I loved, loved, loved the last scene, and the setting was beautiful. I got this crazy idea and have been laughing since.
"Andy, this evening, it's just perfect," Sharon gushed, as she reached over and took his hand. She held up her other hand, "and, this ring is just gorgeous."
He looked at her, eyes full of love, "Well, I was afraid I would have another heart attack if I didn't do this now."
Her eyes grew wide, "Andy, your heart? It's bothering you?" She jumped up, "Oh, we need to get you to the ER and get you checked out."
"Sharon," he nodded, patting her arm and pulling her back down, "No," he smiled, "My heart is fine. Poor choice of words," he shrugged. "All I meant was I about couldn't stand it anymore. I had to give you this ring. I've been carrying it around for days now."
"Oh," she smiled at him and situated herself again, looking down at her plate, "Well, I love it, and Andy, the food is delicious."
"Well, you can't go wrong with fish," he nodded. "We will have to thank Gus because he worked his magic to get this food from Serve."
"I just can't wrap my head around this. Andy, we are getting married," she said sweetly, grinning at him. "You took me by surprise, you know."
"That was the plan," he added. "Well, that was the plan, even if it took three opportunities to finally ask you. I know we'd discussed maybe someday getting married, but well, life is short," he shrugged. "I couldn't wait any longer. I hope that's okay."
"It's more than okay," she whispered out. "I wouldn't have said yes if it wasn't okay."
He smiled, "That's a relief because it could have been pretty awkward around here tonight if you had. I had told Rusty I might be bunking with him."
Sharon smiled again as she looked over at him, "Rusty," she nodded, "You and Rusty planned this?"
"He's been a big help through all of this, everything," Andy added. "We've come a long way, Rusty and I. As annoying as he was at the start of all this, he couldn't be happier for us and volunteered to help with all this. Kid finally gets a full, picture perfect family," he hummed. "I hope you know that Provenza helped me pick out the ring, so he knew this was coming. I spoke to all of our kids at Christmas telling them I loved you and hoped to marry you, but none of them, well, Rusty did, but the rest didn't know it was today." He looked to his watch, "I'm sure by now, Rusty and Gus have alerted the whole family," he grinned.
"Well, we can speak to all of them tomorrow. Tonight, I'm not taking my eyes off you," Sharon smiled warmly.
Sharon looked up and around at all the detail work Andy and Rusty had put into everything, "Oh my gosh!" Sharon exclaimed, jumping up. Andy, who was sipping his water, followed Sharon's line of sight. He jumped up too.
"The flowers caught on fire!" he exclaimed, flying up behind Sharon as she grabbed her glass of water, flung open the balcony door, and tossed it onto the now burning flowers by the coffee table. All the candles set the night's ambience, but apparently, one candle and one bouquet of flowers were a little too close together. Sharon waved away the smoke that was now rising from the flowers. A hiss came from the now smoldering flowers, as Andy moved quickly to toss the water pitcher he'd retrieved from the balcony to toss on them too. As he did so, Sharon turned, and the water from the pitcher ended up dousing her instead.
"Oh, no! Sharon, I'm so sorry!" he said at the same time Sharon said, "Andy, we need to get these flowers to the sink before they burn any further!"
Andy sprang into action and ran the smoldering flowers toward the sink, "Oh, they are hot," he stopped, putting them down on countertop. He ran for a dishtowel and retrieved the flower vase before throwing the bouquet into the sink. He turned on the water to put out any last fire embers. Once that was in progress, he turned back around to find his brand-new fiancé covered in water. Her beautiful jacket was now dripping from the water he'd thrown on her. Her hair was partially wet. Her glasses even had splotches of water on them. He closed his eyes, wondering how the perfect evening had gone downhill so quickly.
Andy cracked open one eye to gauge Sharon's reaction. She was still firmly planted in the same spot she'd been, right in front of where the burning flowers had been, totally dazed. His one-eyed gaze met hers, and he shook his head while groaning. Sharon cleared her throat and spoke, "Well, I think we've got the vow part down already, no matter what version we use. Sickness and in health-that's covered. Good times and bad-that's covered."
Andy let out a groan again as he sighed and walked toward her. The sink was still running, now wetting the blackened flowers, "Sharon, I am so sorry," he hung his head as he tried not to laugh. "This must be a first-dousing your fiancé with water to save the house from burning down."
She pursed her lips and nodded, "Yes. It's also a good thing I keep my word. Had this happened before you asked me, I might have had a different answer," she bit her lip to keep from laughing.
"Come here," he opened his arms, to take her into his embrace. As the two laughed about their foiled evening plans, he offered one last comment, "So, I take it we won't be having a candlelight evening wedding?"
