I

built houses for a living. There were days that were labor intensive, and there were days that consisted of me sitting in a chair for eight hours. The spectrum was wide, but I considered my job fairly active.

I was wrong.

Rose’s job was active.

It was only four in the afternoon and I was exhausted.

Granted, we were doing things she and her team didn’t usually do, but still, she was like an energizer bunny. She just kept going. And going.

The first chance I got, I was taking her to a tropical island for a week. And I wasn’t going to give anyone the phone number to where we were staying.

She’d insisted on getting up at 6:00 a.m. and coming with me to meet my crew at the estate. She’d helped and generally just charmed the pants off my team. By the time the place was spick and span, all my guys were tripping over themselves to talk to her.

I couldn’t blame them. She wore those damn black stretchy pants.

She was currently running around, instructing different vendors on where to set up their stuff, while her employees worked on the lists she’d given them.

Riley and I were in charge of getting the chairs set up around the tables. It wasn’t hard to do, but a thousand chairs were a chore.

“Rose mentioned that your mom showed up at the cabin,” Riley stated as she unfolded the white wooden chair and lined it up with a place setting that had already been put on the table.

“She sure did,” I said with a laugh. “And aside from the fact that my mom had really, really, bad timing, it actually turned out okay. I think Rose liked my mom, and I know my mom loves Rose already. It’s hard not to love her.”

“I agree,” Riley replied with a smile she tried to hide from me. She was quiet for a moment, but I could tell she had more to say, so I waited. I knew Riley well enough to know she couldn’t keep quiet for long if she had something on her mind. “Okay, can I just say...” she started, making me smile. “I think you owe me a little bit of credit.”

“For what?” I barked out on a laugh.

She scoffed at me and then, with her hands on her hips, said, “If I hadn’t been sick that one day, it would have been me in the port-o-potty with you and you would have never met her.”

We were both quiet for a moment, then I relented.

“Okay, you got me. I do owe you.”

“Told you,” she teased. “All I want is an invitation to your wedding.” She said the words with a shrug and I said the first thing that came to my mind.

“Sure thing.”

Then I realized what I’d said. And with that realization came the most satisfied, content feeling I’d ever had.

I was going to marry Rose.

I was just as sure of that as I was that the sky was blue or the ocean was wet. It was just a fact. Rose was it for me.

Riley’s eyes went wide, and she turned, trying to hide her reaction.

“Tell me, Aiden. How’d you convince the owner to let you use the property for this?”

“It wasn’t hard. He figured since we were having the fundraiser here anyway, it wasn’t that big of a deal.”

“It was that easy?” she asked, pressing the issue.

“I may have also offered a severe discount on my fee for renovating.”

“Aiden.” She gasped. “Does Rose know?”

“She doesn’t. And I don’t want you telling her either. She’ll throw a fit. She already gave up the fee for throwing this party. And that was the right thing to do. I’m not going to make her pay to use this place too.”

“Well, aren’t you just the knight in shining armor?”

“Come on now, Riley. You and I both know Rose isn’t a damsel in distress. She doesn’t need me to save her.”

“No, you’re right. But she’d love you to help her.”

“And I’ll happily do that as long as she’ll let me.”

“Aiden,” Rose called from the other side of the tent.

I winked at Riley, then turned to Rose. “Yeah, babe?”

“Can you help Justin and Camden put the dance floor together?”

“Anything you need, sweetheart.”

Rose smiled, then went to oversee something else. Once she couldn’t see us anymore, Riley made a gagging noise.

“You guys are too sweet. I think I’m going to be sick.”

“Just remember whose fault this is.”

Hours later, everything was set up, the place looked spectacular, and the fancy buses were pulling up the hill with the partygoers.

“This is it,” Rose said, standing next to me in a professional-looking black dress. Around six she’d sent everyone home, and most of them had refused. She told everyone to take an hour and get something to eat and come back in black, so an army had arrived to help with whatever she needed. She was surprised by the support, but I wasn’t.

She was also surprised that I owned black dress pants. And a white button-down shirt.

The wonders never ceased, apparently.

“You did a great job today, Rose. They’re going to have a blast. Who wouldn’t love this party?” I looked around and only confirmed my statement. The Belmont Estate looked like it was out of some sort of movie. There were twinkle lights in all the trees, everything had a soft golden glow, and it could have easily been a party for A-list celebrities.

“I hope so. I can’t imagine looking forward to celebrating a successful marriage, hitting that milestone, and then having a terrible experience at your own party. I just want them to experience something worthy of their marriage, you know? I want them to have a beautiful memory to look back on.”

“Well, when we celebrate forty years, we can take a trip around the world or something.”

She turned toward me a little and gave me a funny look, almost as though she were nervous.

“You think we’re going to get married?”

“Oh, I know it, sweetheart.” I reached over and linked my pinky through hers. I wanted to pull her close and wrap my arms around her, but I knew she was in boss mode, so I had to be covert about my affection. Lord knew if we were anywhere else I would have already stripped that stupid black dress off her.

“I’ve never been to France,” she said with a shrug.

“Me neither.”

We stood there, watching the guests exit the bus, all of them oohing and awing over the estate and the view.

“Here we go,” she said, taking in a deep breath.

I quickly brought her hand to my lips, kissing the back of it, then winking at her.

“Go get ’em. I’ll be here if you need me.”

“Thank you,” she mouthed.

The rest of the night I made myself available.

Rose didn’t need me at all, never once sought me out to ask for assistance.

But I was there anyway, helping her along the way.