“I will. Turns out there are a lot of rich people here who need a lift to places like Boston or The Hamptons.”
“But you’d hate it here,” I tell him, taking a step closer and tilting my head up. “It’s full of people.”
“But it has the one person I want to spend the rest of my life with,” he answers, lowering his mouth to mine.
We almost kiss, but the elevator door opens with a ‘bing.’ Mac pulls back and says, “Should we go talk about this somewhere else?”
“Probably,” I answer, laughing with embarrassment at the scene we’re causing.
Mac takes my hand and we get on the elevator together, while Marcel hangs back. “I’ll get the next one. It was nice to meet you, Paige. Have a wonderful life.”
The doors close and we’re alone. Mac looks down at me, “Huh, that sounded like he doesn’t think you’re taking the job.”
“That’s because I’m not.”
He turns to me. “Bad pay?”
“No, it was a really good offer. Like, crazy good.”
“Then why not take it?”
“Because I’m going to start my own agency,” I answer, putting my hands on his chest. “Somewhere with a much better climate. I already have my first account, actually. A tiny seaplane company making a comeback after a disastrous flight.”
He lowers his mouth to mine. “Is that so? Sounds important.”
“It is. The pay is garbage but I’ll have a chance to make a real difference.”
“Can I kiss you now?” he asks, putting his hand on my hip.
“Please do.”
And he does. And I kiss him right back, knowing that this is the happily ever after I’ve been waiting for my entire life. He drops the flowers on the floor and scoops me up in his arms, and we kiss like we haven’t seen each other in years, like we both might die if we don’t show each other how we feel. He pulls back and says, “I love you, Paige.”
“I love you too, Mac,” I answer. “More than I ever thought it was possible to love someone.”
And it’s true. It’s a love so big that it overwhelms me. It’s so complete that it has changed me. Seeing myself through his eyes has changed me. This man is the man I want to fall asleep next to every night, and the man I wantto cook with and laugh with and love forever. Because for the first time in my entire life, I’ve found someone who not only sees me exactly the way I am, but loves me for it.
The elevator door opens on the main floor and we quickly let go of each other, only to see a few people standing in the hall staring. We both laugh, our faces red as Mac picks up the flowers and presses his fingertips to my back while we hurry out. “Excuse us, folks. We’re a little excited because we just decided to spend the rest of our lives together.”
I laugh, covering my mouth as I think about how amazing and terrifying that sounds.
Epilogue—An Apology to Three Dog Night
Mac - Six Months Later
Okay,so I was wrong about the number one. It’s not the strongest, the best, or the easiest. The song was right—it is the loneliest. My new favorite is two. Someday, maybe we’ll add to the team and my new favorite number will be three or four. Who knows? Maybe it’ll be six. God, no, not six. But for now, I like two—as in two helmets for my bike, a table set for two every night. Well, not every night. We head over to Jack’s a few nights a week to spend the evening with him and Violet, who insist they’re keeping it casual, but are together every hour she’s not in the office.
But back to two, because my new business, Paradise Air Adventures, has two aircrafts—a Twin Otter I call Sylvester, and a Bell 206 that my new partner, Darryl, flies for people who are in too much of a hurry to go by seaplane. Darryl wanted out of the Coast Guard on account of he and his wife starting a family. Him being on call all the time, and having such unpredictable hours, isn’t exactly easy on a new mom. So now, he makes a lot moremoney, works a lot fewer hours, and gets to spend as much time as possible with their bouncing baby girl.
Paige started her own ad agency—Sun Splash Marketing and Ad Solutions. She works with small business owners, helping them get noticed. Two months ago, she got a call from Guy, who pretty much begged her to work as a remote consultant on their upcoming Christmas campaign for Max Factor. Turns out the boss over there wasn’t too pleased with what his team was coming up with, and was planning to jump ship if he couldn’t get Paige to come back. He’s paying her an ungodly amount of money and has agreed to work on ‘Paige Time,’ meaning no weekends, no evenings, and no calls, texts, or emails after hours.
When we’re not at work, she goes fishing with me, or we putter around in the garden together (well, I putter, and she lays in the hammock reading because she’s ‘not ninety’). We go out for brunches, dinners, and to sip icy caffeinated drinks on coffee shop patios. I’m teaching her how to surf on the windy days, and we go paddleboarding on the calm ones. We put on music and dance around the kitchen sometimes when we’re making supper. We go to bed early every night, like good wannabe boomers, except we don’t go to sleep until late, like people in love. Because that’s what we are. Just two crazy kids madly in love.
Even though she lives a lot farther away from her family now, she actually sees them more because they seem to want to come here to visit, on account of it being paradise and all. When they’re here, she takes time off work and goes for long lunches with them and they come over for awkward dinners at our place. I’m not sure her dad will ever approve of me, but her mom seems to be coming around, and hopefully with enough time, he’llrealize I’m going to treat his little girl like the queen she is, and he’ll forget all about the first time he saw me.
Steve came back, and Paige is spoiling him by leaving a bowl with a few mealworms in it on the porch every evening. It’s as disgusting as it sounds, but somehow, the effort makes me love her a little more.
All that to say, my previous views on love were all wrong. It truly is what makes the world go round. It’s all you need. It’s the start of everything. I’m going to be grateful every day of my life that I got a fresh start with Paige. And because of that, I’ve cooked up a big surprise for her.
