A new high-profile restaurant had opened on Whitman Street about a month ago, and it was a mere three blocks from Josh’s new office near Brooklyn Borough Hall, so Paige thought it would be a fabulous place to have an anniversary dinner.
She’d arrived first and spent a few minutes perusing the menu, which was mostly classic American dishes with Latin influences. The chef had three other well-regarded restaurants in Manhattan, but this was his first foray into Brooklyn. As the menu explained, the chef had also been a fixture on the Food Network and a contestant on several cooking-related TV competitions. Where did he find the time?
She was saved from having to worry about that too much when Josh arrived, finally. When he sat across from Paige, he looked tired and a little disheveled, but happy.
“One week down,” Paige said.
Josh grinned. “What a week! They threw me right into the deep end.”
There had been an opening in the Law Enforcement Assistance Unit of the Brooklyn DA’s office, so Josh’s new job involved the kind of investigation he found really exciting, plus he got to prepare subpoenas and warrants to help bring in the bad guys. The unit helped with a wide range of cases, but Josh’s first was a homicide. He hadn’t told Paige much about the particulars of the case, but he had told her that he was working with a pair of detectives he really liked. He also hoped that, eventually, he’d get promoted into the trial division, but for now he was content to work on investigations. Either way, Paige hoped he was much happier at this job than he had been at DCL.
Paige admired Josh’s ambition and ability to look toward the future. And she knew that the last few months at DCL had been a slog for him as he’d worked on a series of cases that left a bad taste in his mouth, ultimately pushing him to start job searching in earnest. His dream of being a prosecutor was finally being realized, although he’d spent a fair amount of time fretting about the pay cut. Paige had assured him it was fine. After all, she knew all about leaving a lucrative job for something one found more fulfilling. They both had money in savings, and two months ago, they’d moved into a new apartment where they were splitting the rent, so already Josh’s monthly expenses had gone down.
They were happy. And Paige had some ideas for the future, too.
They ordered, and then Josh settled into his chair and smiled. “Sorry I was late, by the way.”
“It’s fine. They let you leave before sundown.”
“True! I mean, I’m on call in case something develops in the investigation this weekend, but otherwise, I am all yours for the next two days.”
“I got the weekend off from the Cat Café.”
“Wow, really? No Sunday events? No crafts?”
“Nope. Somehow we have a weekend with nothing on the schedule. Not even a private event.”
“So we really do have the whole weekend to ourselves.” Josh lowered his eyelids. “I wonder what trouble we could get into.”
Paige laughed, and their drinks and the appetizers Josh had, of course, ordered arrived.
When they were halfway through their dinner, Paige said, “There was something I wanted to ask you.”
“Yeah? This steak is really good, by the way. I’ve never had skirt steak this tender.”
Paige laughed. “Josh? I love you.”
He grinned. “I love you, too. More than I love food, even.”
“That’s a lot.” She reached over and pat his hand. “But anyway, I’ve been thinking lately that, you know, we’re in a committed relationship, we love each other, maybe it’s time to take the next step.”
Josh stopped eating and stared at her. “Next step? Paige, are you—”
“I think we should get married.”
Josh pressed his lips together, but Paige could see the mirth in his eyes. “I’m supposed to ask you, you know.”
“That’s sexist. I don’t see any reason why whoever wants to can’t propose to their significant other.”
She felt pretty strongly that she had to keep showing Josh that she wanted to be with him, even though she knew he believed she did. Things between them had been really good these last several months. Paige had even mentioned her plan for tonight to Evan, Lauren, and Lindsay over drinks. All three had been on board, although Evan had bet that she’d chicken out. He reminded her of the time when Monica proposed to Chandler on Friends and how Chandler had to take over. Paige had pointed out that Monica had set up all the candles and everything. She’d done the work. That was the important part. They’d shared a laugh over that.
Josh sat across from her now and raised an eyebrow. “Do you have a ring?”
“Well, no. Men don’t wear engagement rings. Which I also think is sexist, by the way. I mean, who cares about the rings? If you say yes, we’ll tell people we’re engaged, or I’ll buy you a watch or something. That’s a thing people do, I’ve heard. Why haven’t you said yes?”
“Because I win.”
Paige frowned. What had he won?
Josh reached into his pocket and pulled something out, which he placed on the table. It was a ring box. Paige was surprised to find her heart starting to pound. She’d thought this through carefully and rationally. They loved each other, they already lived together, and they often talked as though they had a long future together. Josh was ambitious and forward-looking and had big plans for his life and career, and for the last few months, he’d been talking as if it was a given that Paige would be part of those plans. And Paige had thought that, in order to really show Josh what he meant to her and that she was completely committed to their relationship, she should be the one to propose. But all she’d said was, “I think we should get married.” She hadn’t even asked him.
And there was a ring on the table.
“You may have asked first, but I bought a ring,” Josh said. He sounded smug.
Paige reached for the ring box and picked it up. She opened it. Tears sprung to her eyes. She couldn’t believe he had done this. It was a simple but beautiful ring, a diamond set in the middle with tiny diamonds on either side on what looked like a platinum band. Something likely absurdly expensive. Something he couldn’t afford now that he was working for the DA.
“Bought is maybe overselling it,” Josh said. “You’re looking at the diamonds from my grandmother’s wedding ring. But the band was damaged, so I had them reset in a new band.”
“Are you serious?”
“Yep. My grandparents were happily married for almost sixty years. That seemed like a good omen. My mom told me when Grandma died that she had intended for the ring to go to my future bride, so I figured it was time to call that in.”
“What I hear you saying is that you and I are so on the same wavelength that we both had the idea to propose tonight.”
Josh smiled. “I mean, technically, I had the idea first. I had to get the ring from my mom and then take it to a jeweler and all that.”
“Well, now you’re just showing off. When did you get the ring from your mom?”
“Uh, when Mom flew out here for Lauren’s baby shower.”
“But that was four months ago!”
Josh shrugged. “When you know you know.”
“What took you so long? You haven’t been walking around with a ring in your pocket in case I bring it up, have you?”
“Oh, no. The ring happened to be ready to pick up from the jeweler’s today. That’s why I was late. I went to pick it up. Then they gave me this fancy bag and blah, blah, but I figured that would be a giveaway, so I took the ring out and ditched the bag. It’s just a tremendous coincidence that you decided to mention it today. Or fate! I prefer to think it was fate.”
Paige laughed. “Fine, it’s fate.”
“You should put the ring on.”
Paige took the ring, which really was quite beautiful, out of the box and slid it on her finger. It fit perfectly, which meant Josh had probably had the forethought to get the right size from one of Paige’s other rings. “You’re too thoughtful.” The words came out watery because Paige was really crying now. How had she ever ended up with a guy this amazing?
“Too thoughtful?”
“I was trying to make this big gesture to make it clear that I love you and I’m committed to you, and you have to go and upstage me.”
“It’s not a contest.” Josh reached over and grabbed her hand to admire the ring. “That does look really spectacular. I take it that’s a yes.”
“Neither of us technically asked.”
Josh titled his head. “Oh, true. You’re totally right.”
“But I’ll marry you if you marry me.”
“Deal.” He reached over and wiped the tears from her face. “I think we should seal it with a kiss.”
She smiled. She marveled again at how lucky she was and then she leaned across the table and kissed Josh.