“You’d give up your apartment?” As a New Yorker, that seems like the most improbable thing of all. He really must be madly in love to offer that.
“Well,” he says shrugging. “I own it, so I would probably rent it out.”
“Oh my God.” I hear Jody’s voice. I glance at her. “That’s a really good offer,” she grumbles. “Even I know that.”
“It is,” I agree, fully meeting his eyes at last with what is probably a huge, goofy smile. “It’s a really good offer.”
“You learned dance for me,” he says. “Let me do something for you.”
“I don’t think those two things are equivalent,” I say.
“Maybe not,” he says, “but I’ll catch up eventually.”
I step forward to put my arms around him, and he grabs me very tight and gives me a squeeze that reaches my soul.
“I mean,” I hear Helen say behind me, “you could still take her to Paris for the weekend.”
“I love you,” I whisper. It feels like a relief to say it this time.
“I love you, too,” he says. “I’m sorry it took me this long to say it.”
I wipe my tears away. “Come on,” I say, wrapping my arm through his. “Come to dinner with us.”
“Who won?” Ollie asks after a moment.
Jody answers. “Connor and Eliana. You didn’t make top three.”
He nods. “Was Eliana thrilled?”
Helen’s eyes light up. “Oh, that’s right, you missed it.”
“Missed what?”
Helen tries to hide how much she’s enjoying this, but it’s audible in her tone. “You left Eliana standing up there when she was pouring out her heart about how much she wanted to keep dancing with you.”
“Oh no.” Ollie looks horrified. “I’ll talk to her. That’s terrible.”
Helen shrugs. “You know how Connor Yung used to be considered the bad boy of West Coast Swing, the one who leaves his partners heartbroken? I think that just became you.”
We havedinner at a fast-food style Korean barbecue place, our group shoved into a booth together as Ollie texts Eliana to apologize. I am right next to him for once, and it is the least fancy meal ever, but I feel happier than I can remember for a long time. He drapes one arm over my shoulder and kisses the top of my head. We’re together, which means everything will be okay.
After dinner, Ollie decides to track down Eliana as soon as we get to the evening’s social dance, but it turns out that we don’t have to. She is standing by the door when we enter, talking to friends from Manhattan Swing, and she calls to Ollie as soon asshe sees him, then glances between us as she notices that we are walking together.
“El,” Ollie says. “I’m really sorry. My brother turned up, and I went out to talk to him.”
Her blue eyes widen. “Sean? He was here?”
“I left so I didn’t make a scene, but I didn’t mean to leave you hanging up there. Congratulations on winning the Jack & Jill. That’s fantastic.”
Eliana bites her lip. “Yeah, so…I wanted to talk to you about that.”
There’s something odd about her manner. I feel myself tense up as Ollie nods.
“So Connor has asked me to come back. He says he thinks it was a mistake for us to stop dancing together. That what we needed was some time apart,” Eliana says.
Ollie raises his eyebrows. “And you’re okay with that?”
“Yeah, I thought—you were never that into dancing with me in the first place. So I think it’s for the best.” Eliana’s eyes move to me and then away again, and I try to keep my expression neutral.
