"Then it will be mine alone."
"Dinner's late."
An apology rose automatically to my lips.
I swallowed it.
"You know where the stove is."
He looked up.
"What's wrong with you?"
"Nothing."
"Dinner's late."
I set down my purse.
"Mr. Spencer called. The lake house is officially mine."
Glenn stood so quickly that he nearly dropped his phone.
"That's incredible."
He pulled me into a tight hug.
"For us."
I stepped back.
"For me. Grandpa left it to me."
"The lake house is officially mine."
"Of course. That's what I meant, babe!"
***
Over the next few days, Glenn became the man I'd waited 11 years to meet.
He made coffee before I woke.
He bought my favorite flowers.
The cruelest part wasn't that he'd changed overnight.
"That's what I meant, babe!"
It was realizing he'd always known how to be thoughtful. He simply hadn't believed I was worth the effort until I owned something he wanted.
His questions gave him away.
"What do houses near the lake rent for?"
"I don't know."
"Was there a mortgage?"
"No."
"How many bedrooms?"
"I don't know."
"Three."
I paused.
"Grandpa built the porch railing himself."
Glenn nodded without interest.
"Could we sell while the market's strong?"
"I haven't decided what I'm doing, but there's no way I'm selling it."
"Could we sell?"
"We'll decide together, babe."
He covered my hand with his.
I let him.
Not because I believed him.
Because I wanted to see how far he'd go.
"We'll decide together, babe."
***
Three nights later, he took me to the restaurant where we'd celebrated my first promotion.
He ordered champagne.
Then he talked about our history as though he hadn't dismissed it for years.
"We grew up together," he said. "We built a life."
"What changed?"
His eyes shifted for half a second.
"We grew up together."
"I realized what I could lose."
"The house?"
"You."
Then he opened the ring box.
"Will you marry me?"
"Will you marry me?"
I'd imagined that moment 100 times, always with happy tears.
That night, I nearly cried because I was burying a future that had never been real.
"Yes," I said. "But I have one condition."
"Anything."
"Before we choose a date, I want our families and closest friends together at the lake house."
He smiled.
"But I have one condition."
"An engagement party."
"Just a small dinner. I want us to announce it there."
"That's your condition?"
"That's the beginning of it."
He laughed.
"Deal."
"An engagement party."
***
Two days later, Ivy followed me to the lake house.
I expected 12 people.
Cars lined both sides of the road. Glenn got there before me.
A banner stretched across Grandpa's porch.
"OUR NEXT CHAPTER."
My chest tightened.
