Page 95 of The Likelihood Of You

“Jacob.”

“It reminded me of that night at Nate’s when we were dancing together. How easy everything felt. How good you felt in my arms. I couldn’t get that out of my head. I just…I wanted to dance with you at that moment, but then reality kicked in, and the reason I couldn’t pull you into the middle of the floor with me…hit me. And it’s been bugging me ever since. So…” I backed away from her, pulling out my phone and pressing play on the gentle piano chords I’d listened to that night, letting them bounce off the snowflakes that had since blanketed the grass. “I figured why not test my luck now and ask that you dance with me.”

Her head did that thing where it tilted to the side; then her bottom lip was between her teeth, which either told me that she thought I was ridiculous or she was trying really hard not to scream how much she’d love to dance with me.

“Florence Dayes, will you dance with me?” I asked, holding out my hand for her to claim. I had to fight off every instinct that told me how lame this probably was. I didn’t care if it was; all I cared about was dancing with this girl where I fell for her.

“Yes.” My smile grew, and she chuckled. “Yes, Jacob Emerson, I will dance with you.”

With that, she grabbed my outstretched hand. As she did, I gripped hers and twirled her toward me, admiring how her skirt rippled and spun around her legs, which were thankfully covered in tights to keep them warm. She landed in my chest, my arms holding her waist as hers stretched around my neck, and naturally, our bodies began to sway in time to the song as the acoustic guitar kicked in.

“I’ve kinda wanted an excuse to dance with again since that night at Nate’s, but we never had a reason to.” She confessed, lifting her head to face me and her fingers ruffling the hair at the back of my head. “Did Nanna make you dance with her?”

“What do you think?” I asked, my brows raising and a smirk curling up my face. "She also spent three hours showing me every photo she could find of you,andshowed the videotape of you baking when you were six."

Dorothy actually relayed Flo's entire life story on the plane ride back to New York- everything from her first steps to the night she flew to New York. Although my head was overflowing with questions about whether I was doing the right thing, it was the first time I'd not wanted a flight to end.

Her perfect curls slip past her shoulders as her head falls back, her eyes squeezing shut and her nose scrunching; how I imagine I look when I do that. "Oh God, I'm going to have words with her."

A tiny scoff sneaked through my parted lips. "Well, in that case, I need to have a talk with my Moms for showing you my freshman pictures, where my pie addiction was obvious." We laughed in sync, the faint snowflakes falling around us, keeping us locked in place. "She introduced me to Mary, too."

A gasp left Flo. "No! Oh, I bet she was seething because you were dancing with Nanna."

"She was, but she got over it pretty quickly once I pointed to one of the guys who was definitely into her. Then she spent the night dancing with him." my heart flipped at the way Flo's thumb was skating across my jaw, her eyes holding mine with that familiar sparkle I'd missed. “The more I watched them, the more I wished it was us.”

Her laugh was infectious. “You wished we were old?”

My head fell back. “No.”

“You wished we spent our days sleeping in, reading, and eating warm meals?”

“That sounds like heaven; yes, I do.”

“You wished—”

“I wished I had you in my arms, Flo.”

Her breath tickled the skin on my neck. “I’m with you now.”

“And I’m not letting you go.” I squeezed her waist as silent confirmation.

I felt her hand move from my neck and find a place to rest on my jaw, her thumb gently skating across my stubbly chin. “Right back at you, Emerson.”

I watched intently as her soft smile grew, creasing her cheeks with sweet smile lines, wrinkling the corners of her eyes, making her look as ethereal as ever.

As the instrumental bridge kicked in, and the slight hum from the electric guitar sped up the song, I took the change in pace to spin her again, sending a sequence of heartwarming squeals out of her and into the deep lilac sky.

We swayed until the instrumental ending of the song faded out, allowing the light crashes of the lake and distant honking to jolt us back into reality, popping our bubble. Neither of us pulled away, though; we stayed holding each other, dancing to the native sounds of the city.

I let my mind go quiet, and my thoughts drifted away. All my focus naturally falling on her. The feel of her body pressing against mine, how her chest rose and fell in the opposite way mine was, and the way I could feel her smiling below me. We stood in that spot for what felt like a lifetime, exchanging stories from the time we’d spent apart, confessing how I’d managed to bag her a space to open up the bakery, saying ‘I love you’ so many times that I’d lost count, and gathering a handful of quick kisses.

Soon enough, the sky had turned pitch black, and the small dusting of stars that appeared in the same place every night shined brighter. They looked more aligned, if that was possible, as they watched us sway along with the light snowfall and the gentle breeze that blew around us.

Like they were silently cheering us on as we, too, aligned again.

Epilogue

“Oh Flo, you look like a lilac cloud princess.” Nanna hummed over her words. “Just do one more spin for me, pleaseee?”

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