Page 64 of The Close-Up (Hollywood Renaissance 1.50)

Lotus goes up on her toes to reach him, slamming her hand over his wide smile.

“Like I was saying,” she laughs, holding up a champagne glass undoubtedly filled with something non-alcoholic. “Happy birthday to the finest man I know.”

“Happy birthday!” we shout, sipping our champagne and oohing when balloons fall from the ceiling and confetti explodes from every direction. Amid the celebratory chaos, a sobering thread of realization runs through me like a fraying ribbon. Seeing Kenan and Lotus on stage, witnessing their devotion to each other, gives me a picture of what I could have—what I thought I maybe never would after all the app date disasters and failed attempts at relationships. Kenan and Lotus, Banner and Jared, August and Iris—all the couples we sailed with for the last few weeks have extraordinary marriages. Within a few minutes of being around them, you recognize a rare bond that most people never find.

But what if I’ve found it?

Naz and I have only been together two weeks, and it’s amazing. Beyond anything I’ve ever had. And it’s not just the outstanding, once-in-a-lifetime sex—though that’s worth mentioning. It’s how I feel when I’m with him. Who I am with him and who he is with me.

I have found the one whom my soul loves.

Lotus quoted that in her toast. What if I have found the one? Or he found me? Or I fell into his arms? Whatever. Fate, the universe—something threw us together again, and I have to believe it’s for a reason.

With Cliff’s judgment and his fragile recovery at stake, the question becomes Is the possibility of what this thing between Naz and me could be…worth it?

Kenan bends to kiss Lotus’s baby bump, and the blatant love on his face when he looks down at her, when she returns the look a hundredfold…I can’t help but think it is.

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