Page 81 of Paradigm

“Arlowe!” Eline exclaimed to get her to stop talking.

“What?”

“Did you just propose?”

Arlowe sighed and said, “It’s not how I thought I’d do it, but… technically, yes.”

“It’s not how you thought–” Eline shook her head. “Arlowe, this isn’t how you should do it.”

“I know that.”

“If and when we do that, it should be romantic. It should be because you want to marry me.”

“I do want to marry you.”

“What? No, you don’t.” She stood up and walked away from the table. “You just want to keep me here, and you think this is a way to do that.”

“I also want to marry you.”

“Arlowe, we’ve been on one actual date. You can’t–”

“We dated for five months and used to talk about marrying each other, Eline. Right before I left, actually, we were still talking about possibly doing that.”

“And we decided against it because you were leaving, and we shouldn’t get married just because one of us is leaving, Arlowe. That applied then just like it applies now.”

Arlowe stood and walked over toward her.

“I’m sorry. I know this isn’t how it should go. I would much rather there be candles, flowers, and soft music, but I’m trying to find a way for you to stay. I just found you again… We can always do the real thing later.”

“Real thing? Arlowe, we would be married. It would be real.”

“You know what I mean. We could have a bigger ceremony, fly your family over here for it, and have a big party later. We could go on a honeymoon. Whatever we want. I’ll even propose again and make it so much better than this one, I promise.” Arlowe moved to take Eline’s hands in her own, but Eline took another step back from her. “Babe, at least think about it.”

“Our love story deserves more than this,” she replied.

“I agree, but this is what we’ve got. I can interview other people and, hopefully, hire you eventually. You can pursue the whole extension thing while you look for other jobs. We can do both just to cover all of our bases, but we can also get married, Eline. You can move into the house, or I can move in here. I don’t care. I said it wrong before: it would be real. I’d want it to be real. I want you to be my wife, Eline. I’ve wanted that since we both reached for that book.”

“If you want that, then we have to do it the right way. I can’t just marry you, Arlowe. I want that romance. I want it because we’re both ready for that. I mean, I told you that I wasn’t even ready for us to make love again yet, and you’re proposing.”

“This isn’t the 1700s – we don’t have to sleep together on our wedding night to consummate our marriage, Eline. We need to do this to–”

“You can’t have it both ways, Arlowe. You can’t tell me that it’s real and that you want me to be your wife, but then say that we’re just doing this now to let me stay in the country. I’d rather go home. I’d rather us be long-distance until I can get back here, and if we decide to do that as an engaged couple, we do.”

“You’d rather be in a long-distance relationship with me than marry me?”

“Because of the circumstances, yes,” she said.

Arlowe nodded.

“Babe, I–” She walked to her and took Arlowe’s hands in her own, letting them dangle between them. “I’m falling in love with you again. I want all the things that you want.”

“And I am in love with you again,” Arlowe said. “But I always have been.”

“I know, but we’re still getting to know each other now. I believe that you and I are meant to be. Do you believe that?”

“Yes,” Arlowe replied.

“Do you believe that we’ll get married one day?”