But before I can further question myself and my mental state, I see her.
Tanya.
She’s here. In New York. In my place of work. What’s happening?
I feel the sting of tears in my eyes and try to keep them away by blinking rapidly. But that only makes them fall harder.
“My sunflower, what—” My voice wavers, and I need to put myself together before doing anything else. “What are you doing here?”
Tanya’s also crying, but somehow she manages to talk between her sobs. “Well, you see, I met this brilliant man with a heart of gold back in Tennessee. Then I fell in love with him during the most memorable road trip ever. From what I remember, he works here. Have you seen him lately?”
She loves me. She freaking loves me. Yes, yes, yes.
Not thinking about our audience, I take three giant steps toward Tanya, who’s holding a large bouquet of sunflowers. Once I have her within my reach, I wrap my arms around her and lift her in my embrace. The flowers drop on the floor as she wraps her legs around me, lowering her mouth to mine. I catch her lips in a searing kiss. Her sweet taste fills my mouth, and I feel like I’m home again.
“Say it again,” I whisper against her lips.
“Which part?”
“You know which.”
Tanya smiles softly. “I love you, Edmund Francis Spade.”
“And I love you, too, Tanya Lucille Vendrell. So much that it’s hard to remember what my life was before you.”
We continue our reunion; our lips meshed together until a cough sounds behind us. Slowly, I lower my love and look at her, ignoring my coworkers. “You good?”
Tanya nods, wiping under her eyes with the sleeve of her shirt. “I’m better than I have ever been.”
“Same.”
“Spade, I—” Tanya stops to take a long breath. “I missed you so much. I couldn’t imagine my life without you, so I decided to take the leap of faith. I would love to stay in Brooklyn with you if you let me.”
I move so our foreheads touch. “I can’t believe you’rereallyhere. And you should know by now that you’ll always have a place wherever I am.”
“There’s nowhere else I’d rather be,” she says, repeating my words from the day we arrived at Nags Head.
When I finally turn around to face my colleagues, my arm is wrapped around Tanya’s shoulder, her body pressing against mine.
Soph smiles at us brightly, “I see you enjoyed thelittlesurprise we had for you.”
“You knew about her coming?”
“Not until she walked in with her best friend, but we needed something to bring you out of your cave,” she tells me, smiling even more if possible.
I hadn’t noticed Sally before, but I now spot her as she’s wiping her eyes, standing beside Rogue. I greet her with a nod and focus back on Soph.
“Thanks. I don’t know if I would have believed it if you told me that she was here, so that ruse about me helping you was clever,” I admit.
Rogue grins proudly. “Believe it or not, but it was my brilliant idea.” He turns to look at Tanya and then Sally. “So, are we just going to stand here, or will you introduce us?”
“Shit, yes. Everyone, this is Tanya, my love.”
“That’s pretty obvious, Einstein,” Rogue comments, making everyone laugh.
“And she brought her best friend, Sally, so be nice to them both.”
Rogue harrumphs. “I’m always nice.”
