into my pocket.

“Jay?”

I get down on one knee. Her hand leaves the car and comes toward me before she catches herself. I take it.

“Oh,” she says, and then my name, barely above a whisper.

I had the box open at home so many times that I thought I had worked out how to do this without looking down. I have to look anyway. My thumb catches the hinge, and she gives a little laugh that sounds as unsteady as I feel.

“Giselle, I love you.”

She nods, pressing her lips together.

“I want to marry you. I want you coming home to me, and I want to know you’re there when I get home. When we can’t be in the same place, I want us figuring out how soon we can.”

Her fingers tighten in mine. I rub them because I need to do something with my hand besides let it shake.

“I like our life. Even the parts we’re still working out. I want the rest of it with you.”

A tear reaches her cheek. She wipes it away and laughs at herself, then looks straight at me again.

“Will you marry me?”

“Yes.”

I have been holding myself ready for her to need time. The answer comes so quickly that I have to hear it again.

“Yes, Jarrett.” She reaches for me. “Come here.”

I get up and she is in my arms, her face against my neck, laughing and crying while I hold her. I press my mouth to her hair. There are things I could say now. None of them get past the fact that she said yes.