Or his lips. God, his lips. She swallowed hard remembering exactly what they did to her last night.
His eyes caught hers. “I want to tell you a little story,” he said, his voice projecting over the field. “About a small girl who smelled of strawberries and looked like the sun. And the little boy who ran into her and almost flattened her to the ground.” He winked at Van. “Not knowing that in reality, he was the one who’d been bowled over.”
She shook her head. This was so very Tanner. The crowd gathered around them, craned forward to listen.
“And when that kid looked up at the angel he’d almost knocked over, he knew his life was never going to be the same. It was going to be better. Always. Because she was in it.”
“Aww,” somebody whispered. “Isn’t he the sweetest?”
“That girl and boy grew up,” he continued. “And they made some stupid mistakes.” He raised an eyebrow at Van. “Especially the boy, who turned out to be an idiot. Because instead of putting a ring on the girl’s finger, and thanking god for every day she spent with him, he decided to head off to New York and play with computers for ten years.”
“A real idiot,” Gray shouted out. Tanner rolled his eyes at his brother.
“But then they met again. And the boy realized what a damn huge mistake he’d made. Because this girl was everything he’d wanted. She was beautiful, clever, funny, and for some crazy reason, she decided to give him a second chance.” He grinned at Van, and she blew him a kiss back. “And this time that boy – me – isn’t going to mess it up. He’s going to beg her to be his forever, because he knows how damn lucky he is to have her.”
“Why don’t you say things like that about me?” an old woman whispered to her husband.
“Because I haven’t gotten lucky in years,” he muttered.
Van bit down on her lip to stop herself from laughing. Or maybe crying. Her whole body was tingling. She didn’t know what to do with her hands, so eventually she clasped them together, looking up at Tanner with shiny eyes.
“Savannah Butler. Beautiful, clever woman. Love of my whole damn life.” Tanner jumped down from the chair, still smiling at her, and then dropped to a knee in front of her, pulling a ring box out of his pocket and opening it up. “I have something to ask you.”
Van’s heart started galloping in her chest.
“Will you do the honor of agreeing to be my wife?” Tanner asked softly, looking up at her through thick lashes. “I promise to always take care of you. To kiss you as often as you deserve to be kissed.” He slid his eyes to where Gray and Maddie were watching. “And if I knock you up, I promise I won’t complain about your gas.”
“See?” Maddie elbowed Gray. “That’s true love.”
“I know, baby.” Gray kissed her head.
“Say yes!” Becca shouted out. “Come on!”
Everybody was silent. All eyes were on Van. The old Van would have panicked about what they were all thinking. If they were judging her.
But the new Van didn’t care. Not one bit.
Instead, she smiled and looked around, taking in the warm faces of everybody watching. “He’s lying,” she told them all. “I’m the lucky one.”
“You’re killing me here,” Tanner told her, his lip quirking. “I’m kinda waiting for an answer.”
Van laughed, clapping her hands over her mouth. “Oh goodness. Yes! The answer’s yes.” Tanner started to laugh, too. Grabbing the ring from the box he was holding, he slid it onto her outstretched finger. Then he stood and pulled her against him, smoothing the hair from her face with his hand before kissing her hard and hot.
“Go, Tanner!” somebody hollered, followed by a whole host of whoops and catcalls. The older folk started cheering, and Van’s lips curled beneath his before they finally pulled apart.
“Let’s make it a short engagement,” Tanner murmured to her. “Like really, really short.”
She grinned up at him, happiness shining out of her. She’d never get tired of this man. Of his smile, or the way he teased her, or the good humored way he took the ribbing from his brothers.
They’d be spending the rest of their lives together, and she couldn’t wait for it to begin.
“Yeah,” she said, cupping his face with her hands, rolling onto her tiptoes to brush her lips against his. “A short engagement sounds good to me.”
Epilogue
There were three things that everybody in Hartson’s Creek agreed on. It hardly rained in November, a wedding should never be held after the last crop of corn was brought in, and Savannah Butler and Tanner Hartson were two crazy kids who never listened to advice.
And still Tanner found himself standing at the front of the First Baptist Church, his hair soaked from the downpour that had caught them on their way in, plastering their hair to their faces.