“But how did you convince them?”
“I told them I wanted to do it as a gift to you.”
“And that was all it took?”
I eyed him skeptically. These were my parents we were talking about. There was a lull in the action at the counter and my parents came over, giving me quick hugs. My dad clapped Bryan on the back. They all looked like they had secrets too.
“Sort of.” Bryan glanced from my mom to my dad. They were both smirking.
“The floor is yours,” my father said, and took a step back, placing his arm around my mom, as if they were giving him space for something.
“What is it?”
“Well, see,” Bryan said, and I noticed the tiniest bit of red in his cheeks. He was nervous. “It’s really daunting being in love with a jewelry designer. You can’t really get her a necklace or earrings or even a ring to show your love, because chances are she has her own ideas in all those areas and might be a little particular. So this — “ he spread his arms out to indicate the revitalization of the store “— is my gift to you. But it’s more like a promise. It’s a promise that I don’t want to be your favorite mistake. That I want to be your forever mistake, if you’ll have me.”
My heart stopped for a moment, and I couldn’t move, or form words.
“What I’m really trying to say is I don’t ever want to lose you again. Now that I have you, I want to be with you always. Will you be mine?”
He bent down on one knee and my heart nearly stopped. But then he reached for his wallet. I raised an eyebrow, curiously, as I watched. He removed a tiny white bag that looked so familiar.
“You might remember the day I bought this. Back at a little shop in the Village with you. I’ve kept it since then. In my wallet, in this bag, for five years. I got it for you then and planned to give it to you as a promise. It’s just a little thing, but you always said it was a life-long kind of love you had for the cartoon cat.”
He reached into the bag and handed me a sparkly Hello Kitty ring, the same one I’d admired so many years ago.
“You kept this for five years?”
“Inside my wallet every single day. Kat, it’s always been you for me. Always.”
I grabbed his hand and pulled him to me, wrapping my arms around him.
“I’ll buy you a real ring,” he said. “But I want you to design it, okay?”
I nodded.
“So, this is a yes?”
Rays of happiness burst from my chest. “I’m yours. I always have been. I always will be.”
Then I kissed him, and though his kisses had always made me melt, this kiss was the very best of all. Because it was a new beginning. Here in my home away from home, in the town where I grew up, we’d come back to each other, and we weren’t ever going to let go.