# Chapter 17: The Plaza, a Proposal, and the Craziest Yes
Hello everyone, it’s me again! How are you all doing? Today I will continue to walk with you and review Chapter 17 of "Marriage on Madison Avenue." So pour something sparkling, settle in, and let’s step through the doors of the Plaza, where Audrey Tate is about to have the most unexpected champagne of her life.
Audrey arrives at the Plaza dressed for a performance. Emerald-green dress, L. K. Bennett wedges, hair bouncy from a Bergdorf blowout, makeup done by the skilled hands at Charlotte Tilbury. She looks like a bride-to-be, but her mission is the opposite: she is going to confess to Alexis Morgan, the city’s most exclusive wedding planner, that there isn’t going to be a wedding. If she has to end the charade, she might as well do it beautifully. And selfishly, she wants one last taste of being the future Mrs. Clarke West in the reception site of her childhood fantasies.
The Plaza lobby is already humming with elegant chaos when Audrey spots Clarke. He was summoned too. Alexis greets them with champagne flutes and a polished smile, congratulating them on their upcoming nuptials. Audrey’s stomach sinks even as she smiles. This is why they are here—to end it once and for all. But the crowded lobby isn’t the place, so she takes the champagne and follows Alexis into the private event spaces.
Then Alexis opens a door, and Audrey’s breath catches.
The room is a fairy tale. Soft waves of tulle and twinkle lights drape the ceiling. Centerpieces rise nearly three feet high, white flowers cascading like fountains overflowing with blooms instead of water. Delicate pink sashes tie the chairs, and name cards are handwritten in what looks like gold ink. It is everything Audrey ever imagined for her wedding. *It’s my wedding*, she thinks, and the ache of that is almost too much.
Alexis explains she wanted them to see it set up for a Friday reception that matches their vision. Then she drops the real news: there has been a cancellation. The last Saturday in March—the twenty-eighth—is open. A last-minute Saturday at the Plaza is practically a myth. Audrey, caught up in the moment, gasps. But reality crashes down fast. It doesn’t matter. There is no real wedding to plan. She takes a deep breath, ready to confess.
“So, Alexis, Clarke and I really appreciate that you thought of us, but—”
“How last-minute?” Clarke interrupts.
Audrey’s eyes widen. Alexis says the date is March twenty-eighth. Clarke doesn’t look at Audrey. He asks if it’s doable. Alexis says anything is doable, with sacrifices and increased costs, but Audrey’s reputation is valuable to vendors. Clarke says distractedly, “Sure.” Alexis offers a twenty-four-hour hold. Clarke says, “Put the hold on it.” Then he corrects himself: they only need one hour.
Audrey is appalled. How did they go from ending this whole thing to pretending they’re going to book the Plaza? She would kick him if he were closer. But Clarke meets her eyes, and she can’t read him at all. He asks, “Dree. Can we talk?”
In the Plaza’s champagne bar, Audrey sits across from him with a wide-eyed, appalled look that is not the strong start Clarke hoped for. She tells him if he wants to keep the charade going, fine, but she draws the line at taking the Plaza spot from someone who will actually use it. Saturdays in the wedding world are precious currency. Clarke orders the most expensive champagne on the menu. It feels fitting. What he is about to suggest is nuts, and yet it also feels exactly right.
Then he apologizes. Not for being weird, but for Elizabeth. For not telling Audrey what happened years ago. Audrey waves it off at first—water under the bridge—but Clarke keeps going. He didn’t want her to know what Liz thought of him back then. Elizabeth told him he wasn’t marriage material. And the worst part? He had been trying. When they dated, he was trying to be different, better. He had the job at York, he dated the sort of woman his mother wanted, bought flowers, didn’t look at another woman, even learned to cook—not well, but he tried. He did every husbandly thing he could think of.
And Elizabeth didn’t even notice.
She got the job offer in DC, and Clarke thought they would figure it out, because that’s what committed people do. But she didn’t want to figure it out with him. She didn’t even consider it. That burned the most. Over time, the memory dulled, but the lesson stuck: women saw him as the fun guy, the unpredictable party boy, the one with the right last name and bank account. Even the women who wanted him down the aisle wanted the challenge, the inheritance, the West name.
Audrey protests. She tells him Elizabeth was wrong. Just because she couldn’t see his value doesn’t mean someone else won’t. She reaches across the table, and Clarke covers her hand with his. The diamond of her engagement ring digs lightly into his palm. The fact that she put it back on for one last day gives him courage.
“Someone already has,” he says.
Audrey blinks, tries to pull her hand away. She thinks he’s met someone. She is thrilled and surprised, then immediately offers to be his best woman. Clarke nearly laughs at how badly this is going. He starts over. He says Elizabeth was only partially right. He will never fit her mold of marriage, or society’s mold. He doesn’t know how to dote. He’s never met anyone he wants to dote on. And even if he did, he doesn’t have faith that love can last.
Audrey says glumly that he also doesn’t want to end up in love with a guy who is already in love with his wife—a clear jab at Brayden Hayes. Clarke doesn’t argue. Deep down, Audrey probably already knows Brayden only ever loved himself.
Then Audrey asks the real question: if he doesn’t believe in love and doesn’t think he’s marriage material, why is he letting Alexis think they’re going to book the last Saturday in March at the Plaza?
Clarke looks at her. “I said I wasn’t marriage material for *that* kind of marriage.”
She asks if he means the regular kind. He laughs, head dropping forward. “You are really not making this easy.”
“You’re not being particularly clear,” she counters.
Fine. She wants clear? He gives it to her.
“I think we should get married.”
The words hang in the air. He braces for the sky to fall, for the ground to split open, for Audrey to burst out laughing. Instead, the moment the words are out, he knows it is the greatest idea he has ever had, the best thing he has ever said.
Audrey says nothing. So he pushes forward. She has said Brayden ruined marriage for her. He has never particularly wanted it. But that doesn’t mean they can’t get married *their* way. They enjoy each other’s company. They don’t get on each other’s nerves. They understand each other. They look out for each other. They care about each other. Neither of them would have to deal with friends pushing blind dates or parents setting them up. And Scandal Boy would be completely thrown off his game.
Audrey laughs. She isn’t going to get married because some Internet troll has it out for her. Clarke points out she got engaged for that reason. She says that was different—temporary. She is right. It is very different. But he isn’t ready to back down. If she says no, fine. It isn’t as if he’d walk away with a broken heart. That’s kind of the point. With Audrey, there’d never be a risk of that.
Except there is.
With the old Audrey and Clarke dynamic, their hearts were never on the line. But now? Now he has never wanted anything as badly as he wants this. He tells her they are social people. They may have sworn off fairy-tale romance, but they are not meant to be alone. Wouldn’t it be fun to have someone to eat with every night? A built-in date to all the events they get invited to? A partner in life?
Audrey says they can be all of that without being married. They are already halfway there. Clarke’s heart sinks at her skepticism, but he smiles. He tells her she can just say no. She doesn’t have to spare his feelings.
She sips her champagne and says she is thinking. It is the craziest idea she has ever heard in her life, and yet it doesn’t feel that crazy. Clarke’s heart lifts again.
She asks what happens if one of them meets someone. He says they’ll deal with it then. They’d probably win an award for the most amicably divorced couple on the planet. She hesitates, then asks about the physical part. Would it be an open relationship? Because she knows him. He may talk a good game about someone to have dinner with, but he also wants someone to… you know… with.
An image of Audrey naked beneath him, her dark hair spread out on his pillow, tightens his entire body. He nearly groans as he faces the fact he has been avoiding for weeks: he wants her. He wants his best friend in ways that have nothing to do with friendship. To deflect, he teases her. “You can’t say the word *sex*? You’re twenty-nine.”
She pouts and says she can say it. He grins. “Say it.”
“I’ll say it when you tell me where you’ll be getting it in this little scenario of yours.”
“Touché,” he says. He admits he hadn’t really thought about that, but yes, they’d just discreetly take care of business. She calls him out for not being able to say the word either. He says they’d figure it out. They always figure everything out together. That is a solid foundation for a marriage on top of an already rock-solid friendship.
Then Audrey says the words that could stop everything: “But you’re not in love with me.”
Clarke hesitates. “And you’re not in love with me.”
They hold each other’s gazes for a long time. Finally, Audrey looks away with a breath of disbelief. “You’re seriously suggesting this? Getting married?”
“Why not?”
She gives a startled laugh. “Because it’s crazy. It’s *beyond* crazy.”
“Which has always been our favorite way to do things,” he says. “I could get down on one knee if it would help?”
He starts to move out of his chair, but Audrey holds up a hand. “Don’t you dare.”
Clarke freezes. Then Audrey comes around the table and flings her arms around his neck. “Let’s do it. Let’s get freaking married.”
He laughs with her, more certain than ever that the craziest idea of his life is also his best one.
## Reader's Impressions & Star Rating
This chapter is pure magic. It takes the fake-engagement chaos of the story and turns it into something tender, terrifying, and strangely romantic. The Plaza setup is cinematic—the tulle, the twinkle lights, the flower-fountain centerpieces, the champagne—and it makes Audrey’s internal conflict hurt even more because everything she once wanted is right in front of her. Clarke’s confession about Elizabeth gives him so much depth. He isn’t just a charming playboy; he is a man who tried to be better and was told he wasn’t enough. That makes his proposal to Audrey feel less like a joke and more like a plea for a different kind of love. And Audrey’s yes is brave precisely because it is not a fairy-tale yes. It is a yes between two people who are terrified of love but even more terrified of being alone. The tension when they both avoid saying “I love you” is exquisite. I also adore the humor—the champagne, the teasing about the word *sex*, the “best woman” misunderstanding. It balances the emotion beautifully.
⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ Rating: 4.8 / 5 Stars
## Next Chapter Prediction
Now that Audrey has said yes, there is no going back. I predict the next chapter will force them to make their impulsive decision real: calling Alexis back within the hour, setting the Plaza date, and figuring out how to tell their friends and families without sounding insane. The biggest conflict will come from the people around them—Clarke’s mother, Audrey’s friends, maybe Elizabeth or Brayden—who will question whether this marriage is real or just another performance. But the real danger is internal. The “we’re not in love” rule is already cracking, and one charged moment—maybe a kiss, maybe a night where they stop pretending—will change everything. I also expect Scandal Boy to resurface, and for Audrey and Clarke to discover that protecting each other from the world is starting to feel a lot like love.
To listen free the next reviews chatpers, please access website novelsaudio.com and search keyword: Marriage on Madison Avenue or click the link in the description of this video or if you want to listen or read full the Marriage on Madison Avenue please access website novelsaudio.com