by Kate Stewart
He lifts one side of his lip in an Elvis curl. “Meh, maybe.”
“You’re an ass,” I huff, taking a step ahead of him and dodging his outstretched hand. “You totally ruined that.”
“If I was proposing, it damn sure won’t be under a tree that a hundred other guys have used for lack of a better imagination.”
“You just pissed all over that tradition harder than a cow on a flat rock.”
He throws his head back and laughs as I narrow my eyes.
“I’m serious. This is sacred.”
“As was my promise,” he says, snatching my hand and threading our fingers.
I see the honesty in his eyes and melt. “You got out of that one fast.”
He grins. “So, what do you want to do tonight?”
“Rock of Love?”
He looks away, and I gawk at him.
“You watched all of the last season without me?!”
“I missed you, it was a coping mechanism.”
“Lies, all lies!” I proclaim, narrowing my eyes. “I can’t believe you did that! Such an ass. Who wins? Who does Brett end up with? NO!” I clamp my hand over his mouth. “Don’t you dare ruin it for me. Gah, I’m so going to kick your ass!”
He rips my hand from his mouth.
“Laney, I don’t think anyone has cursed a man out under the tree. It’s probably bad juju.”
“You are a pig from hell.”
“Ah,” he says, pointing a finger at me. “That’s an Ouiser line. I’m getting good at this.”
“You watched that too?”
He grins. “Yep. Twice. And all of the Madea movies.”
I grip his face in my hands. “You are forgiven.”
“I love you, crazy Laney.”
“I love you too, Grand Band Man.”
Grannism—Your grandfather told me once we were moving north, so I pulled out a map and asked him, ‘Where in Texas is that?’
One year later…
I wake to the sound of missed keys.
Something’s off. Theo rarely ever misses notes on the piano. Playing for him is like breathing. He’s already mastered another four instruments since I moved in with him after coming back from a three-month sabbatical. Hearing Theo’s third attempt, I pad down the stairs past the photos I took of the landscapes on my travels and pause at the picture of the Taj Mahal. That day gave me a real sense of clarity. As much as I missed him, I cherished my trip. The first two weeks were hard. Every day I thought of an excuse to come back home, and every day, I fought with myself to see it through. After a month, I’d grown comfortable with being uncomfortable. It didn’t hurt that my boyfriend FaceTimed me constantly, encouraging me to stick it out. Every day he ordered me to find our new favorite place so that one day we would return, and I wasn’t allowed to come home until I did. I found out a lot about myself. I’m not a fan of foreign cuisine, like at all. I prefer mountains to beaches. Cold to heat, which is unfortunate because Texas is home.
The one thing I was sure of when I boarded the plane home, is that I loved my life and was satisfied with the way things were. I didn’t need to go on some grand adventure to find myself and figure it out. I’d known all along that I loved being at the front line with the people closest to me. Being involved in their lives for the trials and triumphs. I wanted a life very much like those of my heroes. The funny thing about that is, I hadn’t realized just how much of rocks my heroes were when it came to friends and family, until I left. I wanted to be that rock for those I cared the most for.
And a good rock rarely becomes a rolling stone.
I’m still unsure of what career I want, and the cool part is, I don’t have to figure it all out anytime soon. I have my degree. It’s not going anywhere, and for now, neither are we.
At the landing at the foot of the stairs, I see the obstruction we’ve had a million fights over since he brought the baby grand home and placed it in the center of our living room.
I walk into the room where he sits poised on the bench, his graduation gown pressed and hanging in the laundry room behind him. As it turns out, I ended up being the one to wait on Theo, and my Grand Man is graduating tomorrow summa cum laude.
He dug in deep this year, focusing most of his time on his music while I’ve been busying myself at my job at the flower shop. I hunted for it when I got home from my trip and used the rest of my time to help my mom renovate Gran’s house. She joined a dating app when I moved in with Theo and started seeing someone a little younger than herself a few months ago. My mother is officially a cougar, and it’s given her a little bounce back in her step. Theo gets credit for putting most of that hopeful light back in her eyes. It’s his romantic antics that brought that side of her back to life.
Maybe most of the men in my family don’t last, but everything inside me tells me this man will go the distance.
He stops the recording again, with a “Shit. Shit.” Another false start that has me on edge. Something is definitely wrong.
And then he begins again. The now familiar, “Three, two, one,” sounding out before the recording begins.
It takes me a few seconds to place the opening to “The Luckiest” by Ben Folds and this time he’s playing along with the lyrics.
I slowly make my way toward him as he presses the pedals swaying slightly back and forth, while words fly through the living room, hitting me directly in the chest. Theo’s music might not be my taste, but it’s his language that speaks to me. When his eyes connect with mine, I can see his intent, and I’m instantly shaking with the abundant love I feel coming from the other side of the piano.
The song tells of how fortunate we are to have found each other, in this time in our lives. Of how he’s convinced his soul would recognize mine anywhere in time. Rounding the piano, I gasp when I see the small box sitting on the top of the polished wood. It’s open, a beautiful solitaire sitting below the words, Marry Me?
I lose it then, crying softly as he shakily croons to the music, pledging his heart, his life, and asking me for mine.
In his favorite plaid pajama bottoms, hair askew, eyes bright, he sings off-key along with Ben, of how much he loves me, of how perfectly we belong together. Two oddballs, who aren’t so odd when we’re together.
Years from now, when we tell our story, I know my version.
It will be about a young girl who went from hopeful to a hopeless romantic in a few notes that only her Prince Charming could play. He didn’t show up on a white horse declaring that she hops on before he gallops away. No, this prince got off his horse, fell on his ass, and stumbled in the mud with her until she could mount her own stallion. And then, in one last act of bravery, he gently trotted beside her into the unknown.
I’m sure I’ll throw in a few fire-breathing dragons for drama, maybe a curse of some sort, and of course, Dave in the white Taurus, but it will be the best damn story ever.
My prince plays for me as the last of the keys echo throughout our small living room before he gathers the open box off the piano and kneels before me.
“Jesus, Houseman,” I blubber, my nose running as I try to clear my face. It’s a lost cause. “You keep upping your game.”
“Hope so.” He gently takes my hand and sets the ring around the pad of my finger.
“I thought of a thousand ways to ask you to marry me, but…”
“It’s perfect. It’s us.”
He nods, his eyes shining with love as he looks up at me earnestly.
“I mean it, and I’ll mean it every day. I swear to you. Without setting a foot outside our front door, I’m certain if I search this Earth, I’ll never find anyone else I would want to spend my life with. Will you marry me, Laney?”
“Yes!”
His smile is blinding as he wraps around me, and I tug at his thick hair. He kisses me thoroughly before I pull away, admiring the ring on my finger briefly.
“Oh God, the decisions I’m going to have to make…”
“Don’t you dare start,” he interru
pts.
“I’m just sayin’.”
“Laney…”
“Okay, I’ll sleep on it.”
“Not quite what I was hoping for tonight,” he says, dragging me through our living room cutting off the lights as we go.
“Oh, don’t worry. You’re going to get it, so good,” I declare at the foot of the stairs. “And you’ll be gettin’ your graduation present early tonight too. I just need ten minutes to set up and find the batteries I bought.”
“And I’m now terrified.”
“First, I need to call Momma! And Devin. I bet this news will break her water!”
“They know.”
“Oh,” I say as he leads me up the stairs. “Well, damn.”
“They went ring shopping with me. And it’s two a.m.”
“Right, that’s awesome. Y’all did it together. And naturally, I wasn’t in on it.”
“That would defeat the purpose,” Theo says, glancing back at me with a smirk.
I grunt in agreement while following him step for step. “Theo?”
He pulls me to him at the landing, wrapping me up tightly in his arms and looking down at me with amused eyes.
“Yes?”
“You know I love you, right?”
“Shhhh,” he presses a slow seductive kiss to my lips, “QT, baby.”
“And I think you’re the most amazin’, most talented man I’ve ever met.”
Another kiss in an attempt to silence me.
“Truly. You’re my rock of love.”
He sucks my bottom lip. “Mmhmm.”
I pull away and see his eyes pooling dark as he lifts my T-shirt and discards it on the floor.
“Okay,” kiss, “well,” kiss, “don’t take this the wrong way,” kiss, “but I need a promise.”
He pulls back giving me his full attention. “Okay?”
“Promise me if we decide to have kids, I’ll be the one to sing them to sleep.”
THE END
Listen to The Guy on the Right playlist link on Spotify
Look for Troy’s story, a Guy on the Right Novella, titled Fourth and Inches, releasing this fall! Announcement to follow! Stay connected with me for these announcements.
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A Texas native, Kate Stewart lives in North Carolina with her husband, Nick, and her naughty beagle, Sadie. She pens messy, sexy, angst-filled contemporary romance as well as romantic comedy and erotic suspense because it’s what she loves as a reader. Kate is a lover of all things ‘80s and ’90s, especially John Hughes films and rap. She dabbles a little in photography, can knit a simple stitch scarf for necessity, and on occasion, does very well at whisky.
Other titles available now by Kate
Room 212
Never Me
Loving the White Liar
The Fall
The Mind
The Heart
The Brave Line
Drive
The Real
Someone Else’s Ocean
Heartbreak Warfare
Method
Romantic Comedy
Anything but Minor
Major Love
Sweeping the Series
Balls in Play Box Set: Anything but Minor, Major Love, Sweeping the Series, The Golden Sombrero
Erotic Suspense
Sexual Awakenings
Excess
Predator and Prey
Lust & Lies Box Set
Let’s stay in touch!
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When I was twelve years old, my mother took me to the movie theater to see Steel Magnolias. Though that was over thirty years ago, I can still remember vivid details about those few hours while sitting in that seat. The popcorn was delicious, theaters were small, the seats were closer together, and the sound scared the shit out of us when it came on before dancing cats warned us to behave ourselves.
Thinking back, those precious minutes watching that movie were the first I can clearly remember experiencing the most phenomenal of emotions, laughter through tears. I remember glancing around the theater with a soaked face at the women surrounding us with tears sliding down their smiling faces and thinking we were all in it together, we’re all feeling the same thing. I felt close to those strangers that day, and it was nothing short of magical.
While writing this book, I had a revelation of sorts. The first part of my epiphany is that this cast of characters made an impression on me that’s lasted thirty years. Those fictional women became idols for me, and I haven’t, not once, forgotten the impact that film had. But at the time, I had no idea how those two hours would shape my future.
The second part of my revelation is that at this point, I can honestly credit that movie for being my greatest muse in terms of the kind of stories I want to deliver, including this one. I didn’t know it then, but that movie planted a seed and a hope, that one day, I would be able to write those types of moments and share them with strangers, and we would once again all be in it together.
This book is most definitely a tribute to the movie that planted the seed and has inspired me countless times over the years, both personally and professionally and will live in my head and heart forever.
So, my first thank you is to M’Lynn, Shelby, Truvy, Annelle, Clairee, and Ouiser, for showing me the true meaning of magic.
And a huge thank you to all the bloggers and readers who give me a chance to sit in the theater with you. It’s so exciting to look around and see if you’re laughing or crying with me, a thirty-year dream come true. I hope you know how much it means to me that you showed up.
Thank you to my incredible betas Kathy, Maïwenn, Malene, Maria, Stacy, and Rhonda for once again helping me shape this book.
Thank you to my editing team, Donna Cooksley Sanderson and Grey Ditto for lending me your expertise, and for your faith and friendship.
Thank you to my Ninja PA, Bex Kettner, for being my spotter. I love you.
Thank you, Autumn Gantz, for your friendship and unwavering support.
Thank you to my fly gal, Christy Baldwin for being the joy that you are. I adore you so much and cherish our friendship. #wellalwayshaveboston
Thank you to my proofing team, Marissa, Bethany, and Joy for the polish, and for your patience. I love you guys.
Thank you to, Amy Q of Q Designs for bringing another cover to life.
Thank you to my Asskickers who bring me so much joy, daily.
Thank you to my author friends and to my peers who continue to inspire me.
Thank you to my dear friends and family who continue to support me with unconditional love and unbelievable patience.
Thank you to my husband, Nick, who continues to be both my rock and glue. There’s no way I could’ve done this without you.
