Grace didn’t care that people from her firm popped across the street sometimes. She hoped they were all standing at the fucking window watching when she flung her arms around Alix and kissed her like breathing air back into her lungs.
Alix laughed against her parted lips and wrapped her arms around Grace’s waist. The rightness of her touch was staggering. Her mouth against hers the magic of golden ratios that made the ancient wonders stand for centuries. It wasn’t tilting or floating. It was the relief of the universe righting itself.
“You’re here,” Grace breathed before kissing her again.
“I’m here.” Alix ran her hands up Grace’s sides and cupped her face with both hands. She bent her head down, pressing her forehead to Grace’s. She took a deep, cleansing breath and whispered, “I couldn’t wait another second to see you.”
Crying and laughing and body buzzing with a joy she’d never known in her entire life, Grace pressed her forehead even harder against Alix’s. “Were you going to wait here all day?”
Alix kissed her again like they were alone on a crowded street in the middle of the day because absolutely no one else mattered. “Well, I was trying to come up with a not-weird way to get you down here. But you beat me to it by almost killing Harold.”
Grace laughed. “I can’t believe I lost even a second with you.”
Alix pulled away, but only far enough to bend to grab her backpack. “Well, I did need a little time to get my girl some proper V-Day gifts.”
When Alix produced a heart-shaped box, Grace’s stomach fluttered like the total hypocrite she was. “Apparently, Miami pharmacies don’t do vegan chocolate,” she said, like vegan chocolate should be in every convenience store. “Oh, um, and this,” she said after handing Grace the box.
Grace looked down at a small stuffed alligator wearing a T-shirt that said:U took a chomp outta my heart.
Laughing at the absolutely gruesome imagery, she looked at Alix through watery eyes.
“I know it’s not awesome, but there aren’t a ton of gator-related Valentine’s Day?—”
Grace cut her off with another kiss. “I love it,” she promised against Alix’s grinning mouth. “And I love you.”
“Well, there’s a relief, or I’d feel like a real tool for having packed for more than a three-day weekend. Like, by a lot.”
Grace noticed that there was, in fact, a way larger suitcase than Alix had ever traveled with for their shortest visit yet. And then there was the skateboard. When she looked back at her, Alix’s eyes were bright and her bottom lip caught between her teeth.
Chapter Thirty-Eight
ALIX
Everyone lovedto talk about grand gestures like they were cinematic moments — brave, sweeping, romantic. Nobody ever mentioned the part where you sat in a café with a stomachache, sweating through your shirt, trying not to throw up in front of a pastry case.
Alix had been brave in theory. Now, she was just nauseous.
The air conditioning in the café didn’t stand a chance against Miami humidity. Her hair clung to the back of her neck, her shirt was plastered to her spine, and Phyllis’s enormous pink suitcase sat beside her like a neon sign flashingIdiot in love.
She’d landed that morning, clutching the handle so tight her knuckles ached, running on three hours of sleep and a single granola bar. She’d taken one step outside the airport and instantly regretted the jacket she’d thought made her look “put together.” Now it felt like punishment.
The plan — if it could even be called that — was to surprise Grace after work. Maybe text her from downstairs. Maybe show up at her condo like a rom-com heroine who didn’t overthinkeverything. But now, hours later, she was starting to doubt her entire life’s decision-making matrix.
She’d replayed every possible scenario: Grace crying, Grace laughing, Grace panicking and sayingWhat are you doing here?The loop was eating her alive.
She was mid–mental spiral when her phone lit up. Grace.
The next few minutes were a blur. The clatter of her suitcase wheels, the rush of sunlight, the honk of horns as Grace darted across traffic.
And then she was there.
And then Grace was saying she loved her, three syllables she’d never get enough of, and the truth was spilling out.
Alix’s heart thudded painfully in her chest. This was the part no one talked about. How bravery and nausea could coexist so intimately. She gave a little laugh that came out strangled. “We can talk about it after you’re done with work. I know, you bill in, like, thirty-second increments or whatever.”
Grace’s expression turned sharp — all lawyer focus, no mercy. “Alix.”
Alix winced. “Yeah?”
