“Gramps will be pissed too.”
Trace frowned at that but didn’t comment.
The waitress came by again and took his credit card. He grabbed his phone and looked at the screen intently.
“What are you doing?”
“I’m looking for the nearest place to get a marriage license. No one’s going to perform the ceremony without the license,” he mumbled, scrolling through his phone.
“Oh,” I nodded. I hadn’t thought about that part.
“Looks like there’s a clerk’s office just around the corner,” he smiled triumphantly. Sobering, his emerald eyes met mine, “You are sure about this, aren’t you?”
“I’ve been sure about
you since I trusted you with my list,” I confessed. “I wasn’t sure where it would lead us, but I knew you were special.”
Chuckling, a smile spread across his face, “Oh please, you wanted me from the moment you saw me. I saw you licking your lips when I got out of my car.”
I rolled my eyes. “It was the tattoos.”
“Sure,” he smirked cockily, taking the pen and receipt from the waitress. He wrote down the tip amount and scrawled his signature. “Come on,” he stood, holding out his hand for me. I placed mine in his larger one and let him pull me from the booth, giggling. “We have a marriage license to get,” he pecked me on the lips in front of the whole restaurant, but I didn’t care who saw. I was getting married to the man of my dreams today. Nothing could dampen my mood now.
“You want a marriage license?” The balding clerk eyed us. “Aren’t you a little young?”
I rolled my eyes. “We’re both consenting adults, that want to get married. I don’t understand what the hold up is,” I said sassily.
“Neither of you are from New Hampshire,” he glanced down at our Virginia driver’s licenses.
“Obviously,” I snorted. “Although, I did grow up here.”
“Well, there’s nothing stopping you from getting a license as long as you’re getting married in this county,” he adjusted his reading glasses.
“We can arrange that,” Trace assured the man.
“Well, then,” he shuffled some papers, “let me get everything organized. I’ll need both of your social security cards.”
I pulled mine out of my wallet and handed it to him. Trace did the same.
The man, I think his name was Jim, forced a smile and went in search of the documents he needed.
Trace grabbed me around the waist and hugged me to his chest. “Ready to be married to me for the rest of your life?”
I giggled. “You make it sound so ominous.”
“There’s nothing ominous about waking up next me.” He waggled his brows.
“You are so full of yourself,” I shook my head.
“When you’ve got it,” he swayed his hips, “like I do, there’s no point in sugar coating it.”
I buried my face in my hands, stifling a laugh. “What have I gotten my myself into?” I asked rhetorically.
He removed my hands from my face and grabbed my chin between his thumb and index finger, forcing my gaze to his. In a serious tone, he said, “I promise to make every day of our lives together better than the one before it. I know we’re going to have our ups and down, life’s a roller coaster and that’s expected, but I’m always going to look for the bright side…even in the darkest situations.”
“Wow,” I breathed. “That was…beautiful.”
“I can be deep when I want to,” he winked, kissing the end of my nose.