Chapter 18
An absolutely stupid level of relief swept through Jordan, though he tried to play it cool. "Honestly, Kayla, I mean, it's really not my business, is it? I'm not gonna lie, I'd be happy if you weren't, but…"
"I'm not," she said again, her eyes almost sad. "Honestly, him showing up here was the last thing I expected, and it's a nice gesture and all, but even if I hadn't met you…" Kayla shook her head.
Jordan's heart leaped and he couldn't stop a smile from spreading over his face. "Even if you hadn't met me, huh? So I'm not the only one who thinks that maybe there's something happening here?"
Kayla ducked her head, then smiled back up at him, her gaze luminous, filled with the colors of Christmas lights from all around.
"You are definitely not the only one. But even if I hadn't re-met you, the truth is that Boone is looking for something that I wasn't ready for, not with him.
Even if we got back together I would always feel that pressure of knowing he wanted things I didn't. Besides," she said, like it was almost random, "I've never told him about my owl. "
Jordan blinked. "Really?"
She made a little face of agreement, and Jordan took a moment to recalibrate. She'd told him about the owl almost immediately. "…still not my business, but…how long were you together?"
"Almost two years."
And she'd never told him she was a shifter.
Jordan nodded slowly, still taking that in.
"So you never really thought he was the one," he said after a long moment.
There were people all around, holiday noises, bright lights, colors, laughter, but it all swam into a soft blur, with nothing in his world in focus except Kayla.
She closed her eyes, long dark lashes tangling together, then looked at him again, gaze soft. "No. I never did. Shifters…oh, Jordan. I didn't want to tell you this. Not yet."
"It's not going to change how I feel about you, whatever it is," Jordan said firmly, then dropped his voice. "I mean, for heaven's sake, you told me you can turn into an owl and that didn't change how I felt, so whatever else you've got to say can't possibly."
Kayla laughed softly and put her arms around him, pulling herself close. "How do you feel?"
"Like I'm the luckiest guy in the world," Jordan said promptly.
"Like the incredibly cute girl from high school waltzed back into my life and swept me off my feet.
Like I could spend the rest of my life sitting in the wings on a film set—whatever off-camera is called on a film set—watching you work, and be happy.
" He grimaced. "Possibly like I'm a loser who doesn't know what he wants to do with himself and definitely like somebody who doesn't want to mooch off you, but—"
"You're not a loser," Kayla said with unexpected ferocity. "You're recalibrating, but you've had a whole sports career in an impossibly difficult field and you would never mooch. Jordan, would you really be happy tagging along after me? My life is so weird, and—"
"I can't think of anything I'd rather do," he interrupted. "I know that's insane. We just re-met each other. But I swear, Kayla, from the minute I saw you again I've been all in. I don't know how we'll figure it out, but if you want to try, I'm sure we can."
"It's not crazy," Kayla whispered. "Listen—oh, this isn't the place to tell you," she added with a helpless laugh.
"Out in the cold and the snow with three hundred people walking by, but Jordan, it's not crazy, okay?
The other thing you need to know about shifters, the thing I didn't want to tell you because I didn't want you to feel pressured, is that…
we know," she said, helpless again. "When we meet the person we're meant to be with, we know.
We call it fate. And when you ran into me—"
"Barney ran into you!" Jordan said indignantly.
Which wasn't the point. He knew it wasn't the point.
He could hardly wrap his mind around what was the point: that it seemed like Kayla was telling him they were meant to be.
That the dream girl in front of him, with her deep blue eyes and her dreadful haircut, really was the love of his life.
He couldn't think of anything more wonderful.
It made sense, he thought, faintly. It made sense she didn't want to tell him for fear of making him feel pressured, but pressure was the last thing in the world he felt right then.
Freedom, and joy, and confidence, but not pressure.
Kayla laughed, her eyes shining with tears. Happy tears, Jordan thought, but he lifted his hand to brush them away, just in case they fell. "When Barney ran into me," she corrected. "When I saw you, I knew. I would have walked over to the church and married you right then."
Jordan's jaw fell open and hope exploded in him. "…would you like to do that now?"
"Don't be silly," Kayla whispered, and now tears were falling down her cheeks, sliding into the creases around her smiling lips. "We don't even know where we'd live."
"California, obviously. I can't go with you until this dog-sitting gig is over, but it's not like you're finished filming tomorrow, either. Are you? It doesn't matter." Jordan knelt in the snow, smiling up at Kayla. "Will you marry me, Kayla Walsh?"
He was suddenly aware of a hush around them as everybody's attention came their way, but it didn't matter.
His heart was pounding, hope and nervousness and a thread of confidence because she'd just said it was fate and that she would have married him three days ago.
Kayla brushed tears away from her face and laughed again, high and sweet, before she whispered, "Yes.
Yes, of course I will. Now get up before your jeans get soaked through.
" She put her hands into his and pulled him up, then stood on her toes to kiss him as his arms went around her.
A cheer went up around them, startling them both.
Kayla blurted a laugh and hid her face in Jordan's shoulder, then looked up, shining with smiles, as people around them applauded and took pictures.
Kayla, sniffling happily, called, "You all need to send every one of those pictures to my production company.
Owl Maze Productions. The email address is on the site. Please?"
It was clear that a lot of people immediately turned their attention to doing that, though many others kept taking pictures. Jordan beamed down at Kayla. "I assume we're not actually going right over to the church to get married, although if you want to…"
She laughed again and shook her head. "I think we need to fill out some paperwork first, at least. And oh, God." She reached up to clap her hand against her hat. "I can't get married with this haircut! I look like one of those little troll dolls!"
Jordan pulled the hat off her head and examined the various chunks of hair in all their different lengths, then shook his head solemnly. "I'm afraid those troll dolls have much better haircuts than you do at the moment."
Kayla blushed and grabbed the hat to put it back on. "That didn't help!"
He took it off her again and slid his hands into the silly mess of it all. "It doesn't matter. You're utterly gorgeous even with the worst haircut in the world, and I love you with everything I have."
Kayla's eyes shone. "I love you too."
"Then everything's going to work out just fine," Jordan murmured, and kissed the girl of his dreams.