“Give me a glass, then,” he said with a laugh. “It’s a good thing wewalkedover.”
Grady fetched two glasses from the cupboard. He didn’t even need to walk the six blocks that hisfriendsdid.
It took them an hour to debrief on the unexpected family dinner. Priya confessed that Nina had called her a month earlierand asked if she’d already booked the tickets, and if Grady’s concerns about Christmas werewarranted.
“I was being considerate,” he said, holding up his hand. “For therecord.”
“I know,” she said fondly. “But I’m well-trained to do whatever makes a mother happy, and my parents were thrilled by the idea of a longer trip. We didn’t want to stressyouout.”
“Plus the look onyour face was worth it,” Wyatt added. “Priceless.”
Grady didn’t bother to deny he’d been surprised. “Worth any momentary awkwardness to have Priya here for three more days thanplanned.”
“And on that unnecessarily sappy note, we’ll take our leave,” Tegan said withawink.
Priya blew a raspberry. “Time-out, crazy lady. You and Wyatt were making heart-eyes at each other in thesummer.”
Grady nodded his support. “True story. We had torunaway.”
“Whatever.” Tegan beamed at them. “You ran away and fell in love. Totally worth it. Sappy forthewin.”
“Get out of here,” Grady said gruffly. He was in a sappy mood, and they needed to be gone for what he wanted tohappennext.
They saw their friends to the door, then collapsed on the couchagain.
It was time to fess up. He turned to Priya. “I had a conversation with your father thisafternoon.”
She groaned. “What didhesay?”
“He wanted to know what my intentions were toward hisdaughter.”
“Wow, that’s not awkwardatall.”
“I honestly wasn’t expecting it, but he was happy with myanswer.”
“So it wasn’tfilthy.”
“No.” He tugged her into hislap. “I do have filthy intentions, though. I haven’t tasted you in five very long weeks, so be prepared to be stripped down to nothing in a fewminutes.”
“Deal.” Her eyes sparkled, and his heart skipped. Nowwasthe right moment to do this. With her splayed out on his lap, his fingers tangled in hers, at the end of an amazing day with their family and bestfriends.
“I told him…”He trailed off and just looked at her for a second. Really looked, and loved, and said a silent thank you to whatever higher power let him back into her life. “I want to marry you. I want you to be my wife, Priya. I want to be your husband, and make promises to you in front of ourparents.”
He could have kept going, but he didn’t have to, because she pressed close and kissed his mouth sosoftly it felt like a prayer of her own. “Yes,ohyes.”
“You’llmarryme?”
“In aheartbeat.”
“I was thinking NewYear’sEve.”
“Nextyear?”
“More like inninedays.”
“Even better.” She kissed him again, and he curved his hands up her back and tangled them in her hair. He held her tight, kissing her back, and decided there was no way he could ever countall his blessings with thiswoman.
They foundan officiant who would marry them on the beach near Grady’s mother’s house. The night before, Harpreet, Nina, and Tegan gathered for an intimate sangeet ceremony and carefully applied mehndi to Priya’s handsandfeet.
