Though, being that it had only happened yesterday, it was probably still too fresh. His pride had to be hurt. Even if he’d looked totally fine and cheerful, talking with the other lawyers and laughing at lunch.
Maybe he wasn’t as torn up about it as he’d pretended to be yesterday. Which just reaffirmed that she’d done the right thing.
She blinked back tears and focused on her work.
A few hours later, she was home in her apartment with a steaming bowl of ramen beside her. Her plans for the evening included wallowing in her own self-pity while working on her next cosplay costume.
Her lips twisted bittersweetly as she finished sewing closed one long, sequined tentacle.
She held it up and admired her work. It was just about complete now.
A text had her phone buzzing. Her stomach fluttered with hope, but when she glanced over Kris’s name was on the screen.
She debated ignoring it because she wasn’t feeling like a heart-to-heart with her BFF. Not yet, anyway.
Curiosity got the better of her, and she opened the text.
Are you watching James on Instagram? He’s got a live feed going. You’re going to want to check it out.
“What?” Tori frowned and opened the app, then pulled up his account.
James used social media, but wasn’t exactly the type to post. He was barely the type to hit like or comment. And yet he was doing a live feed?
Oh, my god.
She pressed her fist to her mouth and her eyes went wide as she stared.
“I love her. You all hear that?” he said into the phone’s camera, walking down the street.
“What am I even looking at here?” Was that really James in a wig?
“I’m a cosplaying lawyer who loves my girlfriend, Tori. Even if she’s not ready to hear that.”
He held the phone farther out so she could see his whole outfit.
“Shut up,” she whispered.
He’d done it. He’d really done it. The wig suddenly made sense when she saw the flight suit he wore, and the stuffed cat and water gun clutched in his other hand.
He’d dressed up as Ellen Ripley fromAlienand was walking around Seattle like it was Halloween. People were stopping to stare, taking his picture, or even trailing after him.
“I love you, Tori. You’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me. I didn’t even know who I was until you came along. To me, you’re absolutely perfect.”
Her heart swelled and tears of relief slid down her cheeks.
“And I’m going to be showing up at your door any minute now. So, if you could be ready, so I don’t have to stand out here too long with all these nice folks watching.” He waved to the growing crowd behind him.
Wait, what? Where was he?
She ran to her apartment window and glanced down the street.
Damn, there he was on the sidewalk. Just a few minutes away for her building, looking like he was leading some kind of cosplay Mardi Gras parade on Capitol Hill.
Now or never, Tori. You can do this. Take a chance on love.
She leapt up, grabbed her cosplay creation she’d been working on, and rushed out the door. In the elevator, she fastened on the costume mask, her heart beating a hundred miles a minute.
The elevator stopped on the floor below hers and someone got inside.