Jazz shifted from sleep to semi-wakefulness. What time was it?

“Wakey, wakey!” Nathan yelled as he strode through the doorway.

Jazz groaned when she opened her eyes. Her room was pitch black. “Hon, what are you doing here? What time is it?”

“It’s 12:01 on your birthday! Happy birthday, Jazzy J!”

“Happy half birthday,” she mumbled back, closing her eyes again. “Wake me closer to seven?”

“Nope!” Nathan reached both arms under her and pulled her out of bed.

“Nate, you’re being crazy. We’ll celebrate tomorrow. Let me sleep.”

“But today’s your birthday, and we’re going to need every single second to celebrate. Look!” He waved his phone at her to show her the time. 12:04. “We’ve wasted three minutes arguing when I could have been giving you the first kiss of the nineteenth year of your life.”

Jazz tried to wriggle free, but Nathan kept a firm hold on her, refusing to let her feet touch the ground.

He tsked. “I’ll put you down when you agree not to go back to bed.”

“Fine,” she grumbled.

“Now stop being cranky and let me kiss those beautiful lips.” Nathan set her on the ground, then tilted her back in a romantic, over-the-top, theatrical kiss. His mouth tasted minty fresh while Jazz was pretty sure hers smelled and tasted like a garbage heap.

“Let me get dressed quick,” she said, motioning for him to leave and give her some privacy.

“Wrong again,” Nathan said with a laugh, still holding onto her. “You’re perfect just as you are. Now let’s go.”

She glanced down at her lace camisole and flannel pajama pants. There was no way anyone would think this outfit was anything other than pajamas.

“Where are we going?” she moaned, still tired and now embarrassed, too.

“I’ll tell you when we get there,” he said, leading her down the stairs and into her mother’s kitchen.

“Okay, we’re here!” He stepped aside to reveal a beautifully set table filled from edge to edge with an exotic smorgasbord of desserts. It must have taken him ages to collect all the varied desserts and a small fortune, but—boy—did he ever know the way to her heart.

“Umm, yum.” Jazz smiled for the first time since Nathan had woken her. “You could have just told me about all the food, and then I wouldn’t have fought you so hard.”

“Take a seat, mademoiselle, because our first delicacy is from the romantic city of Paris.”

Jazz laughed at Nathan’s attempt to speak in a French accent and allowed him to pull out the chair for her. She’d never been the pampering type, but she could definitely get used to this, especially at the hands of Nathan. Somehow he always managed to make her swoon, laugh, and sigh all at the same time.

“Cafe au lait to help wake you up, and a most excellent crepe cake.” He pinched his fingers together and brought them to his lips with a loud smack. “Bon apetit, mon cheri!”

Jazz laughed around the rim of her tiny coffee cup. Nathan’s French was terrible, but she loved how committed he was to this performance. And she loved him.

She’d always adored Nathan, but things had been better between them since they’d signed up to work at the college paper. They’d developed the perfect balance of Nathan things, Jazz things, and their things. And now Nathan was surprising her once again with his commitment to loving her and the perfection of how well he knew her inside and out.

He hovered, shifting his weight from one foot to the other anxiously. “Save room, because we have a whole world of desserts to taste our way across.”

She stared up at him with gratitude and affection. “You know I love my sweets, but why all this? I would have been happy with a simple cake and candles.”

“Because I’m showing you what life will be like for us. You know, beyond next weekend.” His normal New York accent had returned, and she reveled in the sexy familiarity of it. First he hand-fed her desserts, and then he wanted to talk about their future together?

Best. Birthday. Ever.

“Ooh, what will our life be like? Breakfast in bed every morning? All the sweets I can eat?” She took a bite of the crepe cake and almost died when the crispy layers melted in her mouth.

“If that’s what you want,” Nathan said, shaking his head with way too much energy considering the time of night. That’s when she realized he probably hadn’t gone to bed the evening before. He’d stayed up, preparing the desserts for her special birthday surprise. Every time she thought she couldn’t possibly fit any more love for him in her heart, he proved her wrong with a sweet surprise like this one.

He moved behind her to rub her shoulders as she continued her midnight feast. ”We’re going to travel the world together, Jazz. Not just our tongues, but all of us. You’ll report on the news, and I’ll take the pictures. We’ll make lots of money, but more than that, life will be one big adventure that we get to live together, side by side, hand in hand.”

His words formed wonderful, appealing images in her mind of the two of them exploring the far corners of the world, from the exotic to the everyday.

“Keep talking,” Jazz said as she sipped at her latte, thrilled at the hint of vanilla that flooded her taste buds.

“That’s it, Jazz. You and me. We don’t need a lot to have everything. We’ll have each other and live a life of passion, love, and freedom. Just like we always wanted. I’ve decided to major in Anthropology. I’m going to take my photos all over the world, Jazz. I love capturing people, capturing life. And I wouldn’t have known that if you hadn’t forced me to join the school paper. You always know what’s best for me, even before I do.”

Eyes closed, she pictured her and Nathan together on a beach, each with a fruity drink in hand and an exciting story to share. Yes, Nathan’s vision of the future was perfect. He’d figured out what he’d wanted to do, and she was so proud of him for discovering a way to make that freedom he’d talked about in high school come true. Yet she still didn’t know who she was meant to become other than Nathan’s forever girl. As proud as she was that he had chosen a major, she still felt hopelessly lost.

“Ready for the next dessert?” Nathan asked.

“Yes, please.”

“Say chairete to baklava.” He popped the sweet morsel of honey, nuts, and phyllo dough into her mouth and watched in delight as she relished the flavor.

“You’ve figured your life out, but I still don’t know what I want to do.” Why did it have to be so hard? Why couldn’t she make a decision the way Nathan had? And why was she thinking about college when she should be focused on the incredible dream man standing right in front of her?

“That’s the thing.” He sounded so excited and energized, and she loved seeing this side of him. “We both love people. You can tell their stories, Jazz. You’re such a good writer, and you helped all those kids learn to read and write in the city. You could help people wherever we go, call attention to the injustices of the world, set them right. We could do that together.”

Jazz still didn’t know whether journalism was for her, though it ranked among her top thirteen choices, and she loved the picture of their future that Nathan painted for her now. Would this be their happily ever after?

“Pyarii Jazzy, this is gulab jamun,” he said, cutting a piece off a fried cheese ball covered in sticky syrup and spoon-feeding it to her. “It’s from India. We could go to India. All those colors. All those people. Imagine what kinds of stories they might tell us.”

That gave her another idea. One that appealed to her at a gut level. “Maybe we could volunteer? In the Peace Corps or something?”

He kissed her on the mouth even though she was still chewing on the latest dessert. “You’re so smart. I’d love to do the Peace Corps with you. Where do you want to go?”

“Honestly? Anywhere. As long as we’re together.”

And as Nathan introduced his next dessert with another terribly butchered accent, that’s when Jazz realized that none of the other stuff mattered all that much. So she had thirteen great choices for her major, but she had only one lifelong love.

Jazz and Nathan forever.

That made her the luckiest girl on all of Long Island.