Page 96 of The Punk

“As a heart attack.” He reached into his jacket pocket and produced a small black box.

“Yes!” I said, throwing myself at him. I knocked him back, and the box skittered across the floor. Everyone burst into laughter, and Hikaru seemed to think it was the funniest thing he’d ever seen.

I scrambled over Sawyer and reached for the box, opening it.

“Oh my God, this is gorgeous. What is this material?” I asked, turning it over in my hand.

“Cedar, limestone, and one of your guitar strings,” he said as he righted himself on the floor.

I put it on my finger. “It’s gorgeous! I love it.”

He shook his head, his dimple lighting up his face.

“What?” I asked, hopping to my feet and helping him up.

“You didn’t even let me ask the question,” he said, laughing so hard he could barely get the words out.

“Shit. I fucked up.”

Ren put his hands over his grandson’s ears. “Language, Hendrix.”

I grimaced. “Shit. Sorry.”

More laughter went up around me, and even though my friends were teasing me, it felt like love. Pure and simple, vibrating in our house. Sawyer had looked up the meaning of a housewarming, and I remembered it was a blessing for the house and for the people in it—and that’s what I felt. Blessed by their laughter and their love and their acceptance.

“Okay, then,” I said.

“Okay, then, what?”

“Ask the question.”

He smiled. “James Hendrix Cavanaugh, I’ve loved you for as long as I’ve known what love was. I will love you for the rest of my life. That is, if you’ll let me. Will you marry me?”

I couldn’t help myself; I threw myself at him again, tumbling us both to the floor, kissing him between a million yesses.

Once we were upright again, I knocked my hip into him. “We’ll definitely have to get into your ties.”

Hikaru scrunched his nose. “But why do you have to wear a tie? Are you getting married tonight?”

Cordelia choked on a laugh, and Holden tried to level a serious look at me, but I’d just gotten engaged, so I was irrepressible.

Hiding his smile, Holden explained, “They aren’t getting married. Mr. Sawyer doesn’t really use his ties much anymore, since he works from home, so they find different ways to fold them up.” He shot me a look that bored into my soul. I wasn’t going to contradict him. “Kind of like the origami that you and your grandfather do.”

“Oh!” Hikaru said, looking up at me. “I bet you make beautiful origami ties.”

“Sawyer is the artist on that one,” I said, enjoying the stifled laughter of our circle of friends.

Beckett had to get in on it. “Yeah, you’ll have to tell us how many ties you’ve used in a single… piece of origami.”

Sawyer face-palmed as he gestured toward my future in-laws.

Beckett blushed. “Oops. Sorry.”

Ray chuckled as he put an arm around his wife. “Eh. Hendrix Cavanaugh is going to be our son-in-law. We’re used to it.”

I winked at Sawyer, then answered the question. “Eight. Though I have a feeling we’ll be breaking that record tonight.”

“Behave,” Sawyer warned.

I wrapped my arms around him, shaking my head. “If you wanted to marry someone well-behaved, you should’ve chosen a different guy.”

He tightened our hug, pressing his forehead to mine. “Not on your life.”