"Hey you," Jake smiled at me from where he lounged on my bed.
"Hey yourself, did Jeffrey hit on you when he came out of the shower?"I asked dropping my bag and slithering out of my sweats.
"No your foreign friend did not hit on me, beautiful. He just told me you were getting off early."
I nodded rifling through my closet for a sundress. As I tamed my curls into a chignon I realized what Jake was wearing. He had a dress shirt and slacks on reminiscent of the time he'd applied to teach mechanics at the community center in La Push. Obviously this afternoon would be important, for more reasons than one.
"You ready yet Ness?"
"Do we have a reservation somewhere?" I couldn't resist teasing. We never made real reservations in Palo Alto because I was a surgical intern and therefore got priority seating at restaurants in the area.
"No, but we're sort of on a schedule according to the pixie and your friends," he called hesitantly.
"You called my cousins?" I asked surprised.
"I needed help with a few things and a Rolls Royce. Their dad knows a lot about them and he's nicer to me than Rose," Jake admitted as I closed my purse stepping out of the bathroom.
"That's good. I'm ready if you are."
We didn't talk much on the walk. Jake was tense but I could see excitement in the set of his shoulders. We went down to the Wharf, to watch the fireworks.
"They're so many colors. I wish you could see them all," I murmured to Jake as the second burst.
"I have a perfect view," he whispered. I leaned on my tiptoes to kiss his cheek as a series of fireworks rose.
"Look, I think you'll like this one," he grinned.
A purple firework spelled out Renesmee, a green one will, a blue one you, a red one marry, and a gold one me. The question mark was blue and gold. As I looked to my right, Jake dropped to one, knee and box tight in his hand. The ring he presented me with was a thirty-five karat white gold diamond that shone in the moonlight.
"Please be with me forever."
"You've already got me Jake. This just means we can do more."
"So that's a yes?"
"What do you think?"
He kissed my hand as he slid the ring onto my finger.
"Did Garrett do that?" I nodded to the fireworks, ignoring the curious eyes of strangers.
"I made us dinner, if you're hungry," Jake smiled leading me down a worn campus trail near the hospital.
"I could eat."
I bit into the sweet caramel salted grilled cheese Jake had prepared with no help as he sipped beer.
"Did you have too much coffee this morning?"Jake smiled at me.
"I just have really good news."
"You heard back from Boston about residencies?" he asked worriedly.
"I heard from Forks too, and I got into both. It'd be a commute from the reservation but I prefer Forks even if my friends are on the East Coast."
"So you're coming home with me?"
"In the morning, after you help me pack, we can head up and I'd be able to start after the wedding."
"You're done here? I thought your internship lasted a few more weeks."
"They let me lose early since I started early."
"I like the sound of that. Is winter ok with you? You know it's still pretty warm on the rez."
"November's perfect, we can go away for two weeks and I can start after Thanksgiving."