A week went by without mishap. I finished the gazebo and was quite pleased with how it turned out, even if it was for my ex-best friend and girlfriend. Rob had reached out several times but I hadn’t called him back. Maybe someday I would contact him, but for now, I didn’t need the toxicity in my life.
We were surprised when Arianna left a note for Jamie at the inn the day after the gazebo was finished.
Dear Jamie,
I’ve decided it’s not good for my mental health or that of my relationship with Rob to have the wedding here. I’m sorry about the gazebo. But hopefully this check will make up for it.
Best,
Arianna
“Can you believe it? After all the trouble we went through?” Jamie asked, cheeks pink. “She actually paid in full. I wasn’t sure she would pay at all.”
“It’s kind of her usual mode of operation but we lucked out,” I said. “Thank God she’s moving on from us. I feel sorry for the next people she ensnares, though.”
“Me too.”
We happily took our share of the money. I was able to buy a new vehicle, a truck this time, to make my construction projects easier. Jamie paid off all of her credit card debt and still had enough left over to put aside for a rainy day.
Then, around Thanksgiving, another surprise came. This time from my dead father. One day my phone rang with a number from California. I almost didn’t answer, figuring it was a sales call. I’m glad I did. The call was from my father’s estate attorney. My father had sold his house before his prosecution to pay for attorney bills. However, even after everyone was paid, there was a sum of two hundred thousand dollars, which he’d left to me.
To say I was stunned would be an understatement. There was no letter to go with the money. No explanation or apology. But the old man had left me money.
“In a million years, I wouldn’t have predicted it,” I said to Jamie that night.
“This is amazing. I’m glad for you. Maybe you can buy a house now.”
I grinned. “My thoughts exactly. I have someplace I want to show you.”
The next afternoon, I drove her out to the Barnes property. A cottage not far from the main house had been empty for years. Mr. Barnes said it would need to be gutted and completely redone. But would I be interested? He asked for much less than he could make on the open market. Since I could do a lot of the work myself, I jumped at the opportunity.
Now, I pulled down the driveway toward the cottage. Mr. Barnes had said we could take care of the sale when I had the money in my account and had given me the keys to the place.
Snow had begun to fall as we’d headed out of downtown and was sticking. We would have snow for Thanksgiving.
“Where are we?” Jamie asked as she got out of the car.
“This is my new cottage. Well, a very old cottage that needs a ton of work.”
“Darby, really?
“Yes, and I want you to see it and help me pick out the finishes and everything else.” I took her by the hand and almost dragged her onto the porch.
Once we were inside, I explained about my deal with Mr. Barnes as she looked around the empty cottage. “This is where Flynn and Shannon lived with their family,” I said.
“He’s the one who opened the mountain for skiing, right?”
“That’s right.” I took her down the narrow hallway, showing her the two bedrooms and then the kitchen, which had not been updated since the seventies. Remnants of the pink flowered wallpaper remained, but the avocado-green appliances had been hauled away. “Out back, they had the prettiest garden, according to Mr. Barnes. Flynn liked to build things, just like me.” I explained to her about how I would take out the wall between the living room and kitchen to make a great room. “And upstairs there’s another bedroom and a small space that would be perfect for my office.” I showed her some of the details, like the hardwood floors that I planned on keeping and refinishing. There were arched entryways, and the fireplace was made from river rock.
“Can you do all this yourself?”
“I’ll need a little help from my friends,” I said. “But Huck and Breck have already volunteered. Isn’t that the best?”
“They are, yes.” Jamie smiled. “I’ll be happy to help you pick out interiors, but we’ll get my brother to help too. He’ll do it for my boyfriend.”
“Come on. Let’s go outside. I want to show you the garden before it gets covered with snow.”
We went down the hallway and out through the kitchen door. The garden was contained behind a sagging wooden fence. A fire pit and the brick patio remained.
“Strangely enough, this has all held up really well for a hundred years,” I said. “We can landscape this out here and maybe even put in an outdoor kitchen.”
Jamie’s eyes lit up, obviously pleased for me. Her gaze traveled to a picnic basket I’d brought out earlier that day. “What’s that for?”
“I thought we’d have a picnic.” I gestured toward the fire pit, where I’d made a tepee of kindling over some newspaper. I’d brought two camping chairs out as well. “We can sit out here if you’d like?”
“This is very romantic.” She put her arms around me and kissed me before taking a seat.
After lighting the fire, I brought over the picnic basket and took out a bottle of bubbly and the sandwiches I’d picked up from Brandi’s bakery. Amazingly enough, despite the falling snow, the fire burned hot. I tossed a few logs on and then set the basket by her feet. “Oh, that’s strange. There’s something else in here.” I opened both flaps to show her the small blue box tucked into one of the wine glasses. “What do you think that is?”
Her eyes widened. “Um, I don’t know.”
I took the box out and knelt at her feet. With the sky dropping fat, dry flakes that caught in her hair, I proposed with the diamond I’d bought her with some of the money my dad had left me.
“Will you marry me and come live with me in this cottage and raise a family and grow old together?”
“Darby, really?”
“Yes, really.”
Her eyes glistened. She nodded, clearly unable to speak. “Yes,” she managed to croak out.
“Thank God. I was worried maybe I was jinxed when it came to proposals.”
Her laugh rang out in the quiet yard. “You had the wrong girl before.”
“And now I have the right one. Give me your hand, please.” She did so, and I slipped the princess-cut solitaire on her finger.
“It’s beautiful,” she said. “But it’s so nice. Should you have spent the money?”
I reminded her about the money my dad had left, along with Arianna and Rob’s guilt money. “There was enough to get the one I wanted for you. I figure it’s something good from the money of a man who hurt me my entire life. The only nice thing he ever did for me. This is a fresh start.”
“For me too,” Jamie said, still admiring her new diamond. It looked even better on her delicate hand than it had in the box. The diamond sparkled as brightly as her eyes.
We had our picnic and talked about the future and what kind of wedding we would have. “Small and at the inn,” I said. “Maybe in the gazebo.”
We had a good laugh about that.
The snow ceased, leaving us in silvery light. Warmed by the fire, we snuggled close together and dreamed the dreams of lovers. I hadn’t thought it possible to be this content, with our whole lives ahead of us. Together. That was the best part of all.