***
Two weeks ago
“Want to go to breakfast before you have to be at work?” Tai asked me.
I applied the last swipe of mascara as I replied with an, “Of course. Our regular spot?”
“Where else is there to eat?” He asked, a smile in his voice.
I smiled down at my phone.
“I can be there early if you can,” I said, backing away from the mirror. I was wearing my headphones, so I dropped the phone into my pocket.
“I’ll be there in about twenty. That should give you enough time to get your shoes and socks on,” he said.
I looked down at my bare feet.
“How’d you know I was barefoot?” I teased.
I hated wearing shoes and socks.
I was a flip-flop kind of girl.
Which meant that my shoes and socks were the first things to go when I got home and the last things to be put on before I left.
“I know you like the back of my hand,” he said with confidence.
“Oh really?” I said.
“Really,” he confirmed.
“What’s my favorite color?” I asked, walking into the bedroom after spritzing on some body spray.
“That bright, eye-hurting green,” he replied. “The same color as your comforter.”
I smiled, running my hand over said ‘eye-hurting green’ comforter.
“What’s my favorite food?” I asked.
I could practically hear the smile in his voice as he said, “Tacos. But not homemade tacos. You like those gut-hurting Taco Bell tacos. The kind that make you run to the bath…”
“Hey!” I interrupted him. “We do not talk about that, Mister!”
He had the audacity to laugh.
He’d been very understanding about my bathroom…problems. In fact, I wasn’t even embarrassed about it anymore.
Well… maybe I was still a little embarrassed, so I guess I was more resigned to the fact that he knew all about it.
I knew there was no way around that little problem, and it was something I’d likely deal with for the rest of my life.
“What about my favorite book?” I tested him.
The line was quiet for a few moments while I heard him get into his truck and start it up.
I shoved my feet into my shoes and got up, making my way to the front door.
“That’s easy,” he said. “It’s the one that’s in your nursing bag. Twi-fight or something.”
I burst out laughing.
I couldn’t help it.
I knew for a fact that he’d read Twilight.
And he’d liked it, too.
I’d heard from Baylee that the two of them had had a lengthy conversation about the book.
He never indicated that he’d read it before, so I didn’t call him out on it.
“Twilight,” I said.
And yes, I did keep that book in my nursing bag on the off chance that I got some free time.
Most of the time, though, I didn’t.
Which was why I kept that book in there specifically, because I could pick it up even if I hadn’t read it in months, and know exactly where I’d left off.
“Alright,” I said. “Time for the tough one.”
“Hit me, baby,” he challenged.
I closed my eyes and grinned, nearly missing the step in my front yard and face-planting into the walkway. I squeaked as I saw my life flash before my eyes.
“What’s wrong?” He asked, startled.
“I almost fell on my face,” I giggled.
He sighed. “You missed the step again, didn’t you?”
I glared at the offending step and continued walking to my car.
I started it up and fastened my seatbelt in before replying.
“What is the one thing I do when you’re not here?” I asked, trying to tease him into saying ‘masturbate.’
He was silent for a long while, so long that I had to pick my phone out of my pocket and check to make sure that we were still connected.
We were.
“Tai?” I said softly.
He cleared his throat.
“Your favorite thing to do is look at old pictures on the bench Bowe made for you,” he said softly.
My heard skipped a beat, and I had to blink back tears.
“How’d…how’d you know?” I asked.
He hummed.
“You were doing it that night I came over to your place to pick you up for dinner with my brother for his birthday,” he said. “I just let you finish before I came inside.”
I closed my eyes and smiled.
The questions continued as I drove to our breakfast spot, and he got every single question I’d asked him right.
In fact, I was still on the phone with him when I got out of the car and saw him leaning against his truck with his phone in his hand.
He looked up at me as I got out and watched as I walked towards him from across the parking lot.
“Mia?” He asked.
“Yes, Tai?” I said, only about half way across the parking lot from him now.
“Will you marry me?” He asked softly.
I stopped in the middle of the lot, causing him to smile at me and my reaction.
“Yes,” I whispered.
“Good,” he said. “Now are you going to come over here to me?”
I bit my lip and tried hard not to cry before I started forward once again.
He dropped down to one knee, in his fire department work clothes, with his beautiful black hair and two days’ worth of beard growth, and I fell head over heels in love with him all over again.
“I love you!” I blurted.
He grinned.
“I love you, too. But you’re stealing my thunder,” he glared teasingly.
I mimed zipping my lips and threw the key away over my shoulder.
This time when he opened his mouth, my eye caught on the massive rock nestled in the black velvet box in his hand.
“Oh, my God!” I said, jumping forward and dropping my head down so I could see the ring even closer. “Is that a pink diamond?”
His head fell forward, obstructing my view, as it came to a rest against my belly.
“Mia!” He said on a huffed laugh. “I’m trying to ask you a fucking question here!”
I held my hands up in the air. “Sorry, sorry.”
He sighed and pulled the ring out of the box, slipped the cool metal onto my ring finger as he was standing up.
“Well?” I asked once the silence went on a long time as he stared at me.
“What?” He asked.
“I was waiting for you to ask me,” I said impatiently.
He grabbed my hand and started walking us inside.
“I already asked you,” he said. “I was going to do it right, but then I realized it didn’t really matter how I asked since you already said yes.”
I smacked him on the ass.
“Do it right,” I ordered, shaking my finger at him.
He smirked, but, nonetheless, he dropped down in the little alcove that led into the restaurant.
“Mia, will you marry me?” He asked. “Make me the happiest man in the world?”
I grinned down at him and then threw myself into his arms.
“Yes. A million times yes,” I said. “Were you nervous to ask me?”
He shook his head. “No. I knew you’d say yes.”
“Pretty sure of yourself there, huh?” I challenged, leaning back so I could see his face.
His beautiful eyes.
His lush lips.
“Yeah. You just can’t resist me.”
I burst into a fit of giggles.
Then we ate breakfast.
Then I went to work, and he went home to bed.
And I would always remember that proposal and the security of knowing that this was the man that I’d spend the rest of my life with.