Total pages in book: 68
Estimated words: 64887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Estimated words: 64887 (not accurate)
Estimated Reading Time in minutes: 324(@200wpm)___ 260(@250wpm)___ 216(@300wpm)
Max’s eyebrows shoot up. “‘This time?’ Have you proposed to her before?”
I blush. “Lots of times, actually.”
Max can’t believe it. “And she’s said no to you, each and every time?”
I explain the whole thing. “But now,” I say in conclusion, “the time is finally here for me to pull out all the stops and give her the kind of fairytale proposal she deserves. No more hot tubs or proposals at breakfast. This time will be the real deal. I even asked her dad for his blessing the other night.”
Max gasps. “Did he give it to you?”
“Sort of.”
I relay the gist of what Selena’s father said to me, and Max hoots with laughter.
“Now, that’s a badass father!” he says.
“He’s the best.”
Max holds up his beer and clinks my glass. “Well, here’s hoping you finally get that yes, my friend. I’m rooting for you.”
“Thanks. Amen.”
After a bit, the waiter arrives with our food—fish tacos for Max and a burrito for me—and we proceed to dig in while chatting about some big patent case Max has been working on. Now that I no longer work for the law firm, I can’t imagine he’s still allowed to tell me this stuff. But Max doesn’t seem to care about that technicality, so I don’t stop him from talking. After a while, though, Max returns the conversation to my upcoming proposal. Specifically, to him giving me ideas for how to do it.
“Oh! You could whisk her away to a tropical vacation,” Max suggests. “Ask her on the beach at sunset. That’s sort of textbook ‘romantic proposal,’ isn’t it?”
“Yeah, I was thinking of doing something like that. We’re going to see my college buddy in LA in a few weeks. I was thinking I might book a suite at a fancy hotel in Santa Monica or Malibu and do it on our first night there.”
Max slams his palm on the table, clearly having an epiphany. “You should ask her at your birthday party. All her family and friends will be there, right? You could turn your birthday party into an engagement party!”
I purse my lips. “Meh. I don’t think so. Selena’s a private person. I don’t think she’d want me to ask her in front of a crowd.” I pick up my margarita. “Are you coming to my party, by the way? I don’t think we heard back from you.”
“Oh, yeah, sorry. I’ve been working long hours. Forgot to RSVP. I’m coming—especially if it means I’ll get to see Selena’s reaction to that goddamned boulder of a ring.”
I put down my glass. “I really don’t think I’ll do it at the party. Selena’s not a fan of ‘public proposals.’” I tell Max the story of the time, a few weeks ago, Selena and I took Drew to a Supersonics game and some guy got down on bended knee at center court during half-time. I explain that, after the proposal, Drew said something like, “Why do guys always propose in front of total strangers? I’d never do that. What if the woman says no?” And that Selena agreed with her son, saying, “I’m always worried the woman is going to do exactly that—say no and embarrass the poor guy in front of the world. Or, worse, that she’ll say yes in the moment to save him from public humiliation, and then break his heart later on, in private.”
Sitting across from me now, Max furrows his brow. He asks, “So, are you saying you’re afraid Selena will publicly humiliate you? Or maybe say yes to you in the moment and then break your heart later on?”
My heart squeezes at the thought of either scenario. But what I say is, “Neither. Selena’s going to say yes to me this time. Like I said, she gave me that ‘smoke signal.’ All I’m saying is I don’t think she’d like a public proposal, and I want to make the proposal as perfect for her as possible.”
Max scoffs. “Well, I wouldn’t equate a party with good friends and family to a public basketball game, but, whatever. You’re the one who knows her and what she’d like.”
I ruminate on that for a moment and realize Max might be onto something here. Am I scared of public humiliation? I’m ninety-nine percent sure Selena will say yes when I ask her this next time, but I also know life is unpredictable and people change their minds about important things. Plus, I’m sometimes flat-out dumb when it comes to reading social cues. All of which means there’s probably at least a one percent chance that Selena could turn me down this next time around, despite the heads-up she gave me in her kitchen last week. And if that were to happen, if she were to reject me again, would I want her son and father and everyone we know to witness my humiliation? Uh, no.