Just Say Yes: The Proposal (Wedding Novellas Book 1) Read online

  Table of Contents

  Synopsis

  By the Author

  Acknowledgments

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  About the Author

  Other Kris Bryant Titles Available via Amazon

  Books Available From Bold Strokes Books

  Synopsis

  When special interest reporter Tessa Finnegan “Finn” McCoy met paralegal Amber Kent four years ago, she knew she was going to marry her. Planning the perfect proposal is never easy, but Finn is determined to make this one and only time the best she can for the love of her life. With all of her careful planning and the ring in hand, what could possibly go wrong? Except…absolutely everything. In the chaos, can Finn salvage the day and will Amber just say yes?

  Just Say Yes:

  The Proposal

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  eBooks from Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  http://www.boldstrokesbooks.com

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  Just Say Yes: The Proposal

  © 2016 By Kris Bryant. All Rights Reserved.

  ISBN 13: 978-1-62639-760-6

  This Electronic Book is published by

  Bold Strokes Books, Inc.

  P.O. Box 249

  Valley Falls, New York 12185

  First Edition: June 2016

  This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living or dead, business establishments, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.

  This book, or parts thereof, may not be reproduced in any form without permission.

  Credits

  Editor: Ashley Tillman

  Production Design: Bold Strokes Graphics

  Cover Design By Jeanine Henning

  By the Author

  Jolt

  Whirlwind Romance

  Acknowledgments

  I’m always and forever thankful to Radclyffe and Sandy Lowe for giving me the opportunity to tell my stories. Bold Strokes Books has a fantastic crew, and everybody is instrumental in making this work. My literary journey is full of love and fantastic friendships, and I am blessed to have found so many like souls in this world. My editor, Ashley (who has a zillion nicknames by now) is a large part of my success. Without her, I would not have the confidence that I do to keep at it. Thank you to Deb for always encouraging me and for being my crutch. And where would I be without KB Draper’s writing tips of adding aliens to my stories when I get stuck? With every book, I get stronger and I learn from all of my literary sisters. Thank you, Cindy Rizzo, for your guidance and skill. I love your honesty and your valuable input. All of my friends, Z, KC, MJ, HB, Laydin, and so many others who give me advice and are forever in my heart. Thank you, Nadine, for all that you do for me and for all writers. You are great in helping us get our stories out there to the readers. I am a fortunate woman. I have love, success, and happiness every day of my life.

  Dedication

  To my sister, Patty, whose own triumph of finding her true love is the inspiration behind this novella.

  Chapter One

  “Are you sure you want to get something this bright and shiny for her?” Stacy and I are ring shopping. I’m trying to find something I think my girlfriend will love and she’s there to talk me out of anything obnoxious I might try to buy. I want this to be the perfect ring. I want this to be the perfect everything. Amber has been my crutch through good and bad times and emotionally supported me during years of struggling to climb the network ladder. She deserves the best marriage proposal ever. She has the biggest heart and the sweetest disposition out of anybody in my world. I can’t imagine my forever without her by my side.

  “I don’t think it’s too shiny,” I say. I hold it on my finger and then up to the light. It’s a one and a half carat princess cut. Platinum because I know she doesn’t like gold. “It is kind of big, but not too big. At least it screams ‘I’m taken’ to anybody who approaches her.”

  Amber is beautiful and every day I wonder why she is with me. Five foot seven with blue eyes and long honey colored hair. She’s a paralegal for a law firm in the city and gets hit on almost every day. We met downtown four years ago. I was working a story on the safety of construction sites in high traffic areas and literally walked into her while reporting the story. I plowed her down like a linebacker going after the quarterback. After I helped her up, I asked her to have coffee with me, my way of apologizing. She agreed. I’m sure it was to shut me up, but she swears it was because she liked my smile. I can’t imagine that I smiled during my takedown, but she assures me I did. We’ve been together ever since. I know she’s hesitant to make it a permanent thing because her father left her mother when she was only four and nobody in her family has had a successful first marriage. Her mother is on her third marriage and it seems to be working, but I know Amber is worried that she has it in her to be like her mom. I want to change that. “I think this princess cut is nice.”

  “It’s too big and it looks kind of clunky. Look over here. This one is one carat and it’s oval. It would look better on her finger. It’s classier,” Stacy says. I point to the diamond and the sales clerk pulls it out of the display case.

  “You’re right. It’s perfect. See? I knew I had you here with me for a reason,” I say. Stacy beams. She loves Amber and knows how important this is. “So when are you and Zoey going to become a permanent thing?”

  She looks at me like I’m crazy. “Do you even like Zoey?” I shrug. She’s not bad for Stacy, probably her best girlfriend yet, but just not perfect for her. “We’ve only been living together a few months. Give us some time,” she says. Stacy is a bleeding heart. She’s known for taking in emotionally stray girls, nursing them back to health, then getting dumped by them. It’s a pattern for her, one she hasn’t been able to break no matter how hard we try to help. Short of locking her in the basement away from all women, we just have to stand back and watch her train wreck of a love life happen. At least Zoey seems to be genuine. We are all still wary of her, though. Every time our group accepts one of her girlfriends, the girl ends up doing something awful and then we have to start over from scratch. It’s frustrating for us, so I can’t imagine what Stacy goes through.

  “I promise to go ring shopping with you when the time comes.” Hopefully, not for a while. “I think I like the oval the most. It’s not as big, but it suits her.” I hand the ring back to the clerk and give him the size I need. My heart is pounding and I’m trying hard not to smile. I give him my credit card and he disappears for a minute to finalize the sale.

  “The ring is being sized now. Would you like to return later today or pick it up sometime during the week?” The clerk returns and hands back my card with the receipt to sign. I agree to return later that day and Stacy and I head off to find a quick lunch.

  “I’m so excited, Finn,” she says. “I hope Amber loves your proposal. No, wait. I know she will.” We grab sandwiches and sit down to start planning my big moment.

  “I like your idea of renting out K Meadows Winery. Now is the perfect time of year for that. I don’t think the grapes are ready
for harvesting so she won’t be suspicious when the parking lot is empty.”

  “Amber loves their wine and it will give her an opportunity to have a great tour. I just hope they are able to work with me. I’ve left a message for the owner, Carol. I might even go up there and plan things with them if they are willing.” My job is extremely flexible. Since I do special interest stories for the local news station, KRBX 4, I can pretty much set my own schedule. I tell them what stories I want to work on, and they accept or reject them. “I might even volunteer to work on a winery story. Is that a conflict of interest?” Stacy shrugs at me. I’ll have to check with my boss on that one. Carmen knows I’m ready to propose to Amber. I can only hope that she likes the idea of a winery story. I’ll have to figure out a twist though. Napa Valley is talked about weekly on the news. Tourism, droughts, and monthly wine tasting parties are always a good backup to fill up any blank space on nightly newscasts, but boring as hell.

  “Where are you going to hide the ring?” Stacy asks. I cringe inwardly because I know she wants to hold it for me. As much as I love her, I fear one of her ex-girlfriends will steal it if I give it to her.

  “I will probably lock it up at work.” Amber and I have a safe that we rarely use, but I can just see her getting into it because she needs the deed to the house or insurance papers for whatever reason. No. There cannot be a single screw up. “It’s the one place she can’t get to.” My phone rings and I don’t recognize the number. “Hello?”

  “I’m trying to reach Finn McCoy.” Even though the voice on the other end is polite and friendly, I don’t recognize it. Out of habit, my professional voice kicks in.

  “Speaking.”

  “Finn, this is Carol with K Meadows Winery. You left us a message earlier today.”

  “Oh, hello. Thank you for calling me back.” I slip back into my casual voice and spend the next five minutes explaining what I want to do. She is interested in helping me out and perhaps getting much needed free press out of the deal. We set up a time for a meeting later in the week. She seems pretty excited about the whole idea and I can’t keep the smile from seeping into my voice. “Okay, Thursday at noon. I will see you then.” Stacy is grinning at me the entire time.

  “I’m so happy for you. You and Amber found each other and have this incredible life and I can’t wait to have what you have,” she says. I reach over and hold her hand.

  “I want the same for you,” I say. Normally, I wouldn’t be this emotional or expressive, but today is a special day. “I hope that Zoey is the one for you, but if not, then please don’t settle. Go out there and find the perfect girl. It makes all the difference.” Surprisingly she is quiet as she thinks about what I said. Or maybe she is thinking about something totally non-related. It’s hard to tell with her sometimes.

  “I know. And I know I deserve it, too,” she says. We’ve been steadily building up her self-esteem over the years and I think it’s finally working. “Okay, I need to get back to work. Keep me posted.” She kisses my cheek, gives my hand a quick squeeze, and disappears into the crowd of people on their lunch break. I open my notebook and start writing down my thoughts. I want to propose as soon as possible because I’m horrible at secrets and I really love the ring and can’t wait to show it to Amber. I already know that I will act like Frodo Baggins from The Lord of the Rings and want to take the ring out, look at it, put it on. It will consume me. Amber knows me so well and will know that something is up. The sooner I do this, the better off I am.

  Chapter Two

  “Amber loves your Cabernet Sauvignon.” Carol is giving me a tour of the winery, explaining how long they’ve been there, why they chose Napa Valley, and their successes and failures. My boss isn’t overly thrilled about a winery feature story, so I need to find an angle that hasn’t been done before.

  “Thank you. It’s one of our favorites, too,” she says. We head for a row of budding grapes, somewhat juicy, but not quite ripe. “We had to pinch back leaves on several acres to allow the sunshine to reach the grapes. The grapes here should produce a nice Chardonnay.” She hands me a grape off of the vine and I pop it in my mouth expecting a sweet, juicy table grape, but am sourly disappointed. I try not to show a tart face, but fail miserably. Wine grapes are not the same as grapes I buy at the grocery store. This one had several seeds and the skin is surprisingly tough.

  Carol laughs. “They aren’t ready and, yes, they are quite bitter.”

  We talk about hand picking the grapes versus a machine. I find it interesting that something as innocent as hand picking grapes can change the taste of the wine because of the natural oils in human skin. Good knowledge to have when doing a story on a winery, but not life changing. I need an angle.

  “Tell me what is unusual about your winery. What is different or unique? Something that sets you apart from the others in this area?” Napa Valley wineries are extremely competitive locally, as well as internationally. Several wineries in the area have won international competitions and challenges, adding to the frenzy to gain local and worldwide business.

  “Well, we’ve started making vinegars. Other wineries are doing it, but we have tastings. It’s been a pretty good turnout.” That’s not exciting enough for a story. So I press on.

  “What has been the most exciting thing that has happened at the winery?” Maybe if I narrow it down, she can answer it better. This isn’t exactly the direction I want, but it’s a start.

  “We did have that one actor and his new wife up here about a month ago. They hung out with the patrons as if they were normal everyday people. Nobody bothered them or got star struck. Oh, what’s his name?” I rattle off a list of stars, but she shakes her head. “No, he was in that action movie last year. The one with the dog.”

  “Dash Connors?” He’s a young, up and coming actor that has starred alongside some of the big money makers in Hollywood.

  “Yes. That’s him. He was here and tweeted out nice things about the winery. Business picked up quite a bit after his shout outs on social media.” Endorsements aren’t newsworthy and the hoops I’d have to go through to allow me to use his name sounds painful.

  “Anything else?”

  Carol thinks for a bit. “Well, actually, your proposal is unique to our winery. As romantic as wineries are, we haven’t had a proposal up here. At least none that we were aware of.”

  That gives me an idea. “Maybe, if you are willing, we could secretly video tape my proposal. I could have our tech guy install hidden cameras around. Romanticize the winery even more than it already is,” I say, the wheels of my mind turning as I start thinking of a possible story that will make everybody happy.

  “Finn, that’s a great idea. I don’t mind at all. Whatever you need from me, please let me know.”

  “I would like to take a walk around the winery and figure out when and where I should propose. It will have to be inside because hiding the cameras outside will be a challenge.” The more I think about it, the more excited I get. Amber’s very observant so not only will I have to play it cool the entire time we are here, but I will have to plan where we walk and get the timing down perfectly. “I’ll have to check with my boss first, but this might actually work.”

  Carol’s eyes sparkle with delight. “Oh, I sure hope so. What a great idea. Maybe if it goes well, that could be a package the winery could offer, too.”

  I prompt Carol to discuss other events that take place at the winery and am intrigued when she mentions the chocolatier she works with. The winery has wine tastings the first Saturday of each month where groups learn how to pair certain chocolates with their wines. It’s one of their main attractions. That gives me a direction. Who doesn’t love chocolate? I can talk to the chocolatier and see what they think and what ideas they might have. We head back to the main house and Carol gives me their contact information. In my perfect scenario, they make me a small chocolate bar that says “Will You Marry Me?” or something that can prompt me to fall to my knee and propose once Amber sees it. It c
an be the last chocolate pairing. Carol says they usually have six different wines balanced with different chocolates. We can start at one end of the bar, drink wine, eat chocolate and, at the last pairing, pull out the magical bar for my proposal. I can’t wait to discuss this whole idea with Carmen. I don’t dare email her because Amber has full access to my email accounts and I don’t want her to find it by mistake.

  “Thanks for brainstorming with me, Carol. I will call you after I talk to my boss and see what she thinks of the idea. I love it and I think she will, too.” Due to my heightened emotional state, I give Carol a hug and climb into my car with renewed excitement. This is the only time I’m going to propose and I need to do everything right.

  Chapter Three

  “So you want to video your proposal?” Carmen isn’t getting the full picture. She is making me feel like I’m a teenager trying to get away with something devious, but I really love this idea and once it clicks for her, she will, too.

  “Yes, but the story will still be about the winery. My proposal will showcase the charm and romanticize the winery in a way that hasn’t been done before. I’m going to propose whether or not we do this, I just thought doing a story will be a nice special interest piece that will bring attention to both the news station and the winery. Amber loves their wine and she will be stoked coming with me to do the story. It will be a good piece, trust me. Plus, who doesn’t love the lesbian reporter?” I probably get the most fan mail at the station, mostly from the LGBTQ community. I can see that she’s getting ready to cave so I push her more. “Just think, it could go viral and the station would get even more press. Think YouTube, Twitter, and other social media outlets.”