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There is something so magical about surprise marriage proposals. Seeing the confused but happy look on someone’s face, along with the tears of joy streaming down their cheeks. Oh, wait, those tears were streaming down my cheeks. I grabbed a tissue to wipe them away but Lucky, my adorable and faithful Abyssinian kitten, beat me to it. He pressed his little kitty paws against my face to blot out the tears, like they were tiny bugs to squash.
I was pretending to clean up Frosted’s main cupcake display counter but secretly listening to Tyler and Shelby’s date. The engagement ring was hidden inside the oversized cupcake that I just served to Shelby. I lied and told her it was a new jumbo cupcake size I wanted to try out. She was about to take her first bite, which would have been straight into a velvet ring box, enclosed inside a plastic baking bag for safety.
“Ouch! Oh, my stars! There’s something hard inside this cupcake,” she said, pulling it back to examine the source.
“There is?” asked Tyler, pretending to be surprised. “Let’s see.”
They both scraped frosting and cupcake crumbs back to reveal a box. Shelby tore open the plastic wrap, exposing the exquisitely crafted red velvet box inside with the signature Harry Wilson crest gold foiled on the top. Tyler had to special order it from London. It cost him an entire year’s salary, making it the most compact representation of one hundred thousand dollars I’d ever seen when he dropped it off to me this morning to hide inside the cupcake.
“Should we tell Ava? Maybe she dropped this in here by accident,” said Shelby, looking around the bakery for me. I instantly dived behind the counter to hide. How could she not know that was a surprise engagement ring? Or maybe she did and wondered if it was for someone else? Those things might have been going through my mind if I were to find an engagement ring since I was known for jumping to the wrong conclusion more than once.
“I think it’s for you,” said Tyler, placing a hand on Shelby’s arm when she rose from her seat to return the box. Then he got down on one knee and popped the question that every woman in love is dying to hear from the man they’re dating. “Shelby Hicks, will you make me the happiest man on Earth and marry me?”
It was Friday at Frosted, the one day of the week that we stayed open late. There were tons of other couples there, some college kids studying and a few people on their laptops. Once Tyler dropped to his knees, everyone stopped what they were doing and focused on the happy couple, particularly Shelby. We were all holding our breath while waiting to find out what her answer would be.
I knew Shelby would say yes. Since the minute I met her, the only thing she talked about was: Tyler this, Tyler that, isn’t Tyler so dreamy? Plus, being incredibly superstitious, she believed everything was a sign of something bigger. If Tyler proposed, she’d take it as a sign they should get married.
“Ohmigosh, Tyler. Yes, yes, yes! I’ll marry you,” she said, leaping into his arms as he stood up to hug her.
The entire bakery, including myself, started to holler and applause. It was the happiest Friday night ever at Frosted.
Shelby tore off the plastic protective covering on the velvet box and opened the top. We were all waiting for her to put on the ring and show it to everyone but instead, she crinkled her forehead and said, “That’s odd. There’s nothing in here.”
“What do you mean, there’s nothing in there?” asked Tyler, taking the box.
“It’s empty,” said Shelby, looking around herself in case it might have dropped onto the ground.
They both started to look through the cupcake crumbs and frosting to see if it fell out somehow. I emerged from behind the counter to join them. Lucky followed me and hopped up onto the table, trying to figure out what we were all searching for with such intensity.
“Are you sure it didn’t fall into the box somehow?” I asked, pointing to the red velvet box and hoping there was some sort of secret lining area.
We all took turns feeling the box.
“You’re sure this is the right cupcake?” asked Tyler, looking panicked.
“Yes, of course, it’s the right cupcake,” I said. Why would I deliberately put a red velvet box in someone else’s cupcake? And it was a cupcake shop, not a jewelry store. We didn’t have any other red velvet boxes lying around. “As soon as you gave it to me this morning, I locked it up in the safe all day until you texted me that you were on your way. Then I took it out and popped it into this cupcake.” I pointed to the table crumbs.
Tyler and I planned it all out this morning to the last detail when he dropped off the ring. He texted me as they were leaving dinner so I’d be ready. I saved them their favorite booth and made sure to serve them myself. I even gave the rest of the staff the entire day off so there wouldn’t be any confusion or accidental servings of the wrong cupcake.
“So where is it?” asked Tyler, looking at me with a definite tone of accusation in his voice.
Lucky started pushing things off the counter, the crumbs, the fork and finally, the red velvet box. “Not helping, Lucky,” I said, picking him up.
End of Excerpt
