Player(94)

And that was saying something. My heart was so full that joy constantly spilled out of me.

I couldn’t help it. I was a mess for Sam.

A year we’d been together, six months since I’d moved my permanent toothbrush in.

Well, truth be told, I had thrown my old one away. I much preferred the red one.

My favorite red dress pooled around his neck as he slapped the strings of his bass, and I played on through the end of our duet. And when I jumped off, I kicked my saddle shoes as high as I could, the force flicking the featherlight chiffon over my butt to flash my drawers.

The crowd went ballistic.

I fox-trotted around to face Sam, and for a minute, we played to each other, with each other, for each other in utter harmony and synchronization.

Tonight was different from the hundreds of others we’d spent at Sway only because tonight, we were celebrating Sam.

When the band joined in, I stepped back in line next to Chris, the other trumpet player, and we played out the rest of the song, our last of the night. I spotted all the faces we loved in the crowd. Hadiya and Ahmed jitterbugging, my mom and dad triple-stepping. My brothers, all with girls in their arms. Rin and Court bouncing, Katherine spinning in the arms of her boyfriend with her head kicked back in a laugh that held no abandon. Amelia and her husband slow-dancing their way through a fast song, lost in conversation with lovesick smiles on their faces.

How she’d gone from never being kissed to the first of us married was a hell of a story.

But that wasn’t my story to tell.

With a long, climbing run, the song ended along with our set. The crowd stopped dancing just to cheer and clap as we bowed, and Sam took my hand as we trotted offstage. He paused, pulling me into his chest to lay a searing kiss on me, just like he always did after a show. As if he’d been watching me the whole set, just waiting for the second he could lay his lips on mine.

God, how I loved those lips.

Down the stairs we bounced, down to the dance floor and our friends and family. And then we were dancing.

Around and around we went, the adrenaline from performing zinging through us as we flew around the dance floor. He tricked me all over the place, using the flood of energy to fuel him as he flipped me over his shoulder, across his back, dropped me between his legs, dipped me. We didn’t stop moving, not until I was breathless and giggling and a small circle had formed around us.

He pulled me out of a Charleston to bring me into his chest, spinning us around cheek to cheek, hip to hip. And the circle dissolved into dancing bodies.

Sam looked down at me, his lips tilted in that crooked smile I loved so much. “You’re beautiful.”

I laughed. “It’s just this dress. My boyfriend says it’s his favorite.”

“Mmm,” he hummed, pulling me closer. “He sounds like a smart guy.”

“He really is. He just got a job composing a Broadway show.”

His smile climbed. “You don’t say?”

“It’s true. I’m pretty sure he’s on his way to being the next Andrew Lloyd Webber.”

That earned me a laugh and a flash of his brilliant teeth.

“What can I say? I’m a lucky girl. He even got me these hair combs. See?” I turned my head to the side, smiling coyly. “He said when I wore them, he’d know I belonged to him, but really, they just remind me of how much he loves me and the moment he gave me his heart.”

“I wonder what he’d think of this,” he said just before he brought his lips to mine.

The kiss lingered, our lips parting in a slow, easy rhythm.

I sighed when he pulled away, gazing up into his face with a dreamy look on mine. “Oddly, I think he’d approve.”

“Maybe we should ask your fiancé instead.”

My brows quirked. “But I don’t have a—”

I swallowed a gasp as he dropped to my feet, my hands in his. The music played on, but the people around us stopped. If I could see their faces, I would have noted I knew every one. But all I saw was Sam. Sam bathed in the golden light of the naked Edison bulbs, the same color as his eyes. Eyes that looked up at me with hope and love and nervous anticipation.

“Once upon a time, you asked me to teach you how to be brave. But it was you who taught me. You taught me how to love. You taught me how to jump. You gave me a reason to be brave, to be more than I was. I don’t want to learn another lesson without you. Be with me always, Val. Marry me.”

He held out the box, opened to display the ring inside—a band of gold set with small diamonds, and in the center was a square cut diamond the size of a meteor, faceted and twinkling in the amber light.

I didn’t know if I responded or what I said, only that I was crying and reaching for him and kissing him and holding him. And he was holding me, his lips pressed to mine. And the ring was on my finger, and my heart was his.

And we were forever.

Everyone around us cheered and clapped. Distantly, I heard our names on the microphone, felt hands on our backs and arms and shoulders. But the only people in the world were me and Sam.

“Is that a yes?” he asked with that smile of his as he pressed his forehead to mine.

“That’s a, Yes. That’s an, I love you. That’s a, Please tell my boyfriend I’m sorry, but I’ve recently upgraded.”

A laugh, the sweetest sound. “I love you, Val. I’ll love you forever.”