“Both.”
“I love it. Hazel will be so happy.”
“I wanted the hotel finished before—so you could see it—”
I looked up at him, my heart in my throat. “I’m not leaving, Sam.”
He pulled back. “What?”
“I’m staying here, with you.” I suddenly felt a little bashful. “If you’ll let me.”
“Ally!” He set the kitten on the floor and then lifted me off my feet in the most exuberant embrace I’d ever been given.
I laughed, breathless, my arms around his neck to hold on.
“If I’ll let you?” He grinned, his brown eyes sparkling. But then he became serious as his emotions shifted, and he set me on myfeet. “I love you, Ally Kendal, with every beat of my heart. I’ve never wanted anything more than you.”
“I love you, too.” Tears filled my eyes at the look of affection and tenderness in his dear face.
And then he kissed me, and it was unlike any of the other kisses we’d shared. Nothing held us back, not time, people, expectations, or fear. It was just Sam and me.
“I don’t even want to think about the future,” he said breathlessly as he laid his forehead against mine.
“Then let’s not.”
“What about tomorrow?”
I pulled away from him, needing a little space to tell him about Bess. I wasn’t sure how he would respond. “I saw Bess. She is staying in a hotel in Los Angeles in 1929.”
He frowned. “You share the same paths?”
“It’s not that uncommon for time-crossers to find each other. But not all time-crossers do, so I couldn’t be sure that she was also in 1929.”
He let out a deep breath and said, “Was she surprised to see you?”
“Yes. But she knew about my other path because she recognized me from the movies. If I wasn’t an actress there, I don’t think she would have realized I was also a time-crosser.”
Sam nodded, but he was also pensive. His feelings toward Bess had to be complicated. “How did you find her?”
“She was the one who hadThe Annals of San Francisco. I looked in the index like you suggested and found her address.”
“Why didn’t you tell me before now?”
The kitten started to meow, so I lifted her off the floor and cradled her in my arms. “She asked me not to tell you until I had made my final decision.”
“You technically haven’t made it. You could go back tonight if you wanted, and stay awake past midnight on your birthday there tomorrow.”
“I don’t want to go back. I have made my final decision.”
“Even if it means we’ll both die?”
“Bess said we’re supposed to trust her.”
“Did she say we wouldn’t die?”
“No, but she said I needed to make the decision I would have made if I didn’t have foreknowledge. And the choice I make is you.”
Sam walked toward the window, his shoulders tight as he shook his head. “I’ve been hurt so many times by Bess’s time-crossing. Why should I trust her now?”
