AllFreeNovel
Share Us
‘This is mad. Who paid for this? This is expensive,’ I protest, turning around, and finding myself so achingly close to him.
‘We all pitched in,’ he explains. I look out into the night sky, at the city sparkling at us as the pod revolves around.
‘But why?’
‘Because you once told me you’d never been on here and you were a sucker for a view.’
I pause for a moment. I did say that.
‘Yes…but why?’ I repeat.
‘You know why…’ he replies, confused.
‘Well, the job thing, maybe, but then why is it you and I standing here? With you, in your suit looking…’
He raises his eyebrows at me.
‘Debonair…’ I say slowly and he smiles.
‘Debonair?’ he repeats. ‘Like a magician?’
‘You heard me.’
And we smile at each other. He steps closer to put a hand over mine on the rail. I feel emotion charge through me to have him so near again, to see him exhale slowly as he touches me.
‘Well then, if we are exchanging compliments, you look very…’
‘Red?’
‘Beautiful.’
I look up at him, our hands still touching. ‘I’m sorry,’ he says, inhaling with a sigh as I look up at him. ‘When we were in the Lakes, my reaction to hearing about everything was unfair…I think I was just working it out. I was worried, I…’
‘I should have told you all from the start. We’re a team. I shouldn’t have jumped into spending all that time with you, knowing what I did…’ I interrupt him. ‘I wasn’t honest.’
‘But I should have realised what a hard decision it was. I should have had more faith in you…’ he tells me. ‘Because what you did a few days ago absolutely floored me. I thought I was in love with you before, but that just…’
His eyes well up and he has to stop himself for a moment.
‘You were in love with me before?’
‘I remember I came down to London only knowing one or two people. And then I walked into your office and there was this person who called me Leonardo and it felt…’ he laughs. ‘It felt like home. And that’s how I’ve always felt with you. I feel safe, it feels familiar, like I’ve always known you. I’ve never met anyone quite like you, Maggie. You take such great care with everyone in your life. And I keep seeing it, just watching it, not quite believing someone could be like that…’
My lips start to tremble as he continues, and I take his hand and squeeze it in mine.
‘And over time, it became the sum of so many little things: the way you’d get stupidly excited about Wordle, the way you look after Frank, the way you protect Jasper, the way you always walk into that stupid basement of ours and make it feellike there’s actual light in there, the way you take us to a crappy Mexican restaurant and try and convince us it’s Christmas.’
‘Leo… You never said…’
‘Because you were my boss and what I didn’t want to do was jeopardise any of it…But then Christmas happened and we kissed, and we spent three hours and forty-six perfect minutes together on the phone, and you came back to my house and all of it just…snowballed.’
I do cry at this point, tears rolling down my face freely.
‘I love you. I’m so angry at what’s happened with work but I want to keep doing this, us. I still want to see you everyday, wherever you are. We might not be a desk away but I’d still like to be close.’
‘Really?’ I ask.
‘If you’ll have me?’ he asks, looking worried that maybe I won’t, that maybe something’s changed. But he hasn’t. Quiet Leo in the corner. How was he sitting there the whole time just looking on? Why didn’t I see the kind and thoughtful soul he is before? But now that I’ve had that epiphany, I don’t want to waste any more of my time wondering. I reach over, hold on to his lapels and kiss him gently, his hand going to the back of my head to draw me in, my body rejoicing to know I haven’t lost him. I see a flash in the corner of my eye, and I take a brief moment to pull away and check what it might be.
