Just Say Yes

Red roses: tacky or romantic? Perhaps she would like white lilies better than red roses. Then again, what about those exotic-looking pink ones? Should he even buy her flowers or would that seem like he was trying to hard? He didn’t want to come off as desperate, even if he was just that. It was times like this that he wished he had had a sister. He really needed a woman’s opinion on this. Feeling overwhelmed, he smiled awkwardly at the hovering saleswoman and ventured deeper into the rampant foliage.
Tonight would be the night that he asked the woman he loved to marry him. He wanted everything to be perfect. He had agonized over the ring and naively assumed that after going through all that, picking the flowers would be a piece of cake. When he entered the florist shop he quickly realized just how wrong he had been. The average man clearly had no clue just how many different types of flowers there were in the world. And this particular flower shop seemed to possess every single variety of them.
Shopping for the perfect ring had ended up being an absolute nightmare. He had planned on spending no more than fifteen hundred. He assumed that having a solid budget in mind was the equivalent of having a fully developed plan. He had been wrong on that too.
First he had to decide on whether to buy her a diamond or a colored gem. Diamonds were everywhere and he knew that all girls talked about were diamonds, but to him they had seemed sort of boring. His Mandy was unique; that’s why he loved her so much. She wasn’t like any other girl he’d ever met. Therefore getting her a ring like so many others seemed wrong somehow. He decided on a colored stone because she added a burst of color to his life.
He started by looking at sapphires. Mandy was always honest; sometimes she was almost a little too honest. So maybe a sapphire would represent her true blue nature. However, her eyes were so green they were startling and he was forever telling her that her eyes were the first thing he had noticed about her. Maybe an emerald would be a better choice. He’d heard once that rubies were a symbol of passionate love and he liked the idea of her ring reflecting their love for one another. Then there was the setting. Princess cut or square cut? Traditional or modern? Gold or silver? There were so many options!
He had finally chosen an emerald flanked on each side by three of small diamonds. It was a traditional and, according to the saleswoman, romantic setting and the band was made of white gold. When he looked at it he instantly thought of her. He had had it safely tucked into a pretty little box and it was now zipped into the inner pocket of his coat.
He had at some point come to a stop in front of a vibrant display of bouquets. Maybe he should go with a single rose instead of an entire armful of them. Yes, he liked the idea of one rose. Oddly it reminded him of the story of beauty and the beast and he remembered Mandy saying one time that that was her favorite fairy tale when she was growing up. He bought a single red rose that was just beginning to bloom and satisfied with his choice he left the florist shop with a smile on his face.
He had thought about proposing in a restaurant, but the image of her potentially saying no to him in front of an avid audience had scared him. He planed to make her a home cooked meal instead. He’d make a simple but delicious Italian style dinner of pasta, bread and for dessert, a tiramisu bought from a family owned bakery down the street. Mandy loved Italian food and tiramisu was her favorite dessert. After dinner, they’d go for a nice moonlight stroll in the park and when they got back he’d open champagne and propose.
Now he had the ring, the flower, the dinner cooked and the champagne chilling. He was dressed up in a suit and had told her to wear something pretty. He’d said that he wanted to have a nice romantic dinner together as they hadn’t been out anywhere all through the long winter. Spring had finally come and he was using it as an excuse to have a quiet night in for the two of them. Little did she know that he hadn’t taken her out anywhere in the last few months because he’d been saving up for the ring.
The doorbell rang and his pulse rate jumped. Tonight was the night that his life would end and their life would begin. He could hardly wait.