Page 99 of Goode to Be Bad
“Ready?”
“Ready.”
“One…two…three.” I turned to face Lexie, fell one to knee, and Alexandra held up the opened ring box. “Marry me, Lex.”
Lexie shook her head, hands on her mouth. I heard awwws and sighs from the rest of the ferry, and knew this was being recorded and photographed. She nodded, eyes wet. “Yes, Myles. Yes. Of course, yes.”
“I know it’s soon and it’s crazy, but I love you and I know this is what I want for my life. You, always and only you, every day for the rest of my life. We can be engaged as long as you want. Just marry me.”
She laughed. “I already said yes, Myles.”
I took the ring and slid it on Lexie’s finger. Turned to wink at little Alexandra, eyes wide and starry with romance. “Thanks for helping me propose, Alexandra. It was perfect.”
“Did you know?” she asked Lexie.
I laughed and said, “Ididn’t even know until this moment.”
Alexandra tried to give Lexie the ring box, but Lexie shook her head and pressed it into Alexandra’s hands. “Keep it. And when you get older and someone breaks your heart, look at this box and remember that true love is real. Okay?”
We stood up, and Alexandra held the ring box and the CD in shaky hands. She smiled at us. “Thank yousomuch.”
“Of course, honey,” Lexie said. “And thankyou. You helped make this the best day of my life.”
The girl ran back to her family, chattering a mile a minute in a high-pitched squeal of disbelieving excitement.
Lexie turned to me, turning her hand this way and that to look at the sparkle on the diamond. “Holy shit, Myles. This thing ishuge.”
I admired the ring on her hand; it had been breathtaking in the store but was even more so on her hand. “Four carat central diamond, with another carat and a half of stones around the setting.”
She gasped. “Dear lord, Myles. It must have cost a fortune.”
I just shrugged. “Don’t you know, babe? I’m flush. Besides…I’d go broke giving you everything you want and deserve.”
She leaned against me. “I can’t believe you just proposed spur of the moment, on a ferry, with a fan.”
I laughed. “Me either. But that thing was burning a hole in my bag, and it just seemed…right.”
“It was perfect.” She held up her hand again. “Wow. Just…wow.” She turned in my arms to gaze up at me. “When did you know you’d propose?”
“The moment I heard you say the words ‘I love you,’” I said. “It was just a matter of when, at that point.”
She was quiet a while. “I’m one of those odd girls who didn’t spend her whole life dreaming of a wedding. I suppose you can imagine why.”
“We have all the time in the world for you start dreaming, Lex.”
She shook her head. “That’s just the thing. I don’t need all the time in the world. I don’t want a big production with, like, swans and a castle reception and all that shit.” She gazed up at me. “I can tell you what I what want right now.”
“Okay. I’m listening.”
“Get the guys here—in Ketchikan, as soon as possible. I’ll get Torie and Poppy here, and we’ll have it on the roof of Badd Kitty. I just want to say I do and become Lexie North as soon as possible. We just had our honeymoon, so we’re just doing it backward, right?”
“You want to take my name.” I said it as a statement but meant it as a question.
She laughed. “Surprising to me, too. I wrote a paper for a women’s studies class at Sarah Lawrence about how women taking men’s names is an archaic and outmoded tradition that should be ended.” She sighed. “And here I am, madly in love with you, and I can’t wait to take your name so the world knows I’m your wife.” She cackled. “Wife. My god. A word I never,everthought would apply to me.”
“That’s really how you want to be married? As soon as possible, here in Ketchikan? Just family and friends and a little ceremony on the roof?”
She leaned against my chest, watching the waves clap against the bow of the ferry as we came around to dock. “Yeah. And then we can go on tour together.”