But that’s okay. The cake is done and so is my job here today. All that’s left to do is to take a leap of faith and celebrate with the people I love. Cam’s friends are his family, and in the past five months, they’ve become mine, too. They’ve even adopted Henri and his new boyfriend, Adam, who should be here any minute.
I love them all to bits and pieces, and they love Crissy and me just as much—a fact Jess proved by helping me plan this surprise on her birthday, when Cam won’t be expecting anything but cake, presents, and a few sunset beers with his friends.
I tuck my tube of frosting into the decorating basket and hide it beneath the tablecloth before tugging off my apron and smoothing my hair back into my ponytail.
“How do I look?” I ask, moving out from behind the table. “Am I sweaty? Should I powder my nose?”
Crissy rolls her eyes. “No, silly. You’re pretty like always, and it doesn’t matter anyway. Cam loves you even when you’re sick and your nose is all runny and gross.”
I smile, so grateful that she can see that, and that at just five years old she knows love is about so much more than what you look like on the outside.
Giving her braid a gentle tug, I say, “You’re right. And I feel the same way about him.”
I love Cam when he’s covered in sweat from a bike ride or hungover and begging for crackers in bed after too many glasses of champagne the night before. I love him when he’s grouchy about the vegetable delivery always being late and when he gets so obsessed with cracking a new recipe he insists on cooking until three in the morning, keeping me awake with the delicious smells drifting from the kitchen.
And I’d still love him just as much if he weren’t The Cutest Boy in the World, but the fact remains that he is just that.
He turns heads when we walk down the street and was even approached by a modeling scout a couple of months ago when he was in the park playing Frisbee with Crissy.
Crissy, who the scout assumed was his sister, not his daughter…
But that stuff doesn’t bother me anymore. Yes, Cam is younger than I am and young to be a stepdad, but he belongs with me—with us. We’re like cake batter that’s been through the oven, transformed by the alchemy of heat and fire in a way that can never be undone.
I know that, and I know he’s going to say yes, but I’m still trembling as I take my position by the table closest to the roof’s edge, the one with the view of the city skyline behind me and the river glittering in the distance.
I finger the ring in my dress pocket, checking to make sure it’s there for the hundredth time and willing myself to take slow, deep breaths.
“You’ve got this, Mommy, don’t be nervous,” Crissy whispers as she settles at a table a few feet away, pretending to play with her dinosaur toys as Cam, Evie, Harlow, and Jess emerge from the stairwell leading up to the roof.
I shoot her a discreet thumbs-up and smile as the four friends start toward me, but almost immediately, I can tell that something’s off.
Evie’s staring at the ground, Harlow wears sunglasses so huge I can’t read her expression, and Jess looks…constipated.
My stomach and heart flip-flop again, but before I can think of what to say to find out what’s up without giving away our surprise, Cam breaks into a jog, closing the last of the distance between us.
“I’m sorry,” he says, beaming down at me with such love in his eyes I know everything is going to be okay. “Looks like we were on the same page again.”
My lips curve as I shake my head. “What?”
“I heard you had a surprise for me,” he says, reaching into the back pocket of his jeans. “But I came with a surprise, too.”
He pulls out a small blue jewelry box, creaking it open to reveal the most beautiful Art Deco-style ring I’ve ever seen with a pale blue stone in the center.
My hands fly to cover my mouth as he drops down on one knee.
“Cristina Natalia Barbu III, you are my world,” he says in a husky voice that brings tears to my eyes. “You are my happiness and my heart and the reason I’m so excited about the future I can’t sleep some nights. You make me think and feel and laugh in ways I never have before. As long as I get to spend the rest of my life with you, I know it’s going to be the best life ever.” He glances Crissy’s way. I follow his gaze, my heart swelling at the joy clear on my daughter’s face. “I’m crazy about you and Cristina Natalia Barbu IV. You’re my family and my favorite way to spend a day. You have been for a while now so…” He turns back to me. “Will you marry me? As soon as effing possible?”