One Hundred Proposals. Holly Martin

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      Proposer’s Blog

      Day 3: The Hot Air Balloon Proposal. Location: Over the fields of Hertfordshire.

       I know the consensus will be split down the middle here, with half of you thinking ‘Awww, a hot air balloon proposal, how romantic,’ and the other half thinking ‘how clichéd, he might as well do it on top of the Eiffel Tower if he’s going to trot out these old fashioned proposals.’ I’m not sure where Suzie stands on this issue. I knew she had always wanted to go in a hot air balloon, and I want to make her dreams come true, but ultimately I know she’s looking for something unique. So I tried to balance this out with my proposal written on a hand painted banner as we floated majestically above the sun-kissed fields. It was perfect. Well, at least in my head.

      Things started well, better than well actually. When Suzie realised she was going hot air ballooning, she threw herself into my arms, shouting for the entire world to hear how much she loved me. Now for all you would-be proposers out there, I imagine hearing the words ‘I love you’ are quite pivotal when you’re about to propose. Who would have thought it – Suzie Mackenzie, champion of the extraordinary proposal, was won with a simple hot air balloon proposal. She really is an old romantic at heart.

      But never in my wildest dreams did I imagine it going in the direction it went next. For one, my beautiful proposal was upside down thanks to the uselessness of my ex-friend Badger. For personal reasons, I can’t tell you how badly it went wrong after that – matters beyond anyone’s control.

      But Suzie did seem very impressed by the amount of effort involved in this one. I don’t think a proposal has to be expensive, but the amount of effort involved is clearly, in the eyes of the woman anyway, directly proportional to how much the man loves them. Obviously this is the way I’m going to have to go from now on.

      I finished reading the blog. Harry had rewritten it three times. There was so much we couldn’t put in. We couldn’t possibly damage the reputation of Carlton Balloons for something that was quite clearly not their fault. How many people would want to book balloon flights with them if they knew there was the possibility of crashing? Frank had been flying balloons for around sixty years. He had a spotless record, and many customers commented on how gentle the landings were in comparison to other balloon pilots. There was no way we could tell the truth.

      We had heard back from Frank’s family a few hours before and he was fine. The doctors were keeping him in overnight to do more tests, much to Frank’s annoyance, but his son said they were confident that he’d be allowed to go home tomorrow.

      ‘Is it ok?’ Harry asked, after returning with two teas from the kitchen.

      ‘It’s fine, but I don’t know about the extra effort thing. As we said yesterday, the small proposals are sometimes the best.’

      ‘I thought you would like it, it might encourage our customers to go with some of our more extravagant proposals.’

      I smiled. After my moaning the day before about how many basic packages we had sold, Harry was trying to rectify it.

      ‘Oh, so this hundred proposals is all tactical then, it’s not about finding me the perfect proposal at all, it’s just a business stunt?’

      Harry completely missed the tone of my voice. I was joking, but his face fell and the look of hurt on his face was like a punch to the gut.

      ‘Is that what you think?’

      ‘I was joking, I’m sorry – I didn’t mean it.’

      ‘This wasn’t about the business at all, I thought you knew that.’

      ‘I honestly don’t know why you’re doing all this. No one has ever gone to this much effort for me before and I don’t understand why you are?’

      He stared at me and it was clear that he didn’t want to say why. I waited, watching him.

      ‘I wanted to cheer you up. You’ve been so down since Jack died, I wanted you to have something to look forward to every day.’

      I felt like I’d just been hit by a bus. My lip wobbled, an actual wobble, and I looked away as tears filled my eyes. Harry quickly moved to hold me. Again. It was not actually possible to love this man more than I loved him right now.

      ‘Oh God, Harry,’ I whispered into his shirt, as he held me tight against him.

      ‘I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to make you cry.’

      ‘They’re happy tears, I promise.’ I pushed him gently away and he stepped back to look at me with concern. ‘I’m just lucky to have you.’

      He smiled, with relief, then moved to look at his computer, clearly embarrassed.

      ‘Sixty-one followers on our blog so far. That’s amazing.’

      I smiled at the change of subject.

      ‘That’s fantastic.’

      ‘Yes. And after mentioning Nadia’s Bakery in yesterday’s blog, I’ve had emails from quite a few places begging us to use them in my next proposal.’

      I moved closer as he scrolled through his emails.

      ‘Anything interesting?’

      He quickly minimised his email screen. ‘Nosy aren’t you. I don’t want to spoil the surprise.’

      He logged off his computer and any hints at what was to come vanished into a screen of blue. He checked his watch and pulled on his jacket.

      ‘Hot date with Sexy Samantha tonight?’

      ‘No, I’m meeting Badger for drinks and a few games of pool. Any hot plans for you?’

      ‘Dinner with my lovely sister-in-law.’

      ‘Excellent, have fun.’ He planted a quick kiss on my cheek and left. If this goodbye kiss was going to become a regular feature, I could get used to it.

      *

      A splat of something green and foul-smelling hit the side of my cheek.

      Bella giggled and laughed as the green mush slid down her face too.

      ‘Is your niece causing a mess again?’ shouted Jules from the kitchen.

      I scooped Bella up out of the chair and plonked her on my lap, hoping to minimise the splatter damage if I was behind her. ‘No she’s just perfect, aren’t you, pumpkin.’

      Bella chuckled and wiggled СКАЧАТЬ