Page 67 of The Sweet Part
I don’t like running on a nice day, let alone a cold day in February. But what choice do I have? I interrupted his running routine, and I need to know what he did that was so successful.
He starts off at a brisk pace, and I keep up. He runs toward the high school, which is up a hill. Great.
“May told us you broke up,” he says.
“Because she wasn’t ready to have me in her life with Sophie, but I’m ready for all that. I love her, and I’m ready to commit.”
He lifts a brow.
We head up the hill, which is steeper than it looks when you’re running. I wish he would say something. Maybe he needs to catch his breath.
Finally, at the top of the hill he says, “Are you asking me for permission to marry my daughter? ’Cause that’s something you need to run by her.” He heads around behind the school, and I follow. The man isn’t even out of breath.
“No, that’s not what I wanted to talk about.”
Now we’re going downhill. Much easier.
“Then what?” he asks.
“I gave May my strong opinion on Sophie being in my aunt’s movie, and May completely shut down. She doesn’t want me to give any opinion about Sophie, even though I was just trying to say it could be fun, and she could trust my aunt who’s producing the movie.”
“Heard about that too. She waspissed. Guess you learned the hard way to never get between a mom and her daughter. Did you grovel?”
“Uh, I think so. I apologized and explained myself.”
He gestures for me to follow. “Let’s do the hill loop again. It’s a good workout.”
I groan inwardly and follow him.
“That’s not groveling,” he says. “It’s when you do something to show where you’re at.”
“Actions speak louder than words.”
“Exactly.”
“I heard the grand gesture you made for your wife was legendary. What did you do?”
He actually blushes. “That stays within the family.”
“Please, I have this whole thing planned with the inn and Happy Endings, but I’m afraid it’s going to blow up in my face. If I just knew what you did, I could see if my idea is too over the top.”
He chuckles. “You sound as desperate as I was when I was searching for a grand gesture. The guy I went to was no help at all. I’ll do you one better. Here’s the secret.”
Back up the hill!
He holds up a finger. “One. A gift.” He holds up another finger. “Two. Words from the heart. That means a lot to women.”
It sounds deceptively simple and much less than what I planned. “What kind of gift?”
“My thing won’t work for you. It has to be your thing.”
Not helpful!
Great, now I’m getting a cramp in my side. How many uphill runs do we have to do before he tells me what I need to know?
“So you’re never going to tell me?” I ask.
“When you’re family, you’ll know.” He winks.
