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“Wow!” Vanessa eventually exclaimed. But she didn’t tell Megan to fuck off and so Megan went on.

“Hear me out,” she said, squeezing the hands she was holding. “Let me present my case and then you can speak. Promise me,” she added sternly.

Vanessa smirked.

“Only if you also promise to be this bossy later tonight in bed.”

Megan felt relief wash over her. Vanessa had cracked a joke. That was good, right? It at least meant that she was willing to listen to what Megan had to say instead of automatically vetoing it. But she needed to dive in before La Vida Mocha got busy again.

“I know your whole life is here in Carlsbad, especially because you own this fabulous business.” Megan made a gesture encompassing the entire coffeeshop. “But you can—we can—have a life in New York. I mean, yeah, we can, but you can separately, as part of we but doing your own thing as well.”

Megan knew she was rambling. She felt her cheeks flush, partly because she was upset with herself. She had rehearsed this on her way over here. She needed to calm down. She took a deep breath.

“I’m probably not making any sense,” she continued, “but here’s the gist of it: you could come with me to New York and start another business. Another coffeeshop. Or a fitness studio—you’d be good at that. Or a whatever. Maybe you can even keep La Vida Mocha and just manage it from New York because that old ninja lady is right, something like that can be done remotely nowadays. But while you sort that out, we will be perfectly fine because as it turns out, with my new promotion, I’ll be making a lot of money, babe. I mean, a lot of money. I can take care of you—shit! Not that you need anyone to take care of you! No, what I mean is, I can take care of us while you decide what to do in New York. You’ll have time to figure it all out, which you’ll need because New York is a fucking crazy place.”

She swallowed.

“So, that’s it,” she said by way of finishing up, looking down at their joined hands on the tabletop. “I know it’s probably sounds outrageously nutso, but I truly believe it’s an option for us.” Megan looked up again into Vanessa’s eyes. “I don’t want to be in New York wi

thout you.”

There. It was out. Of course, she had sounded like an awkward pre-teen professing her feelings to a crush, but nothing could help that now. The only thing that mattered was that it was out there.

Looking at Vanessa, Megan knew she was seeing her future. The only question was, how would that future start?

“I love your idea,” Vanessa said and Megan tilted her head back and blew out a breath she didn’t realize she had been holding.

This was going to happen!

Then Vanessa said, “Buuut…” and Megan’s heart plummeted.

“Sweetie,” Vanessa continued, “I want to do the whole lesbian romcom movie thing right now and stand up, toss the keys to La Vida Mocha to Chloë, saying ‘She’s all yours now’ and ride off into the sunset with you, but I need to think about all this, okay?”

Megan nodded slowly, trying to remain outwardly calm even though her insides were frothing with frustration.

“Technically, it would be riding off into the sunrise with me,” she said softly. “Because, you know, we’d be heading east.”

“Oh my God, you’re such a nerd!” Vanessa said, laughing.

Vanessa’s laughter made Megan feel less tense. Vanessa hadn’t flat-out rejected the plan. And, after all, it made sense that Vanessa wanted to think about this, it was a huge thing to think about. And Vanessa was older, more sensible about things.

But, dammit, why couldn’t Vanessa just toss the keys to Chloë?

“I totally understand,” Megan said, and she was surprised when, after saying it, she realized that she was being honest. She did understand.

“Can we talk more about it tonight?” Vanessa asked.

Megan smiled.

“Of course.”

“I’m not promising a decision, though,” Vanessa warned. “This is going to take some time. I need you to be okay with that.”

Squeezing her girlfriend’s (girlfriend’s!) hands again, Megan said, “I am, I promise.”

“There’s one more thing.”

“What?”