Page 168 of The Fairytale Life of Dorothy Gale
He shot me a grateful look. “Yes.”
“And I talk too much.”
“You talk exactly the right amount,” Tim said. “I admire the way you feel things. The way you express yourself. Your enthusiasm. Your optimism. I’m afraid to feel, let alone talk about my feelings.”
I seemed to be crying. With one hand, he cupped my face. Wiped my tears with his thumb. “I’m working on that,” he said. “The talking.”
“You’re doing really well,” I blurted.
He smiled a little, making my ovaries melt. “I need to apologize, too,” I said. “I was hurt because you set limits on our relationship. But I did it first, with that ‘I’m only staying two months’ business.”
“Because your visa was up.”
“Because I was afraid to ask for more.”
“It doesn’t matter now. I’m here.”
“I’m glad.” Our eyes met again and clung. “How did you find me?”
“Reeti told me.”
“How long can you stay?”
“I promised them a year.” I must have looked blank, because he added, “My degree is finished. I requested a transfer to our New York office. After that...” He shrugged. “I don’t know.”
Holy crap. He’d changed his job. For me? My heart thudded. “You’ll figure it out.”
“I hoped we would figure it out together. Dee.” He took my hands in both of his. My palms were sweating. “I had to show you how I feel. But you deserve the words, too. Or maybe I simply need to say them. I don’t know where I belong, except with you. When you left, my heart went with you, and now I’m walking around with my heart outside my chest. I love you. And so... And so I came from the airport to tell you.”
He loved me. It was all the words I’d ever wanted. Everything I yearned to hear.
But he was right. Sometimes words were not enough.
“Where’s your bag?” I asked.
“I dropped it at the hotel. I didn’t want to assume...”
“You should go get it.”
He looked at me, a question in his eyes. “All right.”
I smiled. “Later. You should get it later.”
He held me as we kissed, his body warm and firm and real and solid, tears sliding down my face and his smile against my lips.
We went up the steps to my apartment. It was not the certain happy ending I’d dreamed of. It was something better—a beginning, the start of an adventure into the magicalunknown.
