Page 178 of I Dreamt That You Loved Me

It reminded me so much of the day he proposed.

“Yes,” I said with a smile. “We’re staying married. I mean, if that’s what you still want,” I added.

“If that’s whatIstill want?” he asked incredulously. “That was never in question.” He snorted. “I burned the divorce papers.”

“Youburnedthem?”

“Set them on fire and flushed the ashes.”

“Oh my god, Gabriel!” I howled with laughter. “That’s crazy.”

Then we were both out of our seats, lunging for each other. We collided and so did our mouths.

“We need to celebrate,” Gabriel said.

He was beaming. I wish I had a photo of him at this very moment.

I found myself nodding in agreement but quickly caught myself before I got too carried away in the excitement.

One of the pitfalls of earning your living from your art was that you actually had to produce the work and, in our case, meet a strict deadline.

“It’ll have to wait until we get our work done. This is crunch time,” I reminded him.

“Right.” He sighed. “I’m just so fucking happy.”

“Me too.” I felt downright giddy. The past four days had been a whirlwind of reconnecting and making up for lost time. There had beena lotof sex, including one memorable night of skinny-dipping in the moonlight.

“I still can’t believe you burned the papers though.”

“I had hope that you’d change your mind. But honestly? I didn’t even want to read those papers. I couldn’t face the possibility of losing you for good,” he admitted.

Knowing everything I knew now made me doubly regret my actions.

I’d been so busy blaming him for leaving, but I’d let him down too by giving up on us.

I wrapped my arms around him and offered an overdue apology. “It was a shitty thing for me to do. I’m so sorry I didthat to you. I should have made more of an effort to talk to you. I should have come out here and spoken to you face-to-face instead of blindsiding you?—”

“Hey. It’s done.” He kissed the tip of my nose. “Don’t beat yourself up over it. I probably would have done the same thing if I were in your shoes. I understand why you did it, but it’s in the past now so we can let it go, right?”

There were a lot of things we needed to let go. I was working on that. “Yeah, we can let it go.”

“All right, let’s focus on our work,” he said with a sigh as he reluctantly pulled away. “On Thursday, we’ll celebrate.”

“Okay.” I smiled. “Time to break out the power tools. Nothing like a littleblowtorching to start the day off right,” I called over my shoulder as I sauntered away, putting a little extra sway in my hips. “And don’t get me started on the joys of using a power sander to really penetrate all the deep layers.” I moaned like I was having an orgasm.

Gabriel groaned. “Stop torturing me, woman.”

I laughed. I don’t know what was so sexy about me using power tools, but it really got him going.

I spun around and walked backward. He was still standing on the deck watching me go.

“Get to work!” I yelled. “If you’re good, I’ll suck your dick later.”

That got him moving. He was off the deck in a flash.

I finished on Wednesday evening as the last streaks of sherbet-hued sunlight cast a warm glow on the studio.

Whenever I finished a piece of art, I got a rush of endorphins, but this time it was ten-fold because I’d created this piece in Gabriel’s studio in Montauk after years of separation.