“I’m staying.” All those poetic lines I imagined saying went out the window as I blurted out my big reveal.
“I heard… are you sure?”
I kissed the top of his head. “Firefly did what it does best. This is home. I want to be close to my family… to my friends… to…” I let the words hang, open for interpretation. I changed the rules of our relationship. It had been the only fear I had about tonight. Our relationship had an expiration date looming over our heads. Moving to Firefly might have a different?—
Tyler spun about, pushing me onto my back, sprawled across the picnic table. He straddled my waist, leaning over me. The dim street lamp illuminated the side of his face, highlighting the red tones in his beard. If somebody had told my younger self, this would have been the outcome; I’d have kissed him sooner.
“Jon Olsen, I don’t even know what to say. So far today, you rescued the town. You’ve saved the library… my job. Now you’re telling me you’re staying?”
“That’s a good thing, right?”
“It’s the only thing that could have made today better.” He leaned in, hovering inches above my face. “I’ve been waiting for this moment for twenty years.”
He leaned forward, hoping for a kiss. I put a hand on his chest, stopping him. He raised an eyebrow in confusion. I wanted it…him… but we had waited twenty years for the perfect moment.
“Wait for it…”
His eyebrow rode up his forehead. We sat like that for almost a minute before a loud whistle filled the green. The burst of red lit up the downtown, bathing it in a flash of crimson light. He snorted as the fireworks crackled. Another stream of gold rose into the sky before it burst in a flash of blue and green.
“Now,thisis the perfect moment,” I said.
I grabbed the front of his shirt, bunching it between myfingers as I pulled him on top of me. His lips pressed against mine, a passionate kiss twenty years in the making. As he held my bottom lip between his teeth, I could smell the lingering chlorine from the tank. He might smell clean, but I was already imagining the dirty way tonight would end.
With his weight lying across my abdomen, I wrapped my arms around him. What had once been a nervous uncertainty transformed into excitement. I didn’t know where this adventure would take us, but we’d have a story worth telling. People would call it fate, but I knew better. A meddling grandmother had made this possible. Who was I to argue?
“I love you.” What? That hadn’t been part of the plan. I tried to suck the words back in. We had a perfect moment, and I didn’t want to rush?—
“I’ve felt the same since the first day we met.” He kissed my cheek. “Right person, wrong time.” He gave me another kiss. “It’s the right time now.” He settled on top of me, giving me a tight squeeze. He leaned in close, whispering into my ear. “Jon Olsen, I love you.”
“Ew.” I knew that shriek. “Can you guys save it for the bedroom?”
I leaned my head back to see an upside-down Amanda. Jason stood on her left, with Evie on her right.
“I told you they’d be here,” Jason said. “He’s watched one too many romcoms.”
Tyler slid off me, taking a seat on the bench. I sat upright and spun about. I was preparing a witty retort when Tyler piped in. “Romcoms wish they were this perfect.”
“Gag me,” Amanda said. She and Jason slid onto seats opposite Tyler.
“You’re just jealous that Tessa isn’t here,” Jason said. “Let the boy have his happily ever after.”
Evie sat on the table next to me, bumping shoulders. I wanted to be angry that they interrupted a perfect moment. But as Evie rested her head on my shoulder and Tyler wrapped his fingers around my hand, I realizedthiswas the happily ever after.
The sky lit up in a series of red and blue bursts.
“This is home,” Evie said. “It still feels weird.”
“Our home,” I added.
“You’re both saps,” Amanda added.
I glanced over my shoulder at Tyler. “Yes, I am.” Everything I wanted in life had come to this point… literally. I found… re-found… the man who made me smile. The sister I thought I lost had let me into her life. These weren’t friends; they were family.
Our story had come full circle.
Now we wrote the next chapter… together.
The fireworks had long since ended. The others had called it a night while Tyler and I remained lying on the picnic table, staring at the stars. Tomorrow, we’d begin cleaning the green and resetting Firefly. I’m sure it’d be a week or two before they had their next big extravaganza.
