I smiled as I felt tears rolling down my face. I could hardly talk. “Oh, Layton,” I whispered. I gently placed my lips onto his.
As I pulled back from his lips, he wiped the tears from my eyes.
“Thank you. Thank you for loving me, Layton. ”
Layton placed his hands on my face and gently began kissing me. He rolled me onto my back as he continued to shower my body with sweet kisses.
He pulled the covers up and over our bodies as we settled in next to each other.
I began to drift off into sleep, but not before I barely heard Layton whisper, “I’m madly in love with you, and I want to marry you, Whitley. ”
My heart started pounding as I listened to him fall asleep.
I closed my eyes and felt tears running down my face.
This has to be the most magical moment of my life.
“Yes,” I whispered.
Chapter Twenty-Two: Layton
It was the middle of October, and two months had passed since the night Whitley and I shared in Austin. I couldn’t believe how close we’d grown. She was always at my house, and when she wasn’t, I felt completely and utterly lost without her.
I smiled, thinking about this morning. Neither one of us had wanted to get up and leave each other.
I stood outside the jewelry store, just staring into the window. I couldn’t tell if my body was shaking from the idea of what I was about to do or from the cold that had moved through, making it chillier than normal. I was glad Whitley had talked me into bringing a light jacket even though I’d insisted it wasn’t that cold out.
I smiled to myself, thinking about how excited Whitley was to go to the high school football game tonight. I knew she was happy about spending time with Kate and even more excited that Kate was going to stay the night with us tonight. During their little conversation at dinner the other night with Jen, all I’d heard were words like princess, tea party, dress-up, and something about Uncle Layton being the king.
I glanced up and saw the saleslady grinning at me. She waved her hand for me to come in, so I smiled and took a deep breath.
This is it. I’m really going to do this.
As I stepped in, I noticed two other ladies. They all made a beeline right toward me.
Ah hell. Maybe this is a mistake, coming to a jewelry store right here in town.
I recognized one of the girls right away. Anna Macbeth was her name, and Reed had had the biggest crush on her in high school.
“Well, if it isn’t Layton Morris. My God, I haven’t seen you in years!” she said with a huge smile.
I noticed how the other tw
o ladies backed off immediately once they realized Anna knew me.
I smiled as I reached my hand out to shake her extended hand.
“Anna, isn’t it?” I asked with a smile.
I was pretty sure I’d heard one of the other girls say, “Oh God,” when I’d smiled. I glanced over, and her face instantly turned red. I gave her a wink, which only caused her to giggle.
Anna snapped her head back and looked at the girl. “Sweetie, don’t you have some things to do in the back or something?”
The girl who giggled shot Anna a dirty look and nodded before turning and walking into the back. The other girl turned, grabbed some window cleaner, and began cleaning the glass on the display cases.
Anna turned back toward me and winked. “So, Layton, what brings you into my grandfather’s jewelry store?”
I let out a laugh. “Oh shit! I forgot your grandfather is Jim. I thought you moved to Dallas for college, and last I heard, you were fixin’ to marry some oil tycoon up there. ”