The tent lights dimmed again after the speech. People drifted toward the dance floor or the bar, voices rising in that easy, moneyed way. I stayed near the edge of the crowd, pretending to check my phone, but really just trying to slow my breathing.
Alexander found me anyway.
He didn't say anything at first. Just appeared at my side, close enough that his arm brushed mine. We both stared straight ahead, like we were watching the same invisible show.
"Walk with me?" he asked quietly.
I nodded once. No words. I wasn't sure I trusted my voice.
He led me out the back of the tent, down a gravel path lined with lanterns. The ocean was louder here and steady, rhythmic crashes that drowned out the party noise. The air smelled like salt and night-blooming jasmine from the garden beds.
We didn't speak until we reached the wooden boardwalk that curved along the dunes. Moonlight painted everything silver. No one else was out here. Just us and the waves.
He stopped at the railing. Leaned his forearms on it. I stood beside him, hands gripping the smooth wood so tight my knuckles ached.
"You okay?" he asked.
"No." I laughed short, breathless. "That kiss… I can still feel it."
He turned his head just enough to look at me. "Me too."
Silence stretched. Comfortable. Heavy.
"I didn't plan that," he said finally. "I told myself I'd behave. Shake your hand. Say nice things. Walk away."
"I know."
"But then I saw you in that red dress, standing in the middle of all those people who don't know you, not really and I couldn't pretend anymore."
I swallowed. "Marcus was right there."
"I know." His voice dropped lower. "Every time he touches you, every time he smiles at you like you're just part of the scenery, it takes everything in me not to walk over and take you away."
I closed my eyes. "Don't say that."
"Why not? It's true."
"Because it makes this real." I opened my eyes again. Looked at him. "And I'm not ready for real."
He straightened. Turned to face me fully. "What are you ready for?"
"I don't know." My voice cracked. "I just know that when you kissed me, it felt like coming home. And that scares me more than anything."
He stepped closer. Not touching. Just close.
"Then let it scare you," he said softly. "Feel it. Don't run from it."
Tears slipped down my cheeks. I didn't wipe them away.
"I've spent twenty years running," I whispered. "From the hurt. From the what-ifs. From admitting I never really got over you."
He reached out then slowly, brushed the tears off my face with his thumb.
"I never got over you either," he said. "Not even close."
His hand lingered on my cheek. Warm. Steady.
I leaned into it. Just a little.
"Tell me something," he murmured. "Anything. What you've been thinking since the coffee shop."
I took a shaky breath. "I keep replaying it. Your hand on mine. The way you looked at me like I was still the girl you loved at seventeen. And I keep asking myself… what if I'd waited? What if I'd said no to Marcus? What if Sophia—"
I stopped. The name felt too heavy out here.
Alexander's eyes softened. "She's beautiful. I saw the pictures you posted. She has your smile."
"She has your eyes," I said before I could stop myself.
The words hung between us.
He went very still.
I looked away, out at the dark water. "I didn't mean to say that."
"But you did."
I nodded. Tears falling faster now.
He turned me gently to face him. Both hands on my arms now. Holding me steady.
"El… look at me."
I did.
"Is she…?"
I shook my head.
Alexander's breath came out rough. "And if she's not?"
"Then everything changes." My voice broke. "Everything."
He pulled me into his arms then. Not gentle. Not careful. Just held me like he'd been waiting twenty years to do it.
I buried my face in his chest. Inhaled him, cologne, salt air, something deeper that was just him. My hands fisted in his jacket.
"I'm sorry," I whispered against his shirt. "For everything."
"Don't be." His voice was thick. "We were kids. We got played by people who thought they knew better."
I pulled back enough to look up at him. "What do we do now?"
He cupped my face. "We figure it out. Together. No rushing. No pressure. But no more pretending either."
I nodded slowly.
He kissed me again, slower this time. Deeper. Like he was pouring all the lost years into it.
When we broke apart, the party noise felt far away. Like another life.
"I should go back," I said. "Before he notices I'm gone too long."
Alexander nodded. "I'll stay out here a while. Give you space."
I touched his cheek. "Thank you."
"For what?"
"For waiting."
He smiled small, sad, and beautiful. "I'd wait another twenty if I had to."
I turned and walked back toward the lights.
My lips still burned.
My heart felt too big for my chest.
And behind me, under the moon, the man I'd loved since I was seventeen stood watching me go.
Again.
But this time, I wasn't sure I could keep walking away.