A hundred feet later we’re there: a small grove of cedar and pine trees, the last of the day’s sunlight filtering through, the ground covered in pine needles.
“Don’t tell me you stole your dad’s whiskey again,” I say, looking around.
Daniel laughs.
“No, and I didn’t pinch a bottle of Boone’s Farm from the 7-11, either,” he says, and I involuntarily make a face.
“Well, unless you bought pot from Silas, I give up,” I say.
Let’s just say that Daniel and I spent some time in this little clearing while we were teenagers, and we were never doing homework. Frankly, I’m amazed we didn’t burn the whole forest down.
“Nope,” he says, and reaches into a pocket. “Got this, though.”
Before I can answer, he steps in front of me and pops open a small, gray box.
“Holy shit,” I gasp, both my hands going to my mouth.
It’s a ring, and it’s gorgeous.
I’m not a jewelry girl. I think I own one bracelet and two necklaces, and my ears aren’t even pierced, but I’m momentarily struck dumb by this ring.
It’s stunning. It doesn’t look a thing like I was expecting an engagement ring to look like. The central stone is square and red-orange, set into a gray metal, two tiny white stones set into the band on either side.
The metalwork is beautiful, delicate and solid all at once, faintly art deco.
Even in the dim light, it flares like it’s burning from the inside.
“Where the hell did you get this?” I breathe.
“I think you’re supposed to jump up and down and say yes,” Daniel teases.
“I think you’re supposed to give me a speech about how much you love me and actually propose,” I tease back, still staring at it. “Is that… real?”
I’m kind of afraid to touch it. It looks expensive and delicate, and I have a certain bull-in-a-china-shop tendency.
“It’s real,” he says, taking it out of the box and snapping the box shut. “It’s a garnet. My great-grandfather proposed to my great-grandmother with it.”
My heart plummets.
“No,” I say, shaking my head. “Nope. No way. I can’t take that ring.”
“Char—"
“I’ll lose it, or I’ll maim it, or I’ll accidentally feed it to a dog—”
“You don’t even have a dog.”
“Doesn’t matter,” I say. “Daniel, you can’t give me your family engagement ring. Doesn’t that technically belong to Levi or something? Or Eli? At least he’s dating someone.”
“It’s first-come, first-serve,” Daniel says. “Come on, you’re not going to lose it.”
“I can’t be trusted with that,” I insist.
Daniel just sighs. He spins the ring in his fingers, looking down at it, thoughtfully. Then he looks back up at me.
“I trust you,” he says simply, and holds out one hand.
I hesitate, my eyes still on the ring. The problem is that I don’t trust me. I know how I am. I shouldn’t have nice things.
“Come on, Charlie,” he says softly, and I take a deep breath.
Despite all my misgivings, I reach out, put my hand in his.
“Other one,” he says softly.
I laugh and give him my left hand.
“Will you fake marry me?” he asks, his tone light, teasing.
“Nothing would make me happier,” I answer.
“Thanks,” he says simply. “It probably needs to be resized, but— oh.”
He slides the ring onto my finger, and it fits perfectly. I flex my fingers experimentally, to see if it’s a fluke and the ring is actually going to fly off so it can be eaten by a magpie, but it stays on.
It stays on and… I like it. It looks good on my hand — not too big, not gaudy, not small. Just right, even with my calloused fingers, lightly scarred knuckles and short nails.
Daniel’s still got his hand under mine, and he runs his thumb up my ring finger, over the ring, along the back of my hand, and sparks scurry up my arm.
Then I swallow hard and look up at him.
“We should go back in,” I say. “I don’t want to make them wait for us.”Daniel opens the door for me, his hand lightly touching my back.
“Congratulations!” several people shout at once, all out of sync.
Then a kazoo blows.
I start laughing.
There’s a banner. Seth and Levi are waving little flags. Eli and Violet are wearing party hats, and Caleb is cranking a noise maker next to Rusty, who’s playing the kazoo. Clara’s just standing there, beaming in the middle of it all.
Then I look back at Daniel and see the look on his face, and it tells me that even though he was just in here, they’ve somehow managed to surprise him as well.
I laugh harder. I can’t help it. This is ridiculous, and also, there’s a kazoo. And flags. I don’t know why they’re waving flags, but it’s hilarious.
“Thank you,” Daniel manages to say after a moment, sounding somewhat bewildered. “Thank you for this. Were you hiding it somewhere?”
“It doesn’t take too long to pin up a banner,” Violet volunteers, straightening her hat. “Besides, we thought we ought to do something special for your surprise engagement announcement.”