Page 95 of Plotting Summer

“Keep reading.”

I turn the page to the prologue, and in the first paragraph next to the description of young Cali watching her neighbor, Trenton, fish off his back dock, it says: I saw you in the tree. I knew you were there the whole time, but I was too nervous to come talk to you.

My gaze lifts to his. “You knew I was there?”

Tristan’s eyes twinkle and he nods. “You were wearing that striped navy-blue jumper, and your mom had done your hair in two long braids tied with bright pink ribbons.”

“I can’t believe you remember that.” I didn’t even remember until he brought it up. “The ribbons were our compromise. I hated that jumper, but my mom loved it, so she’d let me pick out my ribbons when I wore it. They never matched, but I didn’t care.”

I flip the next page, reading each of the little notes Tristan inserted, and with each word I read, the size of my smile increases until I’m not sure it can grow any larger. It’s painfully big. The details he's included make it apparent that Tristan always saw me. My greedy eyes want to take in every note and personal message, but to read and truly appreciate them all will take hours. Probably longer. But I fully intend to do just that once I’m back at Tala’s. I close the book and look at him. “I can’t believe you annotated my book.”

“Is that what it’s called?”

“Yeah. And I can’t wait to read every last comment.”

“It gave me something to do while you were gone. And it was shocking how much I remembered. How a lot of the things you wrote about in your book are actually shared memories between us. Especially the flashbacks.”

“Like the time the neighborhood kids convinced us to play spin the bottle, and when it was your turn, it landed on me?”

“And how you literally ran away, crushing my young-boy heart.”

I laugh. “That’s not true. You wanted it to land on Cat Keene. I remember Beau saying so.”

“Beau said that because he wanted his spin to land on Cat. I was secretly hoping mine would land on you. Not that it paid off for me when it did.”

“You should have stuck with Cat if you were wanting a kiss.”

“There are lots of things I regret, but that’s not one of them.” Tristan takes the book from me and sets it on the seat before pulling me to my feet and wrapping a hand around my waist to steady me against the slight rocking of the boat. “Do you know what I regret more than anything?”

I shake my head, hardly able to think with the way I’m getting lost in his sea-green eyes.

“Not kissing you that day I took you out on my boat to watch the sunset.”

“You weren’t going to kiss me.”

“Oh, I very much was.”

I still, meeting his gaze straight on. “Then why didn’t you?”

“Because Bridget and I had just broken up, and I didn’t want you to think that was the reason I’d kiss you—that you were some rebound for me. Then there was the fact that I was leaving for college. I knew I didn’t want to do anything that might hurt you, so despite how much I wanted to, I resisted.” He runs his fingers through my hair, his fingertips grazing my neck as he lowers them. “I can’t tell you how many times I’ve thought about that boat ride. Wondering what would have changed if I’d just kissed you. What path my life would have taken. So when I saw you on Sunset Harbor at the beginning of summer, my excuses of why I hadn’t reached out completely vanished. All I knew was I couldn’t miss the chance for a do-over. To have this moment again and get it right this time.”

The sky is ablaze around us, but I can’t pull my eyes from Tristan to admire it. My heart thumps in my chest, a hopeful, anticipatory rhythm.

“Capri Palmer,” Tristan says slowly, intentionally, as though he’s trying out the name on his tongue to see how he likes it, and I still. He gives a slow nod, his lips curving into a smile. “It has a nice ring to it. No wonder you spent so much time practicing that signature in those notebooks of yours. And while in some respects, you have your own claim to Palmer now, I want to officially give you my name.”

And then suddenly, Tristan is down on one knee, pulling a ring from his pocket. The most perfect ring I’ve ever seen—a circular yellow diamond surrounded by a halo of smaller diamonds. It resembles a sun. “I love you, Capri. I’m pretty sure I’ve loved you for most of my life even if it took me until this past summer to realize it. But now that I have, I know this is what I want. This is the life I want. I feel it with my whole soul. Will you marry me?”

I can’t find the words, but I’m nodding my head in excess so he knows my answer. A swell of waves sends the boat swaying, so to prevent my trembling self from spending the night with a concussion or missing even one glorious second of this, I sit on the bench behind me.

When he slides the ring on my finger, I pause, creating a mental image of this moment to store away for the rest of my life. To replay time and time again. Then suddenly, it’s as if the emotions from a lifetime of loving Tristan seem to culminate. I let out a half laugh, half sob. With tears streaming down my face, I kiss him as though he’s my reason for everything. For being the man that has always seen me. The man that made me brave enough to be seen. The man that chooses me now and for always. And, just like so many of the moments I’ve had with Tristan these past several months, I’m fully aware that this one is better than anything my imagination could ever create.

It’s dark by the time we pull up to the dock. Tristan helps me out of the boat. “I have one more little surprise for you,” he says, leading me toward his and Beau’s place.

“And what’s that?” I ask, already knowing his answer. Or, more accurately, his lack of an answer.

“You’ll see.” Oh, Tristan and his surprises. I don’t think I’ll ever grow tired of them. He opens the back door, and there, filling his kitchen, are the faces of all of my favorite people. He lifts my hand up for them to see. “She said yes!”

Cheers erupt, and I’m being hugged by my mom, whose eyes are filled with tears just like mine, and Tala and Jane. Then Grandma is pressing kisses against my cheek.