Derailed (22 page)

“I suppose you do love pasta as much as me, and you like the water more.” I smiled.

“So, maybe that means your dream came true too.”

“I’m not a famous photographer.”

“Not yet, but the second half was the important part.”

“You’re right, it was.”

“Do you think that will be us one day?” I followed Ben’s gaze and watched Kelly and Tom laughing as he tried to feed her more cake.

“I don’t know, maybe. But not like that.”

“What do you mean?”

“I don’t want a traditional wedding like this—not anymore. If you ever decide to propose, you better make sure you really want to marry me. I’m not doing another long engagement—and we’re not spending much money.”

“Considering I’ve wanted to marry you since high school, it’s a ‘when,’ not an ‘if,’ so I’ll keep that in mind.”

“You do that.” I couldn’t ignore the flutter in my chest when Ben talked about us getting married. I wanted it as much as he did.

“Do you want to get out of here?” he asked.

“Go home?”

“Just to pick up some stuff.” He had a mischievous glint to his eyes.

“Pick up stuff?”

“Let’s go on a road trip. We never got to take that one after graduation.”

I thought back on the trip we were going to take right before I left for college. It had taken months of begging to get my dad to agree, and it was all for nothing. Somehow taking that trip now seemed fitting. “That sounds perfect.”

***

“All right, I think that’s it.” Ben slammed the trunk of my car after loading the last of the camping gear. A couple of duffel bags lined the floor of the backseat, along with the case of one of Ben’s acoustic guitars.

“Do you want to drive first?” I asked.

“Sure.”

I tossed my keys over to him, and we got in.

“First, we need the perfect music.” He pulled a CD out of an old jewel case, sliding it into my ancient CD player. The Fray came on. “I made us twenty hours of music that we never used. We’re listening to it now.”

I laughed. “This is going to be interesting.”

“Isn’t it always?” He pulled away from the curb, and we headed out of town.

We reached the highway leading out to the interstate. Other than heading west, we had no particular plans. We hoped to eventually make it to see my family in Seattle. I figured we’d do some traveling first though.

“Which way do you want to go?” He held my hand and rested it on his leg. 

I shrugged. “It doesn’t matter, does it?”

He squeezed my hand, meeting my gaze. “No, it really doesn’t. That’s kind of nice, isn’t it?”

“Definitely. It’s the company I care about.”

He smiled. “I happen to agree.”

Ben turned, and for the life of me, I don’t remember if it was a left or a right.

Epilogue

I looked out at the water, enjoying the way the wood of the dock felt under my bare feet. The water would be warm. It was almost fall. Ben and I had already been back for a few weeks. Our whirlwind trip out west had been just what we needed. The only dark cloud was the knowledge that the dock would soon belong to someone else. Out of nowhere, a buyer gave Mom an offer she couldn’t refuse.

“You don’t want to say goodbye to this place, do you?” Ben put an arm around my shoulder.

I tried to choke back a sob. “No. I don’t want to let it go. But who knows, maybe it’s better this way. Maybe it’s time to move on.”

“Have you ever thought about who the buyer is? Why he wanted the house?”

“No. Does it matter?”

“I don’t know. Would it change anything if the buyer was a guy buying the house for the girlfriend he was about to propose to?”

“Ben?” I looked up at him through tear-dampened eyelashes.

“Maybe the guy wants to show this girl that they can make new memories that fit right in with the old ones.”

He went down on one knee.

My heart fluttered. This was really happening.

“I know that life hasn’t turned out exactly the way you wanted, and I can’t change the past for you. But I can change your future, and you can change mine the way you changed my life right here so many years ago when we kissed for the first time. Marry me, Molly. Let’s build our own life here.” He took my hand, sliding a small solitaire ring onto my finger. I had no doubt it was the same ring he’d held onto for five years.

I nodded and fell to my knees next to him, crying, but for a different reason this time. “Yes.”

His smile melted my heart, and I knew my expression mirrored his.

He helped me stand up before kissing me with an intensity that left me breathless. His hands caressed me like I was the most important thing in the world. After breaking the kiss, we just stood there watching one another for a moment.

He took my hands. “I took what you said about not wanting a long engagement seriously.”

“What do you mean?”

He grinned. “Your family gets in tomorrow, and we’re getting married right here Saturday followed by a small reception on the
Serenity
.”

I let his words sink in. “That sounds… perfect. There’s nothing else in the world I want more.”

He wrapped his arms around me. “Welcome home, Molly.”