One day, I was working from home while my mom was at the office. Early in the morning, my dad had mentioned that he was going to check on the house they were building in North Georgia after the storms the day before. Around midday, Patrick texted me to let me know his phone was about to die, but that he was out running an errand and would let me know when he got home. After three hours without hearing from him, I started to get worried, and I also realized that it had been a while since my dad had left. I was getting hungry, and as evening approached, I decided to check Dad’s location on Life360 to see if he might pass somewhere to grab me some food. But when I opened the app, his location was turned off—totally out of character for him.

I remembered that I had shared my location with him via text, so I checked there, and to my surprise, I saw that his location was showing him crossing the Alabama-Georgia state line. This was far off from the house, and it hit me—my dad had lied to both me and my mom about where he was going. My dad had only ever told a few harmless white lies before, so I started thinking of all the possible reasons why he might have done this. Almost immediately, it clicked. Patrick’s family lives in Alabama, so I started to wonder if it had something to do with him. The only logical explanation was that it had to do with Patrick proposing.

I immediately called my friend Shyenne to explain everything. Shyenne, always the voice of reason, reminded me that while it could mean a proposal was coming, I shouldn’t get my hopes up too high. I brushed off her advice and, excitedly, called my mom to tell her what I had found. Mom was not only concerned, but she was also upset that Dad had lied. She told me that if Patrick hadn’t talked to her about a proposal, she would be extremely disappointed. At that point, I called Shyenne again and told her that I wasn’t getting engaged anymore, but I still couldn’t shake the thought of why Dad had lied. Mom suggested that I talk to Dad when he got home to see if he would tell me what he was up to.

By the time Dad arrived home, I had pushed any thoughts of a proposal aside. When I asked him why he had lied, he and Mom had already worked out a story, and I fully believed it. I was a bit sad, but I accepted that engagement wasn’t going to happen during our upcoming trip to Charleston. A few days later, I laughed with Patrick, telling him how I had gotten carried away with my engagement theory and how I’d even called Shyenne. I found it all so funny—until Patrick started crying. He explained that he had wanted to propose on the trip because it would’ve been perfect, but it just wasn’t feasible yet. I felt awful, so I made sure that I didn’t bring it up again.

Fast forward a couple of weeks, and we were in Charleston. The year before, we had visited the city and gone to Sullivan’s Island to watch the sunrise. It was such a special memory, and I insisted we do it again this trip. On the morning of the sunrise, we arrived at the beach while it was still dark. We enjoyed some coffee as the sun began to rise. I had brought my camera with me because I loved the photos we took the year before and wanted to capture more memories. Patrick was taking pictures of me and told me to turn around to look at the ocean for a more aesthetic shot. I stayed like that for a bit, then turned around—and there he was, on one knee!

It was the most beautiful and surprising moment, and I’m so glad they managed to pull it off. Patrick got the genuine reaction he had been hoping for, and it was the perfect ending to the best surprise ever.

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A few key takeaways from this experience:

1. I can trust my gut.

2. Dad only lies when it’s something harmless but really important… like a proposal.

3. A charging phone case is in Patrick’s future, for sure!

4. Patrick, mom, and dad have some insane acting skills.