Page 75 of Love is Grand

Once I had my purse, Cal and I headed out. Of course he asked for the keys and started to drive.

“Oh shit, I forgot,” he said. “I have to pick up something at the Grand. They’re holding something for me there.”

We came to the roundabout. He exited toward the resort where I first met him, where Rylan worked, and where she met Adam at the end of her bar. It was where Adam and Rylan were married, and where Cal and I had first discussed my being pregnant. The Grand Escape was at the epicenter of our short history.

We pulled into the drive, and of course Tony was at the valet stand, since he ran the department. I held my breath, waiting to see what would happen next.

Surprising me, Cal quickly jumped out and told me, “Wait here.” Only stopping briefly to say something to Tony, he barely came to a stop before entering the hotel.

I took a deep breath, worried Cal had left too much work behind and was having some materials shipped to the hotel. There wasn’t a lot of time left to wonder, though, because he wasn’t gone long. He hurried back out carrying two packages, a small box and a bigger one.

“This one is for you.”

He handed me the little one after he slid in the car, and my heart did a cartwheel. I didn’t think it could be a ring, but I wondered if maybe it was.

Waves of emotion crashed over me like the ocean in the distance. It was high tide over my heart.

“Thank you,” I said, my voice a bit shaky.

“Open it,” he said.

With even shakier hands, I opened the top to find a small pouch. I opened it and tipped out what was inside, surprised to see the most beautiful band I’d ever seen. Seashells crafted out of rose gold ran around the whole band, acting as the base, with different colored stones outlining the ridges of each shell.

“Oh my. It’s gorgeous, but ...” I didn’t know what to say.

What does it mean? What is it? A friendship ring?

“It’s a wedding band. Not an engagement ring,” Cal said, taking in my silence.

There we sat in my car, in the valet circle at the Grand, the air-conditioning humming, and the world fading away around us.

“Why?” I asked. I’d lost my words moments earlier, and now my question made zero sense. “I mean, it’s gorgeous, and must have taken days to craft. Look how intricate each one of these shells are ... it’s the most special ring I’ve ever seen.”

“Shell, I’m not asking you to marry me right now.”

“Oh.” Clearly, I wasn’t getting what was happening, or I was in the middle of some cruel joke.

“Do you want to know why?” Cal asked, then quickly continued without letting me say a word. “Because you and Weez come together as a package, and she needs to be a part of the decision. You may not say it enough, but I’ve come to see it, the way you take care to be sure Weezie always feels loved. She deserves all the love.”

“Caleb—”

But he still wouldn’t let me get a word in, which was annoying and cute.

“Listen, I’m a jerk and can be stupid when it comes to this sort of thing, but the last few weeks without you have been awful. I can’t do it. I need you with me. It’s a lot to ask, which is why I’m giving you this wedding band first. It’s an eternity band, they told me, the way the stones and shells go all the way around, and that’s exactly what I have in mind. An eternity with you. This band lets you know that I’m already signed up for all of that.”

My head was spinning. I wasn’t sure if it was a proposal ... or a proclamation.

“It’s a prequel. A forward to the proposal coming. A moment for the two of us before we have our moment with Weezie.”

I stared at him, trying to figure out how he’d read my mind.

“Oh. It’s beautiful,” I said, looking at the ring. “Your words were more beautiful. They were enough.”

“They weren’t,” he said, shoving his hand through his hair. “You see, I need you to move to New York. Adam’s role makes it easier for him to travel around, but I’m the front man, and I need to be in New York. I know it’s a lot to ask, Shell, but you could come back and forth as you want, and could work or not work or whatever you wanted there. I want to see my son grow up alongside his sister, and to spend my nights with you. Please, just consider it.”

His expression was strained, concerned, as if I wouldn’t consider his offer.

Taking a moment, I thought it over. “It’s a lot. I admit that. I’ve never lived anywhere else, and I have this business now, and my parents, and Weezie has friends. But I’ll think about it.”