She picked up an earring and twirled it in the sunlight thoughtfully. "Simple and sparkly," I continued. "You're my little fairy princess and I want to spoil you. Is that okay?"
Her bottom lip wobbled, and I realized she was holding back tears again. "Yes," she murmured. "It's okay."
She leaned toward the rear view mirror to put the earrings in, then pulled back to admire them. "Wow. These are gorgeous."
I grinned. "I'm glad you like them. I picked them out myself. I was thinking of the relative sizes of the stone and your earlobe, and didn't want to get something too big or heavy."
Brooke's palms pressed to either side of my cheeks. "I love them. I love you. And although I want to be a strong woman who puts her education and career first, and doesn't make life decisions based on her man, yes, I also want to be your fairy princess some of the time. Is that okay?"
Pulling her into my arms, I laughed. "That is perfect."
As she snuggled into my shoulder, I whispered, "There is absolutely no rush to make your decision. But one of the interns is compiling a giant spreadsheet of all of the features of the schools with the five best robotics and engineering programs, just to help make your choice easier."
She laughed, as her fingers trailed around the back of my hair. "Thank you. That's very thoughtful."
"Some men spoil their women with flowers and love songs. I'm going to spoil you with spreadsheets and sparkly things."
She sat up, her eyes twinkling. "This is why we belong together."
As we cuddled together in the front seat of Brooke's new car, I felt a deep wave of satisfaction roll through me.
I always solved problems in the end. But this was a very different sort of success. It wasn't like I had won her over, or engineered a solution for our relationship.
All I had to do was listen better, and let Brooke help me be the best boyfriend I could possibly be.
Well, for a few months, anyway. I wanted to be promoted to fiancé as soon as possible.
EPILOGUE ONE
BROOKE ~ THREE MONTHS LATER
Iloved that my gorgeous boyfriend was always excited to show me his latest experiment. I drove up to the building and parked right beside Warrick's SUV. As always, an intern with a tablet in their hand rushed to greet me.
"Good afternoon, Brooke. I'm Matt. Warrick is in the middle of something, but I'm to take you to him."
"Thanks."
As I followed him through what I'd come to think of as the "business center" with its regular offices, everyone nodded hello. His staff seemed to appreciate the slightly mellowing influence I'd had on their boss. Warrick was less scattered these days, more focussed in the good way, and more aware of the world – not to mention the people – around him.
They were also probably happy that he went home nearly every night instead of crashing at work. I know I appreciated it, since I'd moved in with him a month ago, and sleeping in Warrick's arms gave me the most peaceful rest I'd ever known.
Matt led me the long way through the giant lab. "They're working on something a little sensitive in the east end," he murmured.
I'd discovered that the countless interns and assistants at Cedar Industries weren't relegated to low-paying grunt jobs. Warrick loved hiring people straight out of school, because, as he joked, "Their brains are still fresh that way."
But sometimes they didn't know exactly what they wanted to do yet, so they assisted in several different areas as they soaked up the atmosphere, while earning a very decent paycheck.
We approached a long workbench in the corner where Warrick was working on a computer in front of a large monitor and what looked like a three-foot-wide game show prize wheel.
Matt cleared his throat politely. "Mr. Cedar, Brooke has arrived."
Warrick practically leapt over to me, and instead of squishing me in one of his giant bear hugs, simply kissed me on the forehead. I'd explained the concept of office appropriate displays of affection and it looked like it had stuck, thank goodness.
Taking my hand, he led me to the computer, pressing a key so that the large screen lit up with a list of names.
"These are the top charities that we discussed donating to. Luca, Jeff and Helena have entered a bunch of data that calculates which ones need the money the most desperately right now, and which ones will help the most people."
He was grinning like a five year old with a new toy, as he always did whenever he invented something cool. The rest of the staff backed up to give him plenty of room as he became more excited and animated.