Chapter 22
‡
ONE MONTH LATER
Sunset Canyon, CA
Marco checked his phone and saw that he’d missed two texts from his mom. One wishing him good luck and the other to say that he didn’t need luck. She might be more nervous about this than he was.
When he put his phone back in his pocket, he noticed that his hands were shaking and his palms were damp. But it wasn’t from nerves. It was anticipation, just like he’d had when he’d free-dived, and swam with sharks. And just like those times, he wanted to get on with it. He just wanted to do it.
He started to pace as his pulse beat wildly. He could feel it in his chest, his neck, and even in his stomach. He gulped over the lump in his throat.
“Come on,” he said impatiently under his breath as he looked out and saw that the sun was starting to dip below the horizon.
It wouldn’t be the end of the world if they missed the sunset, but he wanted everything to be perfect.
Minutes passed, and it felt like an eternity as he paced. He pulled his phone out to check it again when he heard the door open. Devon stepped out first, and Sydney was behind her.
It had been four long weeks since he’d seen her, not counting Facetime and Skype and damn, she’d gotten more beautiful. Her hair was pulled up off her face and piled on top of her head. She was wearing black leggings and a loose-fitting top. She was looking down at her phone.
“What made you want to try teaching a rooftop class?” Sydney asked.
“He did!” Devon pointed at Marco.
Sydney looked up, and her mouth dropped open. “Marco?”
“Yes. Marco. He’s the one that thought me telling you I was going to have a yoga class up here would be a good idea.” Devon was clearly frustrated. “He obviously underestimated the number of questions and concerns you’d have and how hard it would be to get you up here.”
“Hi,” Sydney ignored Devon and stared in shock.
He grinned. “Hi.”
“I just texted you.”
He looked down at his phone, and sure enough, there was a text. About to do sunset yoga on the hospital roof. It’s freezing. Wish me luck!
He wrote back. Good luck.
Her phone lit up, and she looked down and smiled.
“Okay, well.” Devon clapped her hands together. “I’ve done my part. Sydney is here. At sunset. You kids be good!” She walked back out the door she’d just come through.
“Thanks, Devon.” He said just as it was closing.
He crossed over to where Sydney still stood, looking slightly shocked. When he stopped in front of her, he ran his thumb along her jaw. He’d missed so much about her this past month, but the silky softness of her creamy skin was what he missed most.
“What are you doing here? I thought you were in Eureka.”
He’d been up in Humbolt County for the past two weeks fighting a wildfire. For the past month, they’d texted every day, and talked when they could. They hadn’t discussed a future or put any label on their relationship. He planned on changing that today.
“We got released yesterday.”
“Why didn’t you tell me?”
“Because I wanted it to be a surprise.” He pressed play on his phone and music played from a nearby portable speaker. “Surprise.”
She threw her arms around his neck, and he wrapped his around her waist. Picking her up off the ground, he held her tightly for a moment before setting her back down. They continued to hold on to each other as they swayed back and forth.
“This song is…” she looked up at him.
“‘Wonderful Tonight.’ The same song that was playing when we danced up here in high school.” His heart was pounding harder than it ever had as he took a deep breath. “I didn’t tell you this, but that is the night that I knew I was in love with you. That you weren’t just my friend. You were the only girl I ever loved. And you still are.”
“Marco,” she spoke his name in a hoarse whisper.
“I love you, Sydney. I should’ve told you that then. Or at the reunion. Or when you were in Hope Falls. Actually, I did tell you in Hope Falls, but you were sleeping.”
“You did?” Her eyes grew large.
He nodded. “I’ve loved you for so long I don’t know what it feels like to not love you. And there were always reasons why I didn’t tell you. I was scared to lose you. I thought you loved someone else. I thought you were in a relationship. I thought that I had nothing to offer you and you’d be better off without me.” Marco took a deep breath. “But none of that matters. What matters is I love you. I want to marry you. I want to have babies with you. I want—”
*
Sydney stopped listening to what Marco was saying after he said the word babies. She stopped dancing and stepped out of his arms. She was still trying to get over the shock of hearing that he loved her and now he dropped that bomb.
Shaking her head in disbelief, she held up her arms. “You said that you never wanted to have kids?”
“I know. I thought that I didn’t, but the truth is I don’t want to have a broken family. I didn’t want to have kids that I would only see every other weekend. But I’ve been doing a lot of thinking this past month, and I realized that even if the worst-case scenario happens, if we got married, had kids, and then got divorced, it would be okay.”
“Wait, if we got divorced it would be okay?” she questioned.
“My mom told me once, that she would only get married again if she met someone that she’d want to divorce. That the only way she’d ever feel safe walking down the aisle again was if she met someone she would trust signing divorce papers with.”
After seeing what Devon was going through with her ex, it made sense.
“And you, Sydney Prince…” He cupped her face and traced her jaw with his thumb. “Are the only person in the world that I would trust signing divorce papers with.”
“I can’t believe you made divorce sound romantic.” She laughed as she tilted her head into the warmth of his palm.
“What can I say? I have a gift.” A lopsided grin lifted on his perfect lips.
He dropped to one knee and held up a box that she hadn’t noticed beside them. Not a small, black jewelry box. It was a white shoe box with Jimmy Choo emblazoned on top.
Sydney gasped as he opened the lid to reveal the ultimate Cinderella heel. They were even more beautiful in real life than they’d been on her computer screen. They were covered in crystals and had a spiked heel, pointy toe, and shimmer suede base. It was even the exact style that she’d wanted. The Ari.
They were so perfect, she was scared to touch them. “How did you know?”
“A little birdie told him!” Devon called out from behind the door that led to the roof.
Marco and Sydney laughed.
“I wasn’t sure how many weekers these would be, but I wanted to give you plenty of time to break them in before our wedding.”
Sydney couldn’t breathe. “Our wedding?”
“Yeah.” He set down the shoes and stood back up as he pulled a different box from his pocket. This one was white also, but much smaller and inside it held something just as sparkly as the shoes. A brilliant princess cut, three-stone diamond ring. “These stones represent the past, the present, and the future. That’s what you are to me. My past. My present. And I hope, my future.
“I know it’s complicated. You have commitments here, and I have commitments in Hope Falls for the next three years. But a very wise man once told me that life is complicated, love is simple. And I love you. And I know that whatever the future holds, we can face it together.”
Sydney felt herself tearing up as she waited for him to say the words that she’d dreamed of hearing since she was ten years old in Mr. Maron’s homeroom class. But, Marco didn’t say anything, he just stared at her as he held the box.
“Did you ask her?” Devon’s muffled voice rang out from behind the door before it opened and she stepped out. “Did he ask you? I can barely hear.”
“No.” Sydney chuckled as she looked up at Marco. “He didn’t ask.”
Marco shook his head, as he looked back and forth between the sisters before getting back down on one knee. “Sydney Prince, I love you. Will you marry me?”
Her head was nodding yes before the word itself came out. “Yes!”
Marco picked her up and spun her around as Devon cheered and whistled before holding up one of the shoes and exclaiming. “Holy shitake! These are amazing!”
They were amazing. But nothing compared to the man that gave them to her. The man that she was going to spend the rest of her life with. The man that she was going to marry and have babies with. The man that could make divorce sound romantic. The man that she’d loved since the first day of sixth grade.
The man that she could finally tell how she felt. “I love you,” she whispered in his ear. His arms tightened around her, as she said the words that she’d held in for so long. And then she said them again and again and again, because she could. “I love you. I love you. I love you.”
The End.