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“But we made it,” she said. “And look at us now.”
“Yeah.” He put his hand on top of hers for a long moment. “I have everything I’ll ever need or want, right here in the car with me.”
“Me, too, Gideon,” she whispered. “Me, too.”
When they turned off the interstate at Boughton three hours later, Alex studied everything. There were cattle in the fields along the side of the road. Ranch houses at the ends of long driveways. A few gently rolling hills. None of which they’d seen on the last trip.
As they reached the edge of town, Gideon pulled into the Boughton truck stop, the same place they’d stopped to eat and stock up. It was a lot busier -- full of semi-trailers and a number of cars. “I thought we’d have lunch here, if you don’t mind. For old time’s sake.”
“Sounds good to me.”
It was late for breakfast but early for lunch, and there weren’t too many people in the diner. Gideon said something to the hostess in a low voice. Handed her something. She smiled and nodded. Grabbed two menus and led them to the booth in the corner. The same one they’d occupied on that first trip.
After they’d ordered and the waitress took the menus, Gideon’s foot tapped the floor. He moved the salt and pepper shakers around. Straightened the napkin holder. Finally she reached across the table and took his hand. “What’s wrong, bae? Why are you so jittery?”
Holding her gaze, Gideon took a deep breath. Then another. Slid out of the booth, then got down on one knee beside her. Pulled a small square box out of his pocket.
“Alex Conway, this is the place where I first got to know you. First realized what an interesting, intriguing woman you were. The kind of woman who wouldn’t take any shit from me, even though you thought I might want to kill you. It looks different today, but it all started for me right here in this diner. I couldn’t think of a better place to ask you to marry me.” He opened the ring box to show her a stunning ring. It held a large round diamond, with smaller ones in a channel setting in the band. “Will you marry me, Alex? Spend the rest of your life with me?”
She leaped out of the booth and embraced him. “Yes, Gideon. Of course I’ll marry you. I love you more than I ever thought possible, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you.”
He slid the ring onto her left hand, then she drew him to his feet. They wrapped their arms around each other and kissed, until the sound of clapping broke through Alex’s happy cocoon.
She looked around, and all the patrons of the diner were watching them with huge smiles on their faces. The smiling waitress hurried over.
“We don’t get a lot of proposals in here,” she said, hugging first Alex then Gideon. “Congratulations. Your meals are on the house.”
“Thank you,” Alex said, staring at the ring on her left ring finger. She looked up at Gideon. “This was perfect,” she whispered. “Absolutely perfect.”
“A story to tell the kids?” he said. “How dad proposed to mom in a truck stop?”
“Kids? We’ve never even discussed kids.” Her smile widened. “But I like the sound of that. We can tell them this was the most romantic proposal ever.” She wrapped her arms around him and held on tight.
“Come on,” Gideon said a half-hour later as he dropped a twenty-dollar bill on the table. “We have another stop to make.”
Five minutes later, they pulled into the parking lot at the Parkside Motel. Several cars sat in front of units, and the vacancy sign was lit. Alex was still staring at her ring when Gideon opened her door and drew her out of the car. They walked into the office with their fingers twined together, and a gray-haired woman looked up from the desk. Smiled. “Hi. I’m Mary Lou. You need a room?”
“We do,” Gideon said. “But first of all, we owe you an apology.”
The woman’s smile faded. “For what? I don’t think we’ve ever met.”
“We haven’t, but we broke into one of your rooms last March. When that big snowstorm hit. We needed a place to stay where no one would think to look for us.” He explained their situation and told her which room they’d stayed in.
The woman stared from Gideon to Alex. Back to Gideon. “You were the ones who left the money,” she said. “We’ve wondered about that for the last six months. My husband and I made up all kinds of stories about where that money might have come from. But a fake hitman and his target never occurred to us.”
She turned and opened the door to the apartment. “Harry, come out here.”
When her husband emerged, she said, “These are the people who left that money in room 15. I’ll tell you their story later.”
Harry beamed at them. “Thank you for that,” he said. “We had some damage from that storm. That money was a life saver.”
“Glad we could help,” Alex said. She glanced at Gideon, suspecting what he wanted. Turned back to Mary Lou. “Is Room 15 available? We’d like to stay the night.”
Mary Lou beamed. “It sure is. I’ll get the key.”
Gideon pulled out his wallet and set a credit card on the counter. When Mary Lou saw it, she shook her head. “No way. That room is on the house this time.”
“I insist,” Gideon said. “Sounds like that money paid for the storm damage, not for our stay last time.”
