Crystal Ball

by Laney Kay

  It was beautiful and I just stared at it, picturing how the space would work and how the new extension would fit in the backyard. I still hadn’t said anything and he frowned. “Daisy, this is just an idea. If you don’t like it, we can change whatever you want to change.”

  “No.”

  He started to look worried. “No? What the hell does that mean? No, you don’t like it? No, you don’t want to do it?”

  I placed my finger over his lips like he’d done to me. He stared at me, concerned, and I smiled at him. “No, I wouldn’t change a thing. This is gorgeous and I love what you’ve done with the screen porch and the fireplace. When you reconfigure our offices, you think you can make it so the entire wall can open onto the screen porch with big French doors?”

  He grabbed the laptop from me and slid it onto the bedside table. “Baby, we can do it however you want it. Hell, I’ll add a porch all around the back of the house, if you want, you just tell me what you want and we’ll figure it out.”

  He grabbed me and rolled us over so he was on top of me. I smiled up at him. “I’ve already got what I want. You. The rest of it is just gravy.”

  He kissed me and pulled back so he could see my face. “You’re right, baby girl. This is a very happy ending.”

  17

  So, as soon as we got back to Atlanta, Luke moved in.

  It was the easiest move ever, because he still doesn’t own anything. When he moved to Georgia, he wanted a fresh start, so he sold his house fully furnished and walked away with a rocker from his grandmother and some personal pictures, his clothes, and a ton of tools, and that was it. We put the rocker in the living room, hung his clothes in the closet with mine, and that was it. He was moved in.

  He taught his last class in the middle of December and on January third he officially opened his new business. He had leased a warehouse to store tools and materials and his new work truck in, but he needed space for his office, so he said his first order of business was to get our house in shape. For the next six weeks, we were overrun with him and his crew, so the house was a loud, muddy mess, but at the end of it all, the addition was even more beautiful than I imagined. Our office was wonderful, with built-in bookshelves, work areas that could be closed off to hide any mess, and a barn door to separate the two areas, if necessary. The screened porch was straight out of a designer magazine with a small, stacked stone fireplace on one end, a built-in fridge and sink, and an enormous TV designed for use under a covered porch. I’d seen a swing that was basically a suspended twin sized bed with a wooden frame around it, and Luke had made one for me and he and the dogs and I had spent hours hanging out on that thing. Luke had even managed to find room to give me a bigger pantry and a very small laundry room, so we could get a full-sized, high-efficiency washer and dryer. With his line of work, there’s always a ton of very large, very dirty laundry to do, so the laundry room was a welcome addition.

  He bought a new desk and an Aeron chair like mine, and he was ready to go. We went shopping and bought some nice patio furniture for the new porch and some new furniture for the living room. He had never complained, but I knew my living room furniture was too small and girly for him, so we bought furniture that was a little more macho, and I sold my old stuff to one of Mo’s sisters whose daughter was moving into her first apartment. It worked out great for everyone.

  Luke loves his new business, and the only problem he’s having is that he’s already having to turn work away. He knows that if he’s not careful, he’ll end up with a huge business again, and that’s not what he wants. He’s got a list of contractors whose work he likes so he can refer out any business he doesn’t want to handle himself.

  I ended up writing a story for the paper about Nick and Glenda’s saga and it was very well received, but investigative journalism is not my thing, so I’ve just been sticking with my column and an occasional fluffy story, much to my dad’s disappointment. The good news is that my column is being syndicated in a bunch of new papers, so I’m making more money than ever for the same amount of work, which is awesome.

  I quit my TV gig, though. The TV station I work for changed management and I wasn’t crazy about the changes they were making, so I gave notice. I’m not the only one. Billy Ray left to work for a local company that produces films for pro sports, which should be right up his alley, and Mandy’s husband got a job in Charleston, so she’s going to produce for the local affiliate there. It’s a lot of changes, but in the end, I’m still just writing my column, hanging out with my friends, and living with Luke, so my life is pretty great.

  Luke and I discussed the fact that we didn’t want to drift apart like Bobby and I did, so we’ve made a real effort to spend quality time together. We both take off early on Wednesday afternoons to do something fun, we eat dinner together almost every night, and we spend a lot of time together with our friends. We do some things separately, of course, but not most things. We’ve really happy.

  So when Luke seemed uncharacteristically stressed one Wednesday in April when we were working together on the porch, I was concerned. Obviously, something was bothering him, but I had no idea what it could be. I figured he’d tell me when he was ready, and finally, he put down his laptop and turned to me. Out of the blue, he asked, “Daisy, how do you feel about the way things are with us?”

  What? That’s not what I expected and I looked over at him, concerned. “I don’t like the sound of that. Do we have a problem?”

  He looked confused. “No. That’s not what I meant at all.” Then he started to look annoyed. “Why? Do you think we have a problem?”

  I sat up, faced him and placed a conciliatory hand on his chest. “Hang on, buddy. Let’s stop here a minute.” I reached up to pat his cheek. “I think we’re great. I love you, I love living with you, and I love the life we’ve made with each other. I think everything is great.” I reached up to hug his neck and squeezed him tight. He hugged me back and finally I pulled back to look into his face. “Now what has you so freaked out?”

  He took a deep breath and grabbed my hand. “Sorry I’m nervous and I overreacted. I just wanted to talk to you about something. Well, ask you about something.”

  I looked at him. It was weird to see him so flustered. “Look, there’s nothing you can’t ask me, so just ask.”

  He nodded. “Okay, then.” He took a deep breath, grabbed my left hand in both of his, and squeezed it while he stared in my eyes. “Daisy, I’ve been so happy since we’ve been together. I think you’re the kindest, most fun, beautiful person inside and out I’ve ever met and I can’t believe we were lucky enough to find each other.” He looked at me with a beautiful smile and an intent look on his face. I felt him slide something on my finger. “I love you and I want to know, baby girl, will you marry me?”

  What? I was speechless. I looked at him, then I looked down at my finger, which now featured a beautiful antique platinum filigree band with tiny diamonds spaced all the way around it.

  I finally choked out a strangled, “What?”

  He started laughing. “I asked if you wanted to marry me. I’m hoping by ‘What?’ you mean yes.”

  My mind was blank. We’ve never talked any specifics about getting married, so this came totally out of left field, and I was confused. I looked at the ring. It was beautiful, so I squeaked out a question. “Where’d you get the ring?”

  “It was my great-grandmother’s wedding band. I know you’re not a big jewelry girl, and you’re always cooking and using your hands, so I thought you’d like something that didn’t get in your way. Plus it’s so pretty, I thought you’d like it. My great-grandmother left it to my mom, and she and I thought it was perfect for you.” He started to look nervous. “Daisy, if you don’t like it, we can get something else.”

  I curled my hand protectively over the ring and shook my head. “Over my dead body, big boy.” He started to smile. “Let me start over. What I mean is yes. Yes, I love you, and yes, of course, I’ll marry you. And yes, I love this ring. It’s
perfect. It’s so delicate and so beautiful, and I love the fact it was your great-grandmother’s.” I looked up at him. “I’m sorry for the delayed reaction. I was just shocked. We’ve never really talked about getting married.”

  His eyes widened. “You’ve never thought about it?”

  “Well, of course I’ve thought about it in general.” I said. “Honestly, I always figured we would eventually, but I didn’t know you were thinking about it happening soon. And I sure didn’t know you had done all this.” I was curious. “Did you talk to my dad?”

  He nodded. “Last week. I called him and stopped by his office to ask for his blessing. He assured me your mom wouldn’t spill the beans, but he knew I was asking you today, so I promised you’d call them as soon as I asked.” He shrugged apologetically. “So you’ll have to give her a call today or I’ll be on her shit list.”

  Fine. I grabbed my cell phone and called my mom to get it over with. As soon as she picked up, I took a deep breath. “Hey Mom. I just wanted to let you know that Luke asked me to marry him and I said yes.”

  She sounded genuinely happy for me. “Congratulations, honey. We’re so thrilled for both of you. Call me later this week and we’ll all get together for dinner.”

  “Okay. Thanks, mom. Love y’all and we’ll see y’all next week.”

  “Great. Love you, too.”

  I hung up the phone, completely baffled. “What the hell? Luke, I’m really starting to get worried. There may be something bad wrong with my mom.”

  He looked concerned. “Why? Did she sound weird? Did she sound like something was going on?”

  “She just congratulated me and told me she loves me and we should get together for dinner. No interrogation about a big wedding, no comments about having to get a fancy dress or doing something with my hair.” I started pacing. “Luke, that’s the second time my mom has surprised me by not acting like herself. I’m not used to her being supportive and normal and I don’t like it. It’s freaking me out.”

  “Maybe your dad talked to her and she decided to turn over a new leaf.”

  I was doubtful. “Maybe.”

  “What else can you do other than go with it and enjoy the change for however long it lasts?”

  He was right. But I’m still going to pay close attention next week when I see her. Maybe check to make sure she doesn’t have any odd marks or new tattoos. I’ve seen those alien movies.

  My excitement level started to tick up. I told Luke I needed to let the gang know what was going on, so I took a picture of the ring on my hand and texted a quick group message. “Guess who’s getting married. Details later. XOXO” and turned off my phone.

  Both of us agreed we wanted something very small and casual with just our friends and immediate family. I suggested the two of us should go to the courthouse and then have a big party later, but Luke suggested that maybe we could have a beach wedding, since he’d been to his cousin’s wedding at the beach and she said there’s no waiting period in Florida for non-residents. That all sounded great to me, so I told him we’d figure it out later and for now, we should seal the deal the old-fashioned way.

  Luke laughed and put out his hand. “A hearty handshake?”

  I took his hand and stuck it under my Tshirt as I climbed onto his lap. As I threw my arms around his neck and went to kiss him, I told him, “Well, we can certainly start with that.

  Epilogue

  We got married a few months later on the beach in Key Largo.

  We were all together one evening, trying to decide where to have the wedding, and Harrison pointed out that the vacation rental house he’d won at the auction was right on the beach. We looked up the listing and saw that it had an enormous deck that ran the entire length of the house, and, according to reviews from previous guests, the sunsets from the deck were absolutely stunning. Harrison and Mo suggested we have our wedding on the deck at sunset and then have a big party afterwards. That sounded great to us, so Harrison called and it turned out that the owners had a cancellation for Labor Day weekend, so we booked it.

  The best part for me, well, other than marrying Luke, was that we didn’t have to dress up. Everyone was going to wear a white t-shirt and jeans and bare feet or flip flops, so everyone, especially me, would be relaxed and comfortable.

  They have a ton of wedding planners in the Keys, so, in late April, I went on the Internet and picked one with great reviews. Then all I had to do was call them, tell them what kind of ceremony we wanted, pick a cake from a bunch of pictures, select a menu for the party afterwards, and it was done. I did spend a little extra time making sure the food was presented well, but even that just took a few minutes. Honestly, it took me more time to install the new monitor on my computer than it took to plan my entire wedding. It was awesome.

  And so was the wedding. The weather was absolutely beautiful. Not too hot, there was a lovely breeze coming off the water, the humidity was low, and the water was calm. The weatherman said it would be eighty degrees by sunset, which was at exactly seven-forty, so it could not have been a more perfect day.

  We only had immediate family and our best friends with us, so there was plenty of room for everyone to stand out on the big deck at sunset. Lola had gotten ordained online so she performed the ceremony, and she did a great job up until the end. When she said, “You can kiss the bride,” she and I both started to cry and laugh at the same time, so Luke laughed, hugged us off our feet and kissed us both.

  The food was perfect, so my inner Martha Stewart was very happy, and the red velvet cake was great, but honestly, it was not as good as mine. There were a few posed pictures, but most of them were just pictures of all of us having fun. The best picture is one where Luke is hugging me from behind in the middle of the picture and every one of the wedding guests is standing around us laughing and holding on to us and each other. That picture, with Luke and I laughing together, surrounded by family and friends, with love and happiness shining out of everyone’s eyes, is my favorite picture ever. It is now blown up and sits in the middle of the mantel above our living room fireplace.

  The first time Luke saw the picture, he said it represents everything he wants for us. For me to be happy, for him to be happy, and for us to be happy together. I told him that I loved everything about that, and I loved him. And that made us both happy.

  Before you Go…

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  Acknowledgments

  For my grandmother Betty Platt, who instilled in me the love of reading and writing.

  Thanks to Kendal Delaine Hall and Rita Perez for your wonderful editing. Your attention to detail and ability to reel in my love for commas and excessive adverbs makes for a much better story.

  Thanks to my dental peeps who gave me a chance to try something new!

  Thanks to my parents, who never gave me any crap about only practicing law for two and a half months (that was totally worth $30,000…) and were always confident I could accomplish anything I set my mind to.

  Thanks to my friends and family, who are all hilarious and allow me to shamelessly steal their words for my dialogue. And especially to Hillary who always answers my call when I need help with a word, a title, or to discuss why any given situation is batshit crazy.

  And most of all, to my husband, who totally supports me no matter what kind of dumbass idea I come up with.

  I love all y’all!

  About the Author

  Laney Kay writes all kinds of stuff, both fiction and non-fiction. She’s a good Southern girl, a huge Georgia Bulldog fan, and a lover of dogs, coffee, and books. (She’s also a Taurus.)

  She and her husband live in Georgia.

  This is Laney’s first book.


  I love hearing from readers! You can email me here

  Or reach me at my website: https://laneykaybooks.com

  Copyright Info

  Copyright © 2019 by Laney Kay

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, without written permission of the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical reviews and certain other noncommercial uses permitted by copyright law.

  This book is a work of fiction and all names, characters, locations, incidents, and events are products of the author’s imagination and/or are used fictionally. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, things, places or events is entirely coincidental.

  Publisher: Porkchop Publications, LLC

  Editing: Kendal Delaine Hall, Rita Perez

  Cover designer: Fantasia Frog Designs