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What should I tell him? Well, yes, obviously, but should I ask him to wait before he even gets started? It’s too soon.
But then, if it’s too soon to think about a ring, why isn't it too soon to think about putting my apartment up to sublet? Because that’s what I just did at the Pine Ridge campus. I went in, wandered around, and said I’d be taking summer classes. Then I posted a hand-written flier on the notice board in the dorm lobby that I want someone to take over the lease starting in April, which is only weeks away!
Milo’s suddenly forcing himself behind me. “Oh, God! Libby! Say something!”
A fist that could break my ribs and keep going to my vertebrae is centering itself over my solar plexus. “Milo!”
“Oh! Thank God. I thought something got stuck again. You weren’t making any sounds, just staring into space with your mouth open.” Milo crushes me in a hug, kissing the top of my head, nuzzling his long, hairy jawbone against my hair. “I was scared you weren’t breathing.”
“I’m okay, I promise. I was... I was startled.”
“Hm? Right, water going down the wrong pipe.”
“Yeah. That’s it.” I nod and smile, but I’m not fooling him. “Milo, can we sit down?”
“Sure, sweetie.” Milo pulls out one of the stools that surround his kitchen island and gallantly places me on top of it. He slides over a basket of warm, sliced baguette and the crock of golden local butter that he’s gotten me hooked on.
“You keep feeding me this stuff and I will never, ever leave,” I laugh.
Because I’m a bonehead.
“Well, that’s sort of the idea.” Milo grins shyly and sits across from me—sits unevenly. He reaches into his back pocket. My hand freezes in the basket. Okay, it’s not a traditional ring box, it’s thicker and flatter, but I’m betting it’s the minotaur version of a ring box.
“Oh, Milo.” I don’t know what to say. So... I just don’t say anything. My heart is racing. My eyes are full. My heart is full.
“Libby, I made this for you, and I’ve been waiting for the right time to give it to you,” Milo says in a serious, soft voice that makes my insides quiver.
He made the engagement ring? I can’t turn it down now!
Goody. I realize that I was looking for some other reason to say yes, and I found it, and that’s stupid. Milo is all the reason I need. I love him. I never felt this way before and I don’t want to feel this way again, unless it’s with him.
“Libby, I hope you’ll like this. I can explain.”
“You don’t have to explain a thing,” I whisper, all choked up.
Milo turns the box to me and pops it open.
It’s—not a ring.
It’s a necklace. Shaped like an anchor. “Okay, maybe you do have to say a word,” I try to speak in a normal voice.
“It’s an anchor. Because I know you said you felt like a stray in life sometimes. And you didn’t have much family growing up. I—” Milo blinks hard and I notice his deep brown eyes look pink at the edges, pink and wet. “I want to be an anchor for you. I want to be someone and someplace where you’ll always be home and safe. I made it myself. With love. Um. Yeah, that’s all.” He nudges the box to me. “Do you like it?”
If bawling uncontrollably onto the napkin that covered the bread means yes, then yes, I like it. I just nod and blubber, wadding up a beautifully embroidered linen napkin into my soggy eyes.
“Libby? Are you happy?”
“I am!” I am. It’s so incredibly sweet, but I’m also crying tears of confusion. I feel so happy and so loved. The gift is so beautiful. It means so much.
But I had just decided I was getting a proposal, the traditional ring-having kind, and now I’m not sure what to feel because I didn’t.
“You look stressed. I think?” Milo’s tail is dancing nervously around the legs of the stool, tip-tapping back and forth.
“Not stressed. Confused.” I have to tell him, or I’ll ruin the evening. We can laugh this off together. “It’s silly. I thought it was a ring box,” I whisper, wiping my eyes on my sleeve.
Milo freezes. “But—you don’t want to get engaged. You don’t even want to move in. You went to look at the dorms today.”
“To put my apartment up on the notice board! I want to find someone to take over the lease by April 1st, so I can move in!”
