Page 118 of Paradigm

“Thank you all very much,” she spoke. “I feel very welcome.”

“I bet you would’ve felt more welcome with what Arlowe had in mind, but you can do that after we leave,” Sarai said.

“Which will be when, Sarai?” Arlowe asked.

Eline leaned into her side and told her, “It’s all right. We have the whole week to ourselves.”

“Yeah, Enya said that she was going to work from the office every day this week and come home late so that she doesn’t risk running into you two doing it on the kitchen table or something,” Sarai said before snapping a baby carrot in half and then putting the other half in her mouth anyway.

“Speaking of Enya… She and Stella are out back, and dinner is ready, so let’s eat, welcome Eline properly, and we’ll leave you alone. Enya is staying with Stella and me tonight, so you two can go at it everywhere, if you want,” Violet added.

“I’m so sorry,” Arlowe said, shaking her head.

“For what?” Eline asked. “I’m home, Arlowe. All that matters to me in this moment is that I’m home, right here with you.” She leaned over and kissed Arlowe on the cheek. “Finally.”

“Fine. I’ll do the dinner that could’ve waited.”

“Great. Let’s go,” Gabi said.

Arlowe locked the door behind them, and they left the bags there to deal with later. Then, Eline followed Arlowe out to the backyard, where there was a rectangular patio table and seven chairs set up. It was a little crammed, but she was just happy that there was enough space for them all to sit around the same table, because her most recent apartment had barely had enough room for her, Arlowe, and her parents. This table was filled with food, and there were a few wine bottles as well as a six-pack of beer in the middle of it.

“Wow,” Eline said. “This is too much.”

“We wanted to do something nice for you since Arlowe’s been a pain in the ass, and now you’re here and have to deal with her even more than we do,” Sarai said.

“Can I at least have a beer before you all start picking on me?” Arlowe asked.

A few minutes later, they were all sitting at the table. Arlowe had a beer in one hand, and her other arm was around Eline’s chair. Eline was eating the food that had been delivered, since none of them had had the time to cook, and she looked over at Enya, who appeared to be staring down at her phone more than participating in the conversation. Then, she looked over at Violet, who had a ring on her finger because she’d finally asked Stella to marry her, and Stella had already had a ring ready for her the night of the proposal. Sarai was still picking on Arlowe how they always had with each other, so Eline put a hand in Arlowe’s lap, smiled, and shook her head. Gabi met Eline’s eyes and did the same because of the antics of their girlfriends, and when Eline looked over at Arlowe, who was just so beautiful to her, she still couldn’t believe that she was sitting next to her right now.

Later, after the welcome dinner and after everyone had gone home, Enya had gone to Violet and Stella’s to give them the night to themselves, and they’d made love until well after midnight before Eline slipped under the blanket and over to Arlowe’s chest, where she rested her head and her arm over Arlowe’s bare stomach.

“Did you ever really think we’d get here after everything?” Arlowe asked into the silence.

“Honestly, I wasn’t sure there for a while,” Eline admitted.

“Me neither,” Arlowe replied. “But I know we’re going to be okay now.”

She kissed the top of Eline’s head.

“We’re going to be better than okay,” she said. “We’re together now.”

“Always,” Arlowe stated. “We’re together for always.”

EPILOGUE

“Seriously?” she said.

“What?” Eline asked.

“We’re on vacation,” she replied and closed Eline’s computer.

“No, we’re not. We’re about to be on vacation. And it’s not really a vacation. It’s just visiting my parents in my home country that we’ve both spent significant time in.”

“We’ve also planned a few day trips, and we have that one night in Paris to look forward to. Your parents will not be joining us there,” Arlowe told her, wiggling her eyebrows.

“Babe, I found two things that you need to fix. Should I not have told you? Now, it’s all taken care of, and the update can go out before our flight.”

“Which boards in ten minutes. Cutting it pretty close there, Claasen,” she said.