“Good for you. So then you came home and licked your wounds until now?”
“Yes.”
“A perfect excuse to play it safe some more?” he suggested, his tone gentle.
She wasn’t used to this, someone seeing her so clearly.
“Well, that might be true, but I did meet two women who have become lifelong friends.”
“Uh-huh.”
“More safety?” she guessed from his tone.
He lifted a shoulder at her.
“Anyway, there is nothing wrong with playing it safe. Look at this time! I took another chance, and another catastrophe.”
“Really?” he said, softly. “I would think this is about the furthest thing from a catastrophe that I could imagine.”
He was right. He was 100 percent right. She was living an absolute dream.
“Maybe the message from life,” he suggested, “is that bad things happen. They happen to all of us. And we survive. Sometimes, if we look closely there can be a gift hidden in our worst moments.”
She looked deeply at him, and his eyes so full of wisdom, and felt herself falling deeper. Tumbling toward him and what he offered.
A world that rewarded bravery.
A world where she could trust someone to be honest with her.
She could feel herself leaning toward him, leaning toward the adventure. And he leaned toward her, too.
Their lips met. Two souls who knew each other, who had known each other since the beginning of time and would know each other until the end.
He tasted of what he was: strength and calm.
But that strength, that she loved, and that was so obvious about him, was also what made him pull away from her.
“You know we can’t,” he said softly.
“If I don’t take the job, can we?”
He laughed softly. “Now there’s as poor a reason for making a career decision as I’ve ever heard.”
He got up from her reluctantly. He stood over her for a moment, then reached down and cupped her cheek in his hand. He gazed at her face as though he were trying to memorize it. And then, he bent, placed one more gentle kiss on her lips, turned and went down the hall, into his bedroom. The door clicked shut with a kind of firm finality.
CHAPTER EIGHT
IT WAS JESSICA’S last day in NYC, and already it was showing every sign of being perfect. To her surprise, after putting her off last night, Jamie had joined her this morning.
From the moment he had introduced her to Patience and Fortitude, the marble lions that guarded the main entrance to the New York Public Library, Jessica had been enchanted. They had joined a tour, just leaving. Jessica had been enraptured with every square inch of that iconic building,
And the truth was, not just with the building.
It was having another incredibly memorable experience with Jamie at her side. It was remembering his lips, the taste of them, it was the potential, in the air between them for more.
It was her last day here. Jessica could already feel a sense of loss—and something else.
She was going to say yes. She was going to say yes to this incredible opportunity that was being offered her. She was going to say yes to the adventure. Maybe not forever. She distrusted forever.
But what would the harm be in trying it?
And did the sizzle between her and Jamie have anything to do with her saying yes?
If anything, she saw it as a complication. He really was going to be her boss. He probably wasn’t going to be available to act as her tour guide, to eat pizza with, to take her to shows, to cook homemade meals for, to go on carriage rides through Central Park.
But he would be part of her life.
And she wanted that. She wanted to know him better. She could see the fabric of their lives weaving together. Perhaps fate had even ordained this. Even the theft, forcing them closer together, destiny having its way with them...
She stopped suddenly.
She was making plans for her whole life without checking in with a single soul. She had not checked in since she got here. She had not looked at any of her social media accounts and, apart from that first phone call to her parents, she had not talked to anyone.
Not being connected had felt freeing, and amazingly so.
But now, she couldn’t help but wonder if she was living in a bubble. Jamie Gilbert-Cooper was just the kind of guy who could make a woman erase every other thing from her reality.
She needed to check in with her real life. She needed to ground herself. And just as she was recognizing that, she saw one of the library workstations—with a computer—come available.
Jamie had been emailing her pictures of their excursions. She could pick them up, and make a few posts. She could message with her mom and dad, and Daisy and Aubrey.
She suddenly recognized how momentous a turn in the road she had come to. She needed the input of those closest to her. She needed to know she had not given herself over to a fantasy, a fairy tale.
“I should use one of those computers,” she said. “Can you give me half an hour?”
“Of course. I’m not sure if you have to be a member, but I can sign you in if you do.”
Jessica signed in under Jamie’s library account, and picked up the photos he had been emailing her. She could feel the delight unfolding in her as she looked at each of them. It confirmed her decision. She would take the job. She would move here. She would embrace the unknown.
I will let myself finish what I have started, which is falling in love with Jamie Gilbert-Cooper.
But that was the problem, wasn’t it? Was she basing her decision on any of the right things?
She opened the message app on her favorite social media account. She sent her mother a picture of her with the lions in the background and a quick note saying she had seen Phantom of the Opera and been to the Russian Tea Room.
It
