My first thought is, How’d he get those exact tiles?

He picks up an M and holds it out to show me. “I filed notches in the letters I needed.”

“What if I’d picked one of those tiles?”

“While you were getting our drinks I made sure the ones I needed were on my side of the box. Figured I’d find opportunities to make them work.”

Bunker holds up a bottle of champagne, hands poised to pop the cork. “Well?”

I turn back to Hayden and there’s an open blue-velvet ring box on the Scrabble board. A shiver wrings my spine and Mars’s silly superstition that the chills mean a ghost is trying to control you comes to mind. Someone in the crowd whistles and I focus on the ring. It’s exquisite—a square diamond set in platinum and held in place on the sides by delicate flowers made of rubies. A wave of déjà vu hits.

“Will you?” Hayden asks.

“Marry you?”

“From the first moment we met, I knew you were the one.”

The silence in the bar is deafening. My mind races . . . We haven’t even known each other a year—I’ve never met his friends—talked to his parents—he’s never met Grandpa—Mars doesn’t like him—Hayden doesn’t know everything about me . . .

“Constance?” Hayden asks, a slight waver in his voice.

I take a deep breath, think about how it felt like I was meant to meet him that first night—how he makes me feel special—that he wants to share all his passions—and indulges my love of animals—how the first game of Scrabble we played together, the words LOVE, FATE, and RING were on that board. Still, there’s something tugging me in the opposite direction. My fears.

I meet Hayden’s gaze. “Yes.”

We kiss to cheers. One of the regulars, Molly, catches my eye and raises her glass with a little smile. I raise mine in return.

“Way to go,” Bunker says as he shakes Hayden’s hand. “How many times you two been married?”

“Never,” Hayden and I say in unison.

“Engaged?”

We both shake our heads.

Bunker looks at us like we’re unicorns. “Then listen close, kiddies. The first wife planned our wedding for a year-and-a-half, blew thirty-thou, and it lasted six months. My advice, don’t spend a lot of cash and don’t wait to tie the knot.”

Veronica, Bunker’s wife, drains her glass then adds, “The longer the planning, the more complicated the wedding and the harder it is on the bride and groom.”

“Me and Veronica had three weeks from proposal to I do. And we’ve been married forty-two years.” Bunker dips Veronica then kisses her with a wet smack.

“Works for me,” Hayden says. “How about May 28th?”

It’s his birthday and only two months away. I joke, “Did you pick that day so you’ll never forget our anniversary?”

Hayden grins. “I picked it because I can’t wait to marry you. And, we’re both thirty-four, old enough to know what we want.”