Page 61 of In a Pickle

“Did it ruin the surprise, though?” Connor asked.

James shrugged. “We had the room for the night, and I thought Liana would want him there. She loves that cat. We technically have joint cat custody with my friend Kelsey, but Kelsey said Harry should be there for the proposal since he’d been there at the beginning of our relationship.”

“Anyway,” Liana continued, “I was glad Harry was there, even though I suspected what was going on. Then I saw this beautiful setup on the balcony of the suite. Big bouquets of roses arranged in vases with pickleball paddles coming out of the top.”

“Pickleball paddles?” Gigi asked incredulously.

“It’s how we met,” Liana explained. “Well, how we reconnected two years ago. James was my pickleball coach.”

“And by pickleball, you mean… playing with a pickle and balls?” Connor waggled his brows suggestively.

“Oh my God, stop it!” Gigi chastised. To Liana and James, she said, “Ignore him. He has the mind of a middle schooler.”

James laughed. “Believe it or not, I actually mean the sport of pickleball. Though I can’t say we also haven’t had our fair share of playing with my —” At Liana’s death glare, James stopped talking and held up his hands. “Okay, okay. Anyway, I had a whole setup on the balcony of the hotel room, which was right on the beach, overlooking the water. Liana’s and my first real conversation many years ago was on a balcony, though not one as beautiful as the Faena, so I wanted a little balcony upgrade for our proposal. In fact, I chose yesterday to propose because it was the ten-year anniversary of our first conversation.”

“It was perfect,” Liana beamed. “The whole proposal.”

She wasn’t exaggerating. It had been absolutely perfect, down to every detail. James had proposed in the early afternoon, and they’d spent most of the rest of the day tangled up in bed, finally emerging in the waning daylight of the summer evening to swim at the pool and then eat dinner in one of Miami Beach’s best restaurants. They’d stayed up almost the whole night talking, drifting off to sleep in a state of pure bliss, and had only woken up at 11:00 am for brunch. To Liana’s surprise, both her parents and James’ parents were in the hotel restaurant waiting to meet them for brunch.

Apparently, James had told Liana’s parents in advance about the planned proposal. He had asked each of Liana’s parentsseparately for permission to marry their daughter. James’ parents had only been told to meet James and Liana for brunch, unaware of the occasion. “I didn’t trust them to keep a secret,” James told Liana later.

Liana had to admit she enjoyed the moment Daniella first saw the engagement ring. She’d screamed and hadn’t stopped sobbing for the entire brunch, repeatedly thanking Liana’s parents for raising such a beautiful daughter for her baby boy.

Even Peter, in a rare show of emotion, had wiped a tear from his cheek as he’d embraced his son. “I’m so proud of you, James,” he said. “I knew Liana was a keeper.”

“You did not,” James had scoffed. “When I first told you about her, you tried to get me back with my ex.”

Peter winced. “Still a bit too soon to be making jokes about that, in my opinion.”

“Oh, stop, Peter,” Daniella admonished. “If the boy never lets us live it down, we’ll deserve it. Besides, we didn’t know Liana back then. Now that we know her, we love her. And what’s more important, our son loves her.”

James looked at Liana, his eyes glistening. “I really do.”

Liana smiled. “I love you, too.”

To Liana’s surprise, all four of their parents had seemed to get along well at the brunch. Liana’s mom had met James’ parents before, but it was her dad’s first time meeting them. The meal was pleasant, but then it was time to leave the hotel and get ready for their high school reunion. “We can come back soon,” James assured her as Liana eyed their hotel room with longing.

Liana was still slightly nervous about traveling with her chronic illness. She and James had gone on a few vacations across the Florida coasts, but more often than not they’d done staycations in hotels near home, and she loved their little getaways. She certainly wouldn’t mind returning to the Faena for another stay.

On the way back home, they’d stopped at Tori’s apartment to share their news. Liana knew Tori would want to have a long talk about their engagement, and she needed that talk to happen before the high school reunion. As anticipated, Tori had screamed and cried happy tears, calling James her new brother no fewer than four times.

Now, at the reunion, Liana kept feeling little waves of happiness every time that she recalled she and James were engaged. She certainly could never have pictured this scenario the last time she was here in this gym.

Seeming to know what she was thinking, James drew her into his arms and kissed the top of her head. “You just never know where life will take you, hmm?”

She nodded. “Sometimes life just dinks the pickleball in a direction you never expected.”

He snorted. “That one was trying a bit too hard, but it’s okay. I’ll take you, puns and all.”