“Are you sure about this?” I ask Luca for the hundredth time.

“We don’t have any other choice.”

The mood is somber as we huddle inside the cramped phone booth.

“I didn’t even know these things still existed,” I remark, trying to stall.

“What, a phone booth? Of course they do. What if your phone runs out of battery, and nobody will lend you a phone?”

“Or if you need to give the cops an anonymous tip?” I ask.

Luca grins. “Exactly.”

“I mean . . . I guess we’ve tried everything else,” I muse out loud.

“Yeah. We tried talking some sense into her, and she still insists on harassing us. She’s blackmailing us, Sarah. There’s no need to feel guilty about this.”

“You’re right . . .”

“You have such a good heart, Sarah. But if we don’t do this, there’s a chance she actually might make a report instead of just threatening us to do that.

“You know if someone looks into it and discovers the codes on your bottles look suspicious, you could get your license revoked. And then what would you do? What would happen to the clinic?”

It’s hot in this glass box. I wonder if it’s because this is essentially a small greenhouse. Or, maybe I’m just nervous.

This is a dirty tactic, and I don’t like it, but my mom’s essentially threatening to destroy everything that my dad and my brother worked so hard for their whole lives.

I don’t have any other choice.

“Okay.” I nod resolutely. “Let’s do this.”

The sooner we get this over and done with, the sooner we can get out of here.

After this unpleasant task, we’ll have a long, lazy day ahead of us. We can get brunch and chat over coffee. We can buy ingredients to cook together for dinner tonight. Or, we can skip dinner and have each other instead.

Luca keeps his unblinking eyes on me as he dials the non-emergency number for the local police station.

My heart races as guilt and anxiety rage in my chest.

I’m sorry, Mom. I tried to tell you to back off, but you wouldn’t. You’ve even been getting more and more aggressive. Still, I hope they won’t punish you too harshly.

“Hello, I’d like to report someone for drug possession.”

Luca covers his mouth with the collar of his jacket to muffle his voice as he speaks into the phone receiver. He pauses to listen to the person on the other side—a police officer, presumably.

“The name?” Luca watches me, as if looking for signs of me having changed my mind.

I give him a nod.

This is it. There’s no going back now.

“Donna Ellis,” he says into the phone. He gives the officer my mom’s address, then hangs up the phone.

My vision blurs as tears fill my eyes.

“Hey, are you okay?” Luca asks urgently as he puts his hands on my face. “Are you regretting it? I promise you, it was the right thing to do.

“And for what it’s worth, based on what I know about how much your mom has, she’ll probably get away with a warning. It’ll be just enough to spook her.”

“I know,” I say. We’ve already gone through all the reasonings and options last night. “I don’t regret it. It’s just that . .  . All my life, I’ve never fought back against my mom. There was always my dad or Peter to deal with her for me.”

“And you have me now,” Luca says gently as he gazes into my eyes.

“Yeah. Thank you for being here for me.”

“My pleasure. If you let me, I want to always be here for you.” A strange smile appears on Luca’s lips. When he speaks, there’s a hint of unease in his voice. “I was planning to do this later, but this feels right. I wouldn’t have been able to do this a few years ago because there were always lines outside phone booths. But nobody’s waiting outside now.”

I throw a glance outside. Yes, it’s deserted out there. That’s the whole reason why we’re at this particular phone booth—because nobody ever comes here. I tilt my head and shoot Luca a quizzical look. “Do what?”

“This.” Luca reaches into the pocket of his jacket and fishes out something small and dark.

My eyes are fixated on the velvet box. Could this be . . .?

I raise my gaze to find Luca getting down on one knee.

Oh my God.

I know what’s inside before he opens the box. But still, when the stone comes into view, my breath catches in my throat. The clear diamond reflects the artificial light in this old phone booth. It looks all sparkly and pretty.

“Sarah Ellis, will you marry me?” Luca asks.

I nod up and down.

“Is that a yes?” he asks.

I open my mouth, but no sound comes out. I swallow the lump in my throat. “Yes,” I say. “Yes. Definitely. Yes.”

Luca’s tension melts into joy as he grins from ear to ear. He takes my hand and slides the ring onto my finger.

The metal feels cold on my skin, but that’s just because I’m not used to wearing jewelry.

I’m sure as the ring heats up to my body temperature, I’ll get used to it. I’ll have to because I’ll probably wear some kind of a ring for the rest of my life.

After this engagement ring, I’m going to be wearing a wedding band.

I’m going to get married.

To Luca.

My gaze flicks between the ring and my new fiancé.

He grins at me as he gets up. I shriek when he wraps his muscular arms around my thighs and lifts me up. “I’ve gotten you speechless.”

I giggle. “Yeah.”

“That’s okay. You can take a break. You have the rest of your life to talk my ears off.”

“Hey,” I protest as I put my arms around his neck.

“I’m kidding. I love listening to you talk. I love your voice. Love everything about you.” Luca lets me slide down his chest until our foreheads touch.

“Are you sure this is not too soon?” I ask.

“Why would it be toon soon?” Luca asks. “I’ve known you forever, and I know with complete certainty that you’re the one. Why should we delay our happiness?”

“Just wanted you to be sure,” I say, grinning.

“Oh, I’m sure. I’m sure I don’t want to ever lose you again.” His smile touches mine as we stay still, knowing we’re going to remember this moment and talk about it for the rest of our shared lives.