chapter twenty-six

 

Six days later is the official last day of the year. My parents and sister have returned to Chicago, and Vivian and I are excited to bring in the new year together. We’re staying at Mark’s place together in the room I’ve occupied for the past several months, but we’re moving back to Vegas next week. We haven’t found a place yet, but we also haven’t looked. Instead, we’ve been spending time with Mark, Reese, and Ashton. I’m going to miss these three—not just my brother, but Reese, who has become a good friend to both me and Viv, and the sweet baby girl who gives me hope that someday I might father children of my own with the woman I love.

I’m so caught up in the cloud of love I feel I don’t even think to make plans for New Year’s Eve. In the past, this was always the night I’d play wingman to Jason or Becker before Jill came along, and vice versa. We’d find a group of single ladies at our favorite bar, and we’d each find one begging to be kissed at midnight.

I wonder what Jason is up to tonight and whether he’ll be kissing Tess as they ring in the new year together.

I don’t miss the random hook-ups or the women I knew I’d never see again after a single night, and I don’t miss the thrill of the chase. I’m still in the honeymoon phase with my new girl.

But I do miss my friends, and as I look toward a new year and changes on the horizon, I know it won’t be long before I find myself confronting them at FDB’s headquarters in Vegas.

Those are the thoughts in my mind as I’m curled up with Vivian on the couch in the family room with a blanket, a fire blazing in the fireplace, a glass of red wine in her hand and some whiskey in mine as HGTV plays softly in front of us.

“I love New Year’s Eve,” Vivian says when the house flip show we’re watching cuts to commercial.

“Did you want to do something tonight?” I ask.

She shakes her head and snuggles into my side. “I want to stay right here, drink more wine, and low key ring in the new year.”

“Is that how you’re supposed to use the phrase low key?”

She giggles. “I don’t care. We’re old.”

“Not that old. And you’re six months younger than me.”

“You’re practically ancient.”

I chuckle. “What are you looking forward to in the next year?”

“Being with you.” She tightens her arm around me and looks up at me.

“That’s it?” I ask.

She muses on that for a minute. “I try to come up with a word or a phrase to guide me every year. I think this year it’ll be navigation.”

“Why?” I ask.

“We’re navigating this new life together. We’re co-pilots together, exploring what lies ahead.”

I already know what I want to lie ahead of us, and I think it’s on par with what she wants, too.

“What’s your word for next year?” she asks.

I think for a few beats. “I don’t know yet. I have to think about it. What was yours last year?”

She clears her throat. “Diligence.”

“Why diligence?”

“To me, that word has never just meant hard work. It means persevering with an earnest effort. When I decided on that word, I thought I needed to put the effort into my marriage, but as the year progressed, I realized I owed myself that effort. I wasn’t taking care of myself because I was trying to please other people. My father. Trent. His father. It was never about what I wanted...until I met you.”

She rests her head on me, and I kiss the top of her head. We sit in comfortable silence with those words between us for a few beats. Then I ask, “What do you love about New Year’s Eve?”

Her head’s against my chest when she speaks, so I can’t see her expression. “I just like thinking about the past year. Remembering, you know?”

“There’s a lot I’d like to forget about this year,” I murmur as I think about my friends and the company I lost yet again.

“Me, too.” She’s quiet as we both think about the things we’ve gone through this year—both together and separately. She sits up and looks me in the eye. “But in the end, there was more good than bad, don’t you think?”

I ruminate on that for a second. She got divorced this year. She ended a marriage to a man she’d been with for a decade, someone she’d known even longer than that. She made some hard decisions. She had an affair, something I still have a hard time wrapping my head around considering what I know about her. She’s loyal and honest, straight-laced and demure. Cheating just doesn’t fit who she is at her core, and I’ve finally realized she only did it because she had no other way out. She wanted out of her marriage but didn’t know how to end it. She wanted to be with me but didn’t know how to be honest about her life back home. She wanted all these things, and it culminated in this volcanic explosion of feelings between the two of us.

“The last ten days have been the best ten days of my entire life, not just this year,” I finally say.

“I absolutely agree,” she murmurs. “In fact, I’ve never been happier or more content than I am this very second.”

My heart races. I planned this differently. We’re supposed to be on a beach, warm sand between our toes as the sun sets behind us, and I’m supposed to get down on one knee and we’re supposed to toast with champagne. Maybe traditionally we should even actually be together longer than ten days, but if there’s anything our time apart taught me, it’s that I don’t have another moment to waste without committing to her. Sometimes the right moment just plows into you even if it isn’t the perfect moment. “Then let’s not ever let it end.”

Her lips tip up in a small smile. “We won’t.”

“I’m serious, Vivian. I want to marry you. I want to spend the rest of my life making you happy. I want to make babies with you and make you laugh and call you my wife.”

“I know, Brian. I want all that too. And we’ll have it. I know we will.”

I shake my head and flip off the blanket. She’s not getting it. I’m not just talking about wanting those things. I’m actually trying to ask her.

I know what’ll convince her I’m really asking.

I kiss her before I stand, and then I say, “I’ll be right back.”

Her brows furrow in confusion, and I run to the bedroom we’ve been sharing the past few days. I grab the small black box out of the dresser drawer beneath my socks where I’ve been hiding it since I bought it the night before Christmas Eve as we went our separate ways to finish wrapping gifts.

I’m a little nervous as I rush back toward the family room. I’m not nervous she’ll say no, and I’m not nervous this is a bad idea. It’s just a few nerves that rattle around any man’s chest as they ask the single question they only plan on asking once in a lifetime. The nerves fall more to the gravity of the question, not the unease about the answer.

When I return, the show is back on and she’s taking a sip of her wine. She’s stolen the blanket completely now even though we were just sharing it, and I kneel on the floor in front of her. Her eyes widen as they land on the box in my hand, and she flips the blanket off, sets the wine glass on the end table beside her, and sits up a little straighter. She shuts off the television. “Oh my God,” she whispers.

“When I met your father, I asked him for his blessing. He said if it’s what you want, he won’t try to stop us, and I think this is something we both want. I’m serious, Vivian. I’m ready for this whenever you are. It doesn’t have to be today or tomorrow, or next week or even next year. I just want to make a commitment to our future. Will you marry me?” I flip open the box and reveal the simple princess cut ring set in a platinum band of pavé diamonds. It’s traditional and elegant, and the moment I saw it, its utter beauty seemed to match Vivian perfectly.

She scoots to the end of the couch until I’m centered between her knees. She places her palms on either side of my jaw and presses a soft kiss to my mouth. “Yes,” she whispers, and then I lean my forehead to hers as we both smile.

It’s an intimate moment that’s casual and informal and somehow so us, and even though it’s not what I planned, it’s the purest and most perfect moment of my life.

We laugh together, we smile together, and we toast to each other as we both take a sip of our drink, and then we resume our position under the blanket together as we watch the fire crackle in the fireplace. She tells me she can’t believe I got her father to agree to it, and I have a feeling I’ll be rewarded later for my efforts.

There’s time for planning, time for talking, time for working out the when and the where—even time for making love again. But for now, we’re both content just knowing that we have our entire future spread out before us.

Mark is busy in his office, and Reese is rocking the baby to sleep when the doorbell rings. I sigh and flip the blanket off. I grin at my fiancée and kiss her before I stand, and then I head to the door to see who it is.

The feeling of contentment I just had under a blanket in the family room seemingly darts out of me and into the fireplace, burning up before my very eyes as my spine stiffens and my shoulders tense.

I can’t even form words. Happy New Year. What are you doing here? It’s good to see you. Welcome to Mark’s home. Fuck you, every last one of you. I’m glad you’re here. I wish you weren’t. Mark gave me his stake in FDB back. I want the company back. I want to work with you guys again.

They’re all sentences that form in my head and die on my tongue.

It’s Becker who breaks the silence first. “Hey, man. Been a long time.” He sticks out his hand to shake mine, but I just stand there stupidly as I stare at four people who were once such a huge part of my life but who cut me out because of the mistakes I made.

I notice he doesn’t say it’s good to see me. He doesn’t ask how I’ve been or what I’ve been up to. He simply indicates the passage of time.

My mouth catches up to my brain, and words finally tumble out. “Happy New Year.” They’re probably the least offensive of the words that formed in my mind, and they also say the very least.

“You seem surprised to see us,” Jason says. He tightens his arm around Tess’s waist.

“I am.” I open the door wider. “Come on in.”

Jill clears her throat. “Reese, um...” She pauses and runs a hand along her baby bump. She looks like she’s due soon, which makes sense since it’s been six months since I’ve seen them and they announced she was pregnant. “Reese invited us for a New Year’s party. We didn’t know you’d be here.”

“And I didn’t know you were coming.” We all stand awkwardly in the foyer. “I’m sorry. Vivian and I will get out of your way.”

“Vivian?” Jason says. He looks past me, and I turn around and see her standing there at the entry to the kitchen.

“Hi everyone,” she says. She gives a little wave, and the light catches on the new diamond ring on the third finger of her left hand.

“You...and you?” Jason asks, motioning between Vivian and me.

Vivian shrugs and holds up her hand with the sparkly diamond. “What started as a lie turned into the truth,” she says softly. She steps over toward me and laces her arm around my waist, and I pull her close and kiss her temple.

Jaws drop all around me, but before congratulations can be issued, Reese comes rushing into the foyer. I realize we haven’t even actually told her or my brother the good news since it just happened and they’ve been doing their own things.

“Oh, God, I’m sorry. I meant to be the one to open the door,” Reese says. She’s out of breath, like she just ran across the entire house. She hugs Jill first and rubs her belly before hugging everyone else and leading the new guests into the kitchen, where I hear her issuing instructions of where to bring their overnight bags.

Viv’s eyes meet mine in the foyer as we listen to the chatter in the next room. She arches a brow, and I shake my head.

“I had no idea they were coming,” I whisper.

“I didn’t, either. But what better time to close out the past and start fresh than on New Year’s Eve?”

I pull her close and press my lips to hers. No matter what happens tonight with everyone else around us, I’m satisfied in the knowledge the two of us are going to make it through to the other side together.

We make our way into the kitchen, where we find my brother greeting the guests who just arrived.

“Wait a second,” Reese says, and the action around us stops. “What’s that?” Her eyes are wide as they fall on Viv’s brand new engagement ring.

I clear my throat. “It’s an engagement ring.”

“You’re engaged?” Mark asks. Both his brows shoot up in surprise.

I nod. “I asked her about a half hour ago and she said yes.”

“Oh my God!” Reese squeals. She rushes over to Vivian first and hugs her, and then she attacks me next. “I can’t believe this! How did you keep it a secret? Did Mark know? Mark knew, didn’t he? God, he’s good at secrets.”

I laugh. “No one knew.”

“Even me,” Viv says, and everyone around us laughs as the room moves into action. Congratulations are issued, talking and excitement resumes. The girls all want a close look at the engagement ring when Mark takes me to the side. He bro-hits me on the back with a brotherly hug. “Congratulations, man.”

“Who would’ve ever thought I’d be marrying the woman you sent in to fix my company?” I ask him.

He shrugs as he lifts both hands palms up as if to say he knew it all along, and I suddenly get the feeling he did know. He saw something in Vivian that was a perfect match for me, and despite knowing there were obstacles in the way, life made a path so we’d find our way to each other.

I just laugh and shake my head then push his shoulder, and he grins. “Oh, and I already have the perfect wedding gift for the two of you.”

I narrow my eyes at him. “Should I be worried?”

He pulls me further aside so the others don’t overhear. “You want your old place in Vegas back?”

“What?”

“Your old place. I’m the one who bought it.” He puts air quotes around the last two words. “I lied when I said all your shit was in storage in LA. I knew you’d go back eventually, and I knew I’d give you back the shares, too.”

“Holy shit.” I stare at him in wonder. “Are you serious?”

“Yeah, and I’d like to stop paying that service to go in once a month for dust control and lawn maintenance.”

I shake my head in disbelief. “You’re like a goddamn fairy godmother.”

“No one’s ever called me a fairy before.”

I laugh and hug my brother. “Thank you,” I say softly.