The downtown train interrupted us, roaring past until it screeched to a stop. We got on together, stepping through the doors and sitting. The car was almost entirely empty.
“I think about you every time I get on the subway. About the day we met. And everything after.” He wrapped his arm around my shoulder, and I leaned into him, so solid and warm.
“Let’s try it again,” I said, smiling at the idea blooming in my head.
“What do you mean?” He gave me a skeptical look, one I’d grown to know and love. It was the look he made when his brain was working, analyzing, searching for logic. It was so Hayes it made my heart ache with love for him, and all the ways he was exactly, perfectly, himself.
“Meeting each other.” I ran my hand down his thigh, giving it a squeeze. “Let’s get it right this time.”
Hayes laughed as he ran a hand through his hair. “Okay.”
“Franny Doyle,” I said. I stretched out my hand, and Hayes shook it. “I just got laid off, and I’m freaking out, and I think you are very handsome, even though I won’t be able to admit it for a long time.”
“Hayes Montgomery the Third. Though I leave out ‘the Third,’ because it’s pretentious and embarrassing. I find you charming and gorgeous, which I also find infuriating, because I like being in control of my emotions, and everything else for that matter.”
“Pleased to meet you.” We kept our hands locked together even though we’d stopped shaking. “We should hang out sometime. What are you doing next week?”
Hayes paused, the smile on his face shrinking slightly. “Actually”—he held my gaze with his—“I was thinking about going to Italy.”
“Wait, what?”
“Remember the silent auction, at the natural history museum? The Italian vacation you kept eyeing?”
“You bid on it?” I asked.
He nodded.
“And I won,” he said, and then turned to look at me. “I mean, technically, we won.”
I gave him a quizzical look. “What do you mean?”
“I had planned on giving it to you,” he explained, rubbing his thumb along my palm, his hand still in mine. “But when we…when we stopped speaking to each other, it felt absurd to dump something like that on you. But…” He looked at me, his gaze hesitant. “But we could go anytime you wanted.”
I just stared at him, mouth ajar in a bewildered smile.
“You have to know by now,” he said, running his other hand over my thigh, “that at my core I’m pathetically romantic and mushy, right?”
“I really, really like that about you,” I said, and placed a small kiss on his jaw.
“Anyway, the tickets are yours, and you can do whatever you want with them, of course. But you did tell me when we met that you owed me one. Maybe I can finally collect on that.”
“I think we can work something out,” I teased. “But I need to warn you, I will definitely sleep on your shoulder on the plane. And I drool.”
“Don’t worry,” he said, giving me that boyish grin of his that made my whole body swell. “I already know that about you, and I don’t care. I still like you.”
He reached up and turned my hat backward. “You look cute in this,” he said, tapping the bill before leaning in to kiss me, his lips soft and urgent. “I also wanted to do this the first time we met.”
The subway doors opened at the next stop, and we both looked up. We weren’t heading toward Brooklyn at all. In our stupor, we must have gone to the wrong platform. We were on a train heading uptown.
“Franny,” he said, pointing to the station sign as the doors closed, “this isn’t the right train. We’re going the wrong way.”
I laughed and looked at him, grabbing his hand and bringing it to my lips with a kiss.
“Well, let’s just ride it, then,” I said. “And see where it takes us.”
Acknowledgments
I want to first acknowledge all the people who flip right to the Acknowledgments before reading a book. I see you. I am you. Welcome, and thanks for being here.
None of this would be possible without Holly Root, who is truly one of the most fantastic humans on earth, and an amazing agent to boot. I’m so lucky to have you in my corner. Many thanks to the entire Root Literary team for all that you do, and a special shout-out to Alyssa Moore, for being so on top of everything.
My editor, Amy Pierpont, is a brilliant word wizard who gave this book its wings. I am so grateful for your thoughtful direction and support throughout this process, and am better for it. And so is this book!