“Don’t want your dino nuggets for this catch-up?” I wisecrack.
He bobbles his head side to side. “I am hungry.”
“Me too, I guess.”
With that, we took a few minutes to grab some snacks and a bottle of wine, and Hayes changed into some sweats and a white tee. For some reason, we opted to sit on the floor between the couch and coffee table while we enjoyed more food fit for a two-year-old paired with an expensive white wine from France.I caught him up on the week, and I’m relieved it’s the weekend.
“So tomorrow she has ballet and then maybe we can—” I begin to list. I’m interrupted when he touches my arm to indicate for me to stop.
“Lola is all good. Why don’t you tell me something that has nothing to do with logistics of our daughter and laundry.”
My smile is perhaps appreciative because I acknowledge he’s right. “Sorry. I’m just…” I press my lips together because maybe I’m doing my best to avoid the obvious which I probably shouldn’t keep in anymore.
Hayes looks into his wine glass. “Avoiding us. Ouch.” He takes a decent sip.
“Nah. I missed you a lot while you were gone. You have a lot of business trips and long days. We’re used to it. But this time it hit different.” I swirl my fingers in the air. “Probably because I’m living here right now. Reminders of you everywhere.”
He listens with deep interest in his eyes. “And?”
“The last few weeks even when we weren't here, when you would be away, I put it down to missing you because ofLola and I understand how she might feel.” I quirk my lips. “Well, I mean she has no concept of time, but you get my drift. But it’s no longer that. I miss you because of us. It’s taken my head a bit to de-compartmentalize, maybe.”
“Come here.”He loops his arm around my shoulders to reel me in closer to his body, until I’m straddling him. “I’m going to try and do this without needing to tie you to the bed, but I’ll do it if I need to. Let’s go through this, Elodie. This isn’t just about Lola.”
Faintly, I shake my head in agreement.
Hid hands come up to frame my face. “It’s obvious. Let’s go back to the very day we met. What would have happened if we’d actually exchanged our names. Do you think about that?”
“All the time,” I admit softly.
His eyes sear into me with an intensity that feels earth-shattering. “I’ll tell you what would’ve been next. I’d call you and say it’s crazy and I’m in another state, but would you like to meet up? I could come to you, or I’d fly you down all because you stayed in my mind.”
“I’d say okay.”
“Because?”
“The same, I couldn’t forget you. What I did with you on the island wasn’t like me. I don’t just connect with someone and go to their hotel room on the same day. Nor would I think a weekend when we live quite a distance apart would be a good idea. But you don’t make me think rationally.”
The softness of his fingers tucking hair behind my ear is soothing. “Ditto, sweetheart.Then we would enjoy a long weekend, then another. And when you thought you were pregnant, I would have been there. Every step of the way. When you discovered you were, then I would have been on a plane so fast, and we would’ve figured it out.It wasn’tplanned, but I don’t believe it was an accident when it comes to us. Everything we do is unexpected. Then when I got to you, I’d have held you and repeated that it was your choice, while I would secretly wish that you made the one I wanted, and lucky for me you did.”
“What next?” I’m in a trance of relaying our what-if.
“Moving here, living together, getting a ring on your finger and you with my last name.”
I snicker a tiny smile. “That’s a lot.”
“Ask me about the secret,” he urges in a whisper.
“What secret?”
“Even if there weren’t Lola, that all would have still happened.”
He leaves me speechless. How can it be that the last few minutes have given me a different mirror? The one with a realization that we very well probably would have happened had fate been different.
“Hayes—”
He shushes me with his finger on my mouth. “I’m crazy about you. You’re with me on this, right? You’re mine.”
“I’m yours.” It’s honest, and I loop my arms around his neck.
