Chapter 13

Friday 27 May 2022

A couple of hours after they left Los Angeles, Layna leaned forward and got her attention. “Hey, Julian and Larissa!” They turned and looked at her, and she grinned and said, “It’s Friday.” Larissa looked at her watch, and it was indeed, a few minutes after midnight. “And it won’t be Friday for very long. In a couple of hours, we’ll cross the date line, and it’ll be Saturday.” Larissa and Julian were nodding.

Layna stood up and moved around and sat on Joe’s lap. She grinned and then said, “So today, it’s Joe’s birthday. Shortest birthday ever, love!” She leaned forward and kissed him. Then she turned to Larissa and made their private signal that meant, ‘record this.’ Larissa undid her belt, and sat on Layna’s seat, and started recording.

Once Larissa gave her the thumbs up, she said, “So I was wondering what to get my love for his birthday. Such a special guy, so quiet and unassuming. And I sure can’t lay him here. That’d be a bit much, even for Larissa.” She grinned and produced a little package from her pocket. “And whatever it is, it had to be small. I reckon this is the perfect size.”

Joe looked at in surprise, and carefully unwrapped it. Jewellery. He opened it, and it was a ring. Joe got a huge smile on his face, held it up and showed Layna, and said, “Layna, love, will you marry me?”

Layna gave him a huge smile, and said, “Yes. With my whole heart.” She leaned forward and they kissed. Larissa gave a huge whoop of pleasure, and then realised where she was. She looked up and apologised loudly. Then she moved and kissed both of them, after Julian who’d got in before her.

“That was lovely,” Julian said. “I’m so thrilled for you both.” Larissa nodded enthusiastically, and remembered to go back to recording. It’d sure help if she pointed the camera in the right place. Joe and Layna got back into kissing properly so Larissa kept recording. When they stopped, Larissa stopped recording, and looked up to find their friendly air hostess watching, a smile on her face. “Congratulations!” she said to Joe and Layna. “Would you like some bubbly?”

Layna declined graciously, and then smiled at Larissa who’d grabbed her hand and was looking at her ring. “That was really unusual,” she said to Layna. “I love your ring, and are you happy to share the story behind that?”

Layna smiled. “I know my ring isn’t much, but, you know...” Right, Joe and Layna lived on minimum wage, though the project had agreed that some of Layna’s personal costs were project costs - clothing, particularly. And Joe and Layna often ate at friends homes; Larissa knew that was partly about cost too.

“No,” Larissa said, “it’s not the size of the ring or the rock, it’s what it says about you. I love it, so clean and simple.” Just three small diamonds in a row on a simple gold band. “I mean, mine, just the red tie line on it.”

“So I’ll tell you two the story,” Layna said. “Larissa and I talked about marriage back in March, and then I talked to Joe about it. He was keen, so we bought the ring and asked me. But by then, I’d got cold feet. I don’t know. I love Joe, he’s my one, that was not the question, but ... I just wasn’t sure about getting married, you know? So said he loves me for ever, but until I can say that I want to get married with my whole heart, I shouldn’t say yes. So he gave me the ring and said for me to give it back to him when I was sure. And I wasn’t sure because I felt that I shouldn’t depend on someone else to be complete, that needing someone else somehow made me less. But after this week, I know better. How much I need Joe doesn’t change whether we’re doing something big or small, and he makes me more complete, not less complete. I’m not sure why I didn’t understand that before. And then when we were listening to Niall on the plane with Alison, I knew, I’m incomplete and broken if we don’t do this.”

“I’m really glad you’ve found your heart in this, though I’m surprised you brought the ring with us,” Larissa said.

“Oh, no, it’s never left me since he gave it to me. I mean, I should’ve known when I just always had it with me, as much as my phone. And I guess I started planning to do this as soon as Madeline booked the tickets for us and I saw when his birthday would be.” She shrugged. “Anyway, Joe, I have other presents for when we get home, but I hope you enjoyed that one.”

“Oh, that is very definitely the best birthday present I’ll ever get!” His smile was very broad, and he had a very long cuddle with Layna.