Page 41 of Keepsake
There was a silence at the table as we all registered what Griff had done.
“Omigod,” Audrey stuttered. “It’s… It’s beautiful.”
Griff did not get down on one knee, I noticed. That was probably because Audrey was sitting on his knee. “Princess, will you be my wife?”
“Yes!” she shouted. “But you weren’t supposed to spend money on a ring! Our budget is a house of cards.”
He wrapped his big arms around her middle. “I think I heard a yes in there somewhere.”
“You!” Audrey teared up. “Of course I want to get married. I’m just surprised.” She looked around the table at all the gaping faces. “Awfully sure of yourself, aren’t you, Griff?”
“Only about you,” he said quietly, kissing her on the cheekbone. From the look on his face, you might guess there was nobody else in the room. Or in the world.
Audrey turned and dove into his arms, and that’s when everyone woke up and cheered.
“What happen?” demanded Maeve in my lap. She’d been quietly finishing my ice cream during the grownup drama.
“Uh…” My throat was oddly tight, and I tried to think what to say. How do you explain something like that to a two-and-a-half-year-old?Griffin just won the lottery. Someone loves him above all others.
Leah swooped in and pulled her daughter off my lap. “Griff and Audrey decided to get married,” she explained.
Maeve just yawned.
“Say goodnight to Zach,” her mother said. “It’s past your bedtime.”
“No!” But Leah carried her toward the stairs, with Maeve protesting the whole way.
Isaac appeared in the doorway, bearing two bottles of chilled champagne.
“Awfully sure of yourself,” Audrey said again, pointing at them.
“You love it,” Griff argued, and then they were kissing again.
I looked away, as I always did. Everyone assumes they know why talk of sex makes me uncomfortable. They think it scares me, or I don’t know what to do with it. But that’s bull. I know exactly what I’d like to do with it.
Withher.
My traitorous gaze found Lark in her chair, digging a tissue out of her handbag for Ruth, who had happy tears tracking down her face. Lark’s cheeks were pink from working outside in the sun all day. Someone handed her a glass of champagne and received a glittering smile as thanks.
“God, I miss champagne,” May sighed, dropping herself into Leah’s empty chair beside me.
“Me too, sister,” Jude agreed. “Well, I’m not really a champagne guy. But once in a while I miss the hell out of my old pal Jack Daniel’s.”
With champagne bubbles bursting against my tongue, I wondered whether I was a champagne guy. Probably not. These things were likely decided by fate. That rich guy Lark had been dating probably drank it regularly.
“My brother isengaged,” May said, testing out the concept. “Thought I’d never see the day.”
“Me either,” I admitted.
“Those two just kill me,” May said. “It gives me hope, you know? Vermont is the forty-ninth most populace state in the union. Not exactly a generous dating pool. Last June Griff was stomping around our place looking blue, and then Audrey showed up out of nowhere.”
I remembered it well. I’d put the donut on her flat tire myself.
She nudged me with her knee. “Who are we going to find for you, Zachy?”
Your best friend?“Uh, I don’t know if I’m dating material.”
“If my brother can find someone to love his grumpy ass, and even Eeyore here is married—” She jerked a thumb toward Jude, who grinned. “—then it’s really astonishing that you and I are single.”
