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“Good, because who would want any of those things?” I ask, my voice thick with emotion.
“Not me. Not anymore, anyway,” Ty tells me, reaching for my waist and pulling me closer. “I want better things from now on.”
His mouth is so very close to mine, I can feel his breath on my skin. Come on, kiss me. Just do it. “I want to spend my days and nights with someone honest enough to call me on my bullshit and stop me from making the biggest mistakes of my life. Someone I can have a good argument with and still go to bed happy. Someone I admire for her blend of intelligence and passion.”
Why, oh why, am I wearing this stupid sweater for the most romantic moment of my life? “I seem to recall you describing me that way.”
“That’s because I did,” he tells me, lowering his mouth to mine. “And I wasn’t even hopped up on psychedelics at the time.”
“No?” I ask, swallowing hard.
I close my eyes but can feel his smile as he says, “I was totally sober.”
“Then you must have meant it,” I tell him.
“I must have.” He finally kisses me, and it’s anything but gentle. It’s a toe-curling, ‘I’m all-in and I want you forever’ kiss. It’s everything I’ve been waiting for my entire life, it’s what I’ve been craving since we went our separate ways. It’s the beginning of something wonderful. It’s a new start, as fresh as the fallen snow.
His arms are wrapped around me, and he’s holding me close, warming me up with every movement of his hands, with every kiss. I kiss him right back, needing him to know I’m all-in too. Needing him to know he can trust me to be by his side through the good, the bad, and the ugly. Needing him to know I’m proud to be the one he chose. My heart is as full as it could ever be. I feel like I could explode with joy.
We both pull back panting and smiling at each other. “I have a confession to make,” I tell him. “Before we go any farther.”
His smile fades. “What?”
“I meant everything I said when we were hopped up on tea and bourbon. Except … obviously not the bathroom stuff.”
Ty grins at me. “Obviously.”
“But the rest of it. I’m in love with you, Ty Sterling, and I can safely say until I met you, I didn’t have the first clue what that meant, but I do now,” I tell him. “I want to hang out with you and play cards with you and Michael, who will hopefully like me. I want to test out cookie recipes together and watch documentaries and kiss you good night and wake up with you next to me and do all the things with you, and the truth is, I don’t think I’ll ever want to stop wanting that, so if that freaks you out, I’m sorry, but that’s just the way it is and I’d rather be upfront about it now.”
“It doesn’t freak me out,” he says, smiling down at me. “It probably should, but it doesn’t.”
“Well, good then.” I give him a firm nod.
“Good.” He narrows his eyes a little. “Do you think your work family is going to be mad at you for sleeping with the boss?”
“Are you kidding? They’re going to be thrilled to even have a boss,” I tell him, giving him a hard kiss. “Wait. But do you just mean our project or all the projects?”
“All the projects.”
“Really? All of them?”
“Yup. I just couldn’t stand the thought of tearing down what Richard had built. Not after I understood why he built it and what it meant for the people who work here.”
“Oh my God, you really are perfect.”
“No, but I’m going to try.”
We kiss again, and just when things are about to get a lot more ‘not suitable for work,’ I pull back, a thought popping into my head. “Fuck me, there really was a Christmas miracle,” I mutter. “I have to call my mom.”
And They Lived Happily Ever After…
Ty - Six Months Later
I was wrong. About timing being everything. About life being all about grinding it out relentlessly until you achieve your dreams. I was wrong that there’s no such thing as luck or the stars aligning. I was wrong to judge all those people who understood that life is for living and enjoying, not just for working. I was wrong about Richard, who knew all of this and made it his last wish (the real one) to try to teach me.
Richard figured it out, and that’s what made him a great man. Not his inventions, although those were pretty damn amazing too. But the way he lived his life was the real work of art. And my new biggest goal is to make my life a work of art too. I started out by thanking my father for leaving us because if he had stayed, I wouldn’t have become the man I am today, and Michael would have suffered every day. I told him I forgive him and that I know he did the best he could, and that it’s sad that his best was just so little. I wished him well and walked away, knowing I was just starting my journey of being half the man Niles is but twice the man my father will ever be. I went directly up to the owner’s box and was just about to tell Muffy the deal was off when she told me the team was no longer for sale. Apparently Diesel (who one hundred percent thinks she’s in her forties) has always dreamed of owning a major sports franchise, so they’re keeping it, and she’s having the owner’s box refitted by the same guys who did the lighting on the yacht (which she paid me back for). I guess she had the money all along, she just wanted to see if she could get me to buy it for her.
The next few weeks were spent working on a big farewell memorial service for Richard. Rohan managed to get Elton John to rewrite a version of Candle in the Wind, and he sang as video clips of Richard doing daring things played. There wasn’t a dry eye in the house. I hired Rohan, who is not only smart and loyal, but was always destined for bigger things, to run the foundation. He’s doing a bang-up job of it so far, and I have every faith he’ll be able to continue it. Between him and the people on the SETI team, they’ve come up with ways to fundraise so they can increase funding for all the projects, and I have to say, their efforts have yielded impressive results. All the cash goes back into the trust, where I’m turning it into some really big money for them. Gwen’s work family doesn’t hate me anymore, and in fact, I’ve been invited to karaoke night, at which, Gwen and I get up and sing “The Power of Love” as a horrible duet. I do all the really high parts, but only for comic value.
