“I love you,” I said, leaning into him.
He hugged me and kissed the top of my head. “I definitely will never tire of hearing those words uttered from your mouth.”
I laughed and pulled away slightly. “Well, I need to go face the boss lady. Are you coming?”
“Don’t you think it would be better if I don’t come?”
I looked him over and noticed his smirk. “No, it would definitely be better for you to join me. How could she say no to a honeymoon with you?”
“She won’t be the one going.”
“A minor detail.”
Shelly walked out and came up to the desk. “How long are you going to be?”
“Not more than ten minutes,” I told her and pulled Devin along with me.
I knocked on my boss’s door and opened it when she called out to come in. She only looked slightly surprised when Devin followed me. “You wanted to talk to me?”
“Yes. I’m going to just tell you straight out. I know you don’t care for hedging around the subject.” She nodded and inclined her head to the chairs in front of her desk. “Well, I’m going to elope and I need some time off.”
“Is this your fiancé?” She looked him over and a momentary prick of jealousy jabbed me. Devin squeezed my hand he hadn’t stopped holding. “Well done, Christy.”
“So is it possible to have time off?”
She looked toward her computer monitor. “Let me just see what I can do.” She began clicking and scrolling and made a few noncommittal noises then suddenly looked up brightly. “When would you like to leave?”
“That’s the thing, he bought the tickets for tomorrow. It was a surprise, to say the least.”
She narrowed her eyes slightly. “And if I say you can’t leave for another two weeks?”
“Regretfully I would have to resign.”
Devin squeezed my hand and I squeezed back, assuring him.
Cathy paused briefly, before resuming her bright smile. “Well then, in that case, I will see you May ninth. Have a good time and I sincerely hope that you realize what I’m doing for you. Though it wasn’t hard, considering you’ve only had two sick days this whole fiscal year. So just to give you a heads up, you’re using two weeks’ vacation and the rest of your sick days.”
I stood up and shook her hand, smiling. “Thank you, Cathy. I will bring you back a little bit of Hawaii.”
She smiled. “I look forward to it.”
Devin took her hand. “Thank you. I’m Devin, by the way.”
“Nice to meet you, Devin, and take care of the future Mrs. Devin.” She smiled. “We need her organizational skills. Just promise me next time you let me know in advance about any surprise trips! Ok?”
He nodded.
“I just want to thank you again for this,” I said before we left. “If anyone should fill in for my absence, I think Shelly is the most talented. She can handle the calls and the visitors.”
“I’ll take that into consideration. And if you two would like the time to pack, feel free to take the rest of the day off. Just let Shelly know she’ll be covering for you at least today. I’ll give the news to Judy.”
I nodded and walked out with Devin. As soon as we were out of Cathy’s office, I turned to him. “May ninth? That’s like three weeks and a little extra!”
Devin chuckled, “Just what we wanted, right?”
“You think you can handle vacation for three weeks?”
“Well, considering I was going to be on vacation anyway, you are the one I’m worried about. You’re the one who hasn’t had a real vacation in several years.”
“There was never anything worth taking time off for,” I said, looking up at him. “You know Mitch is going to have a coronary, right?”
“He’ll be fine. He’ll probably be more upset that we got a longer honeymoon than he and Megan did.”
I smiled at his words. “You really want to marry me?”
Devin wrapped his arms around me. “I’ve wanted this for years now. I love you, CJ. Always have and always will. And just so you don’t forget it,” he said as he reached into his pocket, “this is for you.” He grabbed my hand and slipped an intricately designed sapphire and diamond ring onto my finger. I gasped at the reality of the situation. We really were going to get married.
I smiled and kissed him briefly before pulling him along toward the front entrance. “I love you, Devin, I hope you realize what you’ve gotten yourself into.”
He smiled, tightening his grip on my waist. “Believe me, I can’t wait to see what we get ourselves into.” We walked down the hallway toward my desk and Devin whispered, “Do you think we can make it to Hawaii before anyone finds out?”