“Yeah, these past few weeks have made me miss it even more. I didn’t think I had until I came back.” He looks down at me and holds me tighter. “It will be fine, though, now that I have you in New York.”
I stare out at the vast emptiness that surrounds us, taking in his words.
“I can’t believe your parents have this much land,” I say out loud but more in thought.
“Yeah. My parents wanted to have enough land that if all of us kids wanted to, we could build our own home and live right here with them.”
Now it’s my turn to look up at him. “Really?”
He nods. “Yeah, it’s something they’ve said is an option if we want it.”
“Would you want to do that?”
He shrugs. “I wrote off the thought so long ago, thinking it would never be an option since my life was in New York.”
I leave his thoughts at that. It’s not something we need to talk about now, but definitely something I’m tucking away for a future possibility, depending on where this life takes us.
CHAPTER FORTY
A Year Later
Zoe
I’m sitting at home, waiting for David to get back from hanging out with Donny, who, I guess, needed help moving today, when my phone dings with a tone I haven’t heard in a long time.
I pick up my phone to see that the Mystery Match app has sent me a message. I never turned off my profile because why would I? I want it to show that I was matched with David and forever keep that match on there. Seeing I have a message, though, confuses me since I never indicated that I was back on the market, I guess you would say.
I swipe it open to see it’s David sending me a message. Confused and, I’ll admit, definitely curious as to what is going on, I tap the alert to open the message.
This app helped us see past what was right in front of us the entire time. I’ll forever be grateful for getting to know you the way I did. We never got our first date though. Meet me where you said you wanted me to take you in an hour.
I gasp as I reread his words.
Is he being serious right now?
I don’t need to go through our old messages to see what he means because I already know—The River Café in Brooklyn. It’s where I’ve always wanted to go, and still, to this day, I haven’t. We never discussed it again though, so I’m surprised he remembered.
I type out a simpleOKand hop up to get dressed, but for what, I have no clue.
David
I remember the day she told me about this place. I had to search for the name to figure it out myself since the app wouldn’t allow her to just tell me the location. Ever since then, I’ve kept that tab open on my phone, knowing I’d take her there one day, when the time was right.
I lied about needing to help my friend move today, which I know she’ll forgive me for when she sees what I have planned. I can’t believe I’ve been able to keep it a secret, but thankfully, her friends were totally on board to help make it all happen.
I rented the back patio of the restaurant, and we laid rose petals over every surface so all she’ll see when she arrivesare twinkling lights, the bridge in the background, and me, surrounded by rose petals on one knee.
Her parents and friends are inside, all waiting for our private moment to be special between just the two of us before they come barging in and we make this a true celebration.
As her friends bounce around in excitement, I sit in pure peace. I’ve never been so sure of something—or someone—in my entire life. I can’t imagine my world without her in it, and I want it to be official and have her take my last name so the entire world knows she’s mine.
“She’s almost here!” Macy yells out as she follows her location on the app they share.
Of course she called Macy to talk about what she’s doing and how I told her to come here. Listening to Macy act dumb on the phone was hilarious, but she was able to pull it off, and Zoe seemingly suspects nothing even though Macy turned off her own location services just in case Zoe got suspicious on the way here.
They all run into the restaurant as she pulls up in the Uber. I watch as the hostess greets her in front of the restaurant and guides her to where I’m set up outside.
When she turns the corner, our eyes meet, and she instantly gasps while covering her mouth, tears welling in her eyes.
