I leaned my head back against his chest. “We’re going to get married in this chapel.”

“Right now?” Jared asked. I turned to scold him for mocking me, but he had a glimmer of hope in his eyes.

My grimace instantly turned into an appreciative grin. “I’d like to come back here…when the time comes.”

Jared’s irises glowed with the same azure blue as the sea. “I would travel to the ends of the earth to marry you.”

He grazed the line of my jaw with his thumb and pressed his lips against mine. I melted against him. Jared’s grip tightened as he sensed my elation, and my imagination transformed my clothes into a white dress and Jared’s khaki shorts and t-shirt into a suit.

“We’d better get back,” he said, looking up at the dark clouds rolling in from the horizon.

I nodded, and he led me away from our chapel. I watched it as we walked down the block until it disappeared behind the palm trees.

Friday morning came too soon, and Jared became the authoritative personality he transformed into when organizing the progression of our things from one point to another. Once in the air, Jared put his hand on mine.

“You’ve been quiet all morning. You want to talk about it?” he asked.

“I wasn’t ready. It went by too fast,” I murmured, looking out the window of the plane.

“We’ll take another vacation soon. The moment you finish your last final, I’ll have Robert take us to the airport and we’ll get on a plane…just you and me. Somewhere with air conditioning,” Jared promised, kissing my hand.

I sighed and nodded. Even though the prospect was infinitely appealing, I couldn’t rise above the morose I felt.

Jared lifted my chin to look into my eyes, appraising my mood for a moment. He seemed to deliberate something, finally pressing his lips together. “I was going to wait, but I think I should give this to you now,” he said, standing up to dig inside his duffle bag.

He sat down beside me and placed a small woven box in my lap. “Open it,” he smiled.

I pulled at the lid. Sitting on tiny shreds of palm fronds sat the ring I’d tried on in the village. A smile broke across my face.

“You liked that one, right?”

“I loved that one,” I said.

The sadness from our departure intertwined with how touched I was that he somehow went back to the village and bought the ring without my knowledge. Tears formed rapidly in my eyes.

Jared lifted the ring and held it between his fingers. My eyes darted from his hand to his eyes; he seemed nervous about something.

“I have a request,” Jared said, smiling sheepishly.

I raised an eyebrow. “A condition?”