Page 46 of Love, Take Two

"Maybe because we're different people now?" she suggests. "Maybe the reasons it didn't work before don't exist anymore."

She's probably right. College Emory was ambitious but anxious, always worried about money and the future. College Vada was brilliant but sometimes too focused on controlling every detail. We've both grown into ourselves in ways that make us more compatible, not less.

Later, Jared appears beside us, slightly out of breath but grinning.

"Thanks for being here, both of you," he says. "I know this week probably started out weird, but I'm glad it brought you two back together."

"Us too," I say, meaning it completely.

"Seriously, man, Erika was right about you guys. She kept saying you were perfect for each other, and watching you this week, it's pretty obvious."

"Erika said that?" Vada asks with surprise.

"From day one," Jared confirms. "She took one look at you two at that first cocktail party and started planning ways to make sure you spent time together."

After he disappears back into the crowd, Vada and I exchange looks.

"Erika was matchmaking," she says with amusement.

"Apparently successfully," I reply. "Think we should be offended that our reunion needed outside help?"

"I think we should be grateful," she says, pulling me back toward the dance floor.

As the evening continues, I find myself thinking about tomorrow. Real-world stuff we've been avoiding all week. Like the fact that I'm supposed to fly out, back to a travel schedule that suddenly feels a lot less appealing than it did a week ago.

"Last dance," the band leader announces.

"Already?" Vada asks, though we've been celebrating for hours.

"Time flies when you're having fun," I say, pulling her close.

As we sway together, the question I've been avoiding all evening slips out. "What happens tomorrow?"

"Tomorrow we go back to real life," she says, but she doesn't sound upset about it. "Whatever that looks like."

"What do you want it to look like?"

She's quiet for a moment. "I want to see if this works outside of paradise. I want to see if we can figure out the logistics and the geography and all the practical stuff that scared us off eight years ago."

"Me too," I say, relieved. "Though I have to admit, the practical stuff still scares me a little."

"A little scared is probably good," she says with a smile. "Means we're taking it seriously."

The song ends, and suddenly the evening's over. As we gather our things and say goodbyes, I realize something fundamental has shifted in how I think about the future. A week ago, my biggest concerns were content creation and credit card bills. Now I'm thinking about where to base my operations, how to make traveling work with someone else's life, what it means to build something real with another person.

Walking back to our rooms, Vada takes my hand. "Thank you for being exactly what I needed this week. For reminding me why I fell for you in the first place."

"Same to you," I say, leaning down to kiss her. "Though I should probably warn you—Stella was right about me never getting over you."

"Good thing I never really got over you either," she admits against my lips.

As we head into my room together, I realize that tomorrow's going to bring complicated conversations about logistics and geography and all the practical challenges that scared us apart eight years ago. But tonight, we have privacy and the satisfaction of celebrating love in paradise.

18

VADA

I wake up tangled in Emory's arms with sunlight streaming through the windows and the immediate awareness that this is our last morning in paradise. The thought hits me harder than I expected, making my chest tight with something between sadness and panic.

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