“Did you mean it? That part?”
“Which part?” Trey’s voice was so soft. So gentle. So hopeful.
“The parts about me being your everything and your whole world.”
“Of course.” Trey took a step forward. “I’m sorry I wasted so much time.”
“It wasn’t wasted,” she said. Trey took another step forward and another. “We both needed to grow up and go after what we wanted. We needed to figure out how to make ourselves happy before we could even think about trying to do that for each other. We had to mature.”
“Like fine wine?”
“Well, I turned out fine. I think you might have turned into vinegar.”
Trey threw back his head and laughed. Truly. Laughed. God, she missed that sound. She missed it almost more than anything else. She couldn’t remember the last time she’d actually heard him laugh like that. It was always chuckles here and there. The not so serious, not so real, a little forced even at the best of times, kind of laughter. This was real. This was authentic. This was beautiful.
“Wine or vinegar, pickles or cucumbers, whatever I am, whatever I have, it’s yours. This time I’m here, Ambi. I’m all in. I promise that I’m here for good and that I’ll never stop fighting for you. I love you. I never stopped. Will you give me a chance? I promise this time, I’ll get it right.”
She sighed and put her hand to her chin like she had to think about her answer. Trey hesitated. He’d reached her desk and he was only a couple feet from the bookcase. She couldn’t go anywhere but forward. It was a good metaphor for life. She didn’t want to go back. She wanted to look to the future. To a good future. To a future with the man she loved. To a future with Trey.
She’d never actually allowed herself to hope for it or think about it over the years. She’d always thought about him in safe terms. Past tense. Not future or present tense.
“I never stopped either,” she admitted. She had to grin when she watched Trey’s lips part. He let out a sigh of relief that he obviously couldn’t contain. “I wanted to. I wanted to stop loving you. I really tried, but like a bad STD, you stuck around.”
“Thanks. I’ll remember that one. You just upped your game from turd to something even viler.”
This time, she laughed. “Oh, god, Trey. What I’m trying to say is that I couldn’t purge you out. I couldn’t, and maybe it was for a good reason. Maybe the reason was that I was never supposed to. I’m going to stop trying to get you out. So, if you want to keep trying to get in, I’m open to it.”
“That’s a really weird thing to say. I’m not sure if it’s outright sexual or if I’m just imagining some really good things right now.”
She bit down on her bottom lip. “It wasn’t supposed to be, but I can see how it could come across like that…”
“Oh really?” Trey finally crossed the distance from the desk to the bookshelf and in another second, he reached out. He didn’t manhandle her into his arms. Just held out his hand and let her curl her small fingers around his much larger ones.
“Really,” she said breathlessly.
“We are going to have a really, really good future. Starting right now.”
“Even if you’re vinegar and I’m wine?”
“Especially if I’m vinegar and you’re wine.”
“Even if you’re a turd?”
“Even if I’m a turd. I promise to be less turd like going forward from this moment.”
“That’s good,” Ambi breathed since Trey opened his arms and tugged her gently into them.
She went the rest of the way until she was pressed up against his chest, her hand still in his, the other resting right above his heart. It was beating. Hard. Kind of like hers was. All messed up and all over the place. She was in that. She was in that wild, racing heartbeat. She inspired it. At least part of it. They were really doing this.
Trey sealed the deal by tipping her chin up gently. “Can this smelly turd give you a kiss?” he asked with a wide, wicked grin. Heat and desire burned in the depths of his eyes, but this time, this time she could see all the love swelling there too. He wasn’t hiding it anymore. He wasn’t shutting down or locking her out.
“No, but you can give me a kiss. Trey. The love of my life.”
“I think I can agree with that. Merry Christmas, Ambi, my love.”
“Merry Christmas.”
It was going to be. It was going to be a really, really good Christmas. Maybe the best ever. She was going to enjoy the hell out of every single second of it.
EPILOGUE
Trey
Sometimes things just made sense. Once in a while, everything turned out alright. Every now and then, happy endings really were a thing