Just Say Yes (Just Say Yes #2) (28 page)

“I know it’s been months, but this song made me jump on a plane to get to you when I couldn’t stand being away from you for another second. It’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made, and I won’t ever forget that weekend, Zoey.”

Andy started strumming his guitar and sang “New York” to me. When he finished the song, I was in tears because he sang it so perfectly. He set his guitar aside on the picnic blanket.

“Ready for some dessert?” he asked before I could say anything.

All I could do was nod. I was feeling emotional from his speech before the song because I hadn’t realized how much it meant to him. I watched as he opened the ice chest again and pulled out a small, covered tray. Arranged on the tray were several different pieces of fancy dark chocolate. He took another bottle of wine out and poured us half a glassful each.

“Thank you,” I whispered, as I looked him in the eyes. I walked across the blanket on my knees to sit on his lap.

“You’re welcome,” he replied, kissing me on the tip of my nose. “Now, let’s eat some of this chocolate before it melts. My aunt says it’s good with this wine.” I didn’t budge. I needed to be close to him.

I picked up a piece of chocolate off the tray and held it up to his mouth. He took it gently from my fingers with his teeth, then took a piece from the tray and fed it to me. We shared the tray of chocolate and a glass of wine while we fed each other in between kisses.

When we finished dessert, he patted my leg. “It’s time for my last song.”

I gave him one final kiss then moved off his lap, back to the blanket. He stood up with his guitar in his hand and took a seat on top of the ice chest, resting his guitar on his thigh. There was no speech this time before Andy started the beginning chords of “Just Say Yes.”

Throughout the whole song, he never broke eye contact with me. His eyes were almost pleading with me, and I didn’t understand why. When he finished the song, he stood and propped his guitar against the tree. He held his hands down to me and pulled me up to stand with him.

“I have one more surprise for you. Close your eyes.”

I closed my eyes and his lips brushed against mine before he released my hands. I heard him moving around while I waited, wondering what he was up to.

“Open your eyes, Zoey,” he said so quietly I almost didn’t hear him.

When I opened my eyes, I found him sitting back on his heels on the blanket in front of me. My heart immediately started thumping in my chest and I became lightheaded. Was he really doing
this
? I took a step toward him and he reached out, taking my left hand in his.

Oh my God, he is really doing this!

My eyes pooled up with tears as he began to speak, and goose bumps broke out all over my body even as hot as it was outside in the middle of August. I wanted to say yes to him right then, but he had planned such a special day for me that I needed to let him continue.

“Zoey,” he said so nervously his voice shook with emotion. “I’ve never told you before, but I knew I loved you the first week I knew you. We’ve been through a few tough times, but we made it through because we didn’t give up on each other. I can’t imagine spending the rest of my life without you by my side.”

He held a ring in his hand as he looked into my eyes with a gorgeous smile on his face. “Will you marry me, Beautiful?”

Tears were sliding down my cheeks before he even had the entire question out, and I couldn’t breathe. Overcome with emotion, I was literally speechless, so I frantically nodded my head.

“Is that a yes, Zoey?” He chuckled, but I noticed his eyes were getting a bit watery.

I nodded again and covered my mouth to stifle the loud, happy sob that was on its way out.

“Come on. You know which word I need to hear come from your sweet lips.” He was grinning at me, waiting for me to say
yes
. I removed my hand from my mouth and finally breathed out.

“Y-yes…yes, I’ll marry you.”

I dropped to my knees in front of him, threw my arms around him, and cried the most intense, happy tears of my life. He kissed the top of my head then wiped the tears from my face.

“Don’t you want to see your ring?” he asked as he brushed my hair over my shoulders.

He could have given me a plastic ring from a gumball machine, for all I cared, but I noticed the blue Tiffany & Co. box sitting on the blanket next to him. I gathered myself together enough to stop crying, sat back on my heels in front of him, and nodded.

Andy took my left hand again, lifted it, and slid the ring onto my finger. It was a perfect fit.

I finally had the nerve to look down at my engagement ring and gasped the second I saw it.

It had a huge, princess cut diamond in the center with a diamond-encrusted band. I’d never seen a more beautiful ring in my life. It was stunning the way it sparkled in the sunlight that filtered through the willow tree.

“Andy…it’s too much,” I whispered, because I knew the ring cost him a fortune.

“No, it’s not too much for you, Zoey. It can never be too much,” he said candidly. He stood up and pulled me with him to wrap me in his arms. “Thank you. You don’t know how happy you’ve made me today.”

We finally tore ourselves away from each other after a while. He pulled my left hand up to his mouth and kissed my ring finger. “It looks perfect on you.”

I held my hand out to look at it again. “It’s a beautiful ring, Andy. I never expected this, and I know I was bugging you last night about getting married—”

With a gorgeous smile on his face, he put two fingers over my lips to shut me up. “Stop, I’ve had the ring since June. I’ve just been waiting for the right time to ask you…when I was sure you were ready.”

Finally, I was starting to think clearly.
Did he just say June?

“June?” I asked in disbelief. That was two months ago.

“Yes. I bought it the day of Jess and Noah’s parties. That’s where I was the day we didn’t get to talk until we met at the bar.”

I laughed at the memory because it was a shitty day for me, and there he was, out buying me the most exquisite engagement ring I’d ever laid eyes on.

“Is this why you said we’d talk about it later?” He grinned, and I knew I was right. “So, you’ve been planning this for a while then?”

He nodded. “I asked my aunt for help when I made our plans to come here. She helped me get everything ready last night so I could bring it out here while you were sleeping.” He smirked. “I almost proposed to you that day in the car on the way to the wedding reception, when we pulled into the parking lot and had our talk, but you and your big mouth interrupted me before I could get the question out.”

I loved the playful grin that spread over his face when he said that. I remembered the conversation clearly, and I
did
cut him off when he was talking to me.

“Sorry about my big mouth. Next time you have an important question to ask me, tell me to shut up, please.”

“Next time, I definitely will,” he teased.

“Hey, let’s take a picture and send it to everyone to see if they notice the ring!” I was so excited to share the news with our friends and families. I smiled, still not believing everything he did for me.

Andy pulled his phone out of his pocket and readied the camera. He took several photos of us posing with my left hand and ring in the photo, but not focusing on it directly.

We decided on a photo of us facing each other, him kissing my forehead. Both of us had our eyes closed, with my left hand resting along his jaw line and neck. We sent the picture to my family, my friends, and Andy’s aunt and uncle. Within minutes, we received several texts back from everyone congratulating us.

Andy shut off his phone and there, underneath the giant willow tree, Andy and I made love on the picnic blanket and celebrated our engagement, slowly and sweetly. We took our time loving each other. And afterward, we held each other close and reveled in our perfect day.

Later that evening, I sat on the edge of the bed slipping on my high heels as Andy stood in front of the mirror, adding a little dab of gel to his palm to run through his damp hair. After our picnic, we came back to the house and lounged around until it was time to get ready for our dinner out.

I stood from the bed and walked to the mirror to check my makeup one last time before we left. Standing next to Andy in my strapless, purple satin dress, I watched him in the mirror. “You look very handsome.”

He was wearing black dress pants and a black button up shirt with a black tie. As usual, his long sleeves were rolled to just below his elbows. His all black clothing set off his blue eyes, making them brighter. He smiled as his eyes met mine in our reflections. He turned to face me, took my left hand in his, and brushed his lips across my knuckles, where he stopped at my giant engagement ring.

“I can’t believe this is happening,” I whispered, my voice trembling slightly with emotion.

He looked at me apprehensively. “What do you mean?”

I let out a long, shaky breath. “I just mean…look at everything we went through at the beginning, and now we’re
engaged
. I never thought this would be happening.”

His large hands gently cupped my face. “Zoey, are you okay with this?” He thought I was getting overwhelmed.

“Yes,” I said truthfully, because I was more than okay with it. I would marry him that minute if I could. “This whole year has gone by so quickly. I never thought I would be getting married again. Please, trust me. I am thrilled to be marrying you. Today has been the best day of my life.”

I pulled him down to me and placed a light kiss to his lips.

“I love you, Andy. You are my life. I’ve never been happier, and I can’t wait to be your wife. After we get married, I promise we will talk seriously about babies. Just give me until then, please.”

He nodded happily, kissing me back. “Let’s go out and celebrate then, shall we?” he asked as he took my hand and guided me out the bedroom door.

Andy started down the stairs, and I stopped at the top, forcing him to stop too since he had a hold of my hand. He turned back to me.

“What is it, Zoey?”

“Move in with me when we get home.”

He walked back up the stairs and embraced me. “Yes. I will move in with you. I thought you would never ask.” He kissed me gently and told me he loved me.

We went downstairs to meet Hamish and Sarah for Andy’s birthday dinner. His birthday was still a couple of weeks away, but it was the only weekend his aunt and uncle had time to get together to celebrate with him. I was planning a surprise party for him at my place on the day of his birthday, but they couldn’t get away from the vineyard to come.

“Look at you two all dressed up. Very nice,” Hamish said to us when we met him and Sarah in the living room.

“A.J., you better keep an eye on this girl tonight. The rock on her finger can probably be seen from space,” Sarah chimed in as she lifted my hand to inspect my ring. “I’m so happy for you both. A second chance at love doesn’t always come around.”

Of course, my eyes welled up with tears. I was deliriously happy. “Thank you, Sarah,” I said as I hugged her.

“I hate to break up the hug fest here, ladies, but we need to get on the road for dinner,” Hamish joked. We gathered our purses and headed out the door.

The four of us talked on the way to another vineyard about ten miles from the house. When we arrived, the parking lot was filling up quickly, but Sarah had made reservations for us the week before.

After we were seated, Sarah ordered a bottle of champagne for us to celebrate our engagement and Andy’s birthday. We ordered our dinners and a couple of appetizers to eat while we were waiting.

“Zoey, do you have any ideas on what kind of wedding you would like?” Sarah asked.

I smiled and looked over at Andy. “Well, we haven’t really had the chance to talk about it too much yet, but I think I’d like something small, probably with just our families and close friends. What do you think, Andy?”

He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. “I’m so happy you said yes I haven’t even thought about what to do next.”

Andy took my hand in his and gently rubbed his thumb over mine. “I’ll say yes to whatever you want to do though,” he said as he gazed lovingly into my eyes.

“How about we find a justice of the peace Monday morning?” I laughed. “I’m ready now.”

Our appetizers arrived, and as we ate, we talked about wedding ideas. We discussed everything from a huge wedding to a small wedding with only our family and friends at the Tate’s house or the vineyard’s main house.

I found myself watching Andy a lot through dinner. He never stopped smiling, never took his eyes off me or his aunt and uncle. He seemed to be genuinely happy and content. He even shared a few stories about his mom, dad, and sister. It had me thinking again about the ‘kids by age thirty’ thought of his.

By the time our dinner arrived, I was a little sick to my stomach from worrying about it. I told him we would get serious about it after the wedding, and I meant it. He had a ring on my finger and a promise to marry him, so I hoped it would be enough until then.