by Aimee Brown
“I hope you enjoy your stay,” she smiles.
I nod, a nervous smile plastered on my face. I’m suddenly more than nervous. Obviously, I’ve had some time to consider what I want and what I want to say but the moment of panic over the whole pregnancy thing is still somewhere in the back of my head. I don’t know that I’ll totally believe it’s not true until I hear it from Jack.
Stepping into the elevator is like finalizing the decision to tell Jack exactly how I feel. I feel like I’m in that episode of Friends where Rachel is waiting for Ross at the airport with flowers, only to see that she’s too late and he’s moved on without her and come home with a random woman. I just hope I’m not too late in telling him how I feel. Being stubborn never seems to pay off, when will I ever learn this?
The ding of the elevator reaching the right floor happens far too soon, thoughts are still swirling in my head and my heart, neither are quite ready to throw up the white flag of negotiation.
I slowly roll my suitcase down the hall towards room 233. I stop, facing the door, the key card in my hand.
“Maybe I should just knock? It’s not like we’re all of a sudden a couple with nothing to work out? I don’t want to surprise him if he’s not feeling what I might be feeling?” I mumble to myself.
“But then again, she did give me a key and said he was expecting me. For all I know he’s staring at me through the peephole just waiting for me to let myself in.”
I stand on my toes trying to peer into the lookout hole but obviously, seeing nothing.
I knock as I swipe the card, the door popping open.
“Hello?” I say in an almost whisper. “Jack?” I leave my bag in the front sitting room and walk through the suite, peeking in each room but not seeing Jack anywhere. Only his bag on the bed in the bedroom we stayed in.
A knock on the door makes me jump nearly out of my skin. Why am I so nervous?
“Jack?” I answer the door, but it’s not him. A man in a suit and tie is standing outside the door holding an envelope with my name written across the front.
“This was left for you at the front desk, Miss Harrison.”
I take the envelope from his hand, “Thank you.” I say, acting as if I was expecting it and closing the door, tearing open the envelope.
Ems,
I know you’re shocked to be here, and probably by whatever my mom has filled you in on. I don’t blame you one bit. I never imagined how things would turn out for us, but I always hoped I’d be able to give you everything we wanted in life. I may have failed at that for a while, and I hope you’ll forgive me.
Please, follow the clues I’ve left. I can’t wait to see you.
Jack
“Follow the clues?” I say aloud, looking around the room for anything that stands out to me as a clue. “If I was Nancy Drew I’d have figured out the whole Greta thing a long time ago…”
“Miss Harrison?” Another knock at the door I didn’t quite get closed behind me startles me yet again, causing me to drop the card in my hand.
“Yes?” I walk towards the door, almost afraid to find out who stands on the other side, but he’s harmless, just another man dressed in a suit, holding a small bag and the garment bag that I must’ve left on the counter downstairs. “You left this downstairs.”
“Thank you,” I take the items from him nervously wondering what exactly all this is?
'Open me first, is written across a card pinned to the bag. I know that wasn’t there when I got here. I pull the card off and set the dress bag on the table next to me.
You gave me the best five years of my life, then a year long nightmare I couldn’t wake from each night.
You once revealed to me a secret as I slept on the beach. Wear this dress and the next clue will be within your reach.
“Sweet Mother of Moses.” I unzip the bag, revealing my lucky blue dress. I knew it was in there but knowing that he wants me to wear it for whatever he is planning is making my heart do flip-flops in my chest.
Inside the bag are also the sparkly heels he bought me to go with the dress that I don’t remember packing. I assume Amelia is behind it since she was in my apartment.
I wonder if I should have some kind of speech planned? And I would if I could have actually put down a few thoughtful sentences on the plane, without deciding they weren’t at all right.
I pull the dress over my head, something poking me in the face as I do. Another note card marked Clue Two is pinned to the inside of the dress, invisible from the outside. Thank God it was just the corner of an envelope poking me and not a needle to the eye. That might have tainted the mood a little.
Tossing the envelope onto the counter I get dressed as fast as physically possible so I can tear it open and see what’s next.
In loungers, we slept under the moon, because when I walked I tripped into the dunes.
In that spot, you will find clue number three.
Try not to fall, but if you do, fall for me?
Fall for him… The way my heart is suddenly galloping in my chest reminds me that I fell for Jack a long time ago and I’ve never truly gotten over him. I may be more than stubborn over the last few months but things are now starting to make sense. I make my way down to the lobby, and past the front desk with a wave. Pulling my shoes off when I reach the beach, so I can walk across to the loungers we laid in the night that I had to babysit Jack, during his first and only drinking binge that I witnessed.
I remember it like it was yesterday, and it makes my heart hurt the tiniest bit. Back then things were so innocent between us; there was no fighting, no supposed cheating, no crazy mean girls, no official wedding plans, and just the two of us in love. It was simple.
As I get closer I spot the flickering light of torches stuck in the sand ahead of me. If I wasn’t afraid he might be watching from somewhere I’d run there.
But I need to keep my cool. Or at least try and not blurt out some offensive word in the middle of something that might be terribly romantic.
I’m now walking down a path in the sand created by the glowing torches, making the whole thing incredibly romantic. There are random people walking along the beach in the moonlight but it’s not packed with people as it would be during the daytime. As I get towards the end I see another envelope sticking out of the sand.
Clue Three is written across the front. This must be the last clue because the torches block me from walking any further than this. I tear open the envelope.
Turn Around.
“Turn around?” I say, hesitantly looking past the flames in front of me. I turn as I hear someone shuffle behind me and see Jack standing just a few feet away. He’s no longer looking distraught as he was just the other day. He is once again the gorgeous Jack I know.
“Jack…”
“Boy, am I glad to see you,” he laughs nervously, as he makes his way towards me. “I was so worried you wouldn’t show. But, you told me something once, a long time ago and I couldn’t think of a better place to tell you what I need to say.”
“That Greta isn’t pregnant?”
He lets out a relieved sigh and nods his head. “I’m as relieved as you are about that. I didn’t think it was true, but I guess when you’re desperate you’ll try anything. My mom shouldn’t have gotten involved, but since she did, we’re standing here, so she means well. She also didn’t expect you to still have a mind of your own and throw her plans into the wind.” He laughs.
“You don’t have to do all this…” I say feeling a little guilty that he thinks the only way to fix things is to go over the top.
He takes a step forward and hesitantly takes my hand in is. “I do. There is something you don’t know. I sent you an email just before you left for Portland asking if we could talk. I actually sent that email from just outside your coffee shop.”
“What?”
He nods, “I was so nervous about seeing you during the wedding that I wanted to just get the whole thing over with before so I could relax. Your shop was bu
sy and you were off to the side in an office, Lily was with you. You were discussing the email.”
I look down at the ground, knowing exactly what he heard that day.
“You sounded happy as you told Lily that you were over me. You weren’t a bit worried about seeing me and right then I assumed my chance was gone. I couldn’t say what I came to say, so I left.”
“Jack… what you heard wasn’t exactly the truth.”
“No?”
I shake my head, hoping the tears trying to force their way out will hold off for just a few more minutes.
“If I didn’t say those things out loud, I could have never gotten on that plane to even go to the wedding. I needed to say it so that maybe somewhere, deep inside, I’d believe it. I used to actually repeat it over and over to myself whenever I was having a bad day. But the moment I saw you at Evan’s, I knew it wasn’t true. Then the whole Greta thing, my heart and my head have never had such a war as they did this week.”
I force myself to breathe through the emotions inside me trying to take over. “I wish I’d known you were there.”
He shakes his head, “It wasn’t the right time. I should have never gone.”
“What about now?” I ask, wondering if this is the right time?
“Now…” he nods his head. “I’ve loved you for almost six years and I’d like to add sixty more to that.” He reaches into his inside jacket pocket, pulling out a tiny white box. “I knew the day I met you that my life would never be the same again. I knew when you spilled that beer on me the other day that I’d never gotten over you.” He kneels on one knee, in the sand, taking my left hand into his. “I also know that every single person who loves you thinks we belong together, me included. And they wouldn’t let me do this without being here to see your face when it finally happened.” He nods behind him, a silly grin on his face.
When I look behind him, I can’t help but laugh. His parents, our siblings, even Josh and Lily are all standing in the sand, not far from us, with looks of anticipation across each of their faces.
“Your mother is a little invasive…” I laugh, looking back to Jack.
“Yes, she is. We could always leave the country, but she’d still show up without warning.” He laughs nervously.
“I want to marry you, Emi, right here, right now, just like you wanted to all those years ago if you’ll still have me…” he opens the ring box displaying a ring that is NOT the one I recently saw sitting on Greta’s finger.
“Holy shi-” I blurt it out before quickly covering my mouth with my free hand. I, of course, would have to curse at this exact moment.
“Em… If you say no…” The look on his face breaks my heart in a split second. “I will walk away and I promise I’ll never look back. I just want you to be happy.”
I wasn’t exactly prepared for a proposal today, but the sudden fluttering in my chest is the same recent fluttering of my brain. I know exactly what my answer is.
“And if I say yes?” I ask, before biting my lip to hold back whatever my face is trying to do that might not match with the excitement I feel within.
“If you say yes,” his voice cracks, “If you say yes, I promise that every day will be the best day of your life.”
“Our lives,” I correct him, watching the smile spread across his face.
“WELL??!!” Hannah yells from the sidelines. “IS THAT A YES? `Cause we found a preacher!” she pulls a small suited up man from behind her, pointing down at him.
“Of course, she found a preacher…” I cry out. I pull Jack up off the ground, stand on my tiptoes and kiss his lips, the tears sliding down my cheek. “How is it even possible that this time was more perfect than the first?”
“Is that a yes?” He takes a step back, momentarily staring at me, his face as tense as I’ve ever seen it.
“Definitely, yes.” I hold my left hand out, watching him sliding the ring onto my finger.
“Finally.” A smile that reaches all the way to his eyes spreads across his gorgeous face. That’s what was missing from him this last week: sincere happiness. He sighs a huge sigh of relief as he pulls me against him, kissing my forehead.
That’s when it hits me. I pull away, worried.
“I can’t get married in this dress…” I glance down, knowing that it’s been so lucky thus far but him seeing the bride in the dress before the wedding is bad luck.
“Why not? I love it.”
“I know you do, and that’s why. You’ve seen me in this dress dozens of times and it’s bad luck when the groom sees the dress before the wedding. I don’t want to risk it. We don’t need anymore bad luck.”
He kisses my lips softly, wrapping his arms around me again.
“Well, it is your lucky dress, right? No crazy superstitions or bad luck. It was meant to be. You in your lucky dress and me in my lucky suit on our wedding day. Together, maybe it’ll just equal a lucky life…”
We hope you enjoyed this book.
Aimee Brown’s next book is coming in spring 2019
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Acknowledgements
A Note from the Author
About Aimee Brown
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A Note to Liam
Dear Liam,
You, my friend, have made many book boyfriend lists since I created you. I wrote you into this book as a much needed distraction for Emi, but you seem to have wooed your way right into the hearts of just about every person who’s read the book (obviously, mine included).
I can’t count how many emails I get requesting that I please, please write Liam’s story. ‘He needs a happy ending’ they say. And… I agree. Your story is being written and I have the perfect woman for you. Get ready, `cause I’m going to need your charm, romantic ways, and witty sense of humor at full capacity for this one.
Summer of 2019 is your year, Liam!
Aimee, your first love & your creator.
Acknowledgements
There are SO many people who deserve credit for helping in the creation of this book (twice!). It was first published with the title of Little Gray Dress and did so well that as a first time author I was a little (read that as a lot) shocked at its success. So many fabulous reviews (and a few bad ones…) were left by the most amazing book bloggers, readers, and complete strangers. I can’t thank you enough for taking a chance on a new author the way all you fabulous readers did and helping promote my first book baby.
To my little family, Corey, Brentan, Hallie, and Rylen; they’ve had cereal for dinner more times than I can count as I’ve been busy writing, rewriting, marketing, and working tirelessly on these books. Well, that and the fact that I hate to cook… I can’t thank you enough for supporting me through this. Once you’ve read the book and turned in your report, I’ll hand out your prizes…
