Jake and Emily first met on Friday, November 2nd, 2018 at the One Loudoun Barnes and Noble. Both had just graduated from college the previous May and were in transitional periods of their lives. Emily was working at Barnes and Noble while preparing to teach English in South Korea and Jake was working at a sports bar in Purcellville while applying to be an officer in the Navy. That day while Emily was working, Jake walked into Barnes and Noble looking for classic literature. The store was fairly empty at that time so Emily and a few of her coworkers were chatting and making jokes near the entrance of the store. Emily, who was working the register, noticed Jake approach the counter and quickly made her way over to help, still laughing from something her coworker had said. Upon seeing Jake up close for the first time, Emily immediately felt a bit self-conscious of the goofy smile on her face. As she rang up a stack of Shakespeare books, the two of them engaged in small talk, quickly establishing that they had both recently received college degrees - which was a relief for both of them, considering they each looked like they could still be in high school. Jake and Emily talked about school and soon found a common interest in creative writing. When Emily mentioned her plan to teach English in South Korea, Jake said he had planned to do something similar in Japan but that it didn't work out. They continued talking for a bit before someone else came in line behind Jake. Jake grabbed his books and receipt (including a complementary coffee coupon) and left the store. Emily, thinking Jake was going to ask her out, was disappointed and thought she would never see him again. When she got home shortly after, she mentioned the cute boy to her mom. While Emily wasn't scheduled to work during the weekend, she did have an early morning full staff meeting on Sunday. The meeting ended right before the store opened, and as customers started to wander in, Emily couldn't help but wonder if Jake would be back that day. At work the following Monday, Emily kept thinking about Jake. She hoped he would come back to the store although she didn't think it likely. To her surprise, Jake actually returned! After browsing for a bit, Jake headed up to the register where Emily was. He handed her a single pen - one with a level, ruler, and screwdriver. His excuse for buying the pen was that he had just bought a journal and realized he didn't have a pen...how clever! As Emily rang up the pen, the two properly introduced themselves and joked about whether they would ever have a use for the tools in the pen. Despite the clear signs that Jake was interested, he simply left the line again after another customer walked up behind him. This time, however, he went over to the store's cafe to buy a coffee with the coupon he received with his receipt. Afterwards, Emily noticed him browsing the store again, reigniting her hope that she hadn't been misreading his signals. Alas, Jake approached the counter once more with the book Emma by Jane Austen. When he got another coffee coupon with his receipt, Jake asked Emily if she liked coffee and offered her the coupon. Slightly disappointed, Emily said yes and took the coupon despite not intending to use it. But then Jake continued with "or would you like to get coffee with me sometime?" Emily's heart jumped as she replied "Why not?" and shakily scribbled her number on Jake's receipt. "I hope you can read my chicken scratch," she said as Jake took back the receipt. Luckily, Jake had been able to read that chicken scratch since he texted her later that day to plan their first date. He would soon be dubbed the "Pen Guy" by Grandma Betty.

On Christmas Eve 2021, Jake and Emily went out to dinner in Downtown Oklahoma City. After dinner, they went to nearby Scissortail Park to walk around and look at the Christmas lights. Immediately after arriving at the park, Emily noticed a giant Christmas tree in the center of an open field and wanted to go over to it. Jake, however, said he wanted to walk around first and end their trip at the tree. Emily thought nothing of it and went along with Jake toward the old train station where there was a light show accompanied by Christmas music. As they made their way around the park and back towards to the Christmas tree, Jake became more and more on edge, although Emily was largely oblivious. When they reached the field with the Christmas tree, they waited for a family to finish taking photos before heading closer. There was also a group of teenage boys hanging around the tree so they went over to ask one of the teenagers to take their picture. Right before Jake approached one of the teenagers, he handed Emily an envelope with her name on it. Suddenly frazzled, Emily didn't know whether to read the card now or after they'd taken their photos. Jake told her to read the card now and so, with shaking hands, Emily opened the card. It read: Em, Think I finally figured out when to use this. Love you forever. - Jake As Emily looked up, Jake got down on one knee and pulled out the multi-tool pen he had bought at Barnes and Noble the day he asked Emily out. Clipped to the pen was a beautiful antique ring. Of course you already know Emily said yes! Side note: you can watch the proposal video on our gallery page. Jake asked the teenagers to film it. When you watch the video, all you can hear is the teenagers' funny exclamations. Photo Credit: Photography Du Jour