CHAPTER 30
“Hey, babe,” she greeted, looking at Arlowe’s beautiful face on the small screen of her phone as she lay in her old bed for the first time in more than a decade. “I have the best news.”
“I thought I had the best news,” Arlowe replied.
“You have the best news?”
“I thought I did, but what’s your news? You go first.”
“My dad found me an apartment. It’s an onderverhuur situation.”
“A what?” Arlowe laughed.
“Sorry, I just got home. I’m mixing my English and my Dutch a little more than usual. Now that I live here again, my parents are back to Dutch full-time. I’ll be subleasing it.”
“Oh, a sublet?” Arlowe asked.
“Yes. It’s a one-bedroom. The woman who rents it now is going away for a year.
She’s a professor like my father, and she’s going to do a year at Cambridge, so she was looking for someone to rent, and I needed a place.
She’s even giving me a small discount on the rent just to take it off her hands because she’s leaving in less than a week.
I guess the job opportunity just came up, and she’s had no time to focus on the apartment because a place like that in this city would be gone in an instant if she put it on the market. ”
“That’s great. When can you move in?” Arlowe asked.
“In about four days,” she said. “Which is great because I start work then, so I should be in my new place, which is furnished, the night before my first day.”
“That’s great,” Arlowe replied.
“Yeah, I’m pretty excited. It’s in a good neighborhood, and it’s very nice. I think she’s happy to have someone like me taking care of it for her instead of having to rent it out to some university student since it’s near the campus.”
Arlowe smiled at her but said nothing.
“Arlowe?”
“Yeah, sorry,” Arlowe said.
“What’s your news?”
“Oh, nothing major. I’ve just been working on planning my visit since I got home.”
Eline smiled widely at that. She’d been worried that Arlowe had been putting off any plans to visit her in Holland because things had been pretty awkward between them for some time, but hearing Arlowe say that she was going to visit her after all made her feel like maybe things could actually be all right between them.
“When?” she asked.
“Well, I wasn’t sure of that part because you were living at home.
I could’ve gotten us a hotel room, but your parents would have wondered why you were staying at a hotel, and I wasn’t sure that you’d want to tell them about us just yet.
So, how would you feel if I visited in about four days? Is that too soon?”
“What? Really?”
“I don’t want to get in your way with the new place and new job. We can find better timing if–”
“You won’t be,” she said, shifting on her bed. “Arlowe, you’re really coming that soon? Are you sure? You don’t want to wait and come later so that it’s in the middle of my time here or closer to it? And what about your work? You were worried about leaving at all.”
Arlowe smirked and said, “I worked things out so that I can be there next week and stay as long as the Dutch government would allow without a visa, which is a few months. I might have to come back earlier if I’m needed in person, though, and we should also keep in mind that if something happens with your visa, I might not be able to get back over there this year because I’d need a visa of my own then, but if I don’t stay the whole time and save up some days for later, maybe I won’t have to get a visa after all. ”
“Wait. You can stay that long?”
“I talked to Violet, Sarai, and Enya. It’ll be tight, but if I can work from there for at least some or most of the time, keeping my eyes on things from afar, I can do it.
They practically shoved me out the door.
” Arlowe laughed. “I wanted to talk to you first, though. We’d basically be living together because I can’t really afford a multi-month hotel stay.
Maybe I could get a rental somewhere outside of Amsterdam proper, somewhere closer to wherever your apartment is now, for that long, but–”
“You’ll stay with me,” Eline stated.
“Even though you didn’t want to stay with me at the house here?”
“This is different,” she said. “This isn’t you offering because a clock is ticking down. We’re in a clock-ticking-up situation now. We’re going to get the visa application filed and hope for the best.”
“And you’re okay with me staying for a while, working from there, while we’re living together?
It’s not exactly what you wanted… You said you wanted us to do things the right way, but if I’m there, I don’t want to sleep somewhere else, if I’m being honest. I’d want to be next to you every night, so I’d just be wasting my money renting something else. ”
“Yes, Arlowe. I am more than sure.” She smiled wider. “I was worried you didn’t even want to come here. You told me you were going to plan a visit, but while I was right there with you and we could’ve done that together, you didn’t. I left wondering if you even would.”
“I was always going to come for a visit, babe,” Arlowe told her.
“I want to see you as soon as possible. I was worried about work and the fact that you were living at home. Your parents don’t know we’re back together, but even if you told them, that would still be really awkward, and I didn’t want to put more pressure on us. ”
“And you were upset with me for leaving,” she added.
Arlowe dropped her smile and said, “Yes, I was. I can understand it logically. I mean, in my mind, it clicks, Eline. I get it; I do. But in my heart, all I could think was that you were choosing to leave me, leave us. So, yeah, I got it, but I didn’t like it.
Still don’t, but now that I know I can see you sooner than we thought, I guess I’m more okay with it. ”
“I know. I don’t like it, either. I wish I still had my job and that we were going on a month or so together already where things would’ve been normal.”
“Yeah, me too,” Arlowe said. “Look, I still need to get your stuff from the apartment, which I’m doing tomorrow, but I’ll hand over your keys and everything after it’s all clean.
Enya already picked up your car, so it’s here, and it’s safe.
I need to make sure work will really be taken care of, but I’m going to book a one-way ticket.
That will give us some flexibility when it’s time for me to leave.
Maybe your visa will be approved by then, and we can fly back together; who knows? ”
“You’re really…” She shook her head in disbelief, and her eyes welled with tears. “I get to see you in a few days?”
“Four to five, if that’s okay. I’ll book something tomorrow or the day after, depending on how work goes.
Gabi’s going to help out while I’m gone.
She’s great, and I trust her with our software, so that makes me feel a little bit better.
We might have to name our firstborn Gabi, though. Not sure how that works.”
Eline laughed for a moment, but then she stopped because Arlowe had just referenced their firstborn child, which had her smiling.
“I’ll pick you up at the airport, and we’ll take the train back to my new apartment.
We’ll have a tram to get on after that, but it’s not that long of a ride, and you’ll still be close to Amsterdam.
My apartment isn’t in the city, obviously, but we can go there whenever we want.
God, Arlowe… I can’t believe it. I’m so happy. ”
“Want to see what kind of flight options I have, so we can at least try to work around your new work schedule before I book something?”
“Yes,” she said immediately.
◆◆◆
Eline waited at Schiphol Airport with a single red tulip and a heart pounding in her chest because Arlowe’s flight had just landed after they had been apart for six days.
It had been six days too long, and she wasn’t sure how they could’ve lasted any longer than that, but they might have had no choice.
She still couldn’t believe that Arlowe was doing this for her, though.
She knew how important Arlowe’s work was to her, but Arlowe was willing to live in another country temporarily and work from there, probably at odd hours, just to be with her while they waited to hear about Eline’s visa.
They’d agreed on two months for now, unless something came up and Arlowe had to go home for a week or two, or if Eline’s visa was approved sooner.
That would allow Arlowe more time later in the year to come back, should they need it, without her having to apply for a visa – which they could do, and it would likely be approved, but would be yet another bureaucratic process that they were both hoping they wouldn’t have to go through.
She’d moved out of her parents’ place two days prior to Arlowe’s arrival, and while the apartment furniture wasn’t her taste, it was there, which meant that she had more of a home to offer Arlowe than she would’ve had otherwise.
She’d gone shopping and had food for them to eat for the week, including some of the things she knew Arlowe had liked when she had lived here before, and her new job meant that she could work from home with only a visit or two a week to the campus to meet with her employer, who was still wrapping things up there and didn’t have an office yet.
She danced on her feet, bouncing back and forth as she waited for her girlfriend to walk out with the other passengers who’d be leaving the airport, but when she saw Arlowe walking toward her, holding on to her backpack straps and looking around for her, she knew that everything was going to be okay.
Arlowe spotted her then and gave Eline the most beautiful smile that she’d ever seen.
Eline smiled back at her, and her eyes welled with happy tears.
Wanting to meet her halfway, she walked briskly toward Arlowe and around a few other people in the crowd, and when they stood in front of each other, she held out her arms. Arlowe moved into them and pulled Eline in for a tight hug.
“God, I missed you so much,” Arlowe said.
“I missed you, too,” she replied.
They pulled out of the hug a moment later but didn’t go far.
Arlowe leaned in and captured her lips in a slow kiss that felt almost like the first one they’d shared years ago.
They had time now, just like they’d thought they’d had back then, and when Arlowe pulled out of the kiss and stared into her eyes, Eline shook her head a little.
“I need you to know something,” Arlowe said.
“I don’t need time. I’m ready now.” Arlowe kissed her once more.
“I love you, Eline. It’s always been you.
If you need time to say it back because you want us to keep getting to know each other now, I understand, but from the moment I laid my eyes on you, you’ve had my heart, and that will never change.
I know because I’ve tried.” Arlowe ran her thumb over Eline’s cheek, wiping away a tear.
“I love you. I always have and I always will.”
Eline gave her a small smile and said, “I love you, too. Always have and always will.”