Girl Crush(78)

“Elle.”

I waited for more, trying desperately to be patient but rocked awkwardly on my heel. He licked his lips and removed the hand from his pocket. I couldn’t tell which emotion controlled him at the moment, but if I had to guess, it was nervousness.

“When my parents died years ago, there were a handful of things I couldn’t get out of my head. Over the years, many of those faded and became insignificant. And others I thought no longer mattered because they’d never happen. But when I met you, when I fell in love with you, my heart broke again knowing neither of them would get that chance. My mom would have loved your spirit and your spunk. My dad would have thought you were stunningly beautiful and adored your love of classic cars. But most of all, they would have thought you were amazing simply knowing how perfectly you loved me.”

I wanted to reach out to him, hug him, tell him I loved him, anything to comfort him, but he wasn’t done, and I had to wait until he was.

“I know they aren’t physically here anymore, and maybe this is all a little morbid, but it was important to me to try to include them in any way I could. And this was all I came up with.”

Unless we were going to perform a séance, I had no clue where he was going with any of this.

Time stopped when the man in front of me dropped to one knee, and behind him, on either side of his shoulders, I read the names Margaret West and David West as though they were here to witness Collier’s confession. He opened the hand he’d had stuffed in his pocket while the roses in the other took a beating in his grip. My eyes flashed from the flowers to the box to his face.

“Collier?” His name hung in the air in question.

“Elle, I think I’ve loved you since I met you in my driveway, but at the very least, it was the next time I saw you come running to comfort my sister in the middle of the night. I knew then you were different. I just wasn’t prepared to acknowledge how much. You’re my best friend, and I don’t want to do life without you. I want to share everything with you, including my last name. Will you marry me?”

He popped the black, velvet box open, but instead of a ring, there was a bottle of OPI. I tossed my head back in laughter. He’d always gotten me.

“Yes.”

West was on his feet in seconds. I cupped his cheeks in my hands and lifted up on the balls of my feet to kiss his sweet lips. “Yes,” I whispered my answer against his lips, again.

He hugged me and lifted me off the ground to swing me in a circle. When he finally set me back down, he presented me with the most priceless bottle of OPI in my collection and tucked the box back into his pocket. But when I reached out to take it, his thumb shifted, and the ring twisted to the front that had sat nestled between the top and the glass hidden from view. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand. It was by far the most exquisite piece of jewelry I’d ever seen. He slid it on my finger without my saying a word. And took my hand.

I followed him to his parents’ headstones where he laid one flower atop each marker and then turned around to get back into the limo.

To anyone else, this might have been a melancholy place to get engaged, but I knew how much Collier missed his parents and the fact he tried to share this with them in the only way he could made it all that much more special.

He held my hand that now wore his ring while the driver took us to dinner.

“I’m sorry I didn’t respond to your texts today. I left work at lunch and have been preoccupied since.”

“Two bottles of OPI in one day? You’re forgiven.”

The sound of his laughter filled the limo and wrapped itself around me in a tight hug. “Babe, only you would be more excited about two eight-dollar bottles of nail polish than a diamond ring.”

“At least I’m easy to please. And there are always new colors coming out. I could have Ronnie’s shoe obsession. Think of the fights that would cause.” I could tell by the look on his face he wasn’t following me. “She spends hundreds on shoes. Trish kicks her out on a regular basis for her spending sprees.”

“Elle, if you want shoes, or a purse, or anything else, I’m not going to kick you out.”

I kissed his cheek right as we pulled up to the restaurant. There weren’t very many cars in the parking lot, but I recognized most of those that were. When we walked in, my tribe was there, along with Collier’s friends. He’d rented the restaurant out along with the staff to host an intimate engagement party.

“You were awfully certain I was going to say yes, huh?”

“I always get what I want, babe. I was prepared to negotiate, strong arm, or simply drug you and drag you to the courthouse if that’s what it took. Luckily for me, you’re a sucker for pink polish. It was eight dollars well spent.”

“I should have asked to drive the Porsche before giving you an answer.”

“That’s when I would have drugged you.”

Throughout the evening, I became privy to bits and pieces of information. My friends were all officially whores who’d known for weeks that Collier was going to propose. None of them answered my texts today because they were afraid they’d spill the beans, and I’d get scared and bolt. When we got ready to leave, Beck hugged me for the hundredth time. She squeezed too tightly, and I let out a yelp.

“Damn, Beck, what’d you do?” Ronnie laughed at the expression on Collier’s sister’s face until she turned to me.