The rest of Banner’s family were on him then, kissing and hugging him and telling him how proud they were of him.
I couldn’t agree more.
And hours later, when he was finally able to go to our hotel with us for the next few hours, he pulled me into a small alcove and dropped a bomb on me.
“Will you marry me, Perry?” He held out a modest ring that made my heart stutter in my chest.
My mouth fell open.
“I’m seventeen, Banner!” I cried out. “This… are you sure?”
I mean, I was sure.
Banner was it for me.
But I didn’t know that he was sure.
I didn’t want to do this to him. He may change his mind, you know?
There was a long road ahead of us, and I didn’t want to tie him down. He may change his mind.
“I know what you’re thinking,” he said as he studied my face with his beautiful eyes. “And that’s not what I’m thinking.”
I laughed. “What do you think that I think that you’re thinking?”
“I think that you think that I’m going to regret it. But I’m not,” he said. “I won’t ever regret anything that has to do with you.”
I felt my shoulders loosen.
“Ask me again when you’re done. I’ll say yes,” I promised.
He frowned. “That’s not the answer I wanted.”
I laughed then.
He put the ring on me anyway.
“That’s the only answer you’re going to get,” I said as I admired the ring.
“Keep it,” he growled. “That way everyone will know that you’re taken.”
And so I did.Epilogue
I’ll get over it. Just gotta be dramatic first.
-Perry to Banner
Banner
One year and four months later
“MARCO!”
The old woman that gave out carts glared at me.
I ignored her and tucked my hat underneath my arm, screaming all over again.
“MARCO!”
It wasn’t the same time of day as last time I’d done this.
There were a considerable amount more people, all of which were looking at me with confusion.
I was standing there, in uniform, calling out for my girl.
I’d heard she was here from her father.
I’d stopped by her place first looking for her and found out that her dad had sent her here for some groceries.
Which led me to Walmart, right back where I was almost a year and a half ago.
“MARCO!”
I searched for my girl, not seeing her.
I missed her like crazy, and I couldn’t fucking wait to have her where she belonged in my arms.
After a considerable amount of discussion, it was decided that she would go to college locally for the first year after she graduated high school—something that I’d sadly missed.
Now that year was up, and I was here to take her home with me.
Not that she knew that.
I had a few stops to make, first.
One was to the county courthouse where I would be marrying my girl.
The second was to her house to pack up her things.
The third was to the small apartment I’d gotten off base that we would make our home for the next couple of years while she went to school.
Once she was graduated and working, then maybe we could afford something else.
But for now, that was all we would need for a while.
Though, for that to all work out, I needed my girl.
“MARCO!”
That was when I heard the running footsteps, followed by the sobbing.
When I saw her, my knees went weak.
She had a fucking gallon of milk in her hand. A gallon of milk that she dropped as she hurled herself at me.
I caught her just like she knew I would and wrapped her up into my arms, burying my face in her chest.
People all around us started to clap and cheer, but I only had eyes and ears for my girl.
“You’re home,” she cried.
“I’m home,” I promised.
She pulled back. “I’ve missed you like crazy.”
Seeing her had been hard over the last year. We’d road tripped, flown, called, wrote letters and sent emails.
But having her there with me, in my arms? That was like a dream right out of a fuckin’ fairy tale.
“It’s time,” I said as I pulled back. “We have an appointment we can’t miss.”
She frowned. “What appointment?”
I put her down on her feet and reached for her hand, tapping her ring that she’d never taken off.
“The milk,” she said as she pointed to it.
I looked at it, busted all over the floor, and hesitated.
“I got it.”
I looked up to see an older man with a mop and a yellow bucket.
“Thank you,” I said.
He winked. “Thank you.”
Then I tugged my girl out into the parking lot.
Thirty minutes later, I made her my wife.
An hour after that, we packed her things.
Two hours after that, we had dinner with our family and friends.
Four after that, we got started on our new life by driving way too many hours across the country to our new home.
But it didn’t matter how long it took.
All that mattered was that I now had Perry Spurlock at my side.