This is the eleventh part in a series, so if you have not already done so, you might want to read Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V, Part VI, Part VII, Part VIII, Part IX, and Part X before continuing.
“Did you get everything you wanted?” Chris asked Sandra when she came home from her meeting with Hugh and the lawyers.
“Don’t I always?”
“Yes. It’s why I went ahead and brought up the champagne.” He uncorked it with a pop and expertly poured two glasses.
“You are getting good at that,” Sandra said as she took the glass he handed her.
Chris shrugged. “Your brother likes to wine and dine people as a way to convince them to do business with him. I’ve had a lot of practice.”
“Speaking of which, I think I know how we can accelerate our plan.”
“Our plan?”
“OK, my plan. Hugh and I were talking about dividing up shares, and it turns out he set aside some shares for you.”
“For me?”
“Well, for my future husband. As a wedding gift. He made a joke about that being you, but it was one of those half-kidding half-not-kidding kind of jokes. So, all we need to proceed to the next step of the plan is to get married.”
“Are you proposing to me?” Chris put one hand on his chest with an exaggerated gasp and bat his eyelashes.
“No. I’m telling you that you have to propose to me.”
Chris’s hand flopped back down to his side. “Oh. Well, that’s not nearly as much fun.”
“It will be much more fun when you’re running the biggest real estate company in the country.”
Chris thought about that for half a second before saying, “OK, sounds like a plan. I suppose you have a ring picked out for me to give you?”
Sandra pulled out a small box covered in dark blue velvet.
“Oh, come on, you couldn’t even let me buy it?”
“It’s my mother’s ring. A family heirloom will make the engagement that much more meaningful.”
“I see. And how am I supposed to have acquired this family heirloom without telling you I was planning to propose?”
“We can say we had been talking about marriage and wanted to make sure the ring fit.”
Chris gave her a sidelong glance before saying, “You already had it resized, didn’t you?” “Of course.”
To be continued…