Marrying Ember(4)

“Who were you on the phone with?” Ember slowly opened the bedroom door and my stomach dropped, wondering both when she’d gotten home and how much she’d heard.

“Josh,” I said causally. It was the closest thing to a non-lie I could come up with. If I’d said Monica she would have known something was up.

“Oh! Did he tell you they’re able to come out for the Napa show?” Ember’s eyes lit up like they hadn’t in a long time. I hadn’t been conscious of how long it had been since I’d seen her so lively until she smiled like that.

I held out my hands, leading her to me. “He did. You seem really happy.”

Ember folded herself perfectly into my embrace as she sighed into my chest. “I haven’t seen her since January. It’s the longest we’ve ever gone without seeing each other since college, for God’s sake.”

I rested my chin on the top of her head, rubbing her back. “I know Regan and I are certainly no substitute for Monica.”

“I didn’t mean it like that.” Ember shook her head as she pulled back.

“Oh, neither did I. I was serious. Sometimes I have no idea what the hell to say to you, and I wish I could have a hotline to Monica to ask. Really. I’m glad she’s coming.”

Ember rested her head on my shoulder. “Everything with Willow … and now she’s coming with us on tour …”

While Willow was an integral part of the recording of our album, her skills were studio based and not needed on the tour. The first half of the tour had given Ember a lot of breathing room from Willow and the dark cloud she carried around with her. Willow herself was always in a good mood, but that seemed to be at the expense of others, and, frankly, I was glad to have her out of my hair for a while, too.

Despite the fact that I shook off her advances a few months ago, Willow kept an uncomfortable eye on me. She made sure Ember never saw it, and I’d certainly never draw Ember’s attention to it, but I wasn’t looking forward to dodging those glances again.

“Why is she coming?” I finally asked.

“To ruin my life.” Ember tucked a heavy blanket of sarcasm around her words. “She wants to see Napa,” she cooed like a child, mocking the light and airy way Willow produced her words. “As if she hasn’t spent significant amounts of time there since she turned twenty-one. God, she’s annoying.”

“We won’t let her ruin it.” I tried to sound encouraging, but my nerves surrounding my own plans for Napa were getting in the way.

Ember looked up at me with her gorgeous jade-colored eyes. “You’re right. The more I let her get to me, the more she’ll try.”

I laughed. “You know what? Do you want to get away for the weekend?”

“Away? That’s where we’ve been all summer. Away. Where do you propose we go?”

I snatched my cell from the bed, and led Ember by the hand through our beachfront condo. When I reached the counter in the kitchen, I picked up Ember’s phone, too.

“What are you doing?” She asked.

I continued leading her around as I formulated the plan in my head. I reached the front door and let go of Ember’s hand as I locked the dead bolt. Though I was no longer holding her hand, she continued to follow my path. Walking to the sliding glass doors, I locked those and pulled the blinds, turning them so they blocked out all sunlight. I did that with each window I passed, too. Finally, I made sure to lock the back door by the garage. Once we finished the circle around the house, I led us back into our bedroom, where I removed the batteries from our phones, and tucked them into the top drawer of the dresser.

“Here.” I shut the bedroom door and locked it, pulling Ember into a kiss.

“I beg your pardon?” she asked when she pulled away.

“Let’s hide out here all weekend. We know when we have to leave on Monday, and everyone told everyone else to leave them alone all weekend. You know Georgia and Regan will be unavailable, and everyone else is catching up on sleep. Stay here with me for the whole weekend, Ember.”

The corners of her mouth lifted slowly into a smile. “Bo, I’ll stay anywhere you want me to, and for a hell of a lot longer than a weekend.”

As she pressed her lips into mine, sliding her hands up the back of my shirt, I hoped that in a few weeks she’d say yes to forever.

“Forever?” I led her toward the bed, pulling my shirt over my head as she leaned back on the mattress. The word came out at the end of my thought, but we’d toyed with the word so often since we’d been together it wasn’t out of place.

“Longer,” she whispered back, pulling me down on top of her.

It was all I could do to stop myself from proposing to her right there. Asking her to be my wife, my partner for as long as eternity lasted. I took a breath and realized that a proposal was far below what I was planning for us.

For us, it really was forever. And it needed to start at the exact moment we were both ready. I’d make sure that moment was under starlight in Napa.





“Do you think anyone will get worried?” Ember rolled over, her soft skin brushing against mine as she set her chin on my chest. “I mean, we’ve all been up each other’s asses all summer …”

I laughed, running my fingers through her hair and down her back to her waist. “They know where to find us if there’s an emergency, Em. Your parents live two houses down.”