“We need a ring, a really good one, and flowers, and I should make a speech about why Mara should marry us.” “I don’t know about a speech, Daddy. This is important. We have to tell her all the reasons. like she’s smart and she explains things good and she never gets mad when I ask a million questions and she makes you smile in a way you didn’t smile before.

Ethan felt his throat tighten. Those are excellent reasons. They spent the next week planning in secret, whispering in corners when Mara was in the next room, making elaborate excuses for mysterious errands. Ethan bought a ring, simple, elegant, with an emerald stone the color of Mara’s eyes. Sophie wrote her speech and practiced it approximately 400 times, each iteration getting longer and more elaborate.

I think we should keep it shorter, Ethan suggested after the 15th practice run. Just the most important parts, but all the parts are important. Pick your top three reasons, the ones that matter most. Sophie revised her speech down to something she could deliver without notes, and they rehearsed together until it felt natural.

Meanwhile, Ethan contacted Marello’s Italian restaurant and explained what he wanted. “You want us to put up Christmas decorations in July?” the manager asked, clearly baffled. “I’ll pay extra, significantly extra. This is where we met, where everything started. I want to bring it full circle.” Money and sentimentality won out over seasonal appropriateness.

The manager agreed to close the restaurant to other customers for one evening to decorate with lights and garland to recreate the atmosphere of that December night 7 months ago. The hard part was getting Mara there without raising suspicion. Ethan claimed a work dinner he couldn’t miss. Asked if she’d mind watching Sophie, then had Marcus call with an emergency requiring Mara’s help with a tech problem at his house.

“I’m sorry,” Ethan said when Mara protested about the timing. “I know it’s annoying. Can Sophie come with you to Marcus’? I’ll meet you there after my dinner. Fine, but your work dinners are getting excessive. I know this is the last one for a while, I promise. The night arrived warm and clear, one of those perfect Portland summer evenings where the sun set late and the air smelled like roses and possibility.

Ethan picked up Sophie from her after school program, and they drove to the restaurant together, both dressed up. Ethan in the same tie Sophie had helped him pick for that disastrous Christmas date. Sophie in the yellow dress from the spring showcase. “I’m so nervous,” Sophie said, clutching a bouquet of flowers they’d picked out together.

Wild flowers and daisies. Nothing formal or pretentious. “What if she says no?” “She won’t say no.” But what if she does? What if she thinks it’s too fast or too weird or Sophie? Ethan pulled into the parking lot and turned to face his daughter. Mara loves us. She moved in with us. She rearranged her whole life to be part of ours.

She’s not going to say no. Promise? I promise. They walked into the restaurant together, and Ethan felt his breath catch. The staff had transformed the space completely. White lights draped everywhere, garland wrapped around pillars, candles on every table. The pianist played soft jazz versions of Christmas songs.

the same music that had been playing seven months ago. It was absurd and beautiful and perfectly appropriate for their backwards relationship. The manager greeted them with a smile. Everything’s ready. Your other guest should arrive in about 15 minutes. We’ll bring her to your table when she gets here. Ethan and Sophie sat at the same corner booth where he’d been rejected, where Mara had sat at the next table and asked that impossible question.

The ring box sat heavy in his jacket pocket. Sophie clutched her flowers and practiced her speech under her breath. “You’ve got this, Sophie girl,” Ethan said, squeezing her hand. “Just speak from your heart.” “My heart is beating really fast. Mine, too.” 14 minutes later, the door opened. Mara walked in, clearly confused by the Christmas decorations and empty restaurant.

She spotted them in the corner booth, and her confusion deepened. “What’s going on?” Marcus said there was a tech emergency, but she stopped, taking in the decorated restaurant, the formal clothes, the flowers, Sophie held. “What is this?” “It’s a surprise,” Sophie said, her voice shaking slightly. “A good one. We promise.

” Mara approached slowly, her expression cycling through confusion to dawning realization to something that might have been hope or might have been fear. “Sit down,” Ethan said, gesturing to the seat across from them. Please, she sat, her hands trembling slightly as she placed them on the table. You recreated Christmas. I recreated the night we met.

The night you asked me a question I didn’t know how to answer. Ethan, let me finish, please. He took a breath, feeling Sophie’s small hand squeeze his for courage. 7 months ago, I came here for a blind date. I was rejected before it started, humiliated in front of a restaurant full of strangers, ready to give up on ever finding someone who’d accept my daughter as part of the package.

And then you asked if I could be your new husband. Mara’s eyes were already shining with tears. I remember. I thought you were crazy. I thought the whole idea was insane, but I said yes anyway because you saw us really saw us and didn’t run. You saw a single father and his daughter and thought we were worth taking a chance on. You were.

You are. Sophie couldn’t contain herself any longer. And now we want to take a chance on you officially with a ring and everything. Ethan pulled out the ring box, opened it to show the emerald stone catching candle light, and slid out of the booth to kneel beside the table. Sophie scrambled out after him, still clutching her flowers.

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