Water splashed onto the side of the cement pavilion, the waves from the Potomac River bouncing as the sun set below them.

I watched as the sun reflected off the glass windows of the Gaylord Hotel & Convention Center, the massive structure taking up an entire hill in Maryland’s National Harbor.

“Okay, I have to admit it, maybe the East Coast isn’t a dump.” Lila, Samantha’s best friend from Seattle, walks by popping a piece of donut in her mouth.

“Especially when we have our own London Eye. Er, well, I mean Maryland Eye. But still … very international of us.” Bryan winked at her while motioning to the large Ferris wheel like object.

“Your friend is a shameless flirt, huh? Does he realize I’m not going to sleep with him?”

I liked the blond spitfire already. She was feisty and raw in a way that Samantha was not, and I found that it brought out a side in my girlfriend that I rather liked. Plus, she was beating Bryan into his place.

“Sleep? Mommy sleeps with Jake.” Lennon looks happy with herself after having announced this.

“Yes, she does, smarty pants.” Lila kisses her cheeks where she rests in Samantha’s arms, and I can’t help but laugh.

I’d instantly liked Lila the moment we’d picked her up from Ronald Reagan. She’d skipped to the car, wrapped Samantha in a bear hug, thrown Lennon up in a launch of squeals, and then looked in the car at me and said, “Oh, Samantha, I’m proud of you, girlfriend. Nice catch.”

And ever since Bryan had accidentally seen a picture of Lila on Samantha’s phone, he’d instantly inserted himself into any activity we’d be doing while she was here. So, here the five of us were, shopping and munching at the National Harbor. So far, the girls had racked up some good purchases, gossiped, ignored us men, and eaten their weight in fast casual food.

It was nice to see Samantha in this atmosphere, surrounded by someone who she so clearly felt comfortable with. Rarely was she with friends, since she didn’t have many left out here, and when we were together, it was usually just her, Lennon and me. I liked to listen to their little blips of conversation about this TV show or that person back in Seattle. About old memories or the new makeup they were trying. It gave me an insight into Samantha’s head that I didn’t normally get, and I stored away each nugget of knowledge like a gambling chip.

Of course, Lila’s trip was double sided, but my girl didn’t know that. She thought that our first meeting was in the airport, and physically it was. But virtually and over the phone … we’d been corresponding for weeks now.

“So where should we go for dinner?” Samantha asks, looking a little tired.

I walk to her, lifting Lennon out of her arms and giving her a break. “Let’s go to this Italian place just up ahead. Right on the water, we can look out. Plus, I know someone who wants some spaghetti and meatballs.”

Lennon raises her hand, and both Samantha and Lila look at each other. Lila raises her eyebrows as if to say, “and he’s good with the kid, too.” Damn right, I am.

“Lila, if this coast isn’t so bad, maybe you should stay awhile.”

The blond makes a chuckling noise and sticks her finger in her mouth, fake-vomit style. “Bryan, this whole charade has got to stop. You’re making a fool of yourself.”

“That’s only going to encourage him, Lila.” I shake my head.

“Usually the ladies find me so charming.” Bryan holds his hand over his heart.

“Oh God, did you just call us ladies? Yuck. And I guess some people would call you charming, but trust me … I see enough idiot couples in the delivery room to know who is right for whom. Nothing like pushing a child out of your body to really test the strength of a relationship. And trust me, buddy, you don’t have what it takes to handle me.”

Oh shit. I think he might just fall in love with this one.

“What about us?” Samantha elbows her in jest.

“You and Jake? Yeah, you’d make it through. Knock my friend up, Jake, make some more cute babies like this one. You want a little brother, right Lennon?”

Lennon squeals. “I would like a baby sister named Princess Sofia, just like on Disney Channel!”

“You heard the girl.” Lila winks at Samantha, who rolls her eyes and gives her the finger behind her daughter’s back.

“Are we doing any more shopping before we eat?” Samantha looks longingly at some store called Alex & Ani.

“The men are hungry.” I speak for Bryan and me because my stomach is growling. “This is my rare night away from the new place, and I want to spend it eating as much pasta as I can.”

“And if I know you like I think I do, the way to your heart is most definitely through your stomach. So let’s go eat.” She wraps an arm around my waist and snuggles into my side.

Twenty minutes later, we’re sitting at a table near the window, the waves dark under the night sky now. The Ferris wheel lights up the harbor, and the inside of the restaurant smells like garlic and cheese and fucking deliciousness.

“I bet you I can eat an entire plate of calamari.” Lila rubs her stomach.

“Remember that one time we ordered one of every item on the Chinese menu and ate so much that we considered going to the hospital to have our stomach pumped?” Samantha laughs, rubbing her own stomach.

“I swore I could give us colonoscopies from the couch. Jesus, I don’t think I’ve ever been so full.”

As we ordered and talked and drank, a sense of calmness sets over me. After the debacle with my family, I’d tried to put it out of my mind. That I didn’t really belong to anyone anymore.

But like I’d told Samantha before, family didn’t have to be the people related to you by blood. They could be this motley crew. The beautiful single mother and her stubborn daughter. Her best friend with a quick wit and sarcastic attitude. Bryan, one of the closest people to me on this earth, even when he was drunk and rummaging through my cabinets or trying to convince me to let him crash on my couch when he lived next door.

I had Alice and Jana too, and more close friends down here in Maryland than I was able count on one hand.

Before I’d met these people, I’d been floating along without an anchor. I didn’t have a dream or a purpose, and thought I was better off not having attachments. But I’d come to learn that strings weren’t a burden, they were lifelines.

And knowing that, I enjoyed mounds of heaping family-style Italian food with some of my lifelines, until my stomach threatened to explode.

* * *

“Does the person who helps pick out the ring get a present too? Because I see some earrings over there calling my name.”

Lila stands next to me at the gleaming glass counter, the sales associate gone to fetch us some rings to look at. The jewelry store I picked is one in the middle of DC, an upscale, elegant place with sleek wood floors and rows and rows of priceless gems. They offered us champagne when we arrived, thinking we were a couple. Lila played it up for one second, but then cringed at trying on rings on her finger. Apparently, that was bad luck and she just couldn’t do it to Samantha.

“I’ll buy you a candy necklace.” I smile, but bounce on the heels of my boat shoes as the anxiety courses through me.

“Normally, I’d ask if you were sure you wanted to do this. It’s been only a short amount of time, and I don’t want my Samantha or Lennon hurt. In fact, I’ll skin you alive if you hurt either of them. But, I’ve seen how you are with them this weekend, and how they are with you. You’re all really good together. I wouldn’t be here helping if I didn’t think so. So relax, Jake.”

Lila lays a hand over mine, and I notice I’m leaving sweat marks on the glass. “I don’t even know what to look for. Shit, should I have looked at one of her Pinterest boards or whatever?”

She slants her eyes at me. “Do you really think Samantha is the type of girl who has a Pinterest board, much less time for one?”

“Yeah, okay, you’re right. I just … I know she’s probably thought about the perfect situation for all of this, and I want to do it right.”

The sales woman is making her way back, but Lila scoffs. “I think Samantha used to dream about a wedding or fairy tale because she had the wrong guy next to her. It was nicer than facing the reality that she’d never have it with Derek. Harsh but true. With you, it won’t matter if you pull that rock out of a paper lunch bag. She loves you in a way I’ve never seen her love before. You’re the fairy tale, and the rest will just fall into place. Now let’s look at some bling before you make me vomit on the sweet shit that’s coming out of my mouth.”

I can’t help but laugh. “Deal. Just don’t pick an ugly one, because I’ll blame it on you if she hates it.”

We look at the velvet jewelry cases set out before us, thousands of dollars sitting out on that counter. Square diamonds and round ones, yellow ones that I don’t really like, bands with a lot of jewels and those with none. Gold and silver, thick and thin, ornate and simple.

“I’ve got to be honest, I’m completely lost.” I fist a hand in my hair.

I feel like women should just constantly have a running Christmas list with anything they’ll ever want to have on there. I’m not a chick, I don’t read minds. One purse looks the same as another to me. And I definitely have no taste in jewelry.

“Okay, calm down. Gold is out, as are any other color diamonds but traditional. And she likes a round diamond, so that narrows us down.” Lila shoos away some rings with her hand and the woman removes them from the bunch.

We’re left with about eight, and my eyes automatically go to one in particular. It’s unique, a little different from the others, and unlike any I’ve seen on another woman’s finger. Not that I check much.

But it’s solely Samantha. Unique, not round but not square … never fitting a stereotype or role. It flourishes in a bunch of ordinary, and at the end of the day is always the brightest thing in the room. This ring is her, and I want to make her mine.

“That one. That’s it.”