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“I told you—your studio.”
She laughs. “Are you for real?”
Her laugh, her glowing cheeks, and her jokey tone are all enough to make me smile so wide my cheeks ache.
“What?” she says. “Why are you looking at me like that?”
I turn back to the road, inching forward in the city traffic. “Just seeing you happy after everything that happened…”
She places her hand on my arm. “You were right. I’m as messed up as you. It was scary. Sure, it’ll always be sad thinking about what came before what I did, but in the moment, Iknewit was the right thing.”
You’re going to make an amazing mother!
It’s like a text appears in my head and tries to send itself out of my mouth. It’s the truth. Everything she does and says makes me more confident about that.
Finally, we get to the studio. She climbs from the car, looking across the street at the modern entranceway, all glass. I check the text I wrote last night that I saved in drafts, wondering if I can do this but knowing I need to.
Mia
I walk around the light-filled studio. My mind is already filling the area with art and projects.
“I was thinking,” Dante says from behind me, his hand so warm on the small of my back. “It’s good to have a place to focus. A place you can disappear to.”
“You’re right,” I say, walking to the biggest area. “Maybe I could even experiment with sculpting or something?”
My phone vibrates in my pocket. I take it out, wondering if it’s Lexi, but it’s Dante. I’ve saved his name with a heart next to it.
I have to do this through text. I’ve been an animal, Mia.
“You don’t have to turn around until you’ve read it,” he says from behind me, his voice husky and intense.
My body shakes all over.
I’ve wanted to tell you—forever. You and me, Mia, that’s what I want. If I think of you with anybody else, I want to rip the world apart. You’re the only woman I can even think about being with. I love you…
I turn around, blinking, the world turning blurry with tears.
“I love you too,” I say, my voice cracking when I see Dante on one knee with a ring box in his hand.
“Mia Marino,” he says, voice husky. “I love you so much.” He opens the ring box, showing an elegant silver band and a large rock, glittering bright like it’s washing away all the pain that came before. “Will you marry me?”
I rush over to him. “Yes,” I yell, almost stumbling over the word. “Yes, Dante. Oh my God, yes!”
He slips the ring onto my finger and then leaps to his feet, pulling me into his arms. We kiss like it’s the first and last time, like we can’t wait to do it again already, like everything that ever mattered is happening right now, in this moment. My body heats up with the intensity.
“I want forever,” he says passionately. “I’ve been trying to fight it, but I can’t, and fighting it is wrong. I love you, Mia, so much. We belong together.”
“Forever,” I whisper, pulling myself against him. “I’m going to print that text out. Frame it.”
He kisses my cheek, his voice getting even more intense. “Maybe, one day, we’ll show our…”Children, but he doesn’t finish, trailing off. My belly tingles in a good way.
“Maybe,” I say. “But me and you, that’s for sure? That’s forever.”
“You never have to ask that again.”
He kisses me, somehow even more intense than the first one. Light floods my studio, and happiness floods my soul.
EPILOGUE
