Ordinary World (38 page)

He laughed, but I could tell he was relieved, his jealousy subsided. I looked pensively at my cake. “Seriously though, I really did spend most of my time with just me.”

We stopped talking and people-watched for a bit before we resumed conversation.

“Not even a one-night stand for you?” I asked.

“Nada.”

I raised my eyebrows, as if to say,
wow
.

“I did date someone for a couple of months, though.”

I froze, my fork in mid-air.

“And?”

“And we mutually decided to move on.”

We continued to talk for another hour, catching up. But mostly we gazed at each other. He was Devin and David rolled into one. He was charming and serious, witty and wise, alluring and evocative. And I was…ordinary.

We left just as the museum café closed. Together we walked out into the cold Boston night air.

“Catching the T?” he asked.

“God, I missed you, Dev.”

He pulled me to him and kissed me hard, and we then locked into an embrace. He picked me up and spun me around and kissed every part of my face. I could feel the steam from his breath on my cheeks.

Chapter Forty-two

W
E TOOK THE T AND WALKED BACK TO HIS PLACE, where we stood in the foyer, embracing and kissing each other.

“I’m so sorry I hurt you by leaving.” I said in between kisses. “It was worth it, though. I swear it was.”

“No more, Andi. I never wanna be apart from you ever again. And it’s not because I wanna rescue you or need your approval or anything like that. I am in love with you, plain and simple. And I always will be.”

“I love you too. And I don’t need to be rescued. I know where I am now. I know
who
I am. I’m still Sam’s wife—and I always will be. I hope you can live with that. He’s always going to be a part of me. But I’ve finally envisioned a new life—in fact, I’m
living
a new life, and it’s a life I want to share with you.”

Jubilant, he picked me up, spun me around, and kissed me again.

“Is this it? Are you sure this is it?” he asked.

This is it, Dev. This is where I wanna be. Here. I don’t know about marriage, and I don’t know about the house and where we’ll live and stuff. But I’m okay with not knowing right now, if you are. I’ve learned that the unknowable can be a cool thing sometimes. It definitely lets you know you’re alive.”

As long as
here
was also
now
, then
here
was where I wanted to be. It was where I
chose
to be.  

He nodded his head. “I couldn’t agree with you more.” And then he added with a wink, “Sweetheart.”

Life with Sam was fabulous. Life with Sam was fabulous because Sam was fabulous.

Life with and as Andi Vanzant was ordinary. So was life with Dev.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR

Elisa Lorello was born and raised on Long Island, New York. In 1995 she moved to southeastern Massachusetts, where she attended University of Massachusetts-Dartmouth for both her bachelor’s and master’s degrees. Currently, Elisa lives and teaches in North Carolina and is co-writing her third novel with S.R. Paquette.

To learn more about Elisa and her other writing projects, please visit
“I’ll Have What She’s Having”: The Official Blog of Elisa Lorello
at www.elisalorello.blogspot.com, or Elisa’s official website at www.elisalorello.com.