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I help her out of her coat, hang it up, and lead her to the kitchen where I power up the Nespresso machine and make us each a cup of coffee. I keep stealing glances at her. She’s right here, in my kitchen, when I thought this was it—she was gone forever.
“Tell me how your morning was,” I prompt.
She explains about the storm letting loose just before they got into the cab, about Michelle going to her parents, and how she tried to call me but the phones were out.
“I didn’t know if I should come by unannounced, but—”
“Of course,” I say, cutting her off. “I’m glad you did.”
She smiles at me, and I offer her the first cup. She blows on the top of the coffee while I prepare my cup, and when we’re both armed with cups of coffee, we walk to the living room. I walk to the bedroom and bring a fluffy blanket to the living room, and we curl up underneath it on the couch with our cups of coffee. The television is off. All we have to keep as busy is each other’s company, but that’s more than enough.
“Do you know how long you’re here for?” I ask.
She shakes her head. “I’m hoping not too long. I have to get back to—” She clears her throat. “I have to get back to the office.”
“I’m sure you can spare a few days. You can stay here.”
She smiles and nods. “I’ll be lying if I say I wasn’t hoping for that.”
I pull her closer to me, relishing in the feel of her against me. Her warmth, her company, the smell of her perfume and the shampoo in her hair…thank God for this storm. I don’t care what else it does, how difficult it makes life. It bought me a little more time with Raven.
“How did you end up in Paris again?” I ask. “The last time I saw you, you were set on working here, right?” I don’t remember much about our conversations back then—I was drunk most of the time. But Paris never came up. At least…I don’t think it did.
“My aunt lives there. I wanted to work here, but it wasn’t right for me. I needed a clean slate.” She sounds like she’s being careful with her words, choosing them. “It was hard, but we don’t gain if we don’t take any risks, right? I had to close my eyes and jump at some point.”
I want to know why she didn’t do that here. Why did she have to jump so far?
“Will you reconsider running the New York offices if you open them?” I ask. “Now that New York has more than just Fashion Weeks.”
She purses her lips together, sips her coffee, looks everywhere but at me.
“It’s not that simple, Noah.”
I want to tell her itisthat simple. She doesn’t have to give everything up; she can still do what she wants to do. I just want her to do it here. With me. But I don’t press her. The last thing I want is to ruin the gift we got with this small window of time we’re still allowed together by arguing about something. We can touch on that later.
Right now, I just want to drink her in. I want to revel in who she is, and I want to get to know her better.
Chapter 18
Raven
I gave up the hotel room when I thought I was going back to Paris. I can book a room again; I’m sure they’ll accommodate me. But I’m happy here with Noah. He wants me to stay with him, however long it takes for the storm to clear up and flights go out again.
And that works fine by me.
I wasn’t ready to say goodbye, and I feel like we’ve been granted a second chance. A second chance for what, I’m not sure. I know we’re going to have to say goodbye again, soon. I know this won’t work, and it can’t last, not even if we give a long-distance relationship a shot.
I just feel like this little bit of extra time with Noah is a gift when I thought it was all over.
“Tell me what happened after college,” I say. I’m horizontal on the couch, one foot tucked under my thigh and the other on a pillow on Noah’s lap. He’s giving me a foot massage, and God, he’s just as good with his hands on my feet as on any other part of my body.
“What do you want to know?” he asks.
His blond hair is disheveled after we spent the day on the couch, talking, cuddling under the blanket, and just spending time in each other’s company. He’s relaxed, and I love this look on him—he’s not trying to impress me, we have nowhere to go and nothing to dress up for. He’s just himself, and I think it might be the first time I truly see this side of him.
I like what I see.
A lot.
