Page 70 of The Longest Wait

“Sofia…” Alex gave her the floor.

“Alex and I had a lot to talk about, as you can all guess. Not intoo much detail, but when he was traveling, we were able to stillstay connected.”

“Phone sex?” Dominic pressed with a hopeful voice.

“Come on.” Alex tried to keep a straight face. “This is mygirlfriend now. I feel like you shouldn’t say shit like that.”

“Good luck with that,” Jack said dryly as he sipped his beer. “Ihave been trying to get him to stop for years.”

Sofia pushed her hair off her shoulder, while Alex appreciatedher every move. He was thankful he was getting another chance.A chance he wasn’t going to take lightly.

“Phone sex is so nineties.” Sofia gave a sinister smile. “Dominic, you of all people should know the power of sexting.”

Tess groaned. “I swear, sometimes it is impossible to have anadult conversation with you two around.”

“Saint Tess, calm down. He got home today with some exciting news.”

Alex took the stage. “While I was traveling, I was taking pictures throughout Europe. When I returned, it dawned on me;the pictures were representative of a broken heart. However, aftereach”—he shot Sofia a secret smile—“after each time I connectedwith Sofia, some light was able to shine in. I shared the photos withmy contacts in New York and I have a publishing deal.”

“They are making your photos a book!” Lucy screeched.

Everyone gave their congratulations. Lucy was ecstatic. “Doesthis mean no more moving?”

Both Sofia and Alex paused. Alex tapped her on the butt toshare the news.

“Alex and I had time apart to focus on what we want. You allknow that Alex left National Geographic.”

“Okay,” Tess said. “And you’re a tech consultant. What doesthis have to do with moving?”

Sofia hip checked Alex to continue their story. He told them,“We decided to make Philly our home base.”

“What does that even mean?” Lucy didn’t appreciate the words“home base.”

“It means”—Sofia picked up where Alex left off”—“Alex andI are going to travel whenever we can. Both our jobs give us thisfreedom, with Alex being able to shoot wherever he wants and Ican work, well, I can work anywhere that has a WIFI connection.”

“Damn.” Connor said the understatement of the year.

Lucy clapped her hands. “Okay, I will miss you both like crazywhen you travel, but after ten years, you two finally got it together.Let’s make a toast.”

Every raised their drinks.

“To finding love,” Tess exclaimed.

“Even if it was right in their face, the whole time,” Dominic added.

Sofia got on her tiptoes and whispered in Alex’s ear,“To postcards.”

“To us.” He kissed her back while their friends cheered.

Everyone stopped being antisocial and went to socialize withothers. Alex, needing a redo of the last party he went to with Sofiawent to, dragged her into the bathroom.

“I’m down for whatever,” Sofia told him in between kisses.“But I would like to point out, this is a better option than Lucy’sbathroom because I know for a fact your sister has not had sexin here.”

He rested his forehead on her shoulder. “Did you have to tellme that?”

“Honesty is our best policy.” She pulled out a postcard fromher purse. “And I can honestly tell you, we don’t have to stay long.This postcard is redeemable for any position, at any time, for thenext twenty-four hours.”

He yanked the postcard from her hands and swiftly movedthem out of the bathroom.