Chapter 36
Iris
Cloud nine.
That’s where I live now.
It’s one thing to help others find magic, it’s an entirely different thing to feel it for yourself.
After the Art Show, I grin the whole way home. When I get back to my apartment, I change into my most comfortable clothes then trudge down the hallway, and before I can knock on his door, it opens.
Matteo takes one look at me and smiles. A real one. An eye-brightening, cheeky smile that makes me feel like the luckiest girl in the world.
He takes me by the hand and pulls me inside, closing the door and pulling me close until our bodies are flush against each other. His eyes dart around like pinballs, taking in every inch of my face, and his smile lingers.
“You smell like garlic,” I joke.
“You look like heaven,” he answers.
I give him a playful shrug. “I’ll accept it.”
“You know,” he says. “I didn’t get a chance to tell you how beautiful you looked tonight. ”
At that, my skin warms, and as he brushes a soft kiss across my lips, a tingle runs up my spine. “No,” I whisper. “You didn’t.”
“Gorgeous.” He kisses my cheek. “Stunning.” Back to my lips. “And I missed you.”
“I missed you, too,” I say.
He tucks me under his chin and presses me to his chest. I pull him closer, thinking I’d be happy to stay like this for the rest of the night.
“I’m sorry I disappeared for a few days,” he says. “It wasn’t cool for me to not let you in. And it won’t happen again. I had some things to figure out.”
I look up into his eyes. “And?”
“I did,” he says.
He kisses my forehead, then pulls back and holds my gaze. “I love so many things about you, Iris. Like, how excited you get to help other people. And how you don’t really take no for an answer. How you didn’t let my bad attitude run you off, and how you called me out on my stupidity. I love how you fit right into my world, and after family dinner you stick around and talk my ear off while I cook. You’re a huge distraction.” He grins. “I missed that this week.”
I don’t bother trying to hold the smile in anymore. I couldn’t help it if I tried. “I’m not too much?”
He shakes his head. “Not for me.”
I pull him close and kiss him full on the mouth, savoring every single breath as a shiver runs down my spine. My body heats as my nerves wake up, and I think about what Winnie said—that selfless love is a choice. If that’s true, then I choose him.
He pulls me away from the door, into the living room and onto the couch, where we both lay down, facing each other, me tucked between his body and the back of the sofa. I grab the crocheted blanket and spread it over the two of us, then settle my fist under my chin, my eyes captured by his. I could get lost here.
“So,” he says. “You do realize that we were the newspaper’s target all along, right?”
My eyes dart away as I think about this. “Oh, my gosh,” I say, realization dawning. “We were the target.”
“We did some things for other people, but yeah,” he says. “That was all about you and me.”
“The magic totally set us up!” I think through all the ways the paper pushed us together. All the ways it brought me exactly what I’ve been searching for—a community, a family, a place where I finally feel like I fit in.
He leans down and kisses me.
“I love magic,” I say, kissing him back.
“It’s a good thing because when I got home, there was another newspaper at my door.”
“Seriously? Where is it?”
“On the counter.”
I push myself up and over him, letting the blanket fall in a heap to the floor. I rush to the counter and pick up the paper, still wrapped in the plastic sleeve.
“Look at the address label,” he says.
I turn it over and read: Matteo Morgan & Iris Ellington
When I glance up, I beam. “Now, we’re a pair.” I meet his eyes. “Have you looked through it yet?”
“I was waiting for you.”
He sits up as I rush back to the couch and plop down next to him. I pull the paper out of the plastic and hold it up in front of us. There, on the very top, above the fold, is a bold headline, an announcement, that is shocking to us both.
“Um, does that say . . .?” I start.
He pauses. “Yep, I think it does.”
I look at him, and he looks back at me. “Can we plan it in four months? ”
“I do know a great caterer.” He straightens and takes my hand in his.
“I’m game if you are.”
A smile spreads across my face, and in the distance, sounding like it’s coming from outside, I hear the distinct tinkling of chimes.
THE END