“Really?”
“Yes. Oh, and those two weeks I told you to take off? We’re going on a honeymoon.”
“Wow. Why didn’t you tell me before?”
“You would have said two weeks is too long.”
“It is.”
“It’s just enough to relax.”
“You’ve already arranged it? What if I I’m changing my mind about taking time off?”
He tilted his head playfully, placing one hand on the counter, right next to my hip. “I’d change your mind right back.”
I exhaled sharply. “Where are we going?”
He dug a hand in the inside breast pocket of his jacket, taking out a folded sheet of paper and handing it to me. I set my bowl on the counter and carefully unfolded the paper.
He’d printed out the flight itinerary. We were flying via Dubai to... I scanned the rest of the page, zeroing in on the destination. We were flying to the Maldives.
I blinked repeatedly. My eyes were burning as I looked back up at him.
“Shit, you’re crying. Did I do something wrong? You’ve been wanting to go there since high school.”
I chuckled through the tears. By way of answering, I wrapped my arms around his neck, rising on my tiptoes and burying my face in the crook of his neck. I warmed all over when he brought his arms around my waist.
“When have you gotten so good at surprises? Thank you.”
“You’re welcome.”
I had always wanted to go, but one thing or the other had always gotten in the way. Law school, then getting a job, then working long hours to make senior, now working toward becoming a partner, always worrying that it would count against me if I took so much time off, always wondering if I wasn’t better off saving more instead of spending money on extravagant vacations.
“Why didn’t you tell me until now, though?” I asked, pulling back.
“You would’ve tried to convince me to go somewhere nearer, cheaper.”
I grinned. I definitely would have.
“How much—” I began, but Hunter shook his head.
“Everything’s already taken care of, and you’re not allowed to give me shit about it.”
“Not allowed? We’ll see about that.”
On Friday, I went to work with one thought in mind: that Jacuzzi was going to be all mine this afternoon. All mine.
My family was arriving tomorrow morning. They were supposed to arrive yesterday, but their flight got canceled because of a technical problem. They’d been rebooked for tomorrow.
I’d planned to take Mom, my sister, and my brother’s girlfriend to a spa this afternoon, but that had fallen through.
I wanted to do something nice for them, and tomorrow we’d all go, but it wasn’t the same thing. I’d wanted to spend some quality time with them today—my last full day as a single woman.
I got strange looks from my coworkers, but I didn’t put two and two together until someone straight up asked, “We weren’t expecting you here the day before your wedding. Brides usually take the day off.”
“Oh.” Shit. Shit. Shit. That hadn’t even occurred to me. I tried to sound casual. “Everything is already taken care of. I just wanted to finalize a few things. Besides, my fiancé is taking me to the Maldives for two weeks. Need to sort out a few things.”
There, that sounded like a solid reason. Katherine didn’t look like she was buying it. Cold sweat broke out on my neck as I wondered if the immigration services would question my work colleagues. I hoped not, because this would be a red flag. Besides, if my boss found out I was being investigated by the USCIS, I could kiss that promotion goodbye.