The year was 2014. Jessie and John had been dating for a year and a half. They couldn't be happier. Today was Jessie's thirty-fifth birthday. John was flying in tonight to spend Jessie's birthday with her. They hadn't seen each other since New Years Eve. Jessie was at work. Her office phone rang.

"Jessie Bell." She said.

"Happy birthday." Randy's fiancée Kim said. Since they were introduced by John and Randy they'd became best friends.

"Thank you bestie."

"Is this a good time?"

"Yeah, I'm just finalizing some paperwork."

"I bet you're looking forward to your birthday dinner tonight."

"Yeah."

"And the birthday sex."

"There'll be none of that." "As soon as we're done with dinner John has a plane to catch."

"Bummer."

"Yeah but at least I get to see him."

"That's always a plus."

"Does Randy still think John's proposing to me?"

"Yeah."

"He's told him a bunch of times that he's not."

"I don't know when Randy is going to get this idea of John proposing to me out of his head." "He must really want that five-hundred dollars."

Later that night Jessie and John met at one of their favorite restaurants.

"I know you said not to but I bought you a present." John said. He handed her a gift bag.

"Honey, I tell you all the time, you never have to buy me anything."

"Just open it Jess."

"Ok." She took out the tissue paper and pulled out a square-shaped photo collage. Each side had a picture of Jessie and John on it. It started from when they were babies, going from when they were kids, to when they were kids, to teenagers, to the present. "Aw, I love this." She kissed him. "Thank you."

"You're welcome." "Jess I want to talk to you about something."

"What?"

"For the last year and a half we've been going back and forth, from Illinois to Tampa." "I don't want to do that anymore." "I want to be closer." "You've been talking for a long time about starting your own real estate agency." "You could do that in Tampa." "Will you move in with me?"

She smiled. "Yes." They kissed. "Randy's really gonna think we'll end up getting married now." She said jokingly.

"I know."