Which is how they ended up in two first-class seats from LAX to Oahu that Friday morning. She fell asleep on his shoulder as soon as they took off, but he nudged her awake about an hour before they landed.

“I don’t want you to miss your first descent into Hawaii,” he said.

She smiled sleepily at him and turned to look out the window. For a while, nothing disturbed the endless blue of the ocean. And then, suddenly …

“Is that it?” she asked.

He peered over her shoulder and nodded.

“That’s it. I can’t wait for you to see it.”

They landed during a soft, warm rain. At first Max was disappointed that Olivia’s first views of Hawaii would be in the rain, until she pointed.

“A rainbow!”

She had a look of pure awe on her face. Max could have watched Olivia look at that rainbow for hours.

The rainbow wavered in front of them as they drove away from the airport, but finally the sun came all the way out, and the rainbow disappeared, just as they made the turn toward their hotel.

“Now,” Max said. “Let’s see just how fast we can plant our asses in lounge chairs by the pool.”

They checked into their hotel in a flash, and raced, giggling, into their room to change. Olivia threw off her clothes almost before Max had his suitcase open, and before he could pounce on her, she’d pulled a bright red bikini on and slipped on flip-flops. He reassured himself that he’d have plenty of opportunities to pounce on her this weekend.

“What’s taking you so long? I thought this was a race.” Olivia grinned at him, her hat in one hand and a bottle of sunscreen in the other. “Get my back, will you?”

She handed him the sunscreen and turned her back to him. And then she gasped and walked toward the window.

“What is it?” He dropped the sunscreen on the bed and followed her.

“This view. Holy shit.” She stared outside at the golden beach, bright blue water, and choppy white waves, then turned back around to him. “Why do you still have pants on? Let’s go!”

But Olivia didn’t let him stop at the lounge chairs by the pool. Instead, they went straight to the beach. She dropped her beach bag in the sand, and they ran into the water holding hands. They both recoiled at the impact of the freezing cold Pacific Ocean, then grinned at each other and went in deeper.

“You’re right,” Olivia said to him, once they’d both treaded water in silence for a few minutes. “Hawaii is perfect.”

He leaned forward and kissed her. She tasted like salt water and lip balm and happiness.

“Now Hawaii is perfect,” he said.