Page 56 of The Lucky One
“You look beautiful.” He offered me his hand, and this time I took it with a goal. I would make the thickest check mark there was on my list.
We stepped onto the stage and I was momentarily blinded by the lights. People clapped again. I didn’t dare look at the audience, kept my eyes on Jon. He gestured for a second microphone and one was brought up right away.
He cleared his throat. “What’s up? Um, I’m Jon, and this is—” He held out his hand at me, and I grinned like a child. “My stunning girlfriend, Emily. Or how I like to call her, Little German because she’s from Germany.” He said it with so much pride, I could’ve cried right on the spot that I’d found this incredible person.
“We’ll be making up a little poem from scratch so don’t expect too much,” he said, earning laughs from the crowd. “It’s called... ‘The One.’”
When I tried to breathe, barely any air came in. The entire room had their eyes on us—what the heck was I thinking?! Jon didn’t seem to notice my panic because he let go of my hand and stepped closer to the microphone.
“One moment, ordinary, like the same old lunch. But she came wandering in and spiced it up.”
His voice was soft and sure, saying words I’d never heard before. That wasn’t my style. Unlike him, I scratched things out and rewrote them until they felt perfect.
“One step forward, three steps back. But she came wandering in and got me back on track.”
He looked at me, waiting for me to add something, but my mind was blank. I shook my head, feeling like I had to throw up.
His gaze stayed on me. “Lingering, hoping, finally loving. Lows and highs. I’d do it all again to end up looking at those eyes.”
It even rhymed. I closed my eyes, searching for something that rhymes...
Rhymes, times. That could work.
I grabbed the microphone to have something to hold on to.
“Cursing you at times, but not so much that it won’t rhyme.”
Okay, that was weak. I shook my head and tried again.
“Living life lost like a child but growing up strong at your side.” Yeah. “No rewriting, no erasing, no mistakes...”
Jon nodded, his eyes still on mine.
“Wandering down this road with the one I hoped to hate.”
A woman went “Woo!” in the audience. There really were people listening to us. I nodded for Jon to continue. He took off like he had a collection of poems ready to go in his head.
“Wandering down this road with the one who keeps me sane.”
“Feeling so right, yet so scary ’cause it’s real.”
“Feeling like I won; Lady Fortune spins her wheel.”
He threw me a wink, totally at ease. And then I understood why this was easy for him. He was speaking from his heart, not trying to impress anyone, not caring if it made sense or sounded pretty.
“Because she’s my lucky one.”
He pointed right at me, and my heart just about burst out of my chest.
Suddenly I knew exactly what to say. I pulled the microphone closer and opened my heart.
“Because he’s my lucky one.”
“No matter how young, I know he’s the one.”
I was full-blown smiling now. And in that moment I knew... I was ready to marry him. The words flowed out of me like a writing sprint, no going back.
“Bringing out my best and my worst, loving myself when it rains, when it hurts.”