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Maye smiled to herself. Suddenly, all of the eyes that were trained on her turned to the back of the auditorium as a familiar voice came through the speakers.

“Hi, Maye,” Chris said, walking toward the stage.

She looked at him with apologetic eyes. “Hi, Chris.”

“Hi, everyone,” he nodded and waved at some audience members. “There’s something else I want to say, if you’ll bear me the time. And this goes for everyone here. Hope is only lost when you give up. And I don’t want to give up. Not on you Maye, not on this,” he pointed to her and then to himself, “but most of all, I don’t want you to give up. You have so much to offer—”

“I’d like to say something?” Maye interrupted. She stood up and joined Chris at the center of the stage. “First off, Hi. Thank you for that video.”

He nodded and reached for her hand.

“For the last few months I have been stepping out of my comfort zone more than I ever have, probably in my life. Not that I have been uncomfortable the whole time. I mean…” She gestured to Chris and turned to the audience.

A few people whooped and whistled.

“But…” Maye continued. “I think there was a tiny bit of fear in the back of my mind. Fear of change, fear of the unknown, fear of belonging, fear of my own blind spots…and that came to the forefront last night. I wish I had stayed to hear the whole conversation. I wish I had trusted that things would be okay. Everything up to this point has turned out okay. Even this, this mess that it feels like I’m in…it’s actually turning out pretty good.”

Encouraging cheers sprouted from around the audience, and someone shouted, “We love you, Maye!”

“I think there’s just one thing left to do,” Chris said as he placed his and Maye’s microphone on the stage. He pulled her close to him, placed his hand in the middle of her back and dipped her backward toward the audience, and then leaned in and kissed her. She wrapped her arms around his neck and kept her lips pressed against his.

The audience roared to their feet and burst out clapping and whistling.

As Maye stepped off the stage with Chris, Jayce stopped them.

“The internet is going nuts over this!” he said. “Get ready for season two, baby!”

- 40 -

It’s Christmas Day

Maye stared out the window of her condo, watching the snow pile up on the tops of cars and on the bare tree branches. A brave, bundled-up soul walked their dog, creating the only tracks in the fresh blanket on the ground.

Maye caught a whiff of a familiar, festive scent. “Mm…peppermint,” she said as she turned around.

“Here you go,” Chris handed her a coffee mug. “Holiday blend with a splash of peppermint creamer.” He joined her at the window, then took a deep breath and exhaled slowly. “Nothing like a white Christmas, eh?”

She kissed his cheek. “It’s like a movie, but in real life.”

Tracy squeezed herself in between them and leaned her head on Chris’s shoulder. “Nope, nothing like it,” she said.

“Well, should we get to work?” Chris said.

Tracy held Chris’s phone and pointed it at the two of them as they sat on the floor in front of Maye’s Christmas tree. Strands of white lights and color lights crisscrossed loosely around the branches and gently dimmed and brightened in rhythm with Billy Idol’s version of “O, Christmas Tree.”

“And we are live,” Tracy said as she tapped the screen.

“Merry Christmas!” Chris announced to his social media followers. “I am here with the lovely Maye Daniels for a very special Christmas Day edition of our show, The—”

“The Zesty Sync Up!” Tracy shouted.

“We are here for a very special Christmas Day edition of The Zesty Sync Up,” Chris repeated, in jest.

“Well…” Maye chuckled, “name aside, that’s not entirely true, is it?”

“I guess not,” he said. “You know, there’s been a lot of speculation around you and me, Maye.”

They locked eyes and smiled at each other.