“I’m gonna ask her to marry me.”

Marcus immediately started hacking and coughing up a storm while Jay just simply stared at Eli with a wide open mouth.

The three of them floated on their surfboards far out from shore, the slow roll of the waves had them relaxing and enjoying the sunrise. Until Eli dropped that little bomb.

He raised an eyebrow at Marcus, who was still hacking up a lung. “It’s not that shocking, dude.”

“First of all,” Jay said, slapping Marcus on the back, “yes, it is. Second of all, you can’t spring something like that on us when we’re surrounded by all this saltwater. You could have drowned the man.”

Marcus pounded on his own chest and took a deep breath. “Are you fucking serious? You’re proposing?”

The word sent a shivery thrill down Eli’s spine. He nodded. “Yeah.”

“Like, with a ring and everything?” Jay asked.

“Yeah. My dad gave me my mom’s ring last week.”

“Holy fuckin’ shit.” Marcus shook his head as if he could clear it back to reality. “This is really happening.”

“What, you guys think it’s a bad idea?” Eli frowned at his friends, letting his feet swirl in the water where they dangled over either side of his surfboard.

“Nah, it’s not that,” Jay replied. “Tia’s cool. And you guys are good together. It’s just that it’s so fast, man. Like, so fast.”

“I know,” Eli agreed. “But we’re on that path. And it’s gonna happen anyways, someday. So might as well be now.” Eli avoided his friends’ eyes for a second as he squinted back toward shore. “Besides. She hasn’t been quite the same since that fucking tabloid came out about her. And I just want to be steady for her. Have something she can rely on. Especially as preseason starts up and shit gets even crazier.”

Marcus and Jay exchanged looks with one another.

“So, you’re proposing in order to reassure her?” Marcus asked carefully.

Eli ripped a hand through his wet hair. “Nah, man. I love her. I wanna be married to her.”

“But you’re proposing so quickly in order to reassure her,” Jay clarified.

Eli frowned. “I guess.”

“And that’s what she wants?” Marcus asked, again as carefully as before.

Eli kicked at the water. “She wants to not feel disposable. Or compared to all the other chicks I’ve associated with. And on a personal level, from me, she gets that loud and clear. But on a public level? Not so much. Everywhere she goes there’s somebody asking her what it’s like to be my flavor of the week. If I put a ring on her finger then people will just shut the hell up about it already.”

Eli glanced at his two silent friends, their reticence was irritating the shit out of him. He was nervous enough about this already, he really needed them to be happy for him so he could gain some of the momentum he so badly needed. “What?”

Jay sighed. Ultra honesty. It was what their friendship had been founded on for damn near 30 years. “Look. Dude. I really want you to marry Tia. She’s so awesome. And you two totally make each other better. Honestly, I’m kind of jealous. But, I gotta be real, the timing of all this is really suspect to me. You don’t propose to somebody because you want to reassure them that you’re not gonna cheat on her during the season.”

“What the fuck?” Eli whipped around and faced Jay, fire in his eyes. They’d been in one physical fight their entire lives. It was in the fourth grade and it had been over whether or not Eli was cheating at Uno. Looked like it was about to be twice in their lives. “Why would you even say that shit?”

“Hold on,” Marcus clapped a hand over Eli’s shoulder. “That came out ugly, but come on, Eli. You have to see the truth in what he’s saying.”

Eli rounded on Marcus as well. “Are you kidding me?” He stared back and forth between the two of them. “You honestly think I’m worried about that? That I’m gonna cheat on her? Don’t you know me at all? This shit isn’t to prove anything to myself, it’s to prove it to her!”

Jay took a deep breath. He’d already stepped in it. Might as well drown in it. “Eli, you think you’re actually ready to get married if she’s still worried you’ll cheat on her? Don’t you think that’s some shit you iron out before you get engaged? Not via getting engaged?”

Eli had heard enough. They didn’t understand. Neither of them had felt this way about a girl. Neither of them knew how complicated these feelings were. How it felt to want to marry somebody and have her have doubts about you.

Without another word, Eli flattened to his board and started the swim toward shore. He had no doubt that after he and Tia were engaged, Marcus and Jay would be there to support him. They’d dance at his wedding. But right now, he couldn’t face another single word with them.

“Shit,” Jay mumbled as he watched Eli swim toward shore. Maybe he’d erred on the side of too much honesty. He supposed he could have found a way to soften it a little bit. “Shit.”

“Nah, man.” Marcus shook his head and looked back out towards the ocean, towards the waves. “Don’t beat yourself up. He needed to hear it.”

***

Tia took a shaky breath as she looked at herself in her bedroom mirror. She wore a long, red dress, high at the neck and tight at the waist. Laura had picked it out for her and Tia knew she looked good in it. But she couldn’t stop feeling like she looked like a commoner dressed up like a princess.

The simple truth was that she didn’t belong in clothes like this. She wasn’t like all the other girls Eli had been with. She didn’t go to the salon to get blow outs, or Brazilian waxes. She didn’t wear red-bottomed shoes.

She wore scrubs. And leggings. And thick glasses. She liked beer and ESPN, with Ham on her lap, snoozing.

But, she also liked Eli. And she was trying to teach herself how to carve out a space in her life for him. Which was how she ended up in this here dress.

He’d called and told her to wear something fancy tonight. Because he was taking her somewhere special. Tia took another shaky breath.

They hadn’t been seen in public together since that horrible article had come out about her and honestly, Tia was terrified of what would happen tonight. Would there be paparazzi wherever they were going? What would the tabloids make of her in this dress? Would they think she was trying too hard to impress Eli? To “land” him?

She grimaced at herself. She knew how damaging that line of thinking was. She wanted to banish those thoughts and just have a good time with him.

Her living room clocked chimed the hour and Tia jumped. She was going to be late. She was on call tonight so they’d agreed that she’d drive herself, just meet him at the restaurant.

She patted Ham goodbye, slid into her car, and made record time to the address he’d given her. She hadn’t meant to drive so fast. She was just nervous. She let out a long breath when she saw Eli’s car parked in the lot. She didn’t recognize the restaurant, and honestly, the building looked more like a fancy apartment complex than a restaurant.

There wasn’t any parking where he’d told her to, in the back of the dark lot, so she parked on the street and scurried in through a back set of doors.

“Evening, Miss Camellia,” a man in a uniform said as he pulled the door open for her.

“Oh! Hello,” Tia replied, realizing that Eli must have told the man that she was coming.

“Mr. Bird is waiting for you upstairs. Just take the elevator to the Penthouse level.”

“Alright, thank you.” Tia did as the doorman instructed and couldn’t stop the nervous flipping in her stomach as she rode in the gilded elevator up to the top floor. She gasped when the elevator doors opened to a dim, glittery restaurant with views of the ocean through huge windows.

Tia scanned for Eli and found him sitting in a corner booth under a window, staring out at the inky black water. He rose when she got near him and pulled her into his arms. Her concerns over the evening quelled for the first time since he’d invited her. Why did she always forget that? That everything was less scary from Eli’s arms. That being with him was the one thing that kept her safe from the ramifications of their relationship.

“What is this place?” she whispered in Eli’s ear.

He grinned at her and pulled her down to sit across from him. “It’s a private club. Well, actually, it’s sort of a privacy club?”

“Huh?”

“It’s for people who want to go out but maintain a level of privacy. See?” He motioned around and Tia noticed that though the ceilings were high, giving the restaurant an open feel, all of the booths and chairs were high as well, providing each occupant anonymity. “It’s always this quiet and calm, and they have security all around the perimeter so that paparazzi can’t catch you going in or out.”

“Wow.” Tia wasn’t sure what exactly she could say besides that. It was a really cool concept. But she was still bummed that it was necessary to go to all these lengths for them to have a simple night out.

Eli’s face was so hopeful though, that she refused to let her mood dampen the evening.

“It’s really lovely,” she conceded. “The view and the restaurant.”

He seemed to relax a bit after that, but Tia could still feel a strange wave of tension coming off of him. It was unusual, considering that Tia had only ever known Eli to be calm and effortless.

He cleared his throat as he fiddled with something in his pocket. “I, uh, wanted to bring you here tonight for a couple reasons. The first, I guess, is to show you that we can still do a lot of stuff together, normal stuff, like going out for dinner, even with the paparazzi after us.”

Tia glanced around. She didn’t want to argue, but as lovely as this restaurant was, it was a far cry from normal.

“Ok.”

“And I just want to show you that I’m going to do everything I can to keep the tabloids off your back and—”

“Sorry to interrupt, folks, I just wanted to make sure you have your drink menu—Elijah? Oh my gosh! Long time no see!”

The waitress stood there in black slacks and a black top and somehow looked like she’d just stepped off the runway. Her skin was the color of polished mahogany, her makeup was perfect, and her body was fit and curvy all at once. She was stunning.

Tia’s stomach absolutely plummeted.

“Becca! Hi. I, uh, thought you’d gotten a job as a paralegal or something?” Eli said, his eyes flicking quickly toward Tia.

That was just about all the evidence that Tia needed to know that they had been together at some point and that Eli had thought she no longer worked here.

“I did, but seriously, I couldn’t pass up the tips from this place, so I came back. Saving up for law school.”

“That’s great, really great. Uh, this is my girlfriend, Tia Camellia. Tia this is an old friend, Becca Hauser.”

Becca’s eyes widened just a little bit at the word girlfriend but her smile remained friendly enough. “Nice to meet you, Tia.” And then, taking in Tia’s expression, she did some quick thinking. Obviously, Becca was a smart girl. “I wish I could take care of you guys for the evening, but unfortunately, my shift is almost up. So, I’ll send your server over in just a second. But it was great to see you, Elijah, and nice to meet you, Tia!”

Becca gave a friendly wave and hurried back toward the kitchen.

Tia turned to Eli, not bothering to school her expression at all, and was obliged to see him looking a little sheepish. “I didn’t think she worked here anymore. Or else I would have made sure not to sit in her section.”

“You better make sure she sees some of whatever tip you’re leaving, seeing as she’s giving up a perfectly good table just to avoid her ex-boyfriend’s new girlfriend.”

Eli winced. “Yeah. Tia, she was never my girlfriend. You’re the only girlfriend I’ve ever had.”             

Tia nodded. “I know. Sorry, I know you didn’t plan for that to happen. Still, it doesn’t feel good to get confronted with your past out of the blue like that.”

“I know. I didn’t like seeing Owen come out of your office that day I visited.”

Tia considered that. “I can understand that. But at least you’ve pretty much met my entire past now. Ocean City is still crawling with yours.” She didn’t know why she was arguing. She was uncomfortable in this stupid dress. The restaurant was too dim. And she’d just looked at the prices on the menu and they were utterly ridiculous.

“Sure,” Eli replied carefully, realizing that they were well and surely into their first real fight. “But you were engaged to Owen, Tia. Don’t you think that bothers me? Gets under my skin? I may have messed around with a lot of women, but you’re the only one who matters to me.”

Tia sighed. His eyes were honest and friendly and sad all at once. He sat there looking so handsome and so Eli. And she was being a jerk. “You’re the only one who matters to me too.”

His face softened and his hand snaked across the table to take hers. Another waiter came over and Eli put in an order for sparkling water for them, Tia being on call and all. They let a silence fall over them and Tia was grateful for it. She looked out over the black ribbon of the ocean, the small bobbing lights of night cruisers out on the water. Slowly, she calmed herself down. Allowed herself to see the sweetness in all of this. That Eli was doing all of this in order to show her how hard he’d work to make her life alright with him.

A few minutes later, after he’d put in their food order, she finally turned back to him, stroked her thumb over his hand and let him have her eyes. Cool and calm, no longer sparking with bitter heat.

“Ok, I calmed down,” she said.

Eli smiled at her. “You’re really something to look at when you’re calming yourself down, Tia Camellia. You go from all irritated and hot heat to smooth and calm as glass.” He raised her hand and kissed her fingers. “Sometimes you’re so beautiful it hurts my chest.”

Tia smiled at him and indulgently rolled her eyes. “Well, now I’m really over it.”

He grinned. “You wanna tell me how beautiful I am just to make sure that I’m really over it too?”

She chuckled and tugged on his hand a little bit. “You were saying? When I first got here, about why you wanted to bring me here?”             

“Oh, right.” Nerves immediately danced over his face again and put Tia on alert. “I wanted to talk to you about some decisions I made. Look, Tia, I know that you hate the spotlight. And the public eye. So I’ve been thinking about some things I could do to kind of control the story we’re putting out there.” He cleared his throat and yanked at his tie a little bit. “I had a few ideas. One of them is that we could put the truth out there. About us. I think the tabloids are making up stories because they just want something to talk about. So, we could give them the truth.”

“The truth? Meaning that we’re dating and serious?”

“No,” his eyes furrowed. “Meaning that we’re together and building a life with one another. And that I’m not still making up my mind about you.”

Tia sat back in her chair, realized that it could be construed as pulling away, and leaned forward again. She felt like she could barely breathe. Like this dumb red dress was slowly shrinking, constricting her. “Is that what we’re doing?”

Eli’s brow drew even further down. “Well, I can’t speak for you, but I know that’s how I feel.”

Tia’s stomach flipped and pulled tight all at once. Her voice was small when she spoke. “You’re building a life with me?”

Eli stared at her, his gold eyes almost frozen, but his hand still fiddled in his pocket. “Baby, I love you. I’m in love with you. I’m in. I’m in this 100%.” He paused, looked down at his drink for a second and looked back up. “I’m getting the feeling that you’re not on the same page as I am. Seeing as you look like I’ve just announced I’m moving to Mars.”

Tia glanced around at the restaurant. She couldn’t see anyone’s faces, but she could see the glitter of fancy dresses and shiny jewelry, long swings of hair and white teeth. The beautiful people.

“I know how I feel about you, personally.” It hit her then that she’d never told him. Never said the words out loud. She wondered if he was waiting to hear them. But she didn’t think she could do it here, in this glitzy restaurant high above the city. Instead, she plowed on, gesturing around at their surroundings. “But about this? This life? The tabloids and the women all over town? That part really confuses me. I want to build a life with you, Eli, of course. How could I not? You’re kind and charming and smart and a hard worker. You treat me well and tenderly. You lay on the ground and play with my dog. You talked sports with my mother.”

She took a deep breath, willing herself not to get too upset. It wouldn’t do to get too upset. “But my life was stable when I met you. Deeply stable. And integrating you into it has made it really unsteady.” She opened her eyes and was horrified at the pain that flashed across his face. “Again, it’s not about you personally. But I’m a little unsure what to do about all the hoops that come with you.”

He took a deep breath. “Alright, well that’s what I’m saying, T. What if I could take some of those hoops away? Would it be easier that way?”

She squinted at him and wished she’d worn her glasses. Her eyes felt itchy and irritated. “Well, I wouldn’t want you to change, Eli, that’s not what I mean.”

“I don’t mean change myself, I mean change our circumstances.” He took both of her hands in his and he looked tense and exhilarated all at once.

“How?”

He opened his mouth to speak, but his eyes flicked over Tia’s shoulder, widened and then flattened. When he looked back to her, he spoke with a low, insistent voice. “Baby, I don’t want to blindside you, but there is another woman heading our way right now. Her name is Monica. I’m telling you to give you a little bit of warning, okay?”

Tia felt her mouth drop open. Twice? Twice in one fucking night she was gonna have to deal with running into some of Eli’s baggage? For the love of god! How much was she to be expected to handle?

“Elijah,” a smooth, sultry voice said over Tia’s shoulder.

Tia hastily clapped her mouth closed, but she couldn’t stop the headache that was forming behind her eyes.

“Monica,” Eli said, by way of greeting. Tia waited for him to introduce her, but it didn’t come. She looked up to see a very pretty woman with waves of long brown hair and tan skin. She stood in a short blue dress that Tia might have liked very much in a different circumstance. She had a look on her face like she’d just swallowed a tack. She didn’t bother looking at Tia.

“I haven’t heard from you in a while,” the woman said.

Eli’s face was neutral. “I’m in a relationship with a woman who I love. And I was very clear that I wouldn’t be reaching out to you again, Monica.”

The woman finally dropped her gaze to Tia and curled her lip back. But she didn’t waste time before slamming her eyes back to Eli. “Good luck with this one, sweetie,” she said, apparently to Tia. “He’s a snake in the grass. He’ll make nice just long enough to get you comfortable enough not to see him making nice with someone else.”

With that, she turned on her heel and stalked back across the restaurant.

“Goddamn it.” Eli pressed the heel of his hand against one of his eyes.

“Yeah.” Tia slid her napkin off her lap. “I think I’ve had enough for tonight.”

“You’re leaving?”

Tia heard the plaintive pain in his voice, she understood that he was asking more than one question at once. And as pissed and confused as she was, she didn’t have it in her to leave him hanging. “Yes, I’m leaving. You’re welcome to come with me. But I’m leaving.”

Eli’s face cracked with relief when she invited him to come along. She wasn’t leaving him. She was just leaving the restaurant. He tossed some bills on the table and followed after her, sliding into the elevator doors just as they slid closed.

“Tia—”

She held up one hand. “Can we not? Just no more explanations for tonight? We can pick it up again in the morning. But for the rest of the night, I just want to take a break from it all, okay?”

His eyes searched hers, he wanted badly to drag her into his chest. But something held him back. “Okay.”

The silence in the elevator deepened until it was shattered by the shrill ring of her phone.

Tia dug in her small purse and whipped out her phone. “That’s the hospital.”

“You’ve gotta go in?”

“Yes.” She looked up at him. “I know it’s really bad timing. I hate to leave it like this. I wish you could come over and watch a movie with me and Ham.”

Her sweet words had him lifting a hand to her cheek. “Me too.”

She stepped off the elevator and hurried out the back doors before the doorman could even rise from his seat.

“Mr. Bird! I can have someone pull your cars around if like.”

“That’s alright, Brian.” He waved at the man and hurried after Tia, who had already turned the corner of the building.

“Tia! You didn’t park out back?”

“No, there weren’t any spots.” She strode forward. “Is that a problem?”

“Not necessarily. Unless…shit.” There were paparazzi camped out around her car.

“Oh my god,” she gasped as they perked up and pulled out their cameras. There were four or five all leaning against Tia’s car, obviously having had followed her here. But worst of all, they had parked their own cars to block her in. Obviously in an effort to stall her long enough to get an interview. “I’m blocked in!”

“Elijah! Tia! Wait! Wait up!”

Tia turned toward Eli in horror and he grabbed her hand. “Come on, I’ll drive you to the hospital.”

He turned with her and sprinted back in the direction of her car.

“Wait!” she yanked his hand. “My scrubs and shoes and overnight bag are all in my car. I can’t go dressed like this.” She gestured down at her red dress.

He took her keys and gave her his. “Go get in my car, and I’ll get your things.”

Tia turned without another words and sprinted toward his car. She slammed into the passenger’s side and seconds later, Eli was there, turning the car on and passing her the things she needed to get ready for her shift.

Adrenaline coursed through Tia’s veins and her breathing came fast and hard as Eli pulled out of the parking lot, through a back entrance, and effectively lost the paparazzi.

Tia was jittery and shaky and when her breath exploded out of her, she was terrified it was going to be a huge sob. But to her surprise and delight, it was laughter that exploded out of her.

Eli turned and looked at her. His eyes said she was insane, but his mouth was already smiling. “What’s so funny?”

“Oh. My. God.” Tia brushed at the tears of laughter in her eyes and gasped for air. When she spoke, she sounded more like Laura than Eli had ever heard before. “I CANNOT believe all of that just happened. That was terrible! Like, off the charts awful.”
Eli couldn’t help but chuckle along with her. “And that makes you laugh because…”

“I don’t know. It was so clear that you were trying to make some kind of point about being able to keep our lives low profile and private and then not one but two exes come out of the woodwork. And then my car gets parked in by paparazzi. Jesus. That couldn’t have gone worse than if you’d planned it that way.”

Eli merged onto the highway and sped toward the hospital, chuckling a bit himself. “Well, I’m glad you see the humor in it because I was worried I was toast in there.”

Tia brushed at her eyes again. “You mean you were worried that I would leave you over all that?”

Eli shrugged casually, but she could see the tension in his shoulders.

“Oh, Eli,” Tia let her head drop into her hands, and she couldn’t be sure if she was laughing or crying. Honestly, Eli wasn’t sure either. “I’ve really screwed this up.”

“What?” He exited the highway and started winding through streets toward the hospital. “What do you mean? I thought I was screwing this up?”

“No.” She waved her hand through the air. “I’m pretty sure it was me. Or it was both of us.” She glanced down at herself. “For starters, it was letting my sister talk me into this awful dress.”

“I like that dress. You look gorgeous.”

“Eli, you think I look gorgeous in leggings and an old sweatshirt.”

“That’s true.”

Tia smiled, tears streaming down her face. Her feelings were totally tangled up in  knots. “I’m just saying that leggings and a sweatshirt and take out on the couch? That’s me. Creepy dinner in the private club with exes du jour? Not me.”

Eli laughed outright. “Fair enough.”

“I don’t need you to pull out the stops to change your reality for me, Eli. I’ll get used to it. But only if I’m being myself. I can’t worry about what the tabloids are going to print about me. It got under my skin because they immediately undermined my standing as a surgeon, and that’s what I’m most confident in about myself. After that, all I could do was pick apart my flaws and wait for some member of the gossip brigade to find them.”

She turned to him as he pulled into the staff lot of the hospital. He’d gotten her there in record time, so she actually had a few minutes. She turned to him. “You never complain when I get called in to the hospital.”

He drew his eyebrows. “Of course not. It’s your job.”

“And the spotlight? That’s part of your job.”

“A really crappy part,” he conceded.

“Sure. Well, breaking dates to race across town ain’t no picnic. And you never make a big deal about the long hours I work, or how exhausted I am, even on my days off, or even the fact that Owen works two doors down from me.”

Eli was quiet. He had things to say, but he was getting the distinct impression that he was coming out on top without even having to say anything. He’d be a fool to interrupt now.

“You’ve been nothing but patient and sweet, Eli. And I don’t begrudge you your past, not in theory. I just have to learn how to put that into practice, you know?” Some of Tia’s wild hysteria was passing and she was settling back into a more typical emotion. But she was exhausted from the mood pendulum she’d just ridden. It was gonna be a long night. “I can’t believe I have to go right now.”

“But you do,” he said softly, reaching over and taking her by the chin. He pressed a firm kiss to her precious mouth. “It’s okay. I get it.”

She gathered her bag to her chest and moved toward the door.

“Oh!” He stopped her. “Hand me your house keys so I can go let Ham out.”

She froze, one foot out the door, the streetlight slanting across her face. He couldn’t read her expression for all the world.

“I love you, Eli.”

He sucked in a huge breath through the grin that rose like the sun over his face. He knew he was smiling like a loon, cracking his face right in two. “Is that right?”

“Yeah.” She leaned back into the car. “That’s damn right.”

Their mouths met in a kiss that was all press and no melt. It was abrupt and forceful. Punctuation on a moment that had been anything but perfect. It had been everything but perfect. And weirdly, that’s kind of what made it perfect.

“Sleep over,” she whispered against his mouth.

“Hmmm?” His eyes came open.

“Stay at my house. Be there when I get back from work. Okay?”

He nodded. There was nothing she could have said then that would have given him more.