More Than Enough

by Johnson, Ashley

  We all laughed as we climbed into the Challenger and began our drive. I took control of the radio and Paul and I sang along with every song we could possibly find. Luke just smiled and held my hand until we arrived. We parked about the same spot we did the first time we came. Paul took his shirt off before we got out of the car. He was pretty chiseled, basically like Luke but minus the tattoos.

  My top and shorts didn’t come off until we were actually in the sand and I began to apply the sunscreen. Paul took one look at the color of the water and back at me. “Do I actually have to get in there?”

  “It’s not that bad I promise. If I can go in, so can you.”

  He looked at the water one more time, and then sat on the towel. Luke grabbed my hand as he sat beside me. There were very little clouds in the sky and the sun was out. Good, I would be able to get some sun today. I grabbed my ponytail holder and threw my hair up on top of my head and lay back on Luke’s chest. Several kids were running up and down on the beach while their parents sat there watching them.

  Paul got up and walked a little closer to the water and as soon as his feet hit the water, he turned around and walked right back. I laughed as he tried his best to wipe the water and sand off his feet. I laughed as I let the sand get in-between my toes. It didn’t really bother me when my feet weren’t wet. It was just like sifting flour, I found it relaxing to dig my toes in the sand.

  After an hour of sitting and talking on the towels, my stomach began growling. Breakfast was wearing off and I couldn’t wait to eat some more fried alligator. “Hey guys, can we get some lunch? I’m starving.”

  Paul jumped up and was the first to put his shirt back on. “I could definitely eat right now. What do they have to eat around here?”

  Luke smiled and stated, “Well you see, we have to go out there,” he pointed towards the Gulf of Mexico, “and we have to catch our own food. Then we make a small fire right here in the sand and we cook it.”

  Paul’s eyes were literally about to bug out of his head and his jaw was practically in the sand. He was falling for this charade. I almost wanted to see if he would actually start to walk out there or if he’d just let himself starve. I tried to keep a straight face but I started laughing so hard, tears began to well up in my eyes. Paul smacked my arm and I was almost doubled over at the thought of Paul even trying to go catch a fish with his bare hands, let alone any of us.

  Luke started picking up our towels and putting them into the bag. As we walked to the car he looked back at Paul who still looked quite shocked. “No man, I’m kidding. My parent’s own a little restaurant up the beach. It’s a quick walk.”

  “And they have the best fried alligator!” I raised my fist in the air on that one, I was so excited. The two guys just looked at me then at each other and kept walking.

  I haven’t seen Sherry or Randy since well, the day of the bachelorette party. We finally reached the Gulf Side Café and walked inside. Sherry was standing at a table talking to an older couple when she noticed us out of the corner of her eye. She politely excused herself and came straight up to me. I was kind of confused because her son was right here next to me.

  “Macy, it’s so good to see you again. We’ve missed you!” She shot Luke a glare before giving him a hug.

  “Oh Sherry, this is my friend Paul he’s hanging out with us today.”

  She pulled Paul in for a hug and welcomed him. “Luke, your dad isn’t here today. He’s on a fishing trip with some of his friends. He won’t be back for another two days. I love the quiet.” She winked at me and told us to have a seat.

  My mouth began watering as I thought of the fried alligator and I definitely ordered it. Paul told me he was going to steal a piece to taste it and I told him only if I could steal a shrimp. Luke squeezed my knee under the table and kissed my forehead. Sherry sat by Paul for a few minutes while business was slow so we could catch up.

  “Lucas, I’m so glad you quit being so stubborn and listened to me. I didn’t like seeing you all upset. Actually you should have listened to Macy. In a relationship, you have to hear all sides of a situation. If you can’t work together then it all falls apart.”

  Paul sat there taking a sip of his drink and winked at me. I winked back and leaned into Luke. “I won’t ever be that stupid again Mom. I learned my lesson.”

  “I’m glad you did. I love Grace but I also had to hear her crying over you.” I stuck my tongue out at Paul as I bit into a piece of alligator. Sherry never caught onto the fact he called me Grace. I didn’t want to really explain all that.

  A few customers walked in and before Sherry stood up she squeezed mine and Luke’s hand. “You two are more than perfect together. I see the way you make each other smile and as long as you can communicate, you can make it through anything.”

  She winked and then walked off. We finished our meal laughing and talking about how this whole catching fish with our hands would have worked. Paul told me he would have tried once then just starved. I took one last sip of my coke before we stood and walked out into the breeze. We walked back to where the car sat and mutually decided we’d like to just go home now. I mainly just wanted to see Sherry since she was the closest motherly figure in my life.

  With the windows down we rode back home and when we arrived; Paul got a text from Drew saying he was off work. Paul hugged me and thanked us for bringing him along. I probably could have gotten away with not wearing the bathing suit but no sooner I didn’t wear it, Luke would have thrown me in the water.

  Being home felt so right, I just kept telling myself that the past few weeks never happened and I’ve been here all along, where I belong. I belong in Luke’s bed sleeping next to him. I belong in his kitchen cooking him pancakes on a Saturday morning. I just belong here.

  Luke grabbed me by my waist and pulled me close to him. I had to catch my breath and even my breathing back out. He totally caught me by surprise; I was hoping to put the moves on him first this time. I squealed in delight as he kissed my lips before carrying me off to the bedroom and shutting the door.

  Chapter 21

  A month later I came home from shopping with Halley to find that Luke was cooking. He hardly cooks. Well I don’t mean that. He cooks, but he was making a full on meal. Usually when he cooks, its breakfast food like biscuits. In other words, it’s real simple stuff. It was shrimp fettuccine and he had French bread in the oven and two beers on the table. I had to laugh because most people would set out wine glasses with a meal like this.

  “Hey babe, how was shopping?” He wrapped his arm around my waist and kissed my forehead and led me to my chair.

  “It was a typical shopping trip. I watched her try on about fifty different outfits and then Marcus called her and told her she better not spend too much money so she started pouting.”

  Halley was horrible when it came to shopping which was why I hardly went with her but since she was a married woman, we didn’t quite get the best friend time we had before. So sometimes I didn’t mind going and standing around while she spent her money. Texting was nice but I did miss her face from time to time.

  “Oh Paul even came and met with us for a little bit. He wants us to go out to The Lounge tonight, I told him I’d see and let him know.”

  Luke fixed a plate and sat it down in front of me and then fixed his own. “I don’t see why not, babe. As long as that’s what you want to do.”

  He seemed really fidgety and I couldn’t figure out why. I tried to but my stomach was growling a little more now that the food was in front of me. It looked so creamy and delicious. I took a sip of my beer before I took my first bite. It was so amazing.

  “Luke, this is so delicious.” I shoved another bite into my mouth then took a bite of the French bread.

  He took a big sip of his beer and smiled as he got a forkful of pasta. “Thank you baby, I’m glad you like it.”

  I watched him closely as I finished my meal and my beer. It took me a minute to even notice that there was a red rose in a vase on the
table. I was too busy watching his mannerisms to notice anything else.

  He collected my plate and placed it in the sink. I stood up and walked over to him and kissed his lips softly. “Thank you babe, I loved it. That was so freaking good.”

  He hugged me and kissed my forehead one more time before taking a step back. Before my brain could process anything, he pulled a box out of his pocket and placed it in his hand. He got down on one knee and I sucked every breath I had inside. I couldn’t move, time was standing still. He looked nervous as hell too. Wait, what am I talking about, I’m nervous as hell. Not sure if I’m as nervous as he is since he’s the one holding the ring but I’d say it ranks up there. I’m ninety nine percent sure I know what he is about to do, but I don’t want to make an assumption and be wrong. Could be a pair of earrings for all I know but I’d hope he wouldn’t be on his knees to give them to me.

  “Macy,” he spoke softly, “I love you with all my heart. From the moment I met you, I knew there was something about you that pulled me in. I didn’t know what it was at first but I just went with it. I opened my world up to you and you did the same for me. I know I’ve been an ass and made some mistakes but I’ll never make that mistake again as long as I live. Not as long as I have you by my side. I’m sorry, I know I’m babbling, fuck..” He stopped and took a breath. I couldn’t help but smile. The fact that he was so nervous was actually so cute to me. “Shit, I’m sorry I shouldn’t have said fuck. Or shit. What I’m trying to say is that my life without you was meaningless and I can’t live that way. Macy Young, will you accept my second proposal?”

  My heart was pounding in my chest and tears welled up behind my eyes. Not sad tears either these were definitely happy tears. I took a deep breath. My breath was shaky and I don’t know why, I guess it’s because I had no idea this was coming. He stayed kneeled down looking up at me, holding the ring box like they do in the movies. I’m a little on edge because I never had a chance to get the ring the first time because of how everything happened.

  “Yes, Luke. I will marry you….again” Tears of joy came down my cheeks as he slid the emerald cut diamond ring onto my finger. He stood up and parted my lips with his and kissed me in the kitchen. I tugged at his shirt getting him to follow me out of here and go somewhere more comfortable.

  He laid me on the bed and continued to kiss me. I felt something rubbing my arm and noticed there were dozens of red rose petals all over the bed. Man, when he does something he goes all out. This was the most romantic thing I’ve ever seen in my life, now I understand why he was so nervous. He intertwined our fingers as he kissed me. Our hands sat above my head as he continued to ravish me. When he finally slipped inside me, it was something beautiful. This was more than just making love now; it was making love with my future husband. I felt so much love for him, it made my heart feel fluttery at times. I don’t know how to explain it. It’s like my whole world stops but begins all over again at the same time. He is my shelter, everything I’ve ever needed in life and I wish I had found him sooner but it doesn’t always work that way. I have him now though and that’s all that matters.

  As we climaxed together, we held onto each other as we struggled to get our breathing normal again. I stared into his green eyes and felt peace, there was no wrong in this, it was only right.

  “I love you Macy, so much. You have no idea how nervous I was.”

  I rubbed a few beads of sweat from his forehead and kissed his nose. “Actually I knew you were up to something when I walked in, I just couldn’t figure out what it was.”

  “Was I that obvious?” He cocked his head to the side and half a smile crept across his lips.

  “Yeah Luke, it was so cute.”

  He rolled off me and sat up on the bed. “Well at least I’m cute.”

  “You, Luke are more than cute. You are sexy.”

  “If you want to go to The Lounge we can, or we can stay in Mace. I’ll leave it up to you.”

  I smiled and threw my arms around his neck. “Well I want to stay with you here but I want to show my ring off because I’m going to be Mrs. Luke Nolan!”

  He laughed as he got up and went into the shower. I just needed to fix my hair and throw on some clothes and I’d be good to go. I had to fix the just had sex hair or I’d be sure to blow that one out of the water. I put on my jeans and boots with a V-neck fitted tee. My hair was pulled half back and I looked good. Most importantly, I felt good. I took a look at the ring on my finger, it fit perfect. I loved it. Halley was going to shit when she saw it. I’d probably catch hell for not calling her right away. She’d get over it.

  Luke held my hand as we walked to the car. I laid my head on his shoulder the whole ride there. I should have said we could stay in because I wasn’t going to want to leave his side tonight. He opened my door when we got there and I went straight to the bar where Paul was standing. “Hey Will, can I get a bottle of water?”

  He turned and raised his eyebrow at me. “Water? Are you pregnant Grace?”

  My face turned red and I leaned in towards him, “Hell no, I just want some water.” My hand was placed strategically on the bar. When he slid my water, his eyes did a double take.

  “Grace, ohmigod is this what I think it is?” He grabbed my hand and examined the ring. Luke walked up and smiled to let him know it was what he thought it was.

  I ran behind the bar to give Paul a hug. “Oh you know before Halley too. She’s gonna kill me!”

  “She sure will Grace, here she comes.” And he was right. She was walking up to us wearing that married woman smile. Marcus and Trevor were playing another bar tonight. I remembered her telling me that earlier. She wanted to come here though with us. She’d told me that she felt weird being in a bar she wasn’t familiar with by herself while they were on stage and honestly I couldn’t blame her for that. The Lounge was home for us. We were comfortable here.

  “Hey best friend,” I saw Paul shoot me a death stare so I changed my words, “my first best friend Halley, look what I got!” I picked my hand up and as soon as she saw the flash of the diamond she held my hand and screamed.

  “Luke! You didn’t tell me you were proposing…again!!” She looked a little more upset at him that she didn’t know. With her having known everything else he was doing when it came to me, I guess she figured she should have known at least something. I had to drink my water to keep from laughing.

  “I didn’t know if you could keep the secret Halley. I’ve been planning this for two weeks though.” He shot me a smile then kissed my forehead. That sneaky boy. I never caught onto any of it.

  I needed to find Gary. I was pretty sure he was in his office playing solitaire. Ninety nine percent of the time that’s exactly where he was. I started to walk to the back when Paul’s voice stopped me, “He’s not here Grace, he went out of town.”

  What the hell? He didn’t even call me. I grabbed my phone and shot him a text: “I’m here at The Lounge and I heard you weren’t here. I was going to tell you Luke and I are engaged, again :) call me when you get back.”

  Within a minute he responded: “Congratulations baby girl. I’ll be back tomorrow, we will celebrate!”

  The DJ was playing music all night tonight since there was no band. Halley and I danced a few songs while Paul and Luke talked at the bar. She tried to talk wedding with me but the music was so loud I could hardly hear anything she said. Sad thing was, I nodded my head in agreement to everything and prayed I wasn’t signing my soul over to the devil. With my luck, I’ve just agreed to big poofy sleeves and 80’s updos. Lord help me.

  A slow song came on and just like at the wedding reception, Luke came and cut in. I held onto him as we swayed to the music. He sang the song to me as we danced and I cut in on parts that I knew. I was so comfortable in this moment. If this was the beginning of happily ever after I was more than happy with that. All because I was more than enough for Luke.

  Epilogue

  Today was our wedding day. We’ve been planning for months now
but had to cut it short since we were getting ready to have an addition to our little family. I was nervous but excited at the same time to tell Luke when I found out. He was so excited and it calmed all my fears. I was scared in a way because if I ever went through losing a baby again, I don’t know how I would handle it. I never wanted to experience something so terrible again. I also had to think about how he would handle it since he had been through the same thing. Luke assured me everything would be alright and we immediately began calling his parents and then I called Gary, Halley, and Paul. Everyone was thrilled for us. We pushed the wedding up because I didn’t want to be showing and I wanted it to be before the baby was born.

  Sherry helped me finish getting my dress on, I was so nervous. More nervous than Halley had been on hers. I thought Halley babbled a lot, but here I was a complete basket case. What happens if I get all the way down the aisle and then he changes his mind? It can happen. I’ve seen Lifetime movies. Or what if I think I know him but he turns out to be a total psychopath once we’re officially married? I’ve seen those movies too.

  Halley looked at me with tears glistening in her eyes. “I can’t believe my best friend is getting married.” She leaned in and whispered, “This better be your only one because I’m never doing this again, you were a complete bridezilla.” She winked as she stood back straight. I glared at her. I was not a bridezilla. What’s wrong with wanting to have everything absolutely perfect on your big day? You only get married once, well most of the time.

  Sherry stepped up to me acting the part of the proud mother-in-law. She was a great help in planning the wedding. She had a lot of ideas and they pitched in a good bit of money to help make the day extra special. I kept telling them they didn’t need to, but she never listened. “You are absolutely beautiful Macy. I am so glad you are going to be part of our family.” She embraced me and held tightly onto me. I’m glad she did, I was so nervous I felt my feet may fall from under me. The support was much appreciated.