Room at the Inn

“What happened to Dubai?” she asked.

“They can find somebody else. I’m staying. I promise.”

“For how long?”

“For good. Forever, if you’ll have me, and even if you won’t, I guess, my dad— But Christ, I hope you’ll have me, Jules.”

She beamed and touched him, a tentative sweep of her cupped fingers over his face as if she couldn’t quite believe he had reappeared. “I decided I won’t.”

But he could see all her teeth, gleaming, and the dimple in her cheek. Gold earrings glinted in the candlelight, her eyes were wide and wet, full of emotion, and everything about her said Yes, I’ll have you.

“Change your mind one last time.”

Her lips pursed. He caught the mischief in her expression before she said, “I’m not sure I should.”

That’s when he picked her up and stood her on the pew, so everybody in the church could see her. Because this wasn’t just about Julie, this declaration he was about to make. It was about him, about Potter Falls, about the rest of his life. He caught sight of his father, standing a few pews away, watching him.

Martin winked.

Carson took Julie’s hand, cupped it in his, and caught her laughing eyes again.

The rustles and whispers died down, and the church filled with a silence so complete, it felt like a sacrament.

“Julia Marie Long, I love you.”

Off to the side somewhere, a woman gasped.

“I’ve loved you forever, but I’ve done a rotten job of it. You made a sacrifice for my family, and I left you for it. You took care of my parents, took care of my town, and I never thanked you.”

She opened her mouth to interrupt, but he kept talking. “Whatever you’re going to say, shut it. I’m only giving this speech once. I don’t deserve you, but I love you, and I’ve got thirty or forty years left, I hope. There’s no point to them without you. Being with you, loving you—Julie, that’s the point. That’s the whole fucking point.”

“Language,” someone said, and he realized what he’d done. Swearing in a church. His dad was going to have his head on a platter.

Carson dropped to one knee. “Jules, will you marry me?”

Another gasp. Julie trembled, and a cold horror crept through his veins, anchoring him to the earth. He was doing this all wrong. She would say no.

“You can think about it,” he offered. “I understand that this might seem, uh … hasty.”

She laughed, a slightly panicked sound, and ran her finger along his forehead, right below the band of his stocking cap.

“Is all this actually happening?” she asked.

Carson nodded.

“Did I really just get proposed to by a hobo-lumberjack who crashed Christmas so he could grovel in front of everybody in Potter Falls?”

She addressed this question a bit more to the crowd than to Carson. Which made his cheeks hot, but he figured he deserved it.

“Not everybody,” the pastor said. “He’ll have to take you over to the Catholic Church and do it again if he really wants to get everybody.”

“String him along, Julie,” a voice hollered from the other side of the church. “He’s made you wait long enough.”

And then there was a chorus of comments, shouted witticisms from all directions, and Carson held Julie’s hands and watched her face.

She didn’t believe him.

He dug around in his pocket for the key Leo had given him and held it up to her. “This is for you. For Christmas.”