Nolan started his new job this week as a personal trainer. He went to school for health and fitness, and with his amazing body, he definitely fits the part. Finally he is working normal business hours, giving us our nights and weekends back.
Needing the money, I took a part-time job at the local YMCA coaching cheerleading. After my accident last fall, I wasn't able to finish the season; when I mentioned starting it back up in college this year, I thought Nolan was going to have a heart attack. Needless to say, he wasn’t okay with that idea. However, there was no way I’d be able to give cheerleading up completely, so when my mom's friend told me they were looking for a cheerleading coach at the Y I jumped at the opportunity.
Thankfully, Nolan hired a moving company to move all of our belongings to the new house today. Before leaving for class this morning, I made sure I had everything packed up and ready to go. Nolan is facilitating the move while I’m gone. On top of the move, we’ve scheduled for our new living room furniture and bedroom set to be delivered today. Having school as an excuse for not being there, is my savior.
I can barely wait until Nolan picks me up so I can see all of our stuff in the new house!
Having back to back classes from eight this morning until now, five o’clock, means I’m exhausted. All I can think about is getting home, and crawling into our new bed. When I walk out of the building, Nolan is standing next to his car holding a dozen roses. My eyes are immediately drawn to how handsome he looks. Unlike his normal attire, he’s wearing a white button down shirt, rolled up to his elbows, black dress pants, and shoes. His hair is slicked back perfectly, and his baby blue eyes are sparkling with love. Even though we’ve been together for a little over a year, my heart still skips a beat every time I see him.
“Hey, doll,” he says, handing me my flowers and pecking my lips.
"Wow, look at you all handsomed out...and with flowers?” I joke, leaning down to smell the bouquet. "All this just for moving day?"
“It's a big day today. You ready to go home?” He opens the passenger door for me.
“I'm more than ready.”
– COLLIN –
Last year was really rough for Summer and I. Being so far away from her, and not having much time to visit one another, definitely tested the strength of our relationship. Thank god for Skype, free long distance, and baby oil.
To make matters worse, her father's treatments haven't been going very well. Our original plan last year was that she would move out near me after she graduated and get a job until I finished school. However, now that her father was not doing well, I decided to transfer to a Jesuit school in Syracuse. Giving up football and my scholarship wasn’t easy, but being with Summer makes it all worth it.
Once I moved back, we moved into her childhood home, the one her father occupied before becoming ill. The house is paid off so we save a lot of money, not having to pay rent. Seeing that I spend most nights at the bar with Summer, they’ve officially put me on the payroll, and I now bounce a few nights a week. This has allowed Summer to cut back her hours so she can spend more time with her father.
Not knowing how much time her father has left, I’ve decided to propose to Summer tonight. We both have the night off and I have a whole evening planned out at my parent’s house. Although she has never said it, I know that she is scared that her father won’t be alive to walk her down the aisle someday. We had planned on waiting until I was done with school to get married, but I love her more than life itself and I’ll be damned that she doesn't have the wedding of her dreams.
And I know the wedding of her dreams includes her father.
– ALEXA –
“Where’re you going, babe?” I ask, noticing that he is taking the long way home.
“Home,” he says with a big smile on his face.
“Isn't it quicker the other way?”
“Yeah, but doesn't this way seem… um, prettier?”
Prettier? Since when does he take the scenic route? Not to mention that the sun is going down and we can barely see anything. Just as I start to question him some more, his phone rings, startling him. Someone’s a little jumpy.
“Hello?...awesome, thanks!” he says into the phone, smiling from ear to ear.
After taking the “scenic route”, we finally pull in the driveway of our new home. Eek, I can’t believe it’s ours! It’s an old, white colonial home with a red door that reminds me of a barn, and vines growing up the brick on the side. Along the side, is a detached garage connected to the house with lattice work, also covered with vines. With a large oak tree in the front, complete with a tire swing hanging from it, you’d think we lived on Wisteria Lane on Desperate Housewives.
“Welcome home, doll,” Nolan says, squeezing my hand.
After leaning over and kissing him, I swing my door open and run for the front door. To my surprise, instead of seeing all of our new furniture laid out as I’m expecting, I’m greeted with hundreds of glowing tea candles lining every room and hallway, and rose petals carpeting the ground. Speechless, and frozen, I stand in the doorway.
“Go in,” he whispers in my ear from behind me.
Following the rose petal carpet, I am led into the living room where I find the words, “Will You Marry Me?” spelled out in rose petals. Blinking my eyes to make sure I am seeing this correctly, I turn around and find Nolan, down on one knee, holding a small jewelry box. Finally comprehending what is going on, I start crying hysterically, barely able to breathe.
“Doll, I love you so much. You mean the absolute world to me. From the moment I met you, I knew that you were the one. I can’t imagine living one minute without you. I want to wake up to your face and fall asleep in your arms every day and night for the rest of our lives. I want to make beautiful babies with you and grow old with you in this house. Alexa Arnold, you are my heart and soul, and I want nothing more than to be with you for the rest of my life. Will you marry me?”
Overwhelmed with emotion, I fall to my knees, cupping his face with my hands.
“Yes...yes...” I choke out in between tears.
After placing the gorgeous princess cut diamond on my finger, he swoops me up into his arms, cradling me like a baby, and whispers, “I love you” against my lips before kissing me. Draping my arms around his neck, I kiss him back with every ounce of love and passion I have in me, kissing him like I’ve never kissed him before. He is my love, my forever.
My happily ever after.
– COLLIN –
My plan on how I’m going to propose to Summer has been in the works for a while now. I’ve decided I don't want it to be the typical wedding proposal. Summer and I are anything but typical, so a classic proposal just doesn’t seem fitting. Being that it’s the fall, and my favorite season in New York, I’ve got to have it outside. Even though the temperature is cooler, the leaves on the trees are absolutely beautiful this time of year. Therefore, I trash the idea of proposing to her on my parent’s dock, and came up with something a little more special, and unique.
Trying to keep things as normal as possible, I tell her that my parents invited us over for dinner tonight, but need to make a quick stop first. Driving up to the high school, I see her look at me in confusion. Ignoring her confusion, I hand her a sweatshirt.
“Why are we here, and why do I need a sweatshirt, Collin?” she asks, meeting me in front of the car.
“There's something that I want to show you,” I tell her, lacing my fingers with hers, and giving her a reassuring smile.
Behind the school there is a large wooded area with several different trails. At the end of one of the trails there is a little pond that the guys and I used to fish at. It’s a little piece of heaven and not many people know about.
Once we finally reach the end, I stop to look at Summer’s reaction. On the other side of the small pond I have set up fourteen hand carved glowing pumpkins spelling out “Will you marry me?” Even though it wasn’t part of the plan, with the sun now down, the pond is lit up with the reflecti
on of the pumpkins, making the whole picture that more romantic.
After giving her a second to take it all in, I turn to her, holding her hands in mine.
“I know we said we were going to wait, but Summer, you are the love of my life. You complete me, and I want nothing more than to see your father walking you down the aisle towards me to give you away. I can’t think of any reason to wait any longer. I want to be with you forever. I want to marry you Summer. Will you marry me, my Beautiful Babe?”
Pushing her lips tightly together, trying to fight back the tears, she nods her head yes. After a few short seconds, she finally whispers “of course,” letting the tears fall freely down her face. Taking her face in my hands, I kiss her long, hard, passionately. Being here with her, I have everything I’ve ever wanted. She is my heart, my world.
My happily ever after.
~And that's all she wrote~
My BA family–You are such a wonderful group of people, and I love each and every one of you. This book would not be where it is today if I had never met you ladies, and you four guys. The day Vanessa Proehl invited me in, my life changed for the better, and I’ll be forever grateful for that.
Abbi Glines–Thank you for taking the time to point me in the right direction when I first got this crazy idea of becoming a writer. Your encouragement and direction was just what I needed for me to put one foot in front of the other to get things started.
Jennifer Roberts-Hall–I’m going to try and write this without balling my eyes out. Words cannot express how grateful I am to have you in my life. You’ve not only helped me tremendously with the editing portion, but you’ve been such a wonderful friend. Whenever I had an awful day, and was ready to give up, you were right there rooting me on and pushing to me to keep going; making me believe in myself. You’re more than a friend to me, you’re like a sister, and I love you dearly.
Seth, Andrew, and Nathan–I have to thank my wonderful husband, and children. Thank you for always believing in me. When others thought I was crazy, you were always in my corner, encouraging me to follow my dream. Never once did you complain about dinner not being made or the piles of laundry I was neglecting, you just stepped in and helped as much as possible so I could focus on my book. Seth, I don’t know how I got so lucky finding you, but I thank God every day that I did. You guys are my world, and I love you so much!
Last but not least, thank you to my beta readers; Vanessa, Tressa, Nina, Deana, and Jenn.
Some may consider me a jack of all trades, but I consider myself well rounded.
I’ve waitressed, styled hair, answered phones, and, most recently, worked full time as mom to my two beautiful little boys.
Then there was this book…
Everyone and their brother started talking about this book series titled Fifty Shades of Grey by EL James. I didn’t really pay attention to the craze at first, since I wasn’t a big reader–okay, I didn’t read at all. But curiosity got the best of me, so I downloaded it to my kindle.
I was immediately hooked. I read the whole series in three days. Yes, three books in three days.
I kept finding all these great books that I HAD to read (just ask my credit card!).
Then I started hearing voices. Voices that turned into stories; stories that were begging to get out of my head.
I started writing them down on scraps of paper. Then I transferred them to my computer. Before I knew it, Planning on Forever was born.
The voices in my head are still talking, so I’m still writing.
For more information about me, and what I’m working on please follow me on:
Website
www.ashleywilcoxauthor.com
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Table of Contents
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Chapter Nine
Chapter Ten
Chapter Eleven
Chapter Twelve
Chapter Thirteen
Chapter Fourteen
Chapter Fifteen
Chapter Sixteen
Epilogue
Acknowledgments
About the Author
Planning on Forever Page 13