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“I think you’ll find your explanation in there,” he said.
Raising wide eyes to his, she fumbled the box, catching it before it landed in the truffles, all thumbs when it came to untying the thin silver ribbon and flipping open the top.
Her breath caught as she peered inside, disappointment ricocheting through her as she poked the silver keychain with a miniature coffee cup dangling from it, the heady premature elation of a moment ago dissipating in an instant.
“It’s a keychain.”
Her voice sounded flat and she dragged her gaze to meet his, confused by the sparkle in his eyes.
Taking the box from her, he opened the palm of her hand and slid the key chain into it before closing her fingers over it.
“It’s not just any keychain. It goes with this.”
He reached behind another cushion and produced a flat, slim parcel wrapped in indigo embossed paper, tied with more fancy silver string.
“If this is some weird Valentine’s Day thing—”
“Just open it.”
He nudged the parcel toward her and she had no option but to place the keyring on the table and open her next surprise, more than a little confused when the wrapping fell away to reveal a map.
“Maybe I’m still jet-lagged but I’m not understanding this,” she said, raising an eyebrow as the corners of his mouth twitched.
Easy for him to laugh; she’d unburdened her soul a few minutes ago hoping for the same from him and in return she’d got a few bizarre presents?
Taking the map out of her hands, he unfolded it, laid it on the coffee table, and smoothed it flat. “This should make things a lot clearer.”
He pointed to a large red X in the heart of Melbourne. “The café is here.”
“Hmm, not much clearer.”
Her brows knit in concentration as she followed his finger as he traced a major arterial to another red X.
“Barwon Heads is here.”
“Yeah…”
A glimmer of hope had her clenching her hands to stop from reaching out for the map and rattling it in his face, urging him to get to the point.
“It’s approximately eight-five minutes between here and there. Short enough to commute if someone wanted to have the best of both worlds. A little sea change mingled with a healthy dose of city life, perhaps?”
The tiny bud of joy in her heart unfurled and blossomed as she pushed aside the map and flung herself into his arms, her loud ‘woo-hoo’ reverberating around the empty café.
“I take it this means you like the idea?” His confident grin had her whacking his chest in a playful slap.
“You had this planned all along? Even before I told you how I felt?”
“Sure did. Cool, huh?”
“But what made you change your mind? You ignored my text.”
The thought of what she’d gone through, the pain she’d endured when he hadn’t responded, cast a momentary shadow on her happiness. She never wanted to go through anything remotely like it again.
They belonged together.
Forever.
She’d make sure of it, if it took a thousand compromises and a million miles on the odometer of the car she had to buy considering she’d be making daily trips between the city and the sea.
