“Come back, please,” she said, needing to get her point across. “We need to finish talking. I didn’t mean for you to leave.”
“Why should I?” he asked, his tone terse. She knew he was mad and didn’t blame him.
Suddenly a calm settled over her. She wasn’t going to let him just walk out of her life. She might have some hesitancy about the future, but she had total confidence in Alex. She realized that she loved him. ’’
“I feel that if we don’t finish our conversation now, we’ll just drift apart.”
“So.”
She didn’t blame him for his attitude, but she knew she needed him by her side. “I need you.”
“For now, right?” he asked. “I understand I’m not exciting enough for you?—”
“No. Not just for now. And you are definitely exciting in your own way. I was wrong when I said I wasn’t sure if we could be a couple. I was just voicing my doubts.”
“What changed your mind?” he asked. “I’m on your doorstep, by the way.”
She hung up the phone, went to the door and opened it. He came inside and closed the door, leaning back against it. She glanced around and she saw him check on Bella Ann. She was playing on a blanket with one of her stuffed toys.
“What made you change your mind?” he asked.
“Seeing you leave,” she said. “When you walked away and I realized that we’d never be the same again, I knew . . . I knew I couldn’t just let you leave.”
“I still don’t understand,” he said.
“If I let you go, then it will be the end of us,” she said.
He nodded.
“I don’t want us to ever end. The things I was worrying about were just excuses not to admit to you—and to myself—how much I needed you,” she said.
“Why?” he asked. “You’re the drop-dead gorgeous one every man is going to always lust after.”
She shook her head. “You’re the one—the only one for me. I didn’t realize it until it was almost too late. Please, Alex, tell me I wasn’t too late to get you back.”
He took a step away from the door, walking slowly toward her. As he held open his arms, she ran toward him and he caught her up in a big bear hug, holding her so tightly she felt like she'd finally come home. “Of course, you aren’t too late. And if you need more time to figure things out, I can give that to you. I just need you in my life.”
“I need you, too. Without you by my side, I don’t think my life will be complete.”
“Mine, either,” he said. “I love you, Fiona.”
“I love you, too, Alex.”
He swept her off her feet and into his arms, kissing her with more passion and emotion than he’d ever felt. She wrapped her arms around him squeezing him tight so he'd feel that she wasn't going to let go of him. Alex wasn’t the man she’d been expecting in her life, but he was the the right one--now and always.
Four weeks later,Fiona and Bella Ann were getting ready for the last taped date with Alex. Since Mother’s Day, the three of them had ’grown even closer. Fiona had gone to Alex’s game launch and been totally humbled by how successful he was. They’d had a fun time at the party. And though Fiona had been worried that she wouldn’t fit in with his crowd, they were fun and quirky and accepted her right away.
She knew, with a little more experience with his friends, she’d figure out what they were talking about. The fashion reviews had been all about how her designs were for the commoner and though she'd been a little disappointed the huge buy from Federated had cheered her up. She was going in another direction with her career. But today it was all about their last date. She couldn’t believe six weeks had gone by so quickly or that they had completely changed her life. She settled Bella Ann on her lap and leaned forward to turn on the camera for her taped diary.
“Well, this is it,” she said to the camera. “My last date with Alex. Matchmakers, Inc. found the perfect match for me. I couldn’t have found him on my own because he was everything I needed but nothing I was looking for.”
“Dadada,” Bella Ann said.
“Exactly,” she said, kissing her daughter on the head, “Alex is the perfect dada.”
Fiona turned off the camera and stood up to step outside the pipe and drape where Alex was waiting for her.
“I’m perfect?” he asked.
