His exhale was long. “You’re still here.”
My heart somersaulted again. “Yes. One sec.” I hung up and went to his room. “How are you feeling?” I asked from the doorframe. His hair was sticking up at funny angles, and one side of his mustache was pointing in the wrong direction, which made me smile.
“Like I’ve been hit by a car.”
“Facts.”
“Yeah.”
I attempted a smile, but it was watery. Mike patted the bed. “Come back here, girl.”
When I resumed my perch, he pulled my hands to his mouth and kissed them.
“I had a whole plan for how I was going to do this. But it can’t wait. Lyssa, I love you.”
Hearing him say it was even better than I imagined. Nothing could compare to this feeling. I was giddy, I was flying. I was loved.
“I want to be with you,” he continued. “Things between us were really good. With you, I was the happiest I’ve ever been. I know I make you happy too. I want to make you laugh and make you come and make you enjoy being alive. Will you take a chance on me, Princess? Will you try and make it work with me? I know we have some stuff to sort—where we’ll live, all the animals—but I could be a city boy, I’m sure I could. How hard can it be? You yell I’m walking here! at cabs and support the Knicks.”
“Yankees,” I corrected.
“Support the Yankees,” he nodded. “I can’t take the chooks to New York, which is a bummer, but Dean will look after them. I promise I’ll be good to you, Lyssa. I’ll sit front row at all your fashion shows and let you dress me in whatever outfits you want. And I’ll be on hand to pop fuckers like Paul in the mouth. No one’s taking credit for your work on my watch.”
He might have been exaggerating. But probably not.
“What about Mini M?” I asked.
His face fell and he hesitated before saying, “Where’s the closest place to your apartment I could board him? It’ll bankrupt me, I know, but I’ll do it.”
“I don’t think either of you will like New York,” I said. “You’re too used to being the biggest personalities in town. But I definitely like Woodville. What do you think, could I come back for a while?”
He inhaled sharply.
I added, “I’ll never be great at chores or meals or things like that, but I promise I will always find your mugs and always bring you ice cream after dinner.”
“Really?”
“Maybe not every night. Because I know you have ice cream during the day too. Maybe every other night.”
“No, do you really mean you’ll come here?”
I cupped his face in my hands and used my thumbs to smooth the hairs of his mustache so they were all going the right way. Then I lightly pressed my lips to his in a long, heartfelt kiss.
Eventually, he pulled away with a small grunt of pain.
“It’s okay.” I grinned. “Plenty of time for that when your ribs heal and I’m here on my working holiday visa.”
“Do you mean it?”
“Yeah. Do you think I can convince Jason to let me take over as Woodville’s tourism lead? I have some great ideas for content for this place.”
“Definitely. I don’t even think Jase knows we made him head of tourism. We did it because he yaps to the tourists when he pours beers. But, Lyss, what about your fashion stuff?”
“I got tired of boys’ clubs and nepo babies and rumor mills. Then when I found a decent job, I didn’t want it anyway, because my heart was here. I’m going to keep doing fashion—but I’ll do my own fashion. The kind no one else could ever take credit for. I’ll spend a year here doing influencer work while I start designing my personal portfolio, and we can take it slow and see how things between us unfold?—”
Mike was shaking his head. “No slow. No unfolding. Move in with me, marry me. Now, today. Have kids with me, name them after fucking Shakespeare characters if you must?—”
“I wouldn’t.”
