Page 129 of Mr. Swoony

“Yippee.” She fights her smile and shuts the curtain. “You better get that girl a big-ass ring.”

“I will.” He looks at me. “She’ll have the biggest ring.”

I shake my head. “I don’t need anything huge. I just need you.”

He digs into his pocket, and I wonder if he was joking about not having a ring, but he pulls out his phone and holds it in front of us. His thumb moves across the screen until he’s in his notes app.

“I get to cross something off my list.” He presses his thumb on the line that reads “Ask Eloise to marry me” and smiles at me.

“Conor.” My head rolls to his shoulder, and I wish I had my list with me. “I can finally cross off fall in love.”

Some people might think we’re crazy, but I know that’s not the case. Let people say what they want. I wasn’t looking to fall in love, but I’m so happy it happened. Sometimes when you know, you know, and it’s as simple as that.

Epilogue

Eloise

I made a full recovery, and when Lila’s sister intervened and Lila herself agreed to get help at a mental health hospital, I decided not to press charges. I just want her to get well, both for us and herself.

After the doctor gave me the all-clear, we booked flights to Vegas on Conor’s three-day break.

As I stand on the other side of the door in the chapel, waiting for them to open so I can see Conor standing at the end of the aisle, none of the anxiety I experienced the first time I was in this situation lives inside me. The doors open, and I don’t have to look up to know Conor’s eyes are on me. As my gaze lifts, I see him in his ivory suit, his smile getting wider the closer I get.

My chest doesn’t feel tight with stress and trepidation. Instead, it’s filled with joy and excitement for our future. I reach the end of the aisle and pass my bouquet to the officiant’s wife.

“You look so beautiful,” Conor whispers.

“You look handsome too,” I whisper back.

He takes my hands and stares into my eyes.

The officiant goes through the classic set of vows and promises. We weren’t picky, we really just want to be married. Our hearts know the vows we hold inside them. I don’t need Conor to tell me. He’ll show me. Every day we’ll show one another our commitment to each other. When the officiant reaches the objection part, we both laugh, and the officiant’s eyebrows scrunch.

He barely gets to the “you may kiss your bride” part before Conor’s hands are on my cheeks and his mouth is on mine.

He announces us, and we walk out of the small ceremony room and right onto the street to flag down a taxi. We have things to do after all.

“We could’ve gone to city hall at this rate.” I climb into the taxi.

“Yeah, but a little vacation to get away is what we needed.”

We head back to the hotel and make love for hours before we come up for air and order some food. I don’t see us leaving this hotel room until we have to go to the airport, so I’m shocked when Conor gets out of bed to go shower.

“Are we going somewhere?” I ask.

“I have a surprise.” He peeks his head in the room. “We have an appointment in thirty minutes.”

“Conor, I have to shower too.”

“I know, I’m warming the water for you. We’re not going anywhere fancy.”

“Oh, okay.” I wonder what he has planned.

He stops me as I enter the bathroom, kissing me briefly. “My next day off, we’ll spend the entire day in bed so you can cross off spend a day in bed with a hottie from the list.”

“Oh my god, there are times I wish you’d never seen my list.” I open the shower door and step in.

He follows me. “You don’t mean that. You love that I saw that list. I think you secretly wanted me to see it.”

---