Page 140 of Until Next Summer

My eyes fill with tears.

“We eat breakfast together,” he says, smiling, “and then you kiss the kids goodbye, and we walk you to the door. And when you go outside, I see the lake and the trees and the cabins in the distance, and I realize that we live here. Right here.” He pauses. “That’s when I wake up. And every time, I lie there in bed and wish I could go back to that dream.” He glances over at me, a few stray tears caught on his lashes. “I want that life, Jess. I want it so badly it hurts.”

I want it, too—my heart is overflowing with longing. “But are you sure you’d be happy here? Living in the woods away from society?”

“I don’t like society that much.”

I let out an incredulous laugh. “But kids, Luke? I mean, I want kids. But how would we make it work? I don’t wantthem to end up like Jack Valentine, resentful of their parents for being so focused on camp.”

“I know, butwedon’t run this camp, you and Hillary do. So during the summer, I’d take the primary role in parenting. And I’ll do my best to make sure that my deadlines are during the off-season, when you can take more of the primary role. I’m sure there will be challenges, but I think we can figure it out together.”

Then he pulls something out of his pocket, and my breath catches.

He’s holding a ring. And he looks more nervous than I’ve ever seen him.

“Those three paragraphs I was working on today?” he says. “They were for this, and I’ve completely forgotten them now. But I want to marry you more than anything I’ve ever wanted in my entire life. I want to make those dreams a reality. Please say yes.”

My entire body seems to soften. “Luke…”

He looks down at the ring, a slim gold band with a channel of diamonds. “I figured you’d want something simple, something you can wear while setting up tents and putting sunscreen on kids and all that, but if you want something else—”

“It’s perfect,” I say.

And I don’t just mean the ring—I mean the life he’s imagined for us. It’s almost too beautiful to believe, my wildest dreams come true. He pulls me toward him and kisses me, a deep, aching kiss that feels full of promise for the future.

A branch cracks behind us, and I whirl around to seeHillary and Cooper watching, huge, ridiculous grins on both their faces.

“You guys knew about this?” I say, shocked.

“Of course,” Hillary says, “but don’t leave him hanging, answer him—he’s been nervous about this for weeks!”

I whirl back to Luke. “YES!” I shout. “A thousand times yes!”

Luke’s face lights up in a smile, and Hillary and Cooper cheer as he kisses me again.

After that, Cooper pops the champagne and pours a glass for each of us. Hillary’s sitting on his lap, snuggled against him, and I’m sitting between Luke’s legs, leaning against his chest.

“So…” Hillary says, “are we thinking a wedding here next year? I can imagine it on the big lawn, twinkle lights strung through the trees, Cooper in charge of the food.”

“I love that,” I say, and send her a sneaky grin. “But what if we make it adoublewedding?”

She blushes and looks away, but Cooper catches my eye and gives me a grin that makes it clear he has his own plan in the works.

We shift to other topics—Cooper tells us about some new menu offerings during adult camp, and Hillary tells us about her trip to Chicago. She says one of the business owners she’s working with is an architect who’s going to draw up plans for a house for me, not far from Mary Valentine’s lot.

“Me?” I say. “Why?”

“Because if you’re going to be here on the property with Luke and a family, you can’t live in a musty hundred-year-old cabin,” she says, smiling. “The entire board is in agreement.”

“What about you and Cooper?” I ask. “I want you guys to have a place, too.”

“We’d love to be your neighbors,” Hillary says, “but for now, we’re going to split our time between Chicago and here—maybe stay in your cabin once you move into the house.”

After a while, Cooper and Luke gather up the dishes and leave me and Hillary to finish off the champagne. We sit on the edge of the dock, our bare feet in the water, and chat. Each time my eyes catch on the new ring on my left hand, I feel a bubble of excitement. It won’t be easy, building a life here with Luke, raising children and balancing our careers, but it’s a journey worth taking.

“Remember that button you had on your backpack when you were a kid?” Hillary asks after a while. “What did it say—something about living all year for the summer?”

“ ‘I live ten months for two,’ ” I say, nodding. “I spent the entire year waiting for camp because it felt like the only real thing in my life.”

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