AJ shook her head, taking in Eudora’s familiar floral perfume. “There isn’t one yet.”
Eudora gripped her hands tightly, looking deep into her eyes. “May I ask you something?”
AJ swallowed, suddenly nervous. “Okay.”
“Is it likethat?” Eudora asked, cocking her head toward the projector screen. AJ flinched.
Eudora smiled ruefully. “I didn’t think so,” she said, stepping closer. AJ could smell the Earl Grey on her breath. “You getone.One.”
The convention blurred around them. “I’mengaged,” AJ heard herself say.
Eudora shrugged. “You’re not married.”
AJ felt queasy. “What about Noah?” she managed. “Why not say this to him?”
Eudora shook her head. “I can’t get through to him. Butyoucan. You always could.” She was squeezing AJ’s fingers now, desperate, talon-like. “It’s not too late.”
“Dorie.” Noah’s voice cut across the episode’s theme song as he caught up to them. He placed his large hand on Eudora’s shoulder. Her eyes were still boring into AJ’s. Then the old woman released her. AJ looked up at Noah.
It was always you, and it always will be.
AJ couldn’t breathe.
“I was just stepping out,” she said. “I’ll see you. Both.”
She managed a smile, then booked it out of the chapel. Outside, she gulped in the clear night air.
It’s not real,AJ told herself. Eudora was wrong. There was no oneright person for anyone. The fans were wrong. Ana and Rho were fictional characters. And the sooner AJ got out of here, the sooner she’d remember that.
It was too early for stars, but a large moon hung low in the sky. AJ stepped under the nearest streetlamp and took out her phone. The closest Uber was twenty minutes away. Her thumb hovered over the request button. She was supposed to stay for a reception to mingle with the Blue Coats.
The door to the tabernacle swung open, and Noah walked out, car keys in hand. When he saw AJ, his pace slowed.
“Eudora’s getting pretty tired,” he explained. “I’m gonna drive her home.” He stepped into the pool of the lamplight where AJ stood, his height blocking the glare. As he surveyed her, his bangs swept sensuously across his brow. “Eudora didn’t say anything to upset you, did she?”
AJ waited for a tug. Nothing. Of course—they were no longer onstage. Noah was studying her with such intensity she felt almost giddy. They had arrived again at a parting of the ways. If AJ wanted to, she could end this conversation in three moves.
But she didn’t want to.
“Eudora asked about my wedding.”
“Oh?” said Noah. He swallowed. “I’d actually been meaning to ask myself—”
Her pulse was in her ears. “She asked if what I have with Brian is like what I have with you.”
Noah stilled. “She gets confused,” he said quietly. “I’m sure it was just the film.”
It’s not too late.
Noah and Allison weren’t engaged yet. And AJ…AJ wasn’t married.
“She wasn’t confused,” she said.
Eudora was right. Maybe not everyone had one person, but AJ did. The fans were right. Everything between Ana and Rho was real. And this—this was right.
This was her chance.
Noah wiped his hand across his mouth. “Look, Age—”
