“I found us a different flight,” I said easily, leaning forward to kiss her.

“Okay,” she said, kissing me back. “Why?”

I pulled away slightly and stared into her eyes. “This one stops in Vegas,” I replied.

“Las Vegas?” She still didn’t understand.

“Las Vegas,” I confirmed, smiling. “Where you can walk into any chapel and get married on the spot.”

“Oh,” she breathed, her eyes widening.

“We’ll get there tomorrow night, and our flight leaves at noon the next day.”

“That must’ve cost a fortune,” she said.

“It wasn’t too bad,” I lied. “I got us a room, and we’re all set.”

“When did you do all this?” she asked with a chuckle.

“When you were breaking tradition,” I joked.

“I’ve never been to Vegas,” she said, her lips tipping up at the edges.

“Sorry,” I replied, my smile growing. “But we won’t have time to sightsee this trip We’ll be finding the first chapel and then spending the rest of the night in bed.”

“Can’t wait,” she murmured, leaning forward to kiss me.

*  *  *

The next twenty-four hours flew by. Time at home with my family always went by quickly, and leaving a day earlier made that feeling even worse. It was tempered by excitement, though.

We kept our plans to ourselves as we said our good-byes, but I felt Ani’s suspicious eyes on me more than once. She knew something was up, and she didn’t buy the story that I’d mistaken the day I was supposed to be back in Missouri. She kept her mouth shut, though.

“Are you coming home for Christmas?” she asked, hugging me good-bye.

“Not sure yet,” I replied, surprising her. I never missed Christmas.

“Oh,” she said finally in understanding. “I didn’t even think that you’d have to coordinate plans with your new lady.”

“I’m not sure if she wants to go home for the holidays,” I said with a small shrug, even though the idea of missing Christmas bummed me out.

“Ooh,” Ani said. “Maybe she’ll take you home to meet the family.”

“Maybe.” I glanced over at Sarai, who was saying good-bye to my parents. They both hugged her, and my dad said something in her ear that made her laugh.

“You did good,” Ani said, following my gaze. “I like her.”

“I knew you would.”

“No you didn’t,” she scoffed. “It could’ve gone either way.”

“Not true.”

“You have shit taste in women,” Ani said.

“I do not.” I looked at her in disbelief. “And I’ve never even brought any women to meet you.”

“Exactly,” she said, nodding. “Because you knew they were shitty.”

“That’s not—”

“Jesus,” Bram cut in, shaking his head as he stepped beside us. “You two are like twelve-year-olds.”

“No we’re not,” Ani and I both replied at the same time.

“Jinx, you owe me a Coke,” we both said at the same time again.