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“By not letting you fall for me. Not falling for you. That way, when it ended, the pain would be less. It would sting, but…” He made a choked sound. “But I’ve been an idiot, and none of that’s true. I fell for you on our very first date, when you said all those sweet things to the press at the restaurant. It was like you saw me, like you really got me, and I panicked. I panicked. But I couldn’t let go. I should’ve known right then — I should’ve been honest. I wish to God I had been. I broke my own heart. I walked away from you, and I swear it cracked down the middle.”
I blinked back salt tears. “You broke mine, too.”
“I know. And I’m sorry. If I could turn back the clock, I would in a heartbeat. I’d take it all back, and I’d tell you the truth. I’d say to you, however long you want me, that’s how long you’ll have me. I’ll take every moment, and I’ll be grateful. Even if one day, you decide you don’t want me, even if the day comes when we can’t be together, I’ll take every day that comes before that one. I’ll take it and treasure it, and you’ll make my life worth it.”
I gaped at him, breathless. Was he saying…
“Life’s full of goodbyes, but what comes before matters, the time I had with my parents, the time I had with you. The time we could still have, if… Lacey, I’m asking. Give us another chance, and I swear I’ll be better. I’ll be open and honest. I won’t run away. I’ll do everything I can to make us last a lifetime.”
“You’re saying you want to try our marriage again?”
“I’m saying I want to start again fresh. I want to come on your show with you and tell the whole truth, how we met, how we married, how I nearly destroyed us. I don’t want any lies between us or about us. I want a clean slate for us. I want a real marriage.”
I felt my heart lift like a weight had slid off it. “No more pretending?”
“Never again.”
“And we’ll tell the whole truth? Right from our wedding?”
“All of it, every detail. And how much I love you.”
“Yes,” I whispered. “Yes. Say it again.”
“Which part?”
“That you love me. Say it again.”
“I love you,” said Eric. He stood, fast and graceless, and pulled me up with him. I leaned up to kiss him and he held me so gently, and his lips on mine felt like a homecoming. This was where I belonged, secure in his arms, our new life ahead of us, no secrets, no lies.
“I love you,” he said again, when we broke apart. “It feels so good to say it.”
“I love you too.”
“Did you see Berg’s documentary? Where he calls himself Cupid?”
I laughed. It felt good to laugh, snug in Eric’s arms. “He’ll probably take credit for this, as well. For you coming clean with me. For us being honest.”
“He’d kind of deserve it.” Eric kissed me again. “When I saw us in those outtakes, I saw this couple in love, and all I could think was…man, I’m so stupid. What kind of idiot walks out on that?”
“Mykind of idiot. But don’t do it again. You get onemajor screwup, and that’s it, your one.” I smacked him playfully across his bicep. “Pinch me, okay? So I know I’m not dreaming.”
Eric pinched me, just gently, on the tip of my nose. I pinched myself harder, and he laughed when I flinched.
“It’s all real,” he said. “We’re finally real.”
A warning chime sounded, my cue to go on, and Eric and I took the stage together. We told our whole story, full of laughter and tears — the good, the bad, and the ugly, and how we’d found our way back. How we’d won our future by facing the past.
“We’re happy,” said Eric, as our segment concluded. “I’m happier than I’ve ever been, all thanks to Lacey. Thanks to this wonderful, brilliant, kind woman. The day I met her was the luckiest of my life.”
EPILOGUE
SIX MONTHS LATER: LACEY
The city flashed by us as our limo sped through it, streetlights and storefronts and tight knots of people. I wondered how many were talking about us. It felt like all of them had to be, because this was our night. Our big event, theLost Warpremiere.
The early reviews had caught me off guard, words likedazzlingandstellaranda revelation, and they weren’t for Berg. Those words were for me. Berg wastorturedandbrilliantanda master of atmosphere. Eric’s performance wasbrutalandraw. We had so much Oscar buzz we could’ve made our own honey.
Eric slid up beside me and brushed my hair back. He trailed kisses all down the line of my neck, along my collarbone, to the crest of my shoulder. It still gave me gooseflesh when he touched me that way.
