Page 126 of Holiday Hopefuls
“Connie dating someone else thing?” he finishes.
Nodding, I roll my lips together. “Yeah. That.”
Ian sighs, finally dropping his hands from my shoulders. “I think he’s in denial. He says he’s fine and that they’ve always been just friends, so that’s how it’ll stay.”
“Wow,” I snort, “how convincing."
My oldest friend grins down at me. “Right? Anyway,” Ian bows, extending his hand, “may I have this dance?” He wiggles his thick eyebrows, making me giggle. “I know I’m not Oliver, but hopefully I’ll do for the present.”
Taking Ian’s hand, a wave of gratitude washes through me. With a sigh, I look up at him and rest my palm on his shoulder. “Thank you.”
Confusion takes over Ian’s features as he tilts his head in question. “For dancing with you?” We move together to the rhythm in that easy manner we’ve always had.
I shake my head. “For everything. For always being there, from that very first day when you moved in next door. For not letting my family scare you away from hanging out with me. For supporting me when no one else did. For pushing me to go meet Oliver. I wouldn’t have him if it wasn’t for you.” Tears threaten to fall from my eyes, and I blink them away.
“Callie … ” he whispers. My dearest friend looks back at me with nothing but love. Releasing his hold on my waist, Ian spins me around. “I’ll always be there for you, don’t worry. You’re the little sister I never wanted. But I am so proud of you,” he says,catching me. “And you deserve to be happy. Never forget that.” I watch my friend’s eyes flicker to somewhere above my head toward the front of the room.
The song comes to a close, no new tune replacing the previous melody. But no one questions the DJ. No one moves. No one breathes.
A quick look to my left and right reveals that Ian and I are surrounded by my family, each one of them watching us.
No, not us.
Me.
I turn back to my friend, a confused frown in place. “What’s going on?” I whisper.
Ian says nothing. Instead, he pulls me in for a tight hug before spinning me around to face the stage.
A gasp catches in my throat. Goosebumps break out across my skin. My heart ceases all movements, unsure if it even remembers the most simple of operations.
There, on the raised platform, stands Oliver.
My feet beg my mind to remember how to move, if only to run to Oliver’s waiting arms.
But Ian keeps me anchored in place, holding me steady while my knees threaten to give out.
With a wireless microphone in one hand, Oliver waves to the crowd with the other. No longer in his university lounge pants from earlier, my favorite person somehow manages to look effortlessly stylish in dark navy chino pants and a fitted gray sweater. “Hello everyone,” he says, “I apologize for the interruption. I promise this will only take a moment.” It takes less than a single breath for the lights to come up and my love’s eyes to meet mine. A breathtaking smile breaks out across his handsome face. “You see, I met this woman. This incredible woman. For all intents and purposes, we began seeing one another. Now, we may not have gotten together under typicalcircumstances, but I knew I continued to crave her company each time we would part ways. Over time, I began giving in to little indulgences here and there where she was concerned, before I was finally able to admit the truth to myself.” Oliver’s eyes lock onto mine. “I had fallen in love with her.”
My heart kickstarts, waking from its ill-timed slumber and taking off in a gallop. Eyes wide, I watch as Oliver descends the small staircase from the platform. The crowd parts for him in a manner so reverent, it’s almost biblical—my personal salvation coming to claim my heart and soul here for all to see.
And I’ll let him.
Step by measured step, Oliver makes his way to me.
Each stride is a test of my patience. A trial that I am actively failing.
When Oliver is only a few paces away, he continues, “Then, one day, and for only a single moment in time, I found out how I would feel if I were to lose her. And I knew then that this was it. That she was it for me. If there had ever been any doubt in my mind, logic and love cast it out.” Oliver closes the remaining distance between us, stopping only breaths away. His familiar scent of cinnamon and apples holds me captive as Ian steps away. Oliver beams down at me, his gentle hand brushing a piece of hair from my face.
In my periphery, a figure steps out from the crowd and heads toward us.
When Prescott is close enough, Oliver moves to hand him the microphone, exchanging it for something smaller and more easily concealed under those large fingers. “Thank you,” Oliver murmurs to my brother.
Prescott takes the microphone and steps away, giving us a false sense of privacy.
I never believed the fairy tales—the princesses who spoke of time slowing or stopping altogether when their true love askedfor their hand. But as the man I love drops down to one knee, tears stream down my cheeks while the rest of the world falls away.
Here, it’s only Oliver and I.
