“I don’t,” he interjected.
“And if you do,” she continued, though a smile was starting to rise, “I’m sure she’s lovely, but I didn’t want to let another day pass without taking a risk and telling you I know what I want.”
Theo’s eyes softened. The beating in his chest picked up its pace as he took another step forward. “And what is that?”
She blinked as he tentatively touched both of her elbows and took the final step. “Why, you. Of course.”
A moment passed in silence as he let her words wash over him. Words he’d craved to hear for years. Decades.
Skye blinked again. “Unless...,” she began slowly, “you feel differently—”
But he was closing her lips with his, both hands on the tips of her elbows, gently pressing her to him. Time slowed as he slipped one hand to her shoulder, then cradled her neck as they stood there beneath the maple tree, the whispers of passing cars swirling around them.
He could live this moment forever.
As the world surrounding them came into focus again, Theo stepped back and gave his head a vehement shake. “Skye, you bested me again. I was going to woo you first.”
Skye laughed, cheeks flushed as she pulled a strand back behind her ear. “Calm down, Romeo. You win in the wooing.I saw my paintings up in the Martha this afternoon. What I don’t understand, though, is how you found them.”
He smiled and, keeping one hand on her elbow as though afraid to let go, turned them toward the office door. “They aren’t hard to find when they’ve been featured in your living room for a decade.”
Skye halted. Looked up to him as he locked the office door. “You’ve been hoarding my paintings here? In your house? You bought... that entire series?”
“No, I have the Spring of 2016 series in my house,” Theo said, smiling wistfully as he turned toward her. “What I had in the living room at the cabin, however, mynewhome, were those. Now, how do you feel about lifting a few of my moving boxes?”
Theo felt Skye stop. She turned to him. Her eyes were as large and round as he’d ever seen. Her voice was nearly a whisper. “Are you telling me you want to move to the cabin?”
His smile was his reply.
“But, but what about your work?”
“I’ll commute.” Theo shrugged. “An hour commute is hardly anything. Citizens of the cities are offended by people who drive under an hour and claim they commute.”
“And all the bugs? And snakes?”
“I plan on having to carry you out of a few shady situations, but I think you’ll be safe with me.”
“You’d do all that for me?” She glanced around. “You’d leave all this, for me?”
Theo’s eyes softened. “Skye, whether or not you showed up tonight, I was going to be your neighbor, rapping at your door with a morning cup of coffee, swinging by with the offerof soup every time I hear you’re sick, dropping off a card every Christmas, birthday, and holiday, until . . .”
“Until...?” Skye said.
Theo smiled as he took her hand in his. “Why, of course, until you opened the door.”
Epilogue
One year later
“She’ll sell for ten thousand. Not a penny less!”
Skye picked up Luke’s booming voice over the hum of the crowd.
Swiftly she handed her mother the small flute of champagne. “Excuse me. I have to distract a man who keeps parading around as my agent before my agent actually gets here and kills him.”
Her mother and three of the visitors at Evergreen Gallery laughed lightly as they opened up the circle for her to depart into the crowd. As Skye slipped between the clusters of guests, her name popping up like iridescent bubbles by individuals merrily trying to get her attention, she couldn’t help smiling.
A packed room of family, friends, patrons, and curious visitors.
