Gary salutes me.

“I think it goes without saying that Annie is the best friend in the entire world. She’s the most loyal, the most trustworthy, the kind of person you can call at any time of the night and she’ll come running to help you. And, kind of like Uncle Don said, Annie’s taught me a lot. Because she’s been through her share of hard times, but she never lost faith. You know, I always made fun of her . . . well, her full-blown obsession with romantic comedies.”

Everyone laughs.

“I thought they were unrealistic and silly because true love always fixed everything at the end, and that’s not how real life works. Falling in love doesn’t mean you don’t have problems anymore. But after watching, like, five million of them, I thought about it. And the thing is, even in the rom-coms Annie loves, love doesn’t always fix everything. Sometimes things still suck. Sometimes the characters are dealing with insurmountable challenges, but by the end of the movie, they have a person to share those challenges with. They have someone to help them get through it.”

I swallow and look out at the tables full of people, at all the eyes on me.

“But the main thing that Annie and romantic comedies taught me is that when you mess up, you shouldn’t give up. Instead, sometimes it takes a grand gesture to really show someone how much you care. And listen, I know we’ve already had a proposal tonight, and generally it’s frowned upon to make these surprise proclamations at someone else’s wedding, but I think we all know Annie loves it, so . . .”

I look down at Annie, who has moved onto Drew’s lap. Both of them give me a thumbs-up.

I take a deep breath. “So, Nick Velez, I’m in love with you. It’s cheesy and clichéd and straight out of a movie, but you make me happy. The terrible parts of my life are never going to be less terrible, but when you’re around, everything is better. I can handle things when you’re with me. I was wrong when I said I didn’t want to take a risk on a business or a relationship, because life, if you’re living it right, is nothing but a series of ridiculous risks that may pay off or may go down in flames. But if you’re not trying, if you’re not leaving your comfort zone . . . well, then you’re not really living, are you? I was scared before, and I’m not scared anymore . . . or I guess I still am, but I don’t care. So this is me, saying ‘screw you’ to my comfort zone, and asking you to please, please love me back.”

I’ve been avoiding looking at Nick this entire time, but finally, finally, I let my eyes meet his magnetic grip, expecting to see him smiling or laughing or even asking me to get over there and kiss him.