I fanned my hand in the air. "About?"
"We didn't double book by accident," Zyair revealed, smiling. "We did that shit on purpose."
My jaw nearly hit the floor. I twisted my head to my right to see the same shocked expression on Kai's face.
"Explain," Kai demanded.
"Well, after the two of you turned Journee and I down for friendsgiving, a time we were going to force you two to at least talk," Zyair revealed. "She and I devised a plan to avoid the same thing from happening this Christmas. We figured if we got you two in the same place at the same time and far away from home, you'd have no choice but to see what Journee and I both see for you two. What we’ve always seen and what motivated us to hook you two up to begin with years ago."
"Zyair told me that Kai wasn't seeing anyone, and I knew that you weren't seeing anyone either," Journee spoke next. "So, he and I agreed that we would invite you two to the cabin without letting you know the other was coming."
"Journee!" I hollered.
She held her hands up in supplication. "It was a little touch and go there. I honestly thought Zyair and I may have made a terrible decision forcing you two under one roof, but the way you guys were testing the acoustics of the guest bedroom this morning..."
I picked up the dishrag and hurled it her way. She was quick to duck out of the way while laughing.
"I cannot believe the two of you." Kai shook his head. "You made me cancel my trip to Anguilla. Y'all know how much I had to pay for that kind of reroute?"
"Was it a bad call canceling, though?" Zyair inquired.
Kai and I turned our heads to glance at each other at the same time. It was impossible for me to hold my smile back or to even say that skipping Miami for a stay at the cabin was a bad call. But could he say the same?
"If I could cancel going to Anguilla again, knowing what coming here would be like." He smiled widely. "I would have canceled the trip even quicker and paid double the fee."
My cheeks ached from smiling so hard. "Really?"
"One thousand times over," he replied, pulling me close and into his chest. "I swear."
Journee squealed behind us. "Yes! Oh my God, yes! So what you two are saying is...?"
Kai and my eyes locked, and I inhaled in all the air I could in that moment. I wrapped my arms around the back of his neck and guided him down for yet another kiss.
I heard Journee shouting her approval along with high-fiving her husband. Kai and I laughed on each other's lips and pulled ourselves away from one another to address our friends.
Kai gave Zyair a pound, and they broke off into their own separate conversation while I pulled Journee to the side.
"You know you were so wrong for this, but still so right," I told her, tugging her by the arm into a hug.
"I know," she admitted in our embrace before stepping back. "But I just couldn't take not hearing or seeing you be your happy self."
I rolled my eyes playfully.
"I know you don't need a man to make your world as outstanding as it's always been, but this is Kai. There was no man as far as I could see that was going to have you smiling as hard as you are right now. I don't regret teaming up with Zyair to get you and Kai under the same roof. Not one bit."
I offered a warm smile. "And you shouldn't regret it." I peeked over my shoulder at Kai to see him make eye contact with me across the room. He blew me a kiss, and I did the same.
I told Journee, "I think this might be the best Christmas gift you've ever given me."
She squealed again while hopping on the balls of her feet.
And I didn't tell a lie. Regardless of whatever my homegirl wrapped and placed under that giant tree in the living room for me, scheming and plotting to get Kai and I in the same room again almost 2,000 miles away from home was genius and the best present she could have given me. I wasn't sure where things would go between him and I after that day. All I knew was I was more than prepared to live in the moment with a man who had my heart from the very start. But from the way Kai was eyeing me from across the room and the way he refused to let me go the night before or that morning, waiting wouldn't be something I would have to do for long.
We'd somehow did something I didn't think we'd be able to do - rekindled a romance that originally took us both by surprise. But now, I had a feeling the flames Kai and I relit wouldn't get snuffed out this time.