Page 35

The lights glinted in multi-colored sparks in Luna’s dark hair. Lanterns swayed gently in the evening breeze. The scents of the festival wrapped around Mia like a memory she could almost touch. And then the soft, familiar notes of the band’s song began, sending a shiver down her spine.

And there, in the middle of it all, was Luna.

Eyes dark, skin glowing, a faint smile on her lips even now, though Mia could tell that she was nervous. Her gaze locked onto Mia’s with an intensity that rooted Mia to the spot, her expression a mixture of hope and vulnerability. The noise of the festival faded into nothing as Mia stared at her.

Luna didn’t speak.

She didn’t move.

She simply extended her hand. An invitation. A choice.

Mia’s heart pounded, and she found herself thinking of another woman. A woman laughing in a bathing suit in a changing room, a woman comfortable with her life in a way that Mia never had been. And she smiled. Because she knew now why that woman was laughing, why she was so sure of herself, so confident. Because she was loved.

Mia bit her lip. She had run from so many things, an entire life even. This wasn’t something she could run from, though. It wasn’t something she wanted to run from.

She stepped forward, her fingers finding Luna’s, curling around them like they belonged there. And maybe, just maybe, they always had.

The moment that Mia’s hand met Luna’s, the music swelled, as if the universe itself had been waiting for this. Or perhaps as if Sam, who was conducting merrily, had a far more romantic soul than anyone had thus far suspected.

The townspeople, sensing something sacred in the air, turned back to their own festivities, their laughter and chatter forming a distant hum. But for Mia and Luna, there was only this, only each other.

Luna pulled Mia in gently, resting a careful hand on Mia’s waist. They swayed gently to the rhythm, just as they had that night weeks ago, when everything between them had first shifted.

Mia felt warmth flooding through her, a deep aching of nostalgia mixed with something new, excitement and promise, hope.

“Do you remember the first time we danced?”

Luna’s voice was quiet, just for her.

Mia swallowed. “Of course.”

“I think I loved you then,”

Luna said, her breath warm against Mia’s cheek. “I just… didn’t know what to do with it.”

Mia’s fingers tightened around Luna’s arm. “Luna—”

“I’m scared,”

Luna said, her voice trembling slightly. “I’m scared, but I’m not going running. I’m not going anywhere, Mia. I want to be here. I want to stay. I’ve… I’ve set things up with Jan. We’re going to expand the business, I’m all in here. I’m not leaving again.”

She exhaled, her hand squeezing Mia’s waist slightly. “I’m here if you’ll have me.”

The festival spun on around them, but in their tiny pocket of space, time seemed to slow down almost to a standstill.

Mia could barely breathe. She shook her head, her heart twisting painfully in her chest. “It wasn’t you, Luna. It was never you. Even when I overheard you talking to your grandmother about how hard it was trying to be a girlfriend, I knew in my heart that you didn’t mean it, that I was only hearing part of what you were saying.”

“So that’s why you left?”

Luna said, one corner of her mouth turning up in a smile. “Mia, you should have stayed, you would have heard me say that it was hard, but that you were worth it.

I thought when you didn’t come to dinner it was because you didn’t want me, because you wanted to go back to your old life.”

“No,”

Mia said softly. “No, it was never that. It was… I thought I had to be perfect to deserve something like this. To deserve someone like you. And I’d spent my whole life trying to be perfect, only to spoil it all by running away and then bumping straight into someone who deserved me to be perfect.”

Luna’s grip on her waist tightened more, grounding her.

Mia took a shaky breath and forced herself to say what she had been too scared to admit. “But the truth of the whole matter is, perfect or not, I love you.”

Luna stilled, her eyes locking onto Mia’s as though she needed to be certain that she wasn’t dreaming.

“I love you,”

Mia said again, more firmly this time, letting the words settle between them. “And I’m sorry, so sorry, that I pushed you away.”

Luna’s lips curved into a smile, her eyes brightened with unshed tears. “You don’t need to be perfect for me. God knows, I’m hardly perfect myself. You just have to be… you. I love you just as you are.”

She paused, and then her smile widened into a grin. “We can agree to disagree on who’s to blame, if you like?”

Mia laughed, shaking her head. “Oh, no. Not this time. If we’re doing this, we’re doing it honestly. I’m not hiding things from anyone, most of all myself.”

She met Luna’s gaze. “We were both afraid. We were both to blame.”

Luna’s eyes searched her face for a long moment, then she nodded. “Okay. Honest.”

Lanterns flickered above them and the music played on, but none of it mattered, they barely noticed that there was anything or anyone there at all.

Mia reached up, cupping Luna’s face with trembling hands.

“What?”

Luna said, letting out a breathless laugh.

“Just making sure you’re real,”

Mia said, rubbing her thumb over Luna’s sharp cheekbone.

Luna grinned. “I’m real. You’d better believe that.”

Mia exhaled. “Good.”

And then she kissed her.

It was soft at first, nothing more than a hesitant brush of lips, a quiet question. But when Luna kissed her back, it became an answer, firm and certain, filled with everything that had been holding them both back.

The entire world melted away until there was nothing but the kiss, perfect and round and endless.

Then, suddenly, there was noise. Cheers and whistles and laughter.

Mia pulled back, breathless, blinking in surprise.

The entire town had stopped to watch.

Rachel clapped the loudest, Miguel and Jason whooped, Helen was dabbing at her eyes with a napkin. Jan lifted a plastic cup of beer in a salute, and even Sam, standing on the band’s stage, was grinning from ear to ear.

Mia groaned and buried her face in Luna’s shoulder. “Oh god. Did everyone see that?”

“Oh, they definitely saw that,”

Luna laughed, holding her close.

Mia peeked up, her cheeks flushed crimson. “And you don’t care?”

Luna tilted her head as though considering an answer. Then, with a mischievous glint in her eyes, she called out to the crowd, “Hey, Mia loves me!”

A fresh wave of cheers erupted.

Mia groaned again. “You’re impossible.”

Luna grinned. “You love me anyway.”

Mia sighed, exasperated but smiling, shaking her head. “Yeah, I sort of do, don’t I?”

“Hey, you can’t be questioning things already,”

said Luna, sticking out her lower lip. “You knew what you were getting into.”

“Don’t worry, there’s not a single doubt in my mind,”

Mia laughed.

Luna pulled her in close again, pressing her forehead against Mia’s, voice dropping into a soft and serious tone. “So, where do we start?”

Mia traced her fingers over Luna’s wrist, holding onto her, holding onto the moment. “Right here,”

she whispered.

The music swelled again, and not caring that the whole town was watching, they began to dance. A traveler returned and her runaway bride.