Ava yawned loudly, her eyes sliding shut again. "Why are we out again?" she asked.
Flack smirked. "I told you...I got a surprise for ya."
"It couldn't have been a surprise that involved a warm apartment and lots of sleep?"
"We can do that tomorrow night," he promised.
She turned her head to look at him, taking the time to just appreciate his profile. She never thought she'd be this happy - and with the ring on her finger and their wedding on the calendar, she knew that they had only just begun.
"Not that I don't appreciate the gesture, but couldn't we have done this at a more respectable time than one in the morning?"
Flack shrugged. "Wanted to make sure we had the place to ourselves."
It wasn't long after that he pulled the truck over, and he parked so that the headlights shone on a frozen pond. Ava was already grinning as he pulled a duffle bag out of the back.
"Skating?"
"I know you never got to try it as a kid, and you looked nervous about trying it in front of everybody else. But it's just me and you here."
Things like this were not supposed to happen. They were supposed to be reserved for manipulative chick flicks and sappy books, setting women up to believe in an ideal that couldn't possibly be rooted in reality. But as she stared at her fiance, Ava knew that she had the real thing right in front of her. He was there, a goofy grin on his handsome face, and his eyes dancing in the darkness. She leaned over and kissed him softly, keeping it slow even as it went deeper.
"Thank you," she murmured, pressing her nose into the side of his face.
Flack ran his fingers through her hair and kissed her again.