When Lines Get Tangled

"I hope."

"Look at me," she encouraged, nudging my chin toward her. "I don't know if it's any consolation, but I'm proud of you. Your sister is happy, healthy, and seems to be living her best life, right?"

"Yeah."

"I love you, baby," she whispered, kissing my cheek.

"I love you, too," I said as she wrapped me in her arms. "Thank you for listening, Courtney."

"Always, Peter. Any time."

I looked at my watch. It was almost two o'clock. "You ready to head back?"

"Yeah. Let's go home."

"How's your suit against Saint Paul's coming along?" I asked as we finished loading the car.

"It was just under the wire. Vanessa filed the papers with the Indiana State Court two days before the statute's clock ran out. It'll probably take three or four years to litigate."

"At least. I won't try to get in the middle, but will you ask me if you want advice?"

"Only every time."

"On such short notice?" Courtney asked.

"Yeah. Officially," I air quoted, "Kelley and Candy invited us to dinner at Offshore Rooftop on Navy Pier this Sunday evening.

"Unofficially," I gestured again, "we're going with cameras at the ready because he plans to propose to her at the fountain in Polk Brothers Park."

She actually yelped. "Seriously? They're getting married ?"

I laughed. "Only if she says yes."

"Oh, that's fantastic. It's absolutely fantastic !" she said, slapping her knees.

"Can you manage keeping it to yourself and not let on?"

Her giddy demeanor vanished in a flash.

"Who do you think you're talking to?"

"That's scary," I said with a chuckle. "Anyway, I don't know how he managed it or who he bribed, but he even got a limited authorization permit from McPier for me to fly my drone."

"How long has it been since you've unpacked it?"

"A while. I need to unpack it all, make sure the batteries are charged, firmware and databases are updated and stuff, and maybe go to the RC park to knock the cobwebs off."

"Sounds smart," she said.

After a few seconds of silence, she said, "Hey."

"Yeah?"

"How are you feeling about all of this?"

"I'm happy for her. Kelley's a great guy."

"Yeah." She smiled. "You think you're in the mood to … you know?"

"That depends. Show me which pair you wore to work today."

She turned her back, lifted her skirt, and stuck her butt out at me.

Her panties featured a Himalayan cat with the words "Boop the Snoot!" written above its face, so boop that snoot I did. I nuzzled her warm butt, feeling the juxtaposition of textures of her smooth skin and the soft cotton. I kissed the wet spot beginning to show in the crotch of her panties. My exhale shuddered with my arousal.

"Can I ask for something that might seem a bit kinky?"

"Sure," she answered.

"Leave your clothes on. Your suit is incredibly beautiful, and those panties are super sexy."

"Yeah?"

"Yeah. I kinda want your pretty little kitty to sit on my face," I said, tapping my nose.

"Meow ," she said, taking my hand and leading me to the bedroom.

On our way back to the parking structure, the four of us ambled around Polk Brothers Park.

"It's such a nice evening," Candy said, interlocking her arm with her boyfriend's.

"eah. I'm kinda glad daylight time started today so we still have some sun," Kelley responded.

Courtney and I ducked out of the way to get set up. Candy was oblivious. She thought I was only flying my drone for funsies, not realizing the level of effort her boyfriend had undertaken to secure the approval and permit. While at dinner, I sneaked away, found a pier security guard, and gave him a copy of the permit Kelley had acquired so SWAT wouldn't accidentally add a wrinkle.

I unpacked my Mavic from its case, attached my phone to the controller, and launched it. I'd previously advised Kelley that once he heard the sound of the bee swarm's quad motors, he had twenty minutes on the clock, and should do his thing no later than ten minutes into the flight so reactions could be filmed before the batteries drained.

I navigated the drone to a safe altitude which was well-below the three-hundred-foot ceiling the permit allowed, located Candace, and set the drone's camera to active-track spotlight mode with her as the subject. Courtney was at a discrete distance with her camera at the ready.

I couldn't hear a thing and hoped Kelley had remembered to start the audio recorder he had concealed on him. I lazily orbited my Mavic in slow circles around them at a distance which would prevent its noise from drowning out what was probably very soft conversation between my sister and the man who was about to become her fiancé in three or four more minutes.

Kelley held Candy's hand and they strolled lazily around the fountain. He lowered himself to one knee, held out his hands, displaying an engagement ring's box. Candy's flew to her mouth under very wide eyes. It looked like her knees weakened a little before she began nervously bouncing.

She carefully knelt to Kelley's level and embraced him fiercely with her face buried in the crook of his neck. I could see her nodding against it. She leaned back slightly and kissed him.

"Subject lost" warned my controller. I smiled because it was the tight physical proximity between Candy and Kelley that caused the tracking failure. I hand-flew a little closer for about thirty seconds as he slipped the ring on her left hand. Her right was wiping her cheeks. Kelley helped his new fiancée stand and they hugged tightly again.

I zoomed the camera out in order to catch the dozen or so clapping people who'd become surprising witnesses to a successful marriage proposal. She looked upward and spiked the Mavic with her eyes, then waggled the back of her hand right toward its lens. I poked the "Return to Home" icon once Candy had realized people nearby had been watching.

It would all come together in a video I'd edit over the next few days.

"Mom, Dad, I'd like to introduce you to my girlfriend, Courtney White," I awkwardly spoke. "I've known her for a little over a year, and we've been dating for about nine or ten months."

Courtney silently looked around as I shut off the rented boat's motor.

"So … here?"

"According to the GPS, yeah, we're within a few hundred feet," I answered. "At least, this is close to where we cast the cremains. I suppose with currents, or storms and stuff, they could be anywhere now. After so much time, some might even be in the ocean."

"I thought it was illegal to scatter ashes in the lake."

"So did I at first, but the funeral director gave us a guide of places where cremains can be returned to nature. It described how Illinois, Wisconsin, and Michigan laws specifically permit Lake Michigan as long as it's done no closer than three miles offshore. We're out six."

"It's a beautiful resting place, Peter. The view of the skyline from here is truly spectacular. Tell me about them. Tell me about your parents."

"Dad was an attorney, of course. He was an equity partner at what was then known as Shearson, Waters, and Moorehouse. He was planning on retiring early at fifty-five and selling his stake in the firm."

"What did he practice?"

"Consumer protection, mostly."

"How 'bout your mom?"

"You mean other than being the neighborhood yenta?"

Courtney chuckled.

"She was a stay-at-home mom," I answered. "She was good at her job."

"I'm sure she loves how you think and speak of her that way."

I smiled awkwardly. "Well, I don't really believe people who've passed away pay any attention to what those of us still here say or do."

"No?"

"I don't. I mean, if heaven is real, there's no tears there. Eric Clapton said so. Knowing what goes on here on Earth would cause sadness."

"Still. I think they know the good stuff, like the words you just said."

I smiled at her. We spent several moments softly kissing.

"You sure you don't want to ski some more before it gets too dark?"

She shook her head. "Nope, I'm done, and if the breeze gets any stronger, it'll be difficult to get up. Let's head back in."

I reached for the console to start the boat's outboard, but she stopped me.

"Peter, thank you so much for bringing me here. I know it's a sacred place in your heart, as well as Candy's. Thank you for sharing it with me."

"You're welcome, baby. Thank you for … I don't know … getting it."

She smiled sweetly.

"You're being an idiot again, Peter!" Candy barked after I described the Independence Day afternoon Courtney and I spent together on the lake, bringing her to the hallowed place to where my sister and I had returned our parents.

"How? What'd I do now ?"

"It's what you haven't done, you moron."

Kelley chuckled lightly. "Easy, Candy. He's not a moron, he's just blind."

"What the hell, guys?"

"Marry her, my ever-loving idiot brother, marry that woman. If you don't, I might," she barked.

Her fiancé shot a steely eyed gaze at her and cleared his throat.

"Easy there, Kell, I'm only trying to make a point," Candy said to her future husband, reassuringly stroking his knee.

"I don't know, Candy. After what I did to her? Basically accusing her of⁠—I treated her like last week's garbage."

My sister's eyes blinked under their furrowed brows.

"See, Kelley? He is a moron."

"Would you please stop that and tell me what I'm missing?"

"You tell him," she said to Kelley.

"Sorry, Candy, you're on your own now," he said, slowly shaking his head in refusal.

"Ugh. Men ." She sighed. "How long ago was it when you seriously screwed up?"

"Like nine months, I think."

"Have you done something else equally egregious since then?"

"Not that I know of."

"And she's still with you?"

"Yeah?"

"Might that be a hint she's put it behind her?"

"How could I possibly know?" I said with some exasperation in my voice.

"You're blind, Peter. You think of me as nothing but your kid sist⁠—"

"No, I don't⁠—"

"Yes, you do . And I get it, but I'm a functional adult now, thanks to you, and I'm capable of higher-order reasoning. If Courtney is still within your reach, she … well, I'll just say it. She's waiting."

"You think?"

"Yes. I do," my sister answered quickly.

"Forget about me," I deflected. "Have you two set a date?"

"Not yet. Why?" Candy asked.

"Because if I propose to Courtney, I'm going to make damned sure we're married before you are."

"Don't you dare!"

Kelley laughed hard. Candy yanked a throw pillow from the end of the couch and deployed it in his direction according to its name.

"In all seriousness, Candace, what do you think I should do?"

She snuggled herself closer to Kelley.

"Do you love her?" she asked, "Like totally, truly, and completely love her?"

"More than anything in this world."

"Then I think you have your answer. She's like the sister I never had, you know? I see how much you adore her, and you two deserve to be with each other."

"When was the last time I told you how good you look in a bikini?" I asked Courtney.

She giggled. "The last time I wore one, so this past Sunday."

I drew her wet body to mine and kissed her little breasts through the triangular cups of her top.

"I'd totally take you right here, right now, but there's too many other boats nearby," she whispered, stroking me through my trunks.

Hers was a distraction I could have done without because it was difficult enough trying to spot something small on the water while not being obvious I was looking. I was probably also paying too much attention to my phone. The closest boat was several hundred yards away. If I was certain its passengers didn't have binoculars, we'd have enjoyed a romp on the water.

My phone blipped when the AirTag that'd been floating for two days came into range. The arrow indicated it was sixty feet off the port side of the boat. I finally spotted the bright yellow object on the surface.

"Do you see something over there?" I asked, pointing and feigning curiosity.

"Where?"

"About thirty or forty feet that way."

"That yellow⁠—yeah! Looks like someone's keys went overboard. We should get them. Maybe they're marked with some sort of ID."

What she'd seen was a foam rubber float boaters commonly use on keys to prevent them from sinking to the bottom if they accidentally fumble a set into the deep water.

She put her vest back on, dropped herself into the lake, and swam that direction. She retrieved it a few seconds later.

"It's not keys," she said, examining her find. "It has fishing line tied to it and there's an Apple tag on the top in some sort of waterproof thingamajig."

She swam back and climbed the ladder.

"There's some weight to it," she said, coiling the line around her palm.

"Jeez. How long is it?" she mumbled after a number of windings had been made.

According to the depth finder on the boat's console, it was one hundred forty feet. I kept quiet.

"What the …" she gasped when a particular object finally breached the surface. "Oh my god , Peter, why would someone do this?"

It was costume jewelry, but a convincing facsimile of a diamond solitaire nonetheless.

She was too busy studying the worthless gem to see me pull out the last five feet of line which was tied off to a six-ounce iron weight. It'd anchored the treasure in place so it couldn't drift away in the currents.

"What were you saying about a tracking tag?"

"Oh. Right," she said, returning her focus to the float.

"There's something else in here," she said, working open the waterproof clear plastic capsule.

"What is it?" I asked, trying to sound genuinely curious, because I knew exactly what she was about to discover.

She found a piece of folded paper inside.

"To the woman who found this," Courtney read aloud, "the man watching you right now loves you …" Her voice trailed off and she shot me a glance. I'd written the message in the bottle myself, so I knew what she was reading.

… loves you to absolute pieces and wants to spend the rest of his life with the most beautiful and brilliant woman he's ever known. That's you. The ring you've found is only a prop. Look up, Courtney. Yours awaits.

While she was engrossed in her discovery, I withdrew from a pouch a diamond on platinum solitaire. I held it out to her while kneeling. I watched the dawn of understanding appear in her beautiful green eyes.

"Would you, please, give me the privilege of having you as my fiancée?"

She struggled to remove the coils of monofilament from her hand and managed to get them snarled around her fingers and wrists. I chuckled in amusement for a few seconds then stayed her hands with mine.

"Courtney, will you marry me?"

"Yes!" she cried and resumed her struggle. "Dagnabbit! Yes!" she said before finally lowering her fouled hands in surrender. "Yes, Peter!"

I safely clipped the thousands-of-dollars ring to the boat's key float because I didn't want it going overboard. The key was still in the switch, so everything was secure.

"That's what happens when lines get tangled," I said.

An intense wave of déjà vu washed over me as I removed my pocketknife from the waterproof pouch we'd stashed our stuff in and carefully cut the lines from her hands. Once I'd put the shards in the litter bag, Courtney grasped me and began sobbing.

"I love you, Peter," she cried. "I love you so much ."

I enveloped my love in my arms and held her. "Thank you, Courtney. Thank you for seeing past my crap." I cried with her.

I drew back from her to look into her eyes. Sobs of joy are so unlike sobs of grief, and the differences are all in expressions.

"I'm engaged !" Courtney shouted at the top of her lungs. I was convinced at least a few other boats on the lake had to have heard it.

"Wow, woman!" I laughed, rubbing my ears. "You've got some pipes! Wanna put it on?" I asked, handing her the float.

"No! Don't even take it off the clip until we're off the water." She smiled happily.

The four of us met at Giocomo's for dinner to celebrate together.

"It all worked according to plan?" Kelley asked after the sommelier had poured four glasses of wine.

"It was touch and go for about a half hour. GPS is only accurate to a few hundred feet, and an AirTag is only locatable from fifty or sixty, so that part was pretty much just time and luck," I answered.

"I had no idea what he was after. I mean, I knew he was paying a lot of attention to his phone, but didn't think much about it."

"AirTag, twenty-five dollars. Key float with the tag holder, ten bucks. Fishing line, six dollars, and the fake ring was maybe thirty. So yeah, about seventy dollars. But her reaction⁠—"

"Priceless," Kelley and Candace said simultaneously.

On her phone, Courtney showed them the GoPro video I'd taken on the boat. Of course, it didn't include the segment immediately before when I was kissing her boobs and she was rubbing my crotch.

We all got fits of giggles watching Court's wide array of reactions.

"Aw!" Candy grinned broadly when she watched Courtney's reaction to the final reveal and laughed hard at the fumbles and her scream. Kelley grinned, too, probably playing back in his mind Candy's reaction to his proposal almost five months before.

"I'm so happy for the both of you. Mom and Dad would be so proud," Candy said, beginning to sniffle.

"No! Don't, Candy, you're gonna make the whole table cry," I said, trying not to succumb.

We both managed to keep it in, but I did feel my love's hand softly stroking my leg under the table, understanding the significance of the moment two siblings shared.

"Y'all scooch closer together and put your hands up like this," Kelley said, demonstrating with Candy.

We did as instructed and Kelley took several photographs on his iPhone of our interlocked hands with the glistening diamond on display.

"To the future Peter and Courtney Waters," Candy proposed a toast.

"And to the future Kelley and Candace Jamil," I responded.

We all clinked our glasses together, looking forward to our futures.

Thanks for reading! We always appreciate when readers take the time to comment or send feedback, and we'd love to hear more.

Follow us if you'd like to receive updates about new or updated content.