“What’s going on?”
James didn’t answer her. He just curled his fingers snugly between hers and led them out from behind the bleachers. Now with a full view of the cavernous room, Mallory saw that there were dozens of flickering candles laid out on the wood floor in the shape of a massive heart. “What’s all of this?” she asked, laughing a little as tears formed in her eyes.
“It’s something I should’ve done a long time ago. When we were teenagers, I should’ve gotten over my shyness and asked you to prom.”
“What?” Mallory shook her head in disbelief. “James—”
“Instead, I pretended that I didn’t have a crush on you. Pretended not to notice you. I assumed you were dating someone else, or that you’d think the prom was lame, so ofcourse I didn’t dare ask you myself. But I should’ve at least tried. Thankfully, by the grace of God, or a guardian angel or something, I’ve been given a second chance.”
He pulled her gently into the center of the flickering heart.
“A second chance to do what?” she asked, her heart soaring. “To ask me to prom?”
“To ask you… something.”
James dropped down on one knee in front of her and folded left hand in both of his. “Mallory, I know this is happening fast, I know we just reconnected, but you said yourself—you’ve been searching all these years for something that feels right. This is it, don’t you think? This feels right.”
She smiled down at him with glossy eyes. “Yes. It does feel right.”
“In that case.” He took a small red box out of his pocket and flipped open the lid to reveal a ring Mallory thought looked familiar. “Will you marry me?”
The warmth coming from all the candles surrounding them suddenly started to feel a bit too intense. Sweat dripped down Mallory’s neck and when she took the ring from its silk bed, the metal was hot to the touch. “Where’d you get this?”
“From your mom, of course.”
When James said this, it hit her. This was her mother’s engagement ring. The ring her father had saved for months to afford. Callie didn’t wear it anymore, claiming that her fingers swelled at her age and she didn’t want it to get stuck. Mallory always loved the ring, with its elegant simplicity, but she never thought it’d be hers one day. In her mind, her mother would take that ring with her to the grave.
So then why did James have it?
“This isn’t mine,” she said, taking a step back. “This doesn’t belong to me.”
“You don’t want it?” His voice broke. “You don’t want to marry me?”
“That’s not what I’m saying, it’s just—” She gave him back the ring and then pushed his hands away. The candles were no longer flickering, they were raging. Mallory was finding it difficult to breathe. “Something’s wrong, can’t you feel it, James?”
“I thought you said this felt right.”
“It does! We do! But something’s wrong.”
His face softened with disappointment and Mallory had to fight the urge to rush back to him and accept his proposal despite her doubts. “I–I think I just–I have to go. I’m sorry.” James reached out to her, but she slipped away. Mallory turned around and barreled towards the door. Her hands curled around the cool metal bar, but the door must’ve been blocked from the other side because it didn’t give, and she smacked her head into the wood.
“Ow!” Mallory shot up in bed and pressed her hand against her forehead. Even though she hadn’t run full speed into a solid door, her vision did swim when she opened her eyes and there was a dull ache behind her eyes. She took a few seconds to gather her bearings. She wasn’t in her old high school gym. She was in her parents’ house. James hadn’t proposed to her with her mother’s ring. That was just a crazy, alcohol twinged dream she’d had after passing out the night before. Rubbing her sleepy face, Mallory knew she was going to need a strong cup of coffee to get going that morning.
Mallory might’ve tried to sleep for a few more hours, but she didn’t want to accidentally slip back into the dream. Not only had it quickly turned into a nightmare, but even before things went south, the whole situation was making her feel sick withembarrassment. How could she go on one unofficial “date” with a guy, and then start dreaming about a proposal?
What was wrong with her?
Shaking off her memories of the dream, she threw the covers off her legs. Hannah wasn’t in the room, so Mallory assumed she was already awake either playing with her siblings or actively ignoring them—depending on her mood that day.
“Coffee,” Mallory said to herself. “Let’s get some coffee and just forget about everything.”
But as she headed for the door, she knew it wasn’t going to be easy to forget aboutanythingthat had happened in that dream. Honestly, it might not even be possible.
Chapter 9
Seated at the kitchen island, Taylor, Erica, and Ariel were all eating breakfast and laughing about something Micah had said earlier. Mallory came into the room halfway through the story, but from what she was able to glean, her nephew had been arguing with his younger sister about what whether fish have brains. For some reason, Becca didn’t think they did, and the debate ended with him saying that if fish didn’t have brains, Nemo’s dad never would’ve found him.
“The look on Becca’s face,” Erica said, hand to her chest even as she continued laughing. “It was like he’d told her that the world was about to end.”
