Chapter 23
23
Ivy
December 27
Hudson Valley, New York
Ivy wakes and climbs down the ladder, but Holly is nowhere to be found. She sees the note left for her and feels a jolt of surprise. She knows Holly has completely forgiven her for not telling her about Matt and Abby, but she’s still a bit rattled that she’d leave her alone in her heartbroken state.
She looks at her phone screen, but there are no text notifications or missed calls. She was wrong about him. It doesn’t feel possible that she could have felt such a strong connection with someone, only for it not to be real—but it must not have been. She’ll get over it, somehow. Maybe not today, and maybe not for a little while, but she’s strong. She will.
She goes outside for a fast, bracing shower, then runs inside before her hair can freeze. She’s dressing upstairs in the loft when there’s a tap at the door. “Hang on!” she calls out. She throws on a T-shirt and pulls on track pants, then climbs down the ladder. She can see a tall shadow of someone standing at the door, but she can’t tell who it is.
She opens the door.
Oliver.
It nearly takes her breath away.
“You’re…really here?” she manages. “I’m not dreaming?”
He looks nervous. “Is that okay? That I’m here?”
“Yes,” she breathes. “How did you find me?”
“I called while you were sleeping. I talked to Holly. Your phone had been on ‘do not disturb.’?”
“Oh! So it’s not that you didn’t call or text…”
“No. Not at all. I tried and tried, and I finally decided that I had to see you again. So, I flew to New York.”
“Of course you did. Because you’re you.” She feels dizzy with happiness, breathlessly, perfectly thrilled to see him. “I’m so sorry,” she says, stepping back and leading him inside. “I’m sorry I left. I’m sorry for the thing I said before you did.”
“No,” he says. “Don’t be. I was pushing you. I was being judgmental. I don’t know what I was doing, trying to make it seem like I wanted you to decide on something. You’re twenty-nine. Your life can be what you want it to be. We can just take things easy.”
She reaches up to touch his cheek, his hair. “You’re here,” she repeats. She steps closer. “Did you get your waterfall shot?”
He smiles down at her. “Yeah. I got the perfect one. I submitted it to National Geographic just before I left.”
“I’m so glad.” Her face is close to his, so close their lips are practically touching. “You came,” she says again.
“Of course I did,” he says. “I don’t know what our future holds, Ivy, but I do know this: I couldn’t let you walk out of my life. I want to see where this could go.”
“Me, too,” she says. “I haven’t been able to think of anything but you since I left. I’ve missed you so much.”
His lips brush against hers. “I was thinking, I can hang out in New York for a while. I was going to anyway—as much as I hate winter, I had planned to come for a few weeks because my agent wanted me to meet with a few galleries. I’ll go back to Hawaii a few times. Maybe you can take some vacation from work and come with me?” He smiles, touches his lips to hers. “But no pressure. We’ll figure it out.”
“We will,” Ivy says softly. “Now, please—can you just kiss me? And then I want to see your waterfall photo!”
He does, and it’s like it was at the waterfall, the first time—perfect, all-encompassing, yet another best kiss of Ivy’s life, to go with all the other kisses she has had with him.
“So,” Oliver says when he pulls away to catch his breath. “I guess getting on a plane was the right move?”
Ivy laughs. “Absolutely the right move.” It’s as if the distance between them never happened. And she knows with sharp clarity that they are going to figure it out—that distance between them is never going to matter. That she has been swept away by her feelings for him—like the waves he finds so endlessly, beautifully fascinating. And that she has never felt more grounded, even though her future has suddenly opened up wide. “Now show me your perfect waterfall photo. And then, let’s go to bed.”