“What are you thinking about?” Mario asked quietly.
“How June was right all along,” I admitted.
“About what?”
“We do have chemistry.”
“Like Mentos and Coke!” Olivia piped up. “Explosive!”
“Where does she learn these things?” Mario asked.
“June’s Facebook group has a science corner now.”
“Of course it does.”
The diner was warm and bright, and our usual table was waiting—somehow June had already reserved it and put a little “Reserved for Autumn Grove’s Sweetest Love Story” sign on it.
“I’m going to kill her,” I muttered.
“No, you’re not,” Mario said. “You love her meddling.”
“I absolutely do not.”
“You love that she cares enough to meddle.”
I looked at him—this man who’d gone from grumpy stranger to the person I couldn’t imagine life without.
“Maybe a little,” I admitted.
“Excuse me!” A woman approached our table. “Aren’t you the couple from the proposal pumpkin video?”
Oh God. The video had somehow made it beyond Autumn Grove, getting shared as a “heartwarming holiday moment” on various social media platforms.
“That’s them!” Olivia announced proudly. “Mario used a pumpkin because he’s not good with words, but Mom understood anyway.”
“I’m getting better with words,” Mario protested.
“Marginally,” I teased.
The woman smiled. “Well, you give us all hope. Real love still exists.”
After she left, Mario looked at me. “Real love?”
“Real love,” I confirmed.
“Even with the meddling town and the Facebook groups and your mother already planning our wedding?”
“Especially with all that.”
“Mom,” Olivia said seriously, hot chocolate mustache firmly in place. “Can I be your maid of honor?”
“We’re not—” I started.
“When you DO get married,” she clarified. “I’m not rushing you. June says patience is important in relationship development.”
“June needs a hobby,” Mario said.
“She has one. It’s us.”
