“Dominic!” Gemma gasps, securing the bracelet on her wrist. “What’s the matter with you? It’s wonderful. You work so hard, such long hours, I’m surprised you brought me anything at all.”

She hurries to hug him. As they embrace, Joe’s eyes catch mine. He gives me a conspiratorial smirk. Suddenly, I ache to spend some time with him. One-on-one. Even if it hurts. Even if it kills me.

“But, I think I might be able to top off Joe’s gift, after all.” Dom throws his baby brother a wink. “Because I have another gift.”

“Well, well, well.” Brad sits back. He crosses his ankles over the coffee table. “Just remember I took you to the ballet, Gem. Because these boys are trying to up the ante, and all you’ll find in my envelope to you is a Nordstrom gift card.”

“Actually, this present is not for Mom.” Dom stands up. “Although . . . some would argue that it is.”

My heart speeds up. I suddenly forget how to breathe. No. No. No. What’s worse is that I understand what’s happening before everyone else does. Can anticipate Dom’s next move. I speak his body language fluently.

He lowers himself to one knee before me in his parents’ living room.

I want to die.

I close my eyes, thinking about how Dad is going to respond when I tell him I’m engaged. How Mom is not going to be at the wedding. How Pippa is going to hear about it, eventually, in passing one day and say, She ended up marrying a Ken? Maybe I didn’t know her after all. I think about our future lives, in suburbia. About Honda SUVs designed to contain three baby car seats. I think about double dates with Joe and his flavor of the week. Cooking and calligraphy and claying classes.

Then I remember that I don’t have to say yes.

But I do. I have to say yes because Dom chose me, in a time when no one else had. I have to because Dom makes things right. Because he took a look at my underbelly, at my darkness and insecurities, and stayed. And because Dom is not okay, not really. He needs my help in letting go of what happened to him. He is on self-destruction mode. I can’t turn my back on that.

But all of those things don’t hold a candle to the real reason why I can’t say no—because the proposal is so public. I simply cannot turn him down in front of his family.

“Lynne.” He clears his throat. “I know we’ve known each other for only a few months, but in those months, I’ve felt more than I ever have before. I fell in love, I gained a friend, I found out who Chewbacca was, made memories even more precious than my childhood nostalgia on the Cape—all with you.”