I hope it’s always like this. I hope we never lose the fire that seems to burn between us.* * *The house is empty without her. I’m used to her riding home from work with me, us fixing and eating dinner together, and tonight, I’m all alone. I hate it. Layla has brought so much into my life. I didn’t realize how lonely I was until this moment.
I miss her.
Pulling my phone out of my pocket, I scroll through social media. An ad pops up for a jeweler, and I click on it. Over the next hour, while I wait for her to come home, I look through pages and pages of engagement rings, but none of them are what I want. Hell, I don’t really even know what I want, but none of them scream Layla to me. Closing out of the screen, I pull up Royce’s number and hit Call.
“What’s up?” he asks.
“I was hoping to call in a favor,” I say, clearing my throat.
“Anything,” Royce replies.
“I need a ring.” I don’t need to say more. I don’t have to explain what kind of ring, or that I know it’s soon, but I love her. I don’t have to tell him that I’ve never felt this way before and that I know with a feeling deep in my soul that she’s the one for me. Now and forever.
“Tell me when and where.”
“She’s out with Mom now, shopping for the gala. She should be home soon, but she knows my schedule. I was kind of hoping we might be able to get Sawyer in on it. Maybe tell her to invite Layla shopping or to a movie, or whatever it is that they do?”
“Babe,” Royce says. “Can you get Layla out of the house this weekend?”
“Sure, what’s going on?”
“Owen and I have a mission,” he tells her.
“Is he going to propose?” Sawyer’s excited question filters through the line.
“O, you’re on speaker,” Royce says, and I can hear the background noises better, including Sawyer.
“Is he?” she asks.
“Hey, sis. Yeah, I’m going to propose.”
“Eeek!” she shrieks. “Tell me what you need.”
“I was hoping you could get her out of the house this weekend. Saturday. Royce and I can go shopping.”
“You have to take her to a different part of town,” Royce tells her.
“I know that,” she replies, and I can imagine her rolling her eyes at him. I love that she doesn’t put up with his shit.
“Done. I’ll talk to her about it tomorrow at the office.”
“Thanks, sis.”
“Are you kidding me? You helped Royce pick out my ring, and now I get to be involved. I’m so excited for both of you.”
“Thank you.” There is a warmth in my chest with the knowledge that Layla is going to be my wife. Be by my side forever. That is if she says yes.
“She’s going to say yes,” Sawyer adds.
“What? You’re a mind reader now?” I ask her.
“No, but I speak Riggins. I know the five of you almost as well as I know myself. Layla loves you. You have nothing to worry about.”
The garage door opens. “She’s home.”
“We’ve got you, Owen,” Royce replies.
“What he said,” Sawyer agrees.
“Thanks. I’ll see you both tomorrow,” I say, ending the call and sliding my phone back into my pocket. I don’t even bother to try and look busy, or like I didn’t miss her. I’m on my feet, standing, and heading toward the garage when she walks in. Her face is lit with a smile, and I know, without a doubt, my mom took care of her for me. “I missed you,” I say when she reaches me, wrapping my arms around her.
“I missed you too, but I had a good time with your mom. She’s so sweet, and exactly what I imagine a mother should be.”
There is a ping of sadness that hits me when I think about her childhood and everything she had to endure, and everything that she missed out on. “We have a lot to make up for,” I tell her.
“No, that’s not why I said that.”
“I know, but I want to give you the world. When we have kids, you’re going to be an amazing mother.”
“When?”
“We talked about filling all these bedrooms, remember?”
“Yeah.” A slight blush coats her cheeks. “I remember.”
“So, did you find a dress?” I have to make myself pull away from her and ask the question. All I want to do is drag her to our room and start working on those kids we were just talking about.
“I did. But your mom took it with her.”
“Why?”
“She thinks it’s going to be fun to have a big reveal, and me get ready at their place. She said that you should have to come and knock on the door for me,” she says over a giggle. I love hearing her happy. “We were talking about how fast we fell, and she said that’s how it happens sometimes, but because we missed the ‘dating’ portion for the most part, and because I never went to my high school prom, this is the perfect opportunity for me to experience getting all fancied up. Her words not mine. And have a young man just as fancy knock on the door to pick me up.”