Almost Perfect (Fool's Gold #2)(93)



“She likes it when you apologize after you’ve done something wrong. And she always gives you a second chance,” Tyler informed.

“Not this time, buddy,” Ethan argued.

“But if you love her,” Melissa said, “you should tell her again. Tell her like you mean it.”

“Kiss her like they do in the movies,” Abby added.

“It’s not going to be enough. Liz deserves better than me.”

“Darlin’, if we only married who we deserved, then the world would be filled with single women,” an older woman said.

There was more laughter.

“I do love her,” Ethan told the crowd. “But sometimes love isn’t enough.”

Liz stared at the man who had always been in her heart and knew she’d been given the most precious gift of all. A second chance. Whatever doubts she’d had faded away in the face of Ethan humbling himself before everyone he knew—just to protect her and make her feel safe.

She felt his love, his caring, his support. The road they shared might not always be easy, but it was where they both belonged.

“Love is always enough,” Liz said.

He turned, looking stunned. “I thought you weren’t going to be here until noon. I thought the kids had come on their own.”

“The band goes on at noon. We got here a while ago.”

He dropped the microphone to his side. “How much did you hear?”

She climbed the stairs to the stage. “All of it.”

“I do love you, Liz. I mean that.”

“I believe you.”

“What’s he saying?” someone in the crowd asked.

A person up front shushed him. “We’ll tell you later,” the woman said.

Ethan set the microphone back in the stand and moved toward her. “I want us to get married. I want us to be a family. But only because I want to spend my life with you, making you happy. I want to be the man you deserve, but I’m going to need your help to get there.”

“You got that right,” she said with a smile.

“Is that a yes?” he asked.

She stepped into his embrace.

“Yes,” she whispered, right before his mouth pressed against hers.

“They’re kissing like in the movies,” Abby crowed. “I love it when that happens.”

Susan Mallery's Books