Page 85 of For My Finale
“And you’re sure you love the real me?” Lilah asked, anxiety biting at her.
Blossom cupped Lilah’s face, her touch gentle but sure. “Absolutely certain. Hollywood Lilah was a pain in my arse. And she frightened the sheep.”
With a laugh, Lilah leaned in, her forehead pressing against Blossom’s, taking the warmth, the closeness, the naturalness of it all. Then she closed the gap, kissing Blossom softly and slowly. It was a promise of a kiss, a beginning of something, a sigh of relief wrapped in the warmth of lips.
When they pulled apart, Blossom laughed. “You do realize that half the village now thinks that Streetcar Named Desire has a happy ending, right?”
Lilah sighed. “You’ll just have to put on another show then. But this time, without me.”
“You say that now,” said Blossom. “But I think you’ll be back. Acting’s a part of who you are, it’s in your bones. I don’t think you’ll leave it forever.”
Lilah hesitated for a moment. “Maybe,” she said eventually. “But if I do, it’ll be on my terms. No more chasing something that doesn’t exist, no more running from things that actually matter. And right now there are more important things to tend to. We have a bookshop to build.”
“Damn right we do,” Blossom laughed.
Hand in hand, they rose from the stage and stepped down into the quiet hall. They walked slowly out, locking the doors behindthem, into the crisp silence of the night.
There were no words, there didn’t need to be words. Everything had been said. It was actions that mattered now. So they walked quietly home until, halfway there, Lilah could stand it no more.
Without a word, she tugged Blossom into another kiss, this one deeper, filled with the thrill that they were stepping into something real, something immense and terrifyingly wonderful.
Then, just as Lilah was thinking that the world had stopped turning and the moment could go on forever, something large and breathily damp nudged her back.
She yelped, stumbling forward. Blossom barely managed to keep her upright, dissolving into laughter as Lilah spun around to find herself nose to nose with Billy.
“Oh, for God’s sake,” Lilah gasped, pressing a hand to her heart.
“He just wanted to welcome you home,” Blossom giggled.
“He scared the life out of me,” Lilah huffed, glaring at the massive animal who simply blinked at her in bovine innocence. “Bloody menace.”
Blossom wrapped her arms around Lilah from behind, resting her chin on her shoulder. “Welcome home, Lilah Paxton.”
Lilah exhaled, relaxing into Blossom’s arms, into the comfort of belonging, love, of knowing exactly where she was meant to be.
Because Blossom was home. That was all there was to it.
Epilogue
Blossom foamed some milk and surveyed the busy shop with satisfaction. It had been two years since she’d opened the little bookshop and cafe, and she wouldn’t change a thing. The shelves were packed with carefully curated books, the little tables were full of customers sipping tea and flipping through paperbacks, and the glass counter was almost empty of the day’s pastries. Even better, Coffee-To-Go had finally closed up shop six months ago, unable to stand the competition.
She’d built something real, something that mattered, and Lilah had been there every step of the way, as promised. Well, when she wasn’t busy at her new job teaching drama in the next town over, that is.
In fact, she was expecting Lilah to walk through the door at any moment, probably to grumble about how Blossom hadn’t left any lemon drizzle cake for her to steal on her way to work.
Probably.
Blossom bit her lip and switched the coffee machine off. Truth be told, Lilah had seemed out of sorts recently. Only by a little. It was like her mind was elsewhere. Like she was thinking of something or someone else.
Not that Lilah had done or said anything concrete. It was just a lingering thought that Blossom was having, a thought that seemed to cut deeper every time she thought it.
She told herself to be realistic. But if Lilah was having secondthoughts, that was realistic, wasn’t it? A big movie star stuck in a tiny village. It was realistic to think that after two years Lilah might be getting bored.
“Blossom?”
She turned to find Arty standing in front of her, empty cup in hand. “Sorry, Art, you want another?”
“I wouldn’t mind,” he said. “And you looked like you were a million miles away.”
