“But why?” I know I said I don’t understand why people fall in love, but if you’re already on the ship, why sink alone?
He lets out a light huff. “You saw the same videos and read the same letters I did, Dani. Tanya had a huge heart, and she shared it with so many. She loved me dearly, as a friend. But when it came to romance, she had room in her heart for only one man, and she’s with him now.”
Sorrow seeps into my skin for this man that I once detested. He sat by Tanya’s side without a care in the world for his own feelings, simply because she needed him. Even I have to admit how painfully beautiful that is.
My mind slips, as it so often does, to the man beside me. One who shows up for me in that way even when I don’t want to accept it. I turn to find Micah’s eyes already gazing back. Yes, Micah terrifies me. But do I want to have the same ending as Victor?
“Do you wish you could’ve just loved her as a friend? Would that have been easier?”
He ponders. “Easier, maybe. But, no. I don’t wish I could’ve changed my feelings.” He looks to the ceiling. “It was an honor to love Tanya. Even if she couldn’t love me back the way I wanted.”
Somehow I knew that’s what he was going to say.
Micah and I walk out, the rose nestled against his side. As we reach the car, he stops and grabs my hand with his free one. “I think it’s my turn to ask you on a date, no?”
There go those butterflies, taking flight in my stomach again. “I do think it’s your turn, yeah.”
“Okay.” He lets go of my hand and walks over to the passenger door to open it for me. “Hey, Dani?”
“Yeah?”
“Will you go on a date with me?”
I can’t bring myself to say it yet, but I could see myself going on a lifetime of dates with this man.
“Gladly,” I say as I take my seat.
“What are you up to today?” I ask as I rub circles on Micah’s naked chest.
These days we don’t spend many nights apart, so I’m curled up in his bed, my body wrapped around his.
“I gotta meet up with the guys. We’re scoping out this building we may wanna buy.”
“What are you gonna do with it if you buy it?”
“It’s an apartment building. We heard that the owner is considering selling the place to a development company. If that’s true, we’ll offer to buy it and keep it as is.”
The work the Baltimore Collective does has always impressed me. “Got it.”
“What about you? What are you doing today?”
“I think I’m gonna go to the rec center.”
He sits up in bed, his hand falling from my back to my ass. “Our rec center?”
“Since when is itourrec center?”
“That place brought us to Tanya and she brought us to each other, so it’s ours.”
“Mhm, right. Well, then yes, I’m gonna go to our rec center.”
“How come?”
I always visited Tanya at the rec center even after I left home, and I know Micah did too, but when she stopped working there, it wasn’t the same. Management didn’t put their all into the place like she did, so I stopped coming by. “I had a dream about her last night,” I confess.
“About Tanya?”
“Yeah. It was nice. We were at the rec center running lines for some movie. Don’t ask me what the hell the movie was about, but Tanya was giving it her all.”
