Free The Cinderella Project (A Comedy of Love, #1) by Stan Crowe

every night—even for just a while—to spend time with you. You. If that’s not proof that I love you, then… then I guess I don’t know what love is.” Pincers of guilt nipped at my heart as the thought of a week at Tisha’s place came to mind.
    But that was work , I told myself, no matter how enjoyable it was.
    Fortunately, my tactic worked better than calling her out. My gut told me that her words were hiding a different message—she was missing me and wanted to know that I missed and still valued her. She was still threatening tears but this time, it wasn’t the “woe is me!” type of crying; that was comforting. Instinctively, I slipped my arms around her and pulled her close. She nestled in the way she always did and I held her while she cried.
    When she was done, she looked up at me. “Oh, Nicky, I’m so sorry. Thank you for understanding. I knew you would. I… I know you love me. You’ve been so wonderful—everything I could want in a fiancé.” Ella slumped into her mournful sigh.
    I lifted her chin gently. “I think we need a night out.”
    Her eyes widened slightly. “What did you want to do?”
    I smiled. “When was the last time we went to the lake?”
    Ella hesitated for a moment, then murmured, “I think it has been almost two months.”
    “Way too long,” I told her. “Remember how often we went out there when we first started dating?”
    “Yeah.”
    “And how we’d just sit there on the beach, making out?”
    She giggled a bit. “Yeah.”
    “And come on, what’s more romantic than a moonlit walk on the beach?”
    She purred at that and with a kiss we headed for my car.
     
    Twenty-two minutes later, my ancient Datsun rolled to a stop in the gravel parking lot that serviced the lake. The sand glowed heavenly white under the moon’s rays and the water had an enchanting sparkle, long after twilight. The gentle contrabass of the waves washing over the beach melded with the chorus of crickets and the lullaby of the night loons as they drifted in the reeds along the shore. I smiled to myself when I found that, as I hoped, there wasn’t another soul in sight.
    Perfect.
    I helped Ella out of the car, mostly out of courtesy, but partially because the inside door handle on the passenger side rarely worked anymore. I pulled her to me and her arms came up around my neck and her lips found mine, just as they had when she accepted my proposal. I could feel her warmth, taste the musky fragrance of her perfume. Her embrace warmed me to the core and I responded to her kiss with all the love I had for her. I remembered all the happy times we had shared since that very first date. We stood there who knows how long, but when we finally released, I knew I had done right to ask her to be my wife.
    Ella pulled away and for several, long moments, we were lost in each other’s eyes. Then she released me and turned to face the lake. I took her hand and we wordlessly made our way to the water’s edge. We let the moon pass overhead as we left two miles of footprints to be washed away by the surf.
    When we stopped I put an arm around her and she snuggled up against me. We turned our faces to the lake and I drifted in the ambience, happier than I had been for a while.
    “Thanks for letting us come here,” I said. “We’ll do this one day at a time, Els. We’ll make it work. I look forward to waking up to my wonderful wife every day. I look forward to kissing her good morning and telling her just how much I love her. We’ll be the happiest married couple the world has ever seen.” I kissed her forehead. “I’m just lucky I got you before some other guy did.”
    We rocked back and forth for a while as she just let go of her stress. When she was done, I took her hand and we silently walked back to the parking lot. The silhouette of the eastern mountains was just emerging from the night as new sunlight filtered through a low bank of clouds. The morning smelled of dew and lake air. Ella and I kept each