Page 139 of Experiments in Offline Dating

One tear rolled down my cheek and then another. All of this swelling emotion had nowhere else to go. I whipped them away quickly. “I’m sorry. I’m just not used to feeling this much. Or at least, I’m not used to having one emotion grow so huge and shining and inescapable that it totally consumes everything else.” I sniffed. “It actually . . . it hurts.” I put my palm against my sternum and rubbed at the ache there. “Like right here.” I laughed a wet hiccup. “Like all the time.” I laughed again. “Because I think I might be in love with you, Tadhg.”

I waited. Each second was an eternity.

Maybe it wasn’t good enough. Maybe I hadn’t said the right things. Maybe “I think” and “might be” weren’t enough assurance.

He scanned my face and his eyes softened. “Are ye done now?”

“Yeah.” I nodded. Sniffed. “Think so.”

“Good. Then come here to me.” His beautiful lilt made my toes curl.

I took a step forward, and rather than bend down to meet me, he picked me up by the waist until I wrapped my legs around him. “Mo shiorghrá,” he exhaled into the charged air between us as my stomach flipped over and over again. And there, finally eye to eye, chest to chest, he kissed me.

His lips were achingly familiar. I sucked in breath from his lungs like I needed it to live. His taste flooded through my body, melted me from within. And suddenly, I was home. The tears wouldn’t stop now. They poured down my cheeks and salted our lips. How had I lived all those long hours without his mouth on mine? Without his warmth? He held me so tightly in his arms that I thought I would break.

I did break.

I knew, in that moment, that I would never be the same. I knew, as seconds slowed and stretched and pooled around us, that this kiss was changing my body, shifting everything I thought about who I was, morphing my cells. Everything inside me was being forcefully snapped, wrenched open, and healed all at once. I didn’t think I could bear it, wasn’t sure I could survive it. But I could. Because Tadhg was there holding me together while I fell apart.

He held me up and he kissed me until I felt strong again. Until joy welled up my throat and choked me, burst free in a laugh between our open lips. I couldn’t stop smiling now. It was euphoria. I kissed him through my smile until we were both laughing, and his deep chest shook mine.

He opened his eyes and looked drunk. I was completely wasted, like he was a bottle I couldn’t stop sipping from. I loosened my legs from around him and he slid me down slowly, holding me upright in case I should fall.

I looked up into his eyes, and tears still slid down my face.

“So? Are you in?” I asked.

“Think so.”

“Good.”

He smiled. I melted a little more.

“Oh my God, Tadhg. I thought I was going to die waiting for you.”

He smirked. “Good. Serves you right.”

And then he grabbed my hand in his, threaded our fingers together, and we walked through the airport doors hand in hand.

Epilogue

Simone: So, Maya. How do you feel now that the tables are turned and you’re the one being interviewed?

Maya: Hmm . . . perplexed, discomfited, slightly nauseated?

Simone: Good. Because I’m not going to go easy on you.

Maya: Oh, I never for a second expected you would.

Simone: So, quite a lot has changed since last season aired. Can you please fill our audience in on all the gory details?

Maya: Well, not all the gory details, surely. This is a family show.

Simone: Literally nothing about this is a family show. Last season we went into great detail about vajazzling, if you’ll recall.

Maya: I do recall, Simone. Nothing can erase it from my memory.

Simone: We’re waiting.