“Sounds great. I don’t have to ask you two to sit closer this time,” the marketing director joked.
“Do you want her on my lap?” I asked.
“Harlan,” she warned.
“Alright, whenever you two are ready, tell the rest of the story. The part you weren’t telling us before.”
“In fairness, it was all still happening the last time you interviewed us. I would have gladly told you everything.” I found Emma’s hand and squeezed. “Ready? You wanna start?”
“Okay, it all started on this cold January morning. I was avoiding him in my favorite coffee shop because I just didn’t feel like dealing with him.”
I scoffed. “You never told me that part!”
“What? You annoyed me all the time! I just wanted a moment of peace before work!”
“Do I still annoy you?” I acted affronted.
“You’re doing it right now!”
“Do you hear this cruelty?” I asked the marketing director.
She rolled her eyes and crossed her arms, and I hugged her, kissing her cheek over and over. “You’re a monster. Can I tell the story already?”
“Yes, princess.”
Emma’s cheeks went red and she shot me a glare that was only half-serious. “Okay, so Royce was zigzagging all over the sidewalk and talking on the phone. I was just trying to stay far enough behind him that it wasn’t obvious I was snooping.”
I shook my head. “I knew it. The truth comes out now.”
She sighed. “Anyway, he stepped out into the street and he wasn’t paying attention to where he was going. I saw the bus coming his way and yelled for him. He didn’t hear me, so I ran after him.”
“I heard her a split second before she tackled me,” I said, turning more serious. “I was all disoriented. I felt stupid. I worried that I hurt you.”
She nodded and put her hand over top of mine on her knee. “You did, but we were okay.”
“And I just felt so touched that you stuck your neck out like that for me,” I said.
Emma’s jaw twitched, a sign she was trying not to cry. She sniffled and went on. “I got really sad when I thought about something happening to you. You wouldn’t be around to bother me anymore, and the way you bothered me,” I sniffled, “I think that was the first way you showed you cared about me. When you bothered me, I knew you saw me.”
My eyes misted listening to her. “I saw you. I still see you.” I put my arm around her and kissed her temple when she leaned into me.
“So, what happened right after the accident?” the interviewer asked.
“Well, I thought she was going to kiss me right there, in the street,” I said.
“I was going to kiss you? You were going to kiss me!” she objected.
“You had those gooey eyes! And it was all snowy and romantic.”
“You gooey-eyed me first. You started it,” she insisted.
“But I finished it too,” I said with a grin. “I realized all the things I hadn’t gotten out of life, and one of them was learning to be a chef, or at least to cook better for my friends.”
“So, one day he shows up in my cooking class at the culinary school, then demanded I give him private lessons.”
Flashes of that time played in my head. Emma’s first time riding my bike. Getting to admire her beautiful body in the hot tub. Admitting she made me mad when she didn’t kiss me. Our “secret for now” pact. The moment Liam didn’t hate me anymore. The way Emma accidentally told me she loved me and immediately took it back.
“Yep,” I said. “And then she wouldn’t leave me alone.”
