“Wow,” Annie says as Henry and I walk into the brewery, ready to win.
We’re wearing matching shirts with “Team We Can’t Stop” written across them, along with matching sweat headbands and wristbands in obnoxious yellow. There might only be five pairs of people showing up to trivia tonight, but we plan to crush every last one of them. We’ve been honing our skills at several bar trivia nights across the city, so we’re unstoppable.
“Are you intimidated?” Henry asks, posturing with open arms to my sister. My sister laughs as Henry leans over her table and whispers, “I can feel you’re intimidated.”
“Baby, keep that fire for trivia,” I say. “Is there a trophy? I feel like there should be a trophy.”
“Are they always like this?” Emily Finch asks. Emily’s family owns Woody Finch Brewery, and she’s agreed to be my sister’s partner for trivia after Jason canceled.
“Unfortunately,” Annie says.
Henry dips me in a kiss, and then we high-five.
We’ve become that annoying couple. In three short months, Henry has become my best friend who I sleep with almost every day. We finish each other’s sentences, we spend all our free time together, and he makes me feel like I can conquer the world. He came home for Thanksgiving with me and I met his family at Christmas.
I only made it a week in Goldheart before Henry showed up to move me home.
Back to San Francisco.
I always lived my life with a heart wide open, and everything in me told me I had to do this.
The first week back in the city, I was offered a position at an international school because I’m fluent in French. I don’t know why I didn’t pursue that all along. Teaching young children a language I love, in a city I love, being with the man I love is a dream come true.
After six weeks of sleeping on Erin and Landon’s couch, Henry came over one day with a pizza. When I opened it, I saw a flat box in the corner. My heart stopped. When I opened the box, I found a key.
“I love you, Raegan. And I can’t stand being away from you one more night,” he said. “Move in with me.”
A tear slipped down my cheek as I accepted, kissing him until our lips grew numb. A key was wonderful, and it was crazy, but six weeks was long enough for me to know.
Henry is who I want to marry, who I want to grow old with. Some people need years, some people need months. All I needed was forty-two days. That heart-drop feeling when it was a key instead of a ring signaled to me that I had found him. I was done searching.
Now he’s back in Goldheart with me for his first official visit. He met my parents. We walked down Main Street like we’ve been together for years. Ms. Hershey, the librarian who I’ve known since I was a baby, pulled me aside afterward and told me he was perfect for me.
I couldn’t agree more.
“Is your brother ready for this?” Annie asks Emily.
Emily shrugs. “We’ll see. We’ve been trying to do more events like this with varied results. Hopefully Dan can see we’re making an effort.”
I look around and see four other couples waiting at tables for trivia to start. Cameron Finch, Emily’s brother, walks out with pads of paper and tiny pencils, and hands them out to couples participating. Cameron’s gaze falls on Henry, and they give each other a quick nod.
“Do you know Cameron?” I ask.
“Oh yeah,” Henry says with a nervous giggle. I look at Cameron and back at Henry. Henry can’t look me in the eye.
Something is up.
“Baby, you’re acting shifty,” I say.
“What are you talking about?” Henry asks, with a “I don’t know” gesture.
Cameron takes a corner with a stool and the microphone. He speaks into it quietly.
“Hello everyone. Welcome to the first Woody Finch Trivia Night. I’m your host, Cam.”
“Go, Cam!” Annie yells with a whoop. I’m not sure why Annie is so nice to him. They’ve always been friendly, but not too friendly, with one another. Cameron and Emily’s brother Reid has been Annie’s best friend since childhood, and I kinda wish they would get together. However, my sister looks at Cameron in a way I’m not completely comfortable with.
“Thanks, Annie,” Cameron says into the microphone. He pulls the first card up.
“Which Final Destination film starts with a premonition of a roller coaster accident?” Cameron reads off. “Is it a. #1, b., #2, or c., #3?”
I write down a “c” on our sheet.
“I knew that one too, by the way,” Henry says, his hand on my thigh. “I know how much you love Final Destination.”
“You’re funny,” I say.
“You love me,” he says, kissing me on my cheek. Even after our short three months, the honeymoon phase is strong and he still gives me butterflies.
“Okay,” Cameron says, pulling up the next card. “Where is the tallest roller coaster in the world? Is it a. Japan, b. New Jersey, or c. Canada?”
Why is the trivia all about roller coasters?
I look at Henry, and he shakes his head. He’s usually more help in trivia than this. New Jersey seems like the most random of the three, so I write a “b” on our answer sheet.
I look up just as Henry gives Cameron a signal.
“What’s going on?” I ask Henry.
“Have I ever told you how amazing you look in yellow?” he asks, kissing me on my neck. He’s trying to distract me.
“You’re up to something,” I reply. “Will this all be roller coaster trivia?”
Henry shrugs. It’s totally something he would do.
“Okay,” Cameron interrupts from the microphone. “Question number 3: What album did Miley Cyrus’s smash hit, ‘Party in the USA’ appear on? Was it a. Time of Our Lives, b. Bangerz or c. Can’t Be Tamed?”
I put my pencil down. This is adorable. It’s just like Henry to do something romantic like this.
Henry bolts from his chair and rips the microphone from Cameron’s hand.
What is happening? Oh my God, is it…
“I have my own trivia question,” Henry says in the microphone. My heart stops.
“Will she say yes?” Henry asks as he signals to Cameron. “Hit it.”
The opening chords of “Party in the USA” begin, and Henry grabs my hands and nestles his lips in my hair.
“Baby, I have something to ask you,” he says. I’m sobbing as he pulls me to the middle of the open area. I don’t know what to do so I dab my cheeks with my sweat wristbands.
“Raegan Claire Stewart,” Henry says, kneeling down to one knee and pulling out a ring box. He opens the hinged lid to show a stunning diamond, and I cover my face with my hands. “will you do me the honor of being my wife?”
I nod, and Henry stands up and drops the mic, causing a terrible sound and a scrambling Cameron. Henry slips the ring on my finger and takes me into his arms.
I’m so in love with this man. It doesn’t matter we’ve been together for only three months. He’s my forever.
“I love you,” Henry says, kissing me.
“I love you too,” I say.
“I invited some people,” he says, pointing to the door. Standing in the corner are my parents and Erin and Cassie. I run to them, and we group-hug with tiny hops on the balls of our feet. They pull my hand each direction to look at the ring.
“Aren’t you glad I forced you on that date?” Erin asks.
“So happy,” I say. “Thank you for making me.”
“No problem,” Erin says, pulling me in for a hug.
“Look at us,” Cassie says. “She met her fiancé on an airplane”—she points at Erin—“I reconnected with Smith in an elevator, and Henry worked his magic when the roller coaster got stuck.”
“Dare I say it was fate?” I ask.
“It’s something,” Erin says. “It’s a little weird, actually.”
“I’m not mad about it,” Cassie says.
“Thank you for coming,” I say, hugging them again.
“We wouldn’t miss it for the world,” Cassie replies. I leave them to hug everyone in the room, including Cameron, but the last person I hug is Henry.
“I guess you’re stuck with me now,” he says, looping his arms around my waist.
“Always and forever,” I reply, kissing him again, so happy to have found my person. All because we got stuck on a roller coaster. Now I’m stuck in love.
THE END
***
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