Page 116 of The Meeting

“Yes.”

He reached underneath his plate, feeling for the little packet he had left at the restaurant only an hour ago, taking it out and handing it to her. He watched as she opened it and confusion crossed her face.

“Plane tickets to Italy?” she asked. “Are you going with your family?”

“Weare going with my family.”

Her mouth opened, then closed, then opened, then closed again before she stared at him, dumbfounded.

He laughed and took her hand in his. “Kailynn, I would love nothing more than for you to accompany me to Italy to meet the rest of my family and spend some time on our vineyard.”

“Wow. I just... wow.”

That wasn’t quite the response he was expecting. He furrowed his eyebrows. “Did I jump the gun? Do you not want to go? Is it because my mama was awful when you met her?”

She shook her head quickly. “No. No. Of course I want to go. And I love your mom. I just, oh my God. Chase, I’ve never traveled out of the country before. Are you for real?”

He nodded. “Please come with me.”

“I would love to.” The excitement that seemed to burst from her was the exact response he had hoped for. He laughed as her eyes widened.

“Oh my gosh! I have so much packing to do. So much stuff to do.” She stood up.

He stood as well and took her hand to prevent her from walking away. “Sweetheart, we aren’t going for another month. You’ll have plenty of time to get things in order.”

“Oh, right.” She sat back down and her smile widened. “Wow. I’m just stunned. Thank you.”

He took her hand from across the table. “You’re very welcome. I’m looking forward to this trip with you. I didn’t want to go without you.”

And he meant it. The thought of leaving her behind, even for just a few short weeks, seemed unbearable. He didn’t want to spend any time away from her. If their break had been any indication, he couldn’t bear being away from her again.

“There’s one more thing,” he said.

“One more thing? One more thing after surprising me with a trip to Italy?” She laughed, glee clear on her face. “You know it’ll be hard to top Italy, right?”

He laughed. “Close your eyes.”

She did as she was told. He pulled the little box out of his pocket containing the Helenite necklace he had meant to give her after they got home from Montana. He stood up and walked over to her, clasping the necklace around her neck.

Her eyes opened and her hand came up to feel the pendant before glancing down at it.

“Chase, this is gorgeous.”

He took her hand and pulled her up, wrapping his arms around her waist. “It’s Helenite. It’s made from the volcanic ash from Mount St. Helens when it erupted in 1980. I got it for you when we were in Montana. I saw it and knew it would look stunning on you.”

Tears gathered in her eyes. “Thank you. No one has ever given me jewelry before. It’s beautiful.”

He leaned down and pressed a kiss to her lips.

She giggled. “You’ll never be able to top today.”

He smiled. “Challenge accepted.”