Unbreak My Heart(51)

“Why didn’t you say something?”

“I don’t know why. But I don’t want it to take years again.” I take a breath and place my hand on her thigh. She looks down at my fingers then up into my eyes. “What I realized today is that as long as our hearts are beating, we have choices, and there’s one I want to make.”

“What is it?” she asks tentatively.

“I told you about the letters I wrote today. To all the people I care about?”

She nods.

“You’re one of those people.”

Her lips curve up in a smile. “A letter for me?”

I’m not nervous.

Maybe I should be.

But I’ve been to hell and back, and whatever happens next—whether it’s her yes, or her no, or her maybe—I can handle it.

She’s the strong one.

But so am I.

That’s who I’ve become, thanks to coming here and meeting all these people, thanks to seeking and to finding.

I take the last letter out of my pocket, unfold it, and hand it to her.

Excitement races through me as she slides her thumb under the flap, opening the envelope. She unfolds the page. Her eyes widen, and she looks down at the note, then me, then the note, then me.

“Are you serious?”

I nod. “I am.”





32





Holland



This is a dream.

I’m going to wake any second. It’s a fantasy come true. If he means what I think he means, I’m going to squeal so loud they’ll hear me in Kyoto.

But just in case I have it wrong, I take a breath, center myself, and do my best to calm down. I hold the paper in shaky fingers. “What do you mean exactly?”

He shoots me a teasing look. “Was it confusing?”

“I want to be crystal clear. Just spell it out for me, please. I want this so badly, but I don’t want to get my hopes up for nothing.”

He takes my hand and threads his fingers through mine, holding tight. “I want to be with you. You said we would talk about it and figure things out, but the way I see it is simple—you live here, you have a job here, you have family three hours away. I happen to have more money than most guys my age, on account of inheritances. That’s the luck of the draw, and the way I see it, I can either sit on all of that money for a later date, which sounds ridiculously stupid, or I can use some of it to have the life I most want right now—this second. Plus, I do own an apartment here outright, and it’s big enough for two. I want to stay, and I want you to move in with me. That’s why I wrote this letter.”



Dear Holland,





Would you like to be my roommate? I have this place in Shibuya . . .





Love,

Andrew





The waterworks start. Tears break free, and I can’t believe he’s saying this. I can’t believe he’d move here to be with me.

He presses his forehead to mine as he ropes his arms around me. “This is how I can move the ocean.”

I can barely speak. I’m overcome with so many emotions, so much joy.

The man I love isn’t leaving. He’s choosing to stay. He’s choosing us. He’s choosing me.

His lips find mine, and he kisses me. He kisses me like he loves me, like he’s in love with me, and like he’s staying.

In his kiss, I taste hope and a future.

We pull apart for a second and look at each other, sharing crazy grins. I move in for another kiss, clasping his cheeks as if I’m claiming him. I kiss him hard and deep and with an intensity that is out of this world, or maybe it is clearly of this world.

“Is that a yes?” he asks.

“Yes, you can move here. Yes, I want to live with you. Yes, I want to have a life with you every day. But what about your dog and your law firm?”

He holds up a finger and clears his throat. “I have a plan for both.”





33





The freeway was clogged, but Kate knew all the back roads to her gym, and she navigated them seamlessly, taking the least-congested route there in less than fifteen minutes. She knew all the ways around a problem. That was what she did in her job in the import-export business—find the quickest way from A to B.

She pulled up to Animal House, planning to attack the boxing bag today before she tackled how to deliver a shipment of rugs to Seoul.

She headed into the gym, nodding to Jimmy at the front desk, then sliding him a check. Animal House was old school—no credit cards for memberships.

Jimmy shook his head. “Your money is no good here.”

She gave him a look. She was good at giving looks. “I’m good for it.”

Jimmy smiled. “Your membership is paid for the rest of your life. I just got the check from your cousin Andrew.”

Kate froze for an unexpected second. Then she clasped her hand over her mouth, pursing her lips.

That boy, he was going to be all right.



*

“That’s a half pepperoni and half cheese pie. You want Caesar salad too?”

The woman on the end of the line said, “Caesar salad sounds delicious.”

Omar smiled. “Here at Three Martians, our Caesar salad is the best in town. It comes with my personal guarantee.”