Not one molecule in my body moved. “Are you?”
She removed all space between us, then looked up at me with eyes as fierce and certain as that first day I’d walked into Flair. “Yes.”
Then I kissed her. Grabbed Olivia with zero finesse and kissed the sass right out of her.
In the last few months I’d learned an endless list of ways to be dignified and diplomatic, but that training never covered what to do if the woman you loved followed you to California and promised to slay your dragons. I knew people were watching, photographing even, but I didn’t care. All these days without Olivia in my arms had been too much, and I showed her exactly how I’d missed her. My mouth held hers while my hands got lost in the soft waves of her hair. I captured her sigh, my fears abating with every exquisite brush of lips and breath.
“I love you, Olivia,” I told her. “I didn’t mean to, but it happened.”
“I accidentally love you too.” She rested her forehead against mine. “What are we going to do, Lachlan? I need a plan.”
“Fail forward—together.”
Olivia looked up at me, a ghost of a smile on her lips. “I’ve had some practice at that lately.”
“How’s it feel?”
“Kind of terrible.” She rose on tiptoes and kissed my chin. “But I know it’s taking me where the good stuff is.”
“And that includes me?”
“It has to,” Olivia told me. “You and that awful gaming chair and the sweatshirts of yours I’ve been sleeping in and the breakfast you’re going to fix me every morning.”
“See, you have part of a plan already.”
She sealed her lips over mine while theMars Warstheme song began to play. “Let’s go watch a movie, Lachlan.”
Inside that theater was a realized dream, a miracle so big I couldn’t fathom the odds. But the movie and gaming success meant nothing without Olivia by my side. Life hadn’t always dealt me the best hands, and there would be days ahead where I’d worry that abiding love would disappear. I hadn’t freed Olivia from a gilded cage, but maybe I’d help release her from the bonds of her past too. Like my good friend Captain Triton, maybe we could push through with fierce courage—together.
“We’ll have quite the story to tell our children,” I said as we walked hand in hand toward the theater.
Olivia leaned against my side, her dress billowing behind her. “Worthy of a romance novel.”
“Or a video game,” I said.
My wife stopped and wrapped her arms around my neck, pulling me in for one more kiss. “Or just a really wonderful life.”
Epilogue
OLIVIA
One Month Later…
LACHLAN
Lunch at the Lost Story? I’ll swing by that taco truck you love.
OLIVIA
I’m very busy not working. Do you realize how much quality TV I’ve missed over the years?
LACHLAN
Tear yourself away and meet me at the shop. I’ll buy you a cupcake.
OLIVIA
Can’t. After TV time is over, then it’s a three-hour block of Mars Wars.
