Maddie stopped in the doorway. “What is this?”

“A banquet of two.”

Eli wore a dark suit. His hands shook. Maddie’s heart began pounding. “Before you say anything,” she warned, “do not propose because you think you’re supposed to finish the story.”

He froze. She walked closer. “Don’t ask because you were the man who stayed when another man left. Don’t ask because people shared our picture, or because everyone says it was fate.”

Eli slowly lowered the hand that had been moving toward his jacket pocket. “May I speak now?”

“Yes.”