he told her, his voice gentle. “What you call giving up, I call you going to college, you growing up. And yeah, you may have been running away from me, but you were running toward your life, and that’s never a bad thing. The way I see it, we both just came full circle, thanks to, yeah, being locked in here. And it’s okay for you to be as surprised as I am. Was. Am.” He laughed. “Do I wish this happened sooner? Hell, yeah. Am I gonna waste any time worrying about it? Hell, no. We make mistakes, and we course correct.”
Tasha was already shaking her head. “But what if I’d been... stupid—God, I hate it when women and girls call themselves stupid, but it would’ve been completely stupid if I’d actually gone and married Ted.”
“But you didn’t,” he pointed out.
“But I might’ve,” she admitted. “Ted was pressuring me and... I was way more ready to do it than I let you believe. What is wrong with me?”
Thomas sang the lyrics to an old song. “If I can’t have you, I don’t want nobody baby. That’s actually kinda flattering.”
“Or I’m an awful person,” she countered.
“Let me think about that—no, you’re not,” he shot back. “Are you young? Yeah. Are you human? Very, thank God. Are we here right now? Hell yes. Course corrected.”
“Except for the part where we might die.”
“Tomorrow’s tomorrow,” Thomas pointed out.
“So you do think—”
He cut her off. “No, I really don’t think we’re gonna die, I think we’re gonna be okay, but yeah, you’re right, there’s a chance we might—and it’s a bigger chance than if we were in my condo in San Diego planning a morning Costco run. So why waste time? And look, I’m not saying that making love to you is on my bucket list, ’cause this is not even close to a one-and-done thing for me. Nuh-uh. But I sure as hell don’t want to die tomorrow thinking about should’ves that I coulda had if I hadn’t been too damn cautious. And if I can make you happy at the same time...?”
Tasha was silent as she gazed into his eyes.
“Do you trust me?” he whispered.
She nodded. She did. “I wanted to make sure that, you know, you were sure.”
He smiled at her, then looked pointedly down at the pillow he was still holding on his lap. “You honestly think this isn’t me being sure? That my kindness coulda stumbled into your bucket list purely by accident?”
She laughed then. “Oh, my God. We’ll be ninety and you’re still gonna be teasing me about this, aren’t you?”
The amusement in his eyes turned into something softer, more tender. “Yeah,” he told her as he reached for her, pulling her close enough to kiss her and gently push her hair back from her face. “We will be ninety, and I’ll still be teasing you. Hang on to that thought, Tash. That and... I love you.”
Tasha kissed him.
And then she dropped her blanket and moved his pillow, and showed him exactly how much she loved him, too.
Chapter Twenty-Seven
Thomas woke Tasha with a hand on her shoulder and a quiet but urgent “Time to go,” in her ear.
She sat up, clearly confused by darkness broken only by the flicker of a candle he’d lit and the bouncing beam of the flashlight that he carried as he moved about the pod’s living room.
“The power’s gone out,” she realized, scrambling out of the cocoon of blankets that she’d made for herself on the sofa. “When? Did you sleep? Do I have time to pee?”
She was a flash of red hair and nakedness in the candlelight—and so beautiful, he felt a rush of disbelief that this was his world now.
She was his world now.
“Just now; no, I didn’t sleep but I’m good; and yes, but move fast,” he answered her list of questions as she found her panties and jeans in a pile on the floor and yanked them on, searching for her shirt. He tossed it to her and she caught it easily. “Careful of your arm.”
But she was already thrusting her arms through the sleeves as she ran for the bathroom. “Ow! Too late, but thanks!” She left the door ajar and called back out to him, “What time is it?”
“1310—a little after one,” Thomas called back.
“Wait, that’s PM, not AM?” she asked.
“You were asleep for about an hour,” he confirmed.
“Shit, that’s bad—it’s still daylight, but it won’t be for very long,” she said, clearly remembering what he’d told