When Brad moved to Rome in 2017, he and Kim became fast friends through a community group at a local church. In the Fall of 2018 he decided to "go for it" and, needing a way to get her away from everyone she's always talking to, took her to lunch. There he asked her if she would go on a proper date with him. She said no! However, they remained good friends. In the Summer of 2020 he decided to "go for it again" and, after waiting for everyone to leave her house after a group gathering, he asked her if she would go on a date with him. She said yes! So Brad took Kim on a date. It didn't go well... However, they remained good friends. In the Winter of 2020, Brad lost his job and was looking down the road at the reality of leaving Rome. Having a "now or never" attitude, he decided to "go for it again, again" and wrote Kim a letter letting her know that, though he was leaving soon, he still had feelings for her. Kim, having *finally* started to reciprocate feelings for Brad, read the letter and immediately drove over to Brad's house, where Brad was just heading off for a motorcycle ride. After she hopped on the back and took a brief ride around Rome, Kim and Brad sat on his front porch swing and decided to begin a dating relationship, knowing it would turn into long-distance. And they became really really good friends.

About two months before he proposed, Brad bought the ring. He knew he had to wait until after he met Kim's dad up in New York to pop the question so he secretly planned to ask her the weekend after. During those two months, Brad and one of Kim's best friends, Erin, orchestrated a surprise engagement. Brad told Kim he had Middle School Lock-In that weekend so Erin and Kim planned their monthly weekend visit with each other (Kim lives in Rome, Erin lives in ATL). Little did Kim know, Brad and Erin were in cahoots to make sure Kim would be exactly where she needed to be that weekend. It was a hot Friday, but at least it wasn't storming. Brad had come to Rome that afternoon while Erin planned with Kim to walk part of a river walk in Rome that evening; a walk that Kim and Brad had often walked together. Erin attempted to convince Kim to "get cute" before they walked, but Kim's practicality (something Brad greatly likes about Kim) made her think that getting cute before a walk on a hot, humid day was silly. After only a quarter of a mile in, Kim mentioned turning around! Erin tactfully convinced her to keep going, in spite of the heat. Just before a mile in, as they were approaching a shaded bridge, Brad stepped out and waited for Kim to look up. She looked up, stopped in her tracks, and exclaimed, "Are you serious?! What are you doing?! Is this happening?!" Success! Brad walked up, gave her a hug, then dropped to one knee and popped the question. She said yes! (or more accurately, "yeah!"). After a few minutes of letting the moment sink in, they went to celebrate with wonderful family and friends who had expertly kept the secret engagement party from Kim for weeks.