The Mission: Marriage proposal.
The Plan: Turn Swansie's Diner into the romantic spot of your dreams. Include top tier food, good wine, and delectable desserts. When the meal is over, get down on one knee.
The Goal: The love of your life agrees to spend the rest of your lives at your side.
Kyle doesn't do anything by halves. When he's ready to propose to his boyfriend of two years, nothing short of a spectacle will do. He's not worried about Xavier saying no. But he wants a everyone to know just how much he loves his man.
Revisit Landry's Fall for an epic date night where all the men you've come to know spend a night out to celebrate their unending love.
I arrived at the diner at seven-thirty on the dot, just like I was instructed. Instantly, I went on alert. Because the lighting was all wrong. I picked up the pace, practically jogging through the parking lot, and it wasn’t until I yanked open the door that I saw why. Swansie’s diner was transformed.
Kyle stood there waiting for me and immediately pulled me into his arms. He squeezed me so tightly and kissed my neck, and though it had only been this morning since I’d last touched him, like always, it was like coming home. For a moment I was distracted from the drastic changes inside and just reveled in holding him.
But that only lasted a few seconds before reality came back.
“What’s going on?” I murmured.
“Welcome to the Swansie’s first annual Date Night event. Come, come sit. Our table is right over here.” He dragged me to the middle of the dining room, made a big deal about pulling out my chair, and only when I was settled did he take his seat. Wine and water were already on the table, and he quickly took a drink from his goblet. “You’re going to want to bolus about four units for tonight’s meal. I’m ninety-nine percent sure I calculated that right. I did the math like four times. But I factored in the exercise we’ll be doing later. So we might have to keep an eye on --”
“Kyle, love, slow down.” I couldn’t help the chuckle.
He took a breath. “Maybe I should just tell you the meal and you can do your own math.”
“I’m not worried. Let me do that really quickly while you tell me how and why you kept this from me.” I softened my words with a big smile and unclipped my pump so I could manually bolus. I trusted him to know my insulin needs and how certain carbs, and certain forms of exercise, affected me. He’d worked hard to learn. He was conscious of and conscientious about my diabetes.
“I wanted to surprise you. Is that okay?”
My head shot up at his hesitant tone. Kyle was a lot of things, flamboyant, theatrical, loving, and loud, but hesitant wasn’t one of them. His eyes were big in his face and he was biting his lip. I quickly tucked my pump back in my pocket and reached for him with both hands. He grabbed on instantly.
“Of course it is. You know I love surprises,” I was quick to assure him.
Some of his usual cockiness came back. He snorted a laugh. “Yeah, but usually you’re the giver, not the receiver.” His eyes lit up. “At least when it comes to surprises. Not so much when it comes to other things.”
I groaned, but I was laughing too. Mostly, I was relieved he was acting more like himself. “True. Yeah. But goodness, look at all this. You must have worked so hard. It looks amazing. I’m proud of you.”
“Thank you, kind sir. I just needed tonight to be extra special.” He bowed over the table.
Something about his phrasing niggled in my brain. I tried to let it go, but I couldn’t. My mind worked quickly, putting all the pieces together. Keeping this a secret, putting in all the work to make it cozy and romantic, turning it into an event that half the town seemed to be attending. Okay, that was an exaggeration, but there was quite an audience.
Audience.
All right. I knew my love inside out and backward, so I had an inkling about what was going to happen. But I didn’t want to ruin all his effort so I did my best to keep it out of my expression. Clearly, I didn’t do a good job because Kyle’s smile fell right off his face.
“Crap. You figured it out.”