The Design(82)

“There is one thing… since you aren’t a licensed architect yet, I have to supervise the build, but I won’t make any decisions without you by my side.”

I leaned back so I could meet his eye. “Does that mean I have my old job back?”

He smiled. “I was actually thinking of something better,” he said and then he slowly slid down to the ground, holding his weight up on one knee.

What? WHAT?

“Grayson! What are you doing?!”

“If you change your name to Cameron Cole, then that would technically make you a partner in my company, right?”

“Grayson!” I exclaimed as he pulled a small, simple gold band from his pocket. It was delicate and thin, understated and unique.

“I let you leave me once, Cammie. I let you leave and I had no choice but to watch you board that plane to Paris. I let you go because I thought that’s what you wanted, but now I’m going after what I want, and I want to marry you. I want you by my side in life and in business. You’re a visionary, Cameron. I admire your drive and tenacity. I admire your passion and determination. If you want to go back to Paris, we’ll go to Paris. We’ll live wherever you want, just as long as we’re together.”

I laughed at the idea of us living in Paris, but Grayson took it the wrong way. His smile faded for a moment as he processed the fact that I’d just laughed at his proposal.

“No! Grayson. Wait, not ‘no’ to the proposal. Yes! Yes, to that.”

He smiled as I tried to unscramble my speech.

“But no, we cannot live in Paris. We’ll stay in LA and we’ll oversee the building of my park. Paris held nothing for me without you there.”

He grinned.

“So is that a yes?”

I laughed. “That’s a hell yes.”

He slipped the delicate ring on my finger, stood up, and kissed me. I lifted up onto my tiptoes and wrapped my hands around his neck. It’d been two months too long since our last kiss. I’d been so wrong about leaving. I thought I needed to leave behind the people I depended on so that I could learn to stand on my two feet, but Grayson had proven to me that I could do it all on my own, right from where I was. Sure, Grayson would probably still try to be controlling and Brooklyn would always worry, but I’d tell them how I felt, we’d adjust, and they’d give me room to grow.




After I managed to stop crying and my face was a little less blotchy, Grayson and I stood in front of the sign and snapped a photo of our smiling faces with my ring on full display.

When we got back in the car, I stared down at the photo. It was hardly the best photo I’d ever taken, but I’d never seen myself look happier than I did right then. Grayson and I were wrapped around one another and our cheeks were crushed together so that our giant smiles were slightly lopsided. Since Grayson had attempted to snap the photo himself, our foreheads were, of course, cut off, but Grayson’s eyes were in focus and there were tears hovering in the corners. My cheeks were flushed and the wind had whipped my hair all over the place. I’m sure a photographer would have balked at the execution, but the emotion? The love? It was right there, plain to see.

I attached the photo to a text message and sent it to Brooklyn with the caption: “I said yes!”

She replied within seconds.



Brooklyn: ARE YOU KIDDING ME???? DOUBLE WEDDING?????!!!





Epilogue


Amount saved for our wedding: $10,345 (which will cover like one-fourth of my dress. Ha, just kidding.). Grayson keeps trying to convince me to let him pay for the wedding, but I’ve insisted on paying for half. Clearly, I’m still working on convincing him that he doesn’t have to be in control of everything!

Items I have: a beautiful strand of pearls my mother left me. I’ll wear them on my wedding day. For her.

Items I need: DJ, caterer, photographer, officiant… basically everything. Oy vey.

French phrases that I know: Mon fiancé a un mégot mignon… which translates to: “My fiancé has a cute butt.” ;) Amount saved for our house: $125,405. Wondering where that money came from? Grayson took most of my rent from over the years and invested it. When I found out, it of course sparked a heated argument between us, but in the end, I couldn’t hate him for wisely investing my money. He swore (under penalty of death) to never meddle like that again and I promised to use the money for our house, something we’d share.





A few short months after my sister’s engagement party, I stood at the front of her wedding reception as the chatter started to die down. It was time for my maid of honor speech and my hands shook with nerves—no thanks to the little ensemble Brooklyn had surprised me with.

“Some of you may be wondering why I’m standing up here wearing a sombrero and a clown nose." I spoke into the microphone so that all of my sister’s wedding guests could hear me. “Well, during a certain speech a few months ago, Grayson and I may have gone a bit off topic. In an effort to pay me back, my sister decided that we had to wear these fetching ensembles while delivering our speeches this time around.”

I adjusted the bright pink sombrero so that it wouldn’t fall off.

“Obviously her plan failed because she didn’t realize how killer I look in a sombrero.”

The crowd laughed and I twisted my engagement ring around my finger, a habit I’d developed in the last few months.