The Proposal (wait for You, #2.5)

Jasmine Guillory's The Proposal centers on Nikole "Nik" Paterson, a freelance writer in Silver Lake, Los Angeles, and Carlos Ibarra, a pediatrician at Eastside Medical Center.

Nik is at a Dodgers game with her boyfriend of five months, Fisher, a struggling actor, when he blindsides her with a JumboTron proposal that misspells her name as "Nicole." They have never discussed marriage, and he has never told her he loves her. She refuses, and he storms off with his friends, leaving her alone with tens of thousands of eyes on her. Carlos, sitting nearby with his sister Angela, spots a camera crew heading for Nik. He and Angela pretend to be friends and escort her to her regular bar, where her best friends Courtney Park, owner of a cupcake shop called Cupcake Park, and Dana Carter, an actress, are waiting.

Over drinks, Nik recounts the disaster. Her phone shows angry texts from Fisher that escalate to vague threats. Carlos pays the tab before he and Angela leave, claiming a family event, though Dana suspects Carlos left to give Nik privacy. Courtney suggests Carlos as a rebound, but Nik cites lasting damage from her ex Justin, a surgeon who belittled her writing, and vows celibacy.

The proposal video goes viral, bringing thousands of abusive messages, many racist and misogynistic. Nik tracks down Carlos's work email, and they begin exchanging witty, personal messages. Over Thai food, Nik confides about Fisher's threats. Carlos offers to check her apartment, which she accepts despite hating how helpless it makes her feel. He talks about his close-knit family and his pregnant cousin Jessica. He leaves without making a romantic move, to Nik's frustration.

Motivated by her anger at needing a man to feel safe, Nik signs up for "Punch Like a Girl," a six-week boxing and self-defense course at Natalie's Gym, and convinces Courtney and Dana to join. Meanwhile, Carlos learns that Jessica, nicknamed Jessie, has been diagnosed with preeclampsia, a dangerous pregnancy condition, at 28 weeks. He and Nik text constantly, and when they run into each other at a bookstore, they spend the afternoon together and nearly kiss before a text from Jessie interrupts.

The tension breaks one evening when Carlos volunteers to help Nik and Courtney deliver cupcakes in the Hollywood Hills. On the drive home, his car runs out of gas on a dark hillside road. While waiting for roadside assistance, Carlos reveals he bought the red sports car with life insurance money after his father died of a heart attack five years earlier, a tribute to a dad who loved flashy things. Moved by his openness, Nik kisses him. He cups her face and kisses her back, slowly at first, then urgently.

That night they sleep together for the first time. Over breakfast the next morning, Nik says she is not ready for a relationship, and Carlos agrees, citing work and family obligations. Both are privately delighted and begin seeing each other twice a week, combining sex with meals, conversation, and companionship they insist is casual.

Their intimacy deepens. One evening, Carlos makes risotto while Nik confides that Justin's insults about her writing still haunt her. Carlos tells her that Justin knew nothing about good writing or good people. He reveals the anniversary of his father's death falls near Father's Day, and Nik suggests he talk to Angela and see a doctor. He introduces her to his best friend Drew and Drew's fiancée Alexa, visiting from Berkeley. At dinner, Nik discovers Alexa is Black, something Carlos forgot to mention, and Alexa learns the same about Nik; the women bond immediately. Prompted by Nik, Carlos spends the anniversary with Angela for the first time.

A turning point comes on a Saturday when they make enchiladas for Jessie's freezer. Nik seeds dried chilies without gloves, touches her face, and sets her skin on fire with capsaicin. Carlos improvises a sour cream remedy, and they collapse on the bathroom floor laughing. The moment shatters when Jessie calls: Her blood pressure has spiked, and doctors are preparing an emergency C-section at 34 weeks. Carlos races to the hospital while Nik stays to finish the enchiladas, then drives a pan to the hospital without being asked. Angela covers for her, and Carlos's mother insists she stay. When Jessie's husband Jon announces mother and baby are safe, the room erupts in relief. Jessie names the baby Eva Jane.

The next morning, Carlos wakes and realizes he is in love with Nik. He tells her immediately. She suggests he is riding an emotional high, but he insists what they have is already a relationship. When Nik says she is not ready, Carlos grows furious, accusing her of using him and discarding men for sport. He says he wishes she had not come to the hospital and storms out. Nik collects every trace of herself from his home and leaves.

At Cupcake Park, Dana points out that driving food to a hospital is not something Nik would do for someone she merely liked. Nik admits her fear traces back to Justin, who loved only part of her and made her feel her career did not matter. Her friends argue she is stronger now, but Nik insists that liking Carlos raises the stakes. Angela tells Carlos his refusal to date is rooted in guilt over not being there when their father died; he does not need to be her dad, just her brother.

During the weeks apart, Nik interviews Natalie for a story about the gym. Natalie reveals she escaped an emotionally abusive marriage and says the key to trusting others was learning to trust herself first: her instincts and her emotions. The answer resonates deeply with Nik.

Fisher then appears at Nik's building, revealing his proposal was a calculated career move and that he dated her because being seen with someone he called "urban" opened doors in the industry. Nik punches him in the face. Back inside, icing her knuckles, she realizes the person she most wants to tell is Carlos. He alone understands her journey from the frightened woman who needed her apartment checked to the one who just knocked a man down.

Carlos emails to thank Nik for cupcakes she sent Jessie through Courtney's shop, to report that baby Eva is coming home, and to apologize for what he said. Nik writes and deletes five responses. Days later, passing sour cream in a grocery aisle, she laughs out loud remembering the chili disaster and realizes she is in love with him.

She enlists Angela, who gives her a key to Carlos's house. While Angela keeps him busy, Nik decorates his living room with Dodger pennants, streamers, and Cracker Jack, hooking her laptop to his TV to create a makeshift JumboTron that reads: "CARLOS / I LOVE YOU / NIK."

When Carlos walks in, Nik tells him she realized she loved him in the sour cream aisle at Vons. She explains that the last man she loved only loved part of her, but Carlos loves every part, even the parts she dislikes, and that scared her until she understood it was not a trap. Carlos says he missed her and could not pretend he did not love her. He tells her he went to the doctor; she tells him she punched Fisher, and he lifts her off the ground. Nik asks him to be patient as she learns to love and be loved, and he tells her she already knows how, better than she thinks.