A proposal

P. was recently in Hong Kong, reporting and writing an in-depth project about migrant labor. His girlfriend, G., was in Gillette, working for the newspaper.

A year before, they had met in college in Colorado.

They fell in love and had talked about marriage. He even sought permission from her parents. Then he took off to Asia and she was anxious about him being 14 time zones away.

She counted down the weeks until he returned. With two weeks left, P. emailed me from the San Francisco airport and said he was returning early to surprise G. Could I help?

Gladly.

A couple days later, he drove to Gillette from Denver. He made it in four, maybe five hours. A record. He wanted to meet her at a truck stop -- they have a romantic story associated with truck stops -- and we agreed on the Flying J.

I invented an assignment and told G. I needed her help.

I occasionally collect gas and diesel prices from local stations for a story. G. had previously helped me compile the data... drive-by style, me in the driver's seat, calling out "Maverick... $3.52.... Shell... $3.53." And she furiously jotting the figures in a notebook.

So under the auspices of the gas prices story, we drove.

As we were heading toward the first station -- I have a circular route around town -- she told me she felt something was wrong in her relationship with P. She hadn't talked to him much in the last couple days. He always cut conversations short. His international cell phone wasn't working. But he was Tweeting his friends. So what gives, she wondered.

I advised her to talk to him about it.

We hit the Maverick, the Kwik Stop, the FCA...

Finally, the Flying J. I pulled in and drove toward the visitor's center as G. wrote the prices of gas and diesel.

No P.

I honked my horn to let him know I was there, wherever he was.

I exited the car and told G. I needed to grab a map from the visitor's center.

Actually, I intended to find the man.

Finally I saw a figure walking across the parking lot with a fresh cup of coffee. As he got close, I recognized him as P. He approached the passenger's side of the car. She exited. She was elated to see him. She hugged him and kissed him.

Then he got on his knee. He produced a box.

She said yes.

They hugged and kissed each other some more.

Then they hugged me.

I was a little embarrassed to be there during their special moment. But P. left his coffee on the top of my car. I couldn't really drive off.

I think G. was sort of in a state of disbelief because she proceeded to get into my car to finish the gas prices story. We told her the assignment was made up, several times.

Then P. took his coffee and his fiancee to his car, and they went to dinner to celebrate.