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Paige fires out of her chair and dashes into the bedroom. I quickly dab my lips with my napkin and stand up to meet her when she rushes back into the living room with the golden-wrapped box. It’s rectangular, about a foot wide, only a few inches thick, but large enough to hold our entire future together.
She holds it up to her ear and gives it a shake. “What is it?”
“I don’t know,” I say. “Rip it open and see.”
“It’s wrapped so well, though...”
She playfully hesitates before pinching a corner and tearing it off. I ignore the paper falling to the floor in favor of catching the look on her face instead.
If I blink, I’ll miss it.
Paige pulls the lid off the box, and her eyes widen. “Oh, what’s this?” She removes the hardback book from inside. “Soulmates in Sixty Seconds? A first edition?” she asks, excited.
I smile as she looks up at me. “Check out the title page,” I say.
She lifts the cover and gasps. “A signed first edition?!”
“Personalized.”
“For Paige,” she reads aloud. “You snagged yourself a good one. Best wishes to you both. Love, Mel Rose. Oh, my god! Oliver!”
“Do you like it?” I tease. “I can’t tell if you like it.”
“I love it! Are you kidding? How did you even get this?”
“The Company Liaison of a billion-dollar corporation is full of resources,” I quip. “Actually, an intern in Chicago made it happen. I got to talking to him a while back and he just so happens to be best friends with Melanie Rose’s younger brother, so...”
“Oh, my god,” she says again. “Oliver, this...”
She opens the book to the middle and goes quiet. A diamond ring sits inside, nestled in a small square of velvet in a hole cut out of the pages. It shines so brightly at her I see it reflecting at me in her glasses.
I lower to one knee. “Paige...”
“Oliver...” She picks up the ring. “You...”
“Will you marry me?”
“You destroyed this book!”
I pause. “What?”
“You cut a hole through a first edition Melanie Rose?” she says, raising her voice. “Are you insane?!”
“Is that a no?” I ask.
“The poor thing...”
“Paige.”
“What?”
I smile at her flustered expression. “Paige, will you marry me?” I ask again.
She pauses, her eyes big and wide as she stares at the ring. I wait on bended knee, each silent second feeling like minutes in time.
“Yes,” Paige finally says.
“Yes that’s a no, or...?”
