Nikki lazily laid on her couch flipping through a magazine when the doorbell rang. She got up to answer it and there stood Howie with a bouquet of assorted summer flowers. Nikki smiled and kissed him on the cheek.

"What are you doing here?"

Howie smiled his arms around her waist. "We're going on a picnic."

"We are?"

"Mmm hmm. Come on let's go."

Nikki took his hand and got in his car. The two of them drove to a nearby park. Howie parked the car and got out a picnic basket and a blanket. They set up in the middle of the park and sat down. In the picnic basket were ham and cheese sandwiches, apples, oatmeal cookies, potato chips, and a small bottle of grape juice."

"You picked all my favorite foods. That's so sweet."

Howie grinned. "I try. Does it taste okay?"

Nikki kissed him on the lips. "Perfect."

"Good, I was hoping I didn't screw anything up."

"You didn't. Everything's great. I just remembered something. I thought you had rehearsal today."

"We were supposed to, but Nick hurt his leg a couple of days ago. So we canceled."

"Nick hurt his leg? What did he do now?"

Howie shook his head. "I don't know. He's always doing something. I just found out this morning."

"But he'll be okay for the tour right?"

"As far as I know yeah."

"That's good," Nikki commented, then took a sip of her drink.

"Speaking of tour, are you still coming with us?"

"Of course. You know how much I love touring with you guys."

"Good," Howie said as he placed his hand over hers. "It wouldn't be the same without you."

Nikki smiled and squeezed his hand. "Do you wanna go swing?"

"Sure," Howie answered then followed Nikki to the swings. He sat in the swing next to hers. He smiled as he watched her gracefully swung back and forth. Nikki stopped and looked at Howie. He continued to smile at her.

"What?" she asked.

"Nothing I was just thinking of something."

"About?" Nikki asked, searching his face.

"Remember when we were little how we used to pretend we were boyfriend and girlfriend for fun?"

"Uh huh," Nikki answered, smiling at the memory.

"Do you also remember how we promised it would be for real when the time was right?"

"Yes, I do."

"Do you think the time is right yet?"

Nikki stared into Howie's deep brown eyes and smiled. "Yes. . .I do."

Howie smiled back and kissed her. "Me too."