“Let me show you my room,” she offered.
He walked into the room at the end of the hall and found a stark contrast compared to the guest rooms. The nightstands and accent bench had both been painted a vibrant shade of teal blue, a nice compliment to the oak bed and dresser. She had turned the corner nearest the door into an office, complete with a desk and a bookcase. The office area drew attention away from the bedroom area, and made it seem less intimate to anyone witnessing Samira going in and out of the room.
“I knew you would make this place amazing. I knew it as soon as you told me your plans, but this is better than I could have ever imagined. I’m so proud of you,” he said, finishing just above a whisper.
Samira beamed at him. “That means a lot. Thank you.”
“No. Thank you. Thank you for including me. I will be here to support you any way you’ll let me,” Andy said before kissing her cheek. “So, are we okay then? Finally?”
“Yes. Can we have a do-over? One where I don’t freak out and think my life would be better without you and everyone else?”
He pulled her into his arms once again. “We can do whatever you want. Just tell me what you want, and it’s yours.”
“I love you,” she said, taking even herself by surprise.
He ignored the flutter in his chest and spoke before he lost his courage. “I love you, too. I never stopped. I’m so sorry for ever giving you reason to doubt that, both recently and before.”
“Nope. We aren’t going to keep rehashing the past. But let’s not pretend it doesn’t exist, either. I’ve had a lot of time to think things through while I was working on this place,” she explained. “My feelings for you never changed. That’s part of the reason I stayed away. I didn’t have all the information, and I assumed there was no way we could work things out. And I was afraid of getting hurt. I was being stupid.”
“You aren’t stupid,” he interrupted.
She held up her hand. “Let me finish. It was stupid to think I could solve all my problems by ignoring them. That’s why when I first came back here, I was dead set on not going into our past. I figured I could just get through my time here and get you out of my system while I was at it.”
He took her hand and walked further into the bedroom, taking a seat on the accent bench. He waited for her to sit next to him before he spoke. They had spent too long circling around the serious conversations, and he didn’t want to waste the opportunity.
“How did that work out for you?” he finally asked.
She laughed and playfully shoved his thigh. “You tell me.”
“Well,” he hesitated after a moment. “Here we are, so I’d say your plan didn’t work out so well for you. But hopefully that means it’s working out great for me.”
“What are you hoping works out for you?”
“This. Us. That’s the only thing I’ve wanted since I saw you in Mary’s kitchen. I was willing to accept friendship if that’s all you were willing to give me, but I’ve always wanted more.”
She leaned into his side. “You know what’s funny? I have this weird thing about loose ends. I wanted to sell this place as soon as I inherited it, thinking it would tie up the final loose end; come to find out, my life in Washington, DC was one big loose end that needed to be tied up. Now that I’m back here for good, I feel better than I have in fifteen years. This place isn’t a loose end. It’s home.”
He pulled her into his arms and placed a soft kiss on her cheek before whispering in her ear. “Welcome home.”
***
“How much time do we have?” Mary asked.
Samira glanced at her watch. “Andy and Elizabeth should be here within the hour. Check-in isn’t until 3:00, so we have plenty of time before guests are due to arrive. I figured I’d test out the breakfast part of this operation on you guys.”
“How are you going to test it out on me when I’m going to be the one cooking it?” she asked with a laugh.
“Test out how you like doing it?” Samira responded with a shrug.
“Fair enough,” she conceded. “Now, enough about boring work stuff. We know that’s going to be fine; we’re both decent cooks, and you know your way around the hotel business. How are you and Andy doing, honey?”
Samira broke into a content smile. “We’re good. Better than good, I think. The other day we had a really good conversation. Ever since then, he’s come over after leaving the shop and we’ve had dinner and worked on some finishing touches here and there.”
“So, are you guys back together?” she asked as she bounced up and down with excitement.
Samira couldn’t contain her grin. “We are. I guess we have been, but now we aren’t trying to deny it or fight it.”
This time Mary jumped up. She rushed over to Samira and wrapped her in a tight hug, swaying from side to side. When she pulled back, she was surprised to see tears in her aunt’s eyes.
