Before dinner, Olivia showered and changed out of her swimsuit and cover-up, and into her favorite caftan. Aaah, this is why she loved Hawaii.

When she came out of the bathroom, the food was all set up on their oceanfront balcony.

“There you are,” Max said as she walked out to join him. “Oh, by the way, since it’s August, I thought we should take the opportunity to revisit this.” He opened the folder sitting on the table, and there was their contract. They each had a copy, but this was the original.

“Oh.” She supposed she couldn’t argue with that; after all, the whole “we’ll revisit every August” part had been on her list. “Yeah, that makes sense. I hadn’t realized you brought this with you.”

She was glad Max had thought about this. Though maybe it didn’t have to be their first night in Hawaii?

“It felt wrong to do it with a copy,” he said. “Let’s get to it: is there anything you want to alter, or edit?”

She bit her lip and thought about it. She couldn’t think of anything right now, but …

“Don’t I get some time to consider that?”

Max laughed out loud.

“I should have expected that, shouldn’t I?” He leaned over and kissed her. “Yes, of course you do. We’ll be here all week, so you have plenty of time. It won’t surprise you that I already know what my edits are.”

She actually was kind of surprised by that. Did it mean something had been bothering Max for months and he hadn’t wanted to bring it up until August? She hadn’t intended to be quite so dogmatic about that. Maybe that’s what her edit would be, that they’d discuss it every August, or at any other time if either party desired a reconsideration.

“Okay,” she said. “What are your edits?”

Max took her hand.

“I want my last line to say, ‘I will love you, and honor you, and cherish you, in sickness and in health, for as long as we both shall live.’ Olivia. Will you marry me?”

So many tears streamed from her eyes she could barely see him.

He kissed her hand.

“And obviously, you get as much time as you need to give me an answer.”

She swatted his hand away, and immediately grabbed it again.

“No!” She shook her head. “That’s not—I mean, no, I don’t need time, yes, yes, I’ll marry you!”

He grabbed her and kissed her so hard she could barely breathe, but she didn’t mind. They smiled at each other as they sat there together on a lounge chair. Olivia was so happy it hurt.