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Well. I do, but it seems rude to come right out and say it. But my hesitation gets her moving. “Let me gather my things. I have a flexible ticket, and the party is certainly over.”

She activates her tech camo, which now that I’m paying attention, resembles a bracelet on their wrists.

So does Tam, who rides along to keep me company, and soon we’re saying goodbye at what passes for the bus station in this little town.

It’s actually a gas station, and the bus pulls in just as we arrive.

Jaz gives us quick hugs and rushes toward it, waving as she goes.

It’s midmorning when we drive back to Ravik’s place. Ours now, I suppose. I laugh, the ebullience born of pure joy. It feels like hope tearing free inside my chest.

“We’re still together,” I say, glancing at Tam as I turn down the gravel drive.

When we arrived here a few days ago, I never imagined how intense this visit would be.

“And I need not castigate myself further for worrying my family or for not fitting the space I was born to occupy.”

The house is so very still and quiet when we enter this time that I can hear the chickens squawking in the shed. They probably want their feed and to be let out so they can wander around. Kevin is yelling his head off, and Frances makes hungry goat noises.

“Is this how you imagined our life together?” I ask with a silly little grin.

“From the seed of dreams,” he whispers.

“Our life together will grow.” I don’t even know where the words come from, but they feel right.

“That is paraphrased from our heart’s mate ceremony,” Tam tells me softly.

“We can do that later. If you want.”

“For now, we need to take care of the animals,” he agrees.

We promised Ravik. I search using the satellite Wi-Fi that Ravik has set up and peruse instructions on how to take care of goats and chickens.

Frankly, it makes sense for us to occupy this place.

But it would mean quitting my job. And I have no idea what work I can do out here in the middle of nowhere.

I don’t have job prospects in Rellows, either.

Tam touches my shoulder. “That is your worried face.”

“Just…trying to figure things out.”

“You said yourself that we have time.”

“True. But…I think it makes sense to stay here. At least for a while. I can go home for a bit, give notice, pack up my stuff, and collect Scotty and Spock. The big question mark is, what the heck will I do here?”

“What you’ve always wanted to do,” Tam says.

“Which is?”

“Be an astronomer. Study the stars. Write about your findings.”

I blink. “I can’t just…become a freelance astronomer. I’d need to work at an observatory, and—”

“Up here, we can build one. I have the funds to get started, and the expertise to help with innovations to existing technology.”

Holy. Shit.

My first instinct is to scream and to kiss him and to say, Yes, yes, yes, a thousand times, yes , as if he’s proposed marriage after a ten-year courtship.

Because it feels like my whole life has been a rehearsal for meeting Tam, the extraterrestrial of my dreams. My breath catches as his gaze meets mine.

And when Tam touches my cheek, it is electric.

“Jen.” Tam whispers my name, a resonance that moves the essence of my being.

It feels deeper than sex as the colors of his pattern deepen, becoming fully luminescent. I’ve never seen that before.

“You’re so beautiful. What does this mean?” I trace the velvety whorls, evoking a whole-body shiver from him.

“That I’ve imprinted on you. I tried to hold back, and ordinarily it requires full consummation. But with you…”

“I guess you love me a lot.” I try for a teasing tone, but it comes out soft and breathy and dripping with delight.

“Yes,” he says simply.

We move to the bedroom with one mind. There’s no need to wait. We have complete privacy, and I’m anchored in the moment by the singular certainty of his devotion. I undress and go to him without hesitation. He meets me halfway, still trembling.

Each touch encompasses a whole universe, one where love is the universal language. He already knows my body well. Beneath his hands, I am the pulsing heart of a meteor shower. Sensation builds until I must return it to him.

At my urging, Tam falls back, letting me explore him as he didn’t before. His skin shimmers everywhere I caress him, an artist’s palate of distilled yearning. His colors shift and dance, flickering on my skin like the aurora borealis wrapping around me.

Our bodies tangle. The heat of our union is the birth of twin suns, intense and overwhelming.

I sweat and beg as we move together, all sighs and murmurs.

His strange, beautiful form bends to mine, not designed by nature but profound pleasure surges from curiosity and exploration.

I close my eyes and tumble into satisfaction, a singularity where only we exist. Tam is my event horizon, and I am spinning into a place where time stands still.

As we crest together, it feels as if we’ve broken through the atmosphere, reentering a world that can never be the same.

Our breaths come in gasps, mingling in the air that suddenly seems charged with the energy of stars.

Peace seeps in as my pulse slows, perspiration cooling on my skin. I caress him gently, grateful beyond measure. “Thank you for finding me.”

“Thank you for loving me,” he whispers into the sensitive skin at my neck.

Against all odds, we are together. The future might still be uncertain, but we will come to forks in the path and choose each other time and again, until we become beings of light, not dust. We have crafted our own ending, a happily ever after written not in the stars but in the moments we choose to share.