“Wait for it,” she said. I saw her flash of a smile in the darkness, and I wasn’t sure if I wanted to throttle her or kiss her. Oh, who was I kidding? I was only here because I wanted to kiss her until the end of time. Damn it.

When she had the top completely dismantled, she reached over me and pulled the lever on my seat. I went down hard into a full recline and she landed on top of me. My arms went instinctively around her and pulled her close.

“Hi,” she whispered.

“Hi,” I said. Before I lost my train of thought, I asked, “If you won’t tell me what we’re doing here, will you tell me why we’re here?”

“Light pollution,” she said. “We had to get out of it, so we could see.”

“See what?” I asked. We were in the middle of nowhere in the dark. What were we supposed to see? Cactus? Coyotes?

Again she grinned and said, “Wait—”

“For it,” I said. “Yeah, I got that. Is it all right if I kiss you while I’m waiting?”

She glanced at her phone. “Yes, we have a few minutes before it gets good.”

And that, my friends, was how I came to be making out in a borrowed Jeep in the middle of the desert at night. I had just gotten to the point where I felt clothing needed to be removed when Annabelle pulled back and reclined her own seat. She had more blankets that she pulled from the back seat as well as a flask of whiskey, which she handed to me.

“Okay, get ready,” she said.

Get ready for what? My prurient brain had a host of scenarios run through it, and I was about to give her a dirty multiple-choice pop quiz when she grabbed my hand and gasped, “Look!”

In the darkness I could just make out her profile and I noticed she was watching the sky. I turned my head and glanced up. The stars were a million times brighter out here and I had to admire how many there were and how they sparkled like a fistful of glitter that had been thrown across the dark night and stuck.

And then a flash caught my eye. It was gone before I registered what it was. I stared, trying to figure it out. And then, there was another and another. It was as if the sky had come alive, and I marveled at the natural wonder as bright sparks kept flying off in all directions.

“Is that . . . ?” My voice trailed off. I had no words to describe it.

“Shooting stars,” she said. “Aren’t they beautiful?”

“I’ve never seen anything like it,” I said. I was whispering as if a loud noise might interrupt the magic.