by M. J. Pullen
“Then let’s walk.”
“Nope,” she said. “We can’t walk from here and make it there and back in time. There is a walking option I can show you later, but I thought you and Brianna would prefer this.”
He furrowed his brow, but Charlotte kept her face impassive. Secretly she hoped he would choose bikes, because those had brakes. Less likely she’d go careening off a cliff.
“Fine. Rollerblades.”
She flashed her implacable, professional smile. “Excellent.”
Fifteen minutes later, they had handed over their shoes and Charlotte’s credit card to the cute girl behind the counter, and (with the generous help of the boy who was clearly hanging around just to flirt with said cute girl) were strapped in to helmets, pads, and rollerblades that felt about twice the size of a normal shoe. The day was overcast but not rainy, and the trail was crowded. This made Charlotte even more nervous as she clomped toward the pavement on the dirt trail, keeping her blades angled sideways for balance as the guy had suggested.
Jared cruised over the dirt like a pro, and spun in a graceful circle to extend his hand to her when he reached the pavement. “Are you sure about this?” He eyed her speculatively. “I’m totally okay to get the walking version.”
Of course I’m not sure. I’m going to grind my face into the pavement to finish off what has already been the weirdest week of my life. What the hell. “I’m fine.”
He raised an eyebrow at her but didn’t protest, even as she windmilled onto the trail, nearly crashing into a sleeping baby in a running stroller. He simply skidded to a professionally-balanced stop on the other side of the path and waited for her to pick her way across to him.
When she’d stumbled to him, she grabbed his arm to steady herself; Jared discreetly held her hand so the move would look at least partially intentional. They moved forward slowly, with Charlotte staring at the white pavement in front of her and concentrating hard on moving her feet in the technique she’d found on YouTube the night before.
“Well, at least I can be sure of one thing,” Jared said casually after a few hundred feet.
“What’s that?”
“I don’t have to worry that this is a recycled proposal scenario. It’s obviously your first time rollerblading.”
“Told you I’d be crap at it,” she said tightly. “And if you choose this option, I will already be waiting at the proposal site with everything set up. It’s more important that Brianna can rollerblade.”
“She’s great at it.” He gave Charlotte a wink. “Not that you set the bar very high.”
She tried to elbow him in the ribs, but the move threw her off-balance so that she nearly collapsed. Jared had to grab her beneath the armpits to set her upright again. Even with Charlotte falling into him with decent force, nothing seemed to throw him off-kilter. This was the Jared she knew: confident, breezy, water-off-a-duck’s-back Jared. He was in his element now. Further confirmation that she should have thought of this plan yesterday.
“So, you’ll be there?” he asked when they’d achieved a decent rhythm. “At the proposal?”
“Of course. We’re completely full service. I’ll set up everything to your specifications and be hanging out nearby in case you run into any glitches. Lily will take pictures from a hidden spot so she doesn’t spoil the surprise.”
He was quiet for a few strides. She could feel her hand starting to get sweaty in his, but no way in hell was she letting go.
“That’s okay, right? I mean, you’re not surprised that we’ll be there? We’re very discreet, and if you like, we can quietly disappear after Lily has the pictures she needs. Some guys like to keep the pictures a secret until later. And of course, Brianna never has to know that you had help planning.”
“Oh, she’ll know.” Jared smirked. “If it were up to me, I’d have asked her to marry me over eggs one morning. It’s great that you’ll be there. I guess I just hadn’t thought about it.”
The crowd on the trail had thinned out now, and they were going at a decent clip. Charlotte began to relax into her strides, knowing she’d be sore as hell tomorrow. “I mean, if it feels awkward for me to be there…”
“Don’t,” he said. “I mean, of course not. It will be nice having a friend there with me. You’ll be like my second.”
She smiled. “So in the event of your death at the proposal, I would step in and marry your girlfriend on your behalf?”
“It sure would mean a lot to me,” he said, exaggerating his Southern accent. “If you’d care for my woman like she was your own.”
“I won’t let you down, buddy.” She imitated his accent, the drawl she rarely heard since she’d moved to the West Coast. “She’ll never want for nothin’.”
They navigated a wide, sweeping curve of the path toward a small hill and Jared picked up his pace to pull Charlotte up the incline with him. Once they had managed the terrifying prospect of getting back down the hill without Charlotte either losing control or falling on her ass, they lapsed into small talk.
“Tell me about PathFinder. I know it helps hikers find each other along public trails. How did you come up with the idea?”
“When I first came out west, I was alone for the first couple of years. Which,” he glanced at her, “was sort of the point.”
“You’re Cheryl Strayed,” she said. “I get it.”
Jared squeezed her hand in reproach. “But even when you choose a more solitary way of life, sometimes you still need people. Someone to play cards with when you’re stuck under an outcropping in a rainstorm, or to help you out when you’re out of biodegradable toilet paper.”
“You mean? Ew…”
“Hey, those trails get long. You can’t always wait for the next rest stop to do your business.”
“I guess. Still…ew.”
He laughed. “That’s why you wouldn’t have been happy if you’d come with me, right there.”
Stung, she said, “Hey, I could’ve gotten used to it. I’m very adaptable, believe it or not. I never rollerbladed before today, but I think I might start doing it regularly.” She wobbled as she said this and Jared snorted.
“Anyway, I developed the app so hikers can register and find each other along the trails, when they want company or need supplies. It also works like one of those traffic apps, you know, giving you real time updates on the average time it takes to do a certain trail, and so hikers can report trail problems to the park service. When the GPS signals are better, it might even be a way of doing emergency communication, but it’s not reliable enough for that yet.”
“That’s actually…” She struggled for the words. “That’s really innovative stuff, Jared.”
“Thanks. The Wall Street Journal said that, too.” He grinned. “But it means more coming from you.”
“I would hope so,” she said. “How many of those Wall Street guys pretended to be your girlfriend when that girl from Anthropology 101 wouldn’t take no for an answer?”
“Not as many as you would think. Financial reporters aren’t that big on lying, it turns out.”
They came around another small bend and Charlotte saw the spot she was looking for: a hill just ahead with a wide crest at the top, where she knew there was a small clearing off to the left. “There,” she said. “And not a moment too soon. I can already feel the blisters.”
They collapsed into the grass at the top of the hill, both breathing hard from the climb. “So we’ll have to think about how sweaty and tired you’ll be when you get here.” She handed him a towel from her pack. “We’ll make sure you have baby wipes with you. And you should bring her favorite lipstick with you if she doesn’t do it herself. Make sure you mention more than once that you want to freshen up and go straight to dinner—there’s a cute restaurant off the trail, just on the other side of the hill—that way she’ll look great without getting suspicious.”
; “I don’t care how she looks, honestly,” he said.
Charlotte patted his hand and began removing her rollerblades, socks, and pads. “I know. And I’m sure she knows, and that’s why we love you. But trust me, when she’s showing Lily’s beautiful pictures to her friends and family next week, she’s going to want to be wearing lipstick and mascara.”
He sighed. “Fair enough.”
She pulled her flip-flops out of the bag and handed him a generic men’s pair she’d picked up that morning.
“You’re like a Boy Scout on steroids,” he said with admiration. “I thought I was the only one who packed for every contingency.”
Charlotte shrugged. “You ain’t seen nothing yet,” she said lightly, secretly thrilled by his admiration. She got up and paced barefoot around the crescent-shaped clearing, sizing everything up. “We’ll time it so you get her just before dusk. I’ll string battery-powered lights up around all these trees—there are enough low branches to work with, I think. We’ll have a portable table over here with a white tablecloth and champagne chilling. They don’t allow open flames along the tree line, but I have some flickering votives that will do nicely. There’s not much to it, I know, but I think it meets all your needs: simple, quiet, beautiful, outdoors, and unique.”
“It’s…Charlotte. Wow.” He looked at her with undisguised awe.
She smiled. “That’s totally what The Wall Street Journal said.”
“I can’t believe how perfectly you hit the nail on the head. This is so…me. And so different from yesterday.”
“I am sorry about that. This should have been my very first suggestion, knowing you like I do. It actually occurred to me before we’d even left the coffee shop yesterday. But for some reason…I don’t know. I didn’t trust my instincts.”
“Instincts are tough.” He faced her. “Mine have led me astray before, too.”
Charlotte cleared her throat and turned to the spot where she had placed the imaginary table. “I have some really pretty folding chairs so you can have her sit if you want. Maybe you can pretend to be helping her with her rollerblades or something…”
“Charlotte—”
“I know, that’s too Cinderella, right? You’ll handle it perfectly without my suggestions. I mean, I can help with the blocking and tackling if you need me to. I have done that before. Some guys…”
“Lotta.” He put a hand on her shoulder and turned her toward him. She was surprised to see the glint of tears in his eyes. “This is amazing. I never could have come up with this by myself. Thank you.”
“What else is your second for?” She made a mock curtsy. “And if it all goes to hell and you need dueling pistols, I can arrange that, too.”
Jared allowed her to duck out from beneath his touch. She pulled out her phone to look at the compass app. “Tomorrow evening, the sun will be…there. Lily and I will hide out on the other side of the path, just there, to get the best light for pictures. Now, let’s walk over to that restaurant to set up their little VIP room for you. It’s not fancy, but I can do some flowers and candles and it will be lovely. Are you going to have family and friends celebrate with you after?”
“Jesus. I hadn’t thought of that. Do people do that?”
“Not always,” Charlotte said. “It’s really up to you. Some people like to have the families and close friends nearby if they’re in on the proposal. Are your parents still in Georgia?”
He nodded.
“Do they know you’re asking her tomorrow?”
“Uh…no. They’ve never met Brianna, actually.” Despite her professional restraint, she must have looked surprised because he added hurriedly, “I mean, they do know we’re dating and everything.”
“And her family? Are they local?”
“Sort of,” he said. “Her parents are divorced and her mom is here. I have met her mom, once. Her dad and stepmom live up the coast—Portland? Seattle? I’m not sure.”
“Sounds like she’s not that close to her family?”
“I don’t think so,” he said slowly.
“So she wouldn’t expect you to ask her father’s permission.”
He took the baseball cap off and rubbed his forehead, leaving behind a blackish streak from the rollerblade wheels. “Shit. Never thought about it. Should I have asked?”
“It depends on your fiancée, Jared. Some women really appreciate the chivalry and tradition of asking their fathers but for others it’s a dated tradition that is…well, kind of anti-feminist.”
Other than the black streak, Jared looked a little pale and terrified now. “So what you’re saying is, no matter which way I go, there’s a decent chance I will screw it up royally.”
“Welcome to marriage.” Charlotte laughed and pulled out a baby wipe, handing it to him and gesturing at his hairline. “You’re a mess,” she said. “Tell you what: let’s get a cold beer and some food. We can figure all this out when you don’t look ready to pass out.”
They walked the quarter mile to the trailside restaurant in silence, carrying their rollerblades and helmets by the straps. Jared had taken over backpack duty from Charlotte, now that it was stuffed with their pads as well as all the supplies she’d brought.
“Okay, now this is pretty damn cool,” Jared said. The restaurant was above them on the left, tucked into the side of the hill and surrounded by giant evergreen trees. There were no cars outside, just a long row of bikes and a sizable cubby shelf filled with rollerblades like theirs. All these were monitored by a bored-looking kid in Birkenstocks and a forest-green polo with cargo shorts.
“You can drive here,” she explained as they checked their skates. “There’s a short trail behind the restaurant that leads to a road. Which is important if you do have any family coming who aren’t able to navigate the long walk.”
“How is it possible all this family stuff didn’t occur to me before?” he said. “I can’t decide if it would be better to invite them at the last minute and have to deal with that logistical nightmare, or just have it be me and Bree.”
“Either way is fine. It’s nice to have a romantic dinner alone, if you think the family thing will be a hassle at the last minute. I don’t know your fiancée yet, so I can’t help you with what she might want. Has she ever talked about what she envisions for this moment?”
He shook his head. “We haven’t talked much about the engagement or wedding, really. I mean, we’ve only been dating seriously for six months.” When she didn’t respond, he added, “I mean, we’ve known each other much longer than that. We were friends first.”
“So you said.”
A hostess led them upstairs to a large covered balcony overlooking the trail, the woods, and the Bay beyond. Jared whistled softly at the view as they took their seats and menus.
“Friendship is a good foundation, don’t you think?” He looked at the menu. “For marriage?”
“Absolutely. The veggie burger is to die for here. And they have local beers on draft.”
“Great.” He let his menu drop. “Of course, we were more like friends with benefits. Maybe that’s why I haven’t asked her about all this conventional stuff. When we finally realized we wanted to really be together, I already felt like I knew her so well. We sort of skipped the usual dating questions part of dating.”
“Makes perfect sense.” Charlotte gritted her teeth. She’d promised herself to stay professional, to be his friend. But the twinge of jealousy she felt every time he mentioned Brianna was beginning to feel like a cramp instead.
“What would you want?” he asked.
“Hmmm…” she said. “I’m going to start with a pint of Anchor Steam and about a gallon of water. Then I’m between the veggie burger and the lettuce wraps.”
“No, I mean. If we were…if it were you, getting married. Would you want the guy to ask your dad? Would you want family around?”
“It doesn’t matter what I would want, Jared. Your girlfriend and I are probably very different people. You have to do what’s right for your relationship. With her.”
They were interrupted by the waitress, who took their orders and blessedly, brought water to the table without being asked. Apparently even in drought conditions, this place knew its patrons were fresh off the trail and needed hydration.
“I get that you and Bree aren’t the same and I’m sure you don’t usually offer your clients advice on this,” Jared said when the waitress had left. “But seriously. As my friend. Throw me a bone here. I’m spinning.”
She put a hand on his. “Fine. I don’t know if this will help, but… When Boyd and I moved in together after college and I thought he was about to propose any day, I assumed he would talk to my dad first. It’s a tradition I never questioned. I thought it was the mark of a gentleman.”
“So maybe I should ask…”
“But then my dad died before he got around to it. And two months later, the guy I thought was a perfect gentleman left me for my hairdresser, who was pregnant with his child at the time. And you know, I did the math, and she got pregnant within days of Dad’s funeral. So, I had to re-assess what my ideas of what I thought a good man was.”
“I should have come home and kicked his ass.” Jared looked miserable.
“Probably.” Charlotte took a long sip of water, trying to re-center on the subject at hand. “If it helps, I do think Boyd asked Mimi’s dad for her hand before they made it official at the courthouse. I have no idea if there were firearms involved.”
“I’m sorry.” Jared slumped back in his chair. “And, you’re right. There are no answers.”
“Look. It can be a very sweet, thoughtful gesture if you do it. I don’t buy in to the idea that if a man asks your father, it means he sees you as property, but I understand why some women feel that way. I also don’t think it’s the kind of hurdle a guy should have to go through to prove he’s worthy. If it’s important to a woman that her man do that before proposing, she should let him know early in the relationship. If it’s important to her, you’d probably already know that.”