Page 87 of Swiped
Nat felt a smile curl into her lips. “It is. And I don’t know what I did to deserve the kind of friend who would stick with me, anyway, but I’m damn glad you’re in my life.”
Sara’s normally cool eyes misted over. “Same. And I’m not going anywhere.” She gestured to the towering boxes around them. “I mean, not literally, but you get it.”
“OK, OK! Get out of here!” Nat laughed. “I’ve got to go clean out the office and tell the twins they’re about to get fat raises from their new bosses as part of my exit package.”
* * *
Nat unlocked the doors to the BeTwo office for the last time. The twins were on their way over from Oakland. That meant she had at least an hour to soak it all up before this place was closed to her forever. It still didn’t seem like enough time to say goodbye.
She flipped on the lights and pulled a chair up to the bright blue sky in the window. Maybe she could still come by to toss some bread to the seagulls from the rooftops sometimes.
She heard the door open behind her. It seemed like the twins had gotten there sooner than she expected. She turned around.
Rami stood in the sunlight.
“Your roommate said you’d be here.” A shy smile crept onto his face.
Nat sprang up from the chair and rushed to him.
He took her hands.
“You first,” she said.
“No, you.”
“One sentence at a time?”
“In alphabetical order.” His eyes sparkled with the witty mischief she’d first swooned over, way back on that ugly couch. “Go.”
Her voice came out soft but strong. “I was so convinced that I’d be rejected that I didn’t let anyone see me.”
Rami nodded. His face was open and fixed on Nat. “I figured that if I just dated women who seemed perfect on paper, nothing could go wrong.”
“But you saw me, even my bad parts, and you liked me in spite of them.”
A knowing smile curled into his face. “And you showed me how unsatisfying the so-called perfect match can be.”
Nat narrowed her eyes with a memory. “I fought harder for the data inside my app than I did for the people who use it.” Theghosts of her online dates flickered in her mind. “Using my app was pretty awful, actually.”
Rami’s dark brows angled with a thoughtful frown. “But people don’t need technology to make them act like jerks. I proved that we can still do that the old-fashioned way.”
She squeezed his hand. “So, I don’t want to be scared of being seen anymore.”
He squeezed back. “Because being scared is kind of supposed to be part of it.”
“Yeah.” She watched his full lips move with his breath. “That’s how you know it matters.”
He leaned closer to her with a dreamy expression. “That’s how you know it’s worth fighting for.”
Nat hooked her arms around his shoulders. “Was that a good speech?” she whispered.
“I have some notes, but . . .” He wrapped a hand behind her head and kissed her.
When they came up for air a few moments later, Rami leaned back with an urgent look. “Wait, you’re not losing this sweet office, are you?”
Nat cringed. “I have definitely left BeTwo.”
“No!”
