Page 161 of Hello Stranger

Joe reached around to rub the scar on his shoulder like he’d forgotten. “Yeah. Scraped it on a bolt. Ten stitches.”

“So you went to the hospital, too?”

Joe nodded. “Later that night. And then I wandered around the halls to find you and make sure you were okay.”

Joe hadn’t just rescued me. He’d saved my life.

For a minute, all I could do was shake my head.

Then I finally said, “You were the Good Samaritan, too.” No wonder he didn’t look like a stranger.

Joe nodded.

“How is it possible,” I said, gazing at the sight of him in wonder, “that you were everywhere? All along?”

Joe shrugged. “You can’t see when you’re not looking, I guess.” Then he tightened his hold on my gaze. “Anyway. You’re the one who was everywhere.”

It was nonsense, but I knew exactly what he meant.

At that, I grabbed hold of his tie, pulled him down close to me, and pressed my mouth to his.

The second we touched, his arms came around my rib cage and clamped tight, and mine rose up around his neck and did the same thing. I cradled the back of his head with my hands as he ran his over me—back, shoulders, neck, hair. All arms and hands and exploring and holding on.

Both of us just drunk on the bliss of being in each other’s arms at last.

After a few minutes, he paused, breathless, to meet my eyes. “I really need to thank you for leaving that voicemail.”

I met his right back. “I really need to thank you for saving my life.”

WHEN WE FINALLYwalked back to the party, it was winding down.

Daniel was still there, and when he caught sight of us, rumpled, wind-blown, clearly together, secretly holding hands… he gave me a nod of appreciation, like,Mission accomplished.

Mr. and Mrs. Kim waved good night at us from their table, as if they already understood everything that had happened and were sending me their full approval.

But Sue wanted details. She walked up to us and put her hands on her hips. “Where’ve you two been?”

“Oh,” I said, waving absently toward our personal corner, “just over there.”

She narrowed her eyes. “You look suspiciously happy.”

Joe coughed. I smiled and looked down.

“What’s going on there?” she asked, pointing at our clasped hands.

We broke them apart, like we’d been caught.

“What just happened?” Sue asked. “Did you two—? Are you two—? Hey, I know it’s very pretty and romantic up here, but—”

“Funny story,” I jumped in before she got too outraged at the notion of me justgiving into a man who had cruelly ghosted me. “And this is going to sound so crazy…”

“Nothing could be crazier than what’s going through my head right now,” Sue said.

“Wanna bet?” Joe said.

“Remember,” I said, “how I was totally crushing on my veterinarian, but then he stood me up for our first date and then I wound up—how to put it—transferring my affections to Joe from the building?”

“Yes,” Sue said, like,Hurry up and get to the point.

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