The Proposal(58)

Drew patted him on the shoulder.

“She’ll be okay, man. I’m sure her doctor is doing everything she should be.”

She probably was, but that didn’t make him any less terrified.

“Yeah. It’s just that this time of year. I think everyone in my family gets pretty paranoid about health stuff. Me included.”

Ever since Nik had brought it up, he’d been thinking about talking to Angela about their dad. Nik was probably right that Angie was the only person who knew what it was like to lose their dad. Maybe sharing that grief with her would help them both.

But he wasn’t sure he was ready to do that. He’d spent almost five years trying to beat back his grief; the idea of welcoming it in felt obscene.

Carlos got up to get them chips and salsa and more beer. Drew immediately grabbed a chip, but hesitated before dipping it into the salsa. Carlos rolled his eyes.

“Oh my God, you haven’t even been gone a year. I didn’t forget you’re scared of spicy food.”

“I was just checking! I wasn’t sure you stocked Drew-style salsa anymore.”

Carlos leaned back against the couch cushions. Nik was right about this couch; it was pretty magical.

“I don’t. I bought this just for you. Be honored. I wouldn’t buy this bullshit for just anyone.”

Drew put his hand over his heart.

“I am, man. I am.”

At the next commercial break, Drew cleared his throat.

“Um, actually. Speaking of. There was something I wanted to ask you.”

Speaking of what? Carlos raised his eyebrows at him.

“I’m flattered, but I don’t think I’m ready to get married any time soon.”

Drew threw a chip at him.

“Fuck you. I’m taken, remember?”

“Yeah, yeah, I remember,” Carlos said.

“Anyway. I was going to say that if it wasn’t for you, I probably never would have figured my shit out, and well, will you be my best man?”

Damn it. Carlos hadn’t planned on getting emotional today, but he was surprisingly touched by this.

“Oh shit, man, of course I will.”

“Thanks.” Drew let out a deep breath. “I was going to ask when you were up in Berkeley for the engagement party, but you’d just found out about Jessie at that point and there was a lot going on. Just make sure your speech isn’t too wild—my grandma is going to be there.”

Carlos grinned.

“Oh, my speech is going to be fantastic.” Carlos rubbed his hands together and reached for the good salsa. “This is going to be fun. Do you guys have a wedding date yet?”

Drew shook his head.

“Not yet—we’re working on it. Probably sometime next summer. Hell, I’d do it tomorrow if I could. But you’ll be the first to know as soon as we have a date. You better lock down that entire week for me.”

Carlos laughed.

“You got it. I’m just trying to imagine what I would have thought if someone told me at this time last year that you’d be telling me a year later you’d be ready to get married ‘tomorrow.’ I would probably fall over in shock.”

Drew picked up the empty salsa bowl and walked into the kitchen to refill it.

“You probably would have. Hell, I definitely would have. What can I say, sometimes when it hits, it hits.”

At the next commercial break, Drew said—oh so casually—“Hey, so what’s going on with this Dodgers-game girl? What’s she like? We are going to get to meet her tonight, aren’t we?”

Carlos rolled his eyes. Drew was doing that “we” thing that couples always did. Had he turned into one of those people already?

“Yes, ‘we’ are. Lucky for you, she was dying for an excuse to get out of some wedding shower she was supposed to go to, so you’re it.” Well, that was sort of true. Maybe that would stop Drew from trying to turn tonight’s dinner into a whole couples’ thing. “Don’t make this into a big thing. I’m not ready to get married to her tomorrow.”

“Okay, okay, it’s not a big thing, I heard you the first time.”

The smirk on Drew’s face made Carlos pretty sure he hadn’t heard him at all.



* * *



? ? ?

Dinner with Carlos, his friend, and his friend’s probably perfect fiancée was the last thing Nik wanted to do. The one good thing about Fisher had been that all of his friends were so annoying that she’d made fun of them to their faces constantly without them even realizing it. She probably couldn’t pull that off with Carlos’s friends.

Also, she had no fucking idea what she should wear. Everyone at the shower was in cute little floral dresses, and she hadn’t worn a cute little floral dress since she was seven years old. Her concession had been not wearing black to the shower in the first place. But tonight she wanted to not fit in a little less aggressively.

She stared into her closet for a full five minutes before she gave up and called Dana.

“Okay, I went to that boring shower with you; now you have to pay me back by getting me out of this dinner tonight.”

“Why don’t you want to go?” Dana asked. Nik could tell by her regular breathing that she was running. It was good that she liked Dana so much—otherwise she’d hate her for being able to have a regular conversation during exercise.