Page 116 of Champagne Nights

“Where’s the food?” he asked.

“I ate it on the way home. It was just a burger. Now stop with the questions and tell me why you left your girlfriend at a wine-tasting party to come over here.”

We both took a seat at the table. “I’m really nervous about proposing to Olivia. I mean, I’m legit scared. What if I fuck it up? I want this to be perfect. What if she says no?”

“First of all, she isn’t going to say no. Olivia loves you. Second of all, it’s normal to be nervous. I was very nervous when I proposed to Amy.”

“Really? Because I remember you being all cool and calm when you talked about it.”

“I’m good at hiding things.” I smiled. “Don’t overthink it, Finn. It should be natural. Where were you thinking about proposing?”

“I was going to do it at her apartment when I picked her up for dinner. I’m going to buy a big bouquet of roses and have the ring box sitting in between the flowers, so when I give them to her, she’ll see the box, and then I’d ask her to marry me.”

“That’s very romantic. She’ll love it.”

“You think?”

“I know. Now stop being a pussy and get a grip.” I smiled.

“Hey, I want you to know that I feel really bad for talking about this with you. Considering…”

“Don’t feel bad. It’s your time to be happy and to create a magical life and future with Olivia. I’m okay, Finn. You and the parents need to stop worrying about me.”

“Like you said before, you’re good at hiding things.”

I gave him a small smile as I got up from the table. “Go back to Olivia. Tell her I’m fine, and I told you to go back.”

“Thanks, bro,” Finn said as he hugged me.

“No problem. Go on. Get out of here.”

Finn left, and I grabbed the remote and sat down on the couch. A few minutes later, I received a text message from Brady.

“Dude, Linda and I just had the best sex ever!”

“That’s great, Brady.”

“It was drunk sex, but it was still great.”

“That’s great, Brady.”

He didn’t respond, and I was happy. I didn’t want or need to know about his sex life. I missed sex. I missed it a lot, but I would never go out and have a one-night stand with someone. To me, sex was just as equally an emotional act as well as physical. I missed that closeness. I missed Amy.

The next morning, I went for a run. As tired as I was, I knew the fresh air would wake me up. Sleeping wasn’t on my side last night. I kept tossing and turning and couldn’t stop thinking about Paisley Logan. She was a beautiful woman. In fact, she was gorgeous. She looked about five feet, six inches, with an athletic body. Her light brown hair and a subtle blonde touch complemented her green eyes. She appeared to be okay on the outside, but when I looked into her eyes, I saw the same emptiness inside her that I had. I turned up the volume on my music as I ran. I was running from something and running to nowhere.

Chapter Nine

Paisley

I climbed out of bed, grabbed my phone from my nightstand, and scrolled through my emails. Romeo was already sitting by his food bowl in the kitchen when I walked in.

“Good morning, Romeo,” I said as I opened up a can of Fancy Feast and dumped it in his bowl.

As I popped a K-cup in the Keurig, I suddenly remembered it was Halloween, and I was expected to be over at my parents’ house at around five o’clock. My phone beeped with a text message from Keaton.

“You up?”

“Yeah.”

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