Whirlwind

But distractions can only last for so long until what you’ve been trying to distract yourself from is staring you in the face—literally.

And of course Colin was there (I may have been indulging in him frequently in the last few days) and I obviously looked like I had just had lots of sex. I’m pretty sure the t-shirt I had hastily thrown on was inside out and backwards and my hair was definitely in a tangled mess.

But there was Tom, standing in my doorway looking at me in surprise. And before I could even say anything as a way to explain whatever it was I felt the need to explain, Colin came walking out of my bedroom, pulling a shirt on as he did.

He stopped immediately and stared at Tom for a moment before moving his gaze to me.

“I think I’m going to head out…” he said unsurely. I nodded my head and he started moving again. Tom moved out of the way to let Colin by and I waited until I heard him going down the stairs before finally looking back up at Tom.

“Do you want to come in?” I asked hesitantly.

“Sure,” he said. I closed the door once he was inside, but I didn’t make a move for us to go sit down, so we stood there, awkwardly making the occasional eye contact, neither of us knowing where to begin.

“So who was that?” Tom finally asked. And of course he had to start with that.

“Colin,” I said, letting out a deep breath. “He’s…a friend of mine.”

Tom nodded his head and I knew that he knew just what kind of friend he was, if he somehow hadn’t already figured it out.

“May I ask what you’re doing here?” I asked. “It’s not every day a guy I thought I ended things with shows up on my doorstep… especially when said guy lives in London.”

Tom sighed and ran a hand through his hair.

“I honestly don’t know what I’m doing anymore,” he said. “I feel like I’m chasing something I’ll never catch.”

“Then stop chasing,” I said. “I’m not meant to get caught.”

“And there’s the problem,” he said quietly. “I don’t think you realize how special you are. You push everyone away and don’t let anyone in, yet inexplicably I still managed to get to know you. You’ve showed me your vulnerability, even if it was unintentional, and you’ve showed me that you are more than just this uncaring and unfeeling woman— ”

“Tom—”

“No, let me finish,” he interrupted. “I know that you’re scared of getting hurt. Hell, everyone’s scared of getting hurt. I’m scared of getting hurt. But I think it’s worth the risk to actually get to be with someone, to fill that emptiness that you can just feel in your gut… So I guess… I just came all this way to take a risk, and I’m asking you to take a risk with me.”

“I don’t know what you want me to say,” I whispered. I could feel tears stinging my eyes and I hated what this man had done, and was continuing to do, to me in such a short amount of time.

“Just say yes,” he said, reaching out to take my hand gently in his. “Just give this a chance.”

“What if this doesn’t work out?” I questioned. “What if I just end up getting hurt?”

“That’s life,” Tom shrugged. “You get hurt, you learn from it, you move on. It doesn’t have to be the end all, be all.”

I wiped at my eyes with my free hand and let out a snort of laughter.

“You sound so wise with that British accent,” I muttered.

“So is that a yes?” he asked. I shrugged and Tom squeezed my hand. I looked up at him and our eyes met, and I just felt warm and comforted by the fact that he was here.

“You’re not mad about Colin?” I asked.

“No,” he answered. “Jealous, definitely. But there’s nothing to be mad about.”

“Okay,” I said. I looked down at our hands and then back up at Tom, having made my decision. “So are you going to kiss me now?”

Tom grinned down at me and leaned in, pressing his lips to mine.

And maybe we lived happily ever after.