But that wasn’t all. The kitschier items — the little tchotchkes and such — had been banished. In their place were classier wares, small pitchers in brushed metal, a cute pink pot for making sauces, wine glasses with clever patterns on them. My favorite display was the his and her gift set, courtesy of Made Here and Kat Harper — a vintage key necklace coupled with a set of cufflinks fashioned from the padlocks from the lover’s bridge in Paris. It turned out Bryan and I were a good pair at a lot of things, including business partnerships. The chance to market this line of gifts together was Bryan’s proposition — that was all he wanted when he said I could make my necklaces at his factory. It was too good an offer to pass up.
My mom waved to me, and so did my dad. But neither one of them rushed over. They were too busy ringing up customers, and that made me so happy. Bryan had once said that maybe there was another solution to the store’s woes. It seemed he was right.
I turned to him. “Is my jaw on the floor right now?”
“Something like that.” He grinned, big and wide, and like he had a secret up his sleeve.
“Did you do this?”
He gave me a sheepish shrug.
“But how?” I knew he’d been out to visit the store and check things out. He’d told me that. He told me too that he was helping my parents figure out some new inventory plans. But this?
“That’s what I was up to. It’s a surprise. For you.”
“You did all this?”
He nodded.
“They let you?”
My parents were so stoic about taking help from me. I couldn’t imagine they’d accept it from Bryan, even if he was the boyfriend of their daughter.
“They did.”
“But how did you convince them?”
“I told them I wanted to do it as a gift to you.”
“And that was all it took?”
I eyed him skeptically. These were my parents we were talking about. There was a lull in the action at the counter and my parents came over, giving me quick hugs. My dad clapped Bryan on the back. They all looked like they had secrets too.
“Sort of.” Bryan glanced from my mom to my dad. They were both smirking.
“The floor is yours,” my father said, and took a step back, placing his arm around my mom, as if they were giving him space for something.
“What is it?”
“Well, see,” Bryan said, and I noticed the tiniest bit of red in his cheeks. He was nervous. “It’s really daunting being in love with a jewelry designer. You can’t really get her a necklace or earrings or even a ring to show your love, because chances are she has her own ideas in all those areas and might be a little particular. So this — “ he spread his arms out to indicate the revitalization of the store “— is my gift to you. But it’s more like a promise. It’s a promise that I don’t want to be your favorite mistake. That I want to be your forever mistake, if you’ll have me.”
My heart stopped for a moment, and I couldn’t move, or form words.
“What I’m really trying to say is I don’t ever want to lose you again. Now that I have you, I want to be with you always. Will you be mine?”
He bent down on one knee and my heart nearly stopped. But then he reached for his wallet. I raised an eyebrow, curiously, as I watched. He removed a tiny white bag that looked so familiar.
“You might remember the day I bought this. Back at a little shop in the Village with you. I’ve kept it since then. In my wallet, in this bag, for five years. I got it for you then and planned to give it to you as a promise. It’s just a little thing, but you always said it was a life-long kind of love you had for the cartoon cat.”
He reached into the bag and handed me a sparkly Hello Kitty ring, the same one I’d admired so many years ago.
“You kept this for five years?”
“Inside my wallet every single day. Kat, it’s always been you for me. Always.”
I grabbed his hand and pulled him to me, wrapping my arms around him.
“I’ll buy you a real ring,” he said. “But I want you to design it, okay?”
I nodded.
“So, this is a yes?”
Rays of happiness burst from my chest. “I’m yours. I always have been. I always will be.”
Then I kissed him, and though his kisses had always made me melt, this kiss was the very best of all. Because it was a new beginning. Here in my home away from home, in the town where I grew up, we’d come back to each other, and we weren’t ever going to let go.