It was the middle of the afternoon a few days after the intense but delicious weekend, while I was sewing a test pattern by hand, when I got a call on my cellphone. I didn't notice it at first, but when I did and tried to pick it up, the call disconnected. I saw that it was an unknown (407) number, which wasn't very common in my life anymore since I'd moved out of Orlando.

"Oh well," I murmured and went back to work. Marisol and a couple other girls were chatting up a storm about this swimsuit line we'd been contracted for and next thing I knew I got pulled into the conversation. My phone buzzed again like whomever was calling couldn't wait, but they were going to have to because as soon as I picked up my phone, Miguel opened his office door and called my name.

The three women gave me sly looks and I rolled my eyes.

"Go get him, tigress," Marisol said, giggling. She'd got it in her head after seeing just a few interactions between Miguel and I, that we had potential. She didn't suspect that there was something going on, only that something could happen. Which was kind of freaky, because Miguel and I tried our very best to be professionally distant and that way I was able to chalk it up to her just joking around.

"Stop," I told her, batting my hand in her direction.

"What was that about?" he asked as I stepped into his office.

"Nothing." But I said it too quickly and his eyebrows went up. I took a seat across from him and cleared my throat. "So, why have I been summoned to the principal's office?"

"You're very lucky I have Angela on mute right now," he said with a smile.

I got a full body cringe. "Oops."

With that, he un-muted her and put his phone in the middle of his desk, the better for her to hear the two of us. "Hi Angie, I'm back with Addy."

Angie? This freaking guy had more charm in his pinky toe than any salesman I'd come across.

"Excellent," she said from her end of the line, sounding all cheerful and pleased. "How are you doing today, Addy dear?"

"Uh, very good and you?"

She told us a little bit about her vacations on the Turks and Caicos and how great of a tan she was getting.

"And a full body one, at that," she said, laughing like it was no biggie. Miguel and I exchanged an awkward glance. It wasn't great to have that mental picture but now we couldn't unsee it.

He tried to steer the conversation back on track. "Addy, the reason we wanted to talk with you is because we-"

Miguel looked up and saw the panic that was written all over my face but the way amusement danced in his eyes told me it couldn't have been a bad thing.

"Because we," he repeated. "Have decided you are the right person to lead the project of the new app."

Even though I was sitting, I felt like suddenly nothing was holding me and I was falling. But in reality all that happened was that I slumped back in the chair. A weird sound left my throat.

"What was that, sorry?" Angie asked. "The waves are really loud."

I narrowed my eyes at Miguel, wondering if she was in the nude beach she'd lauded to while talking with us. I shook my head and focused on the matter at hand, which, if it wasn't a mistake, was shaping up to be a fantastic opportunity for my resume. Something that potentially could make me stay longer in Tropicana than I'd been planning on.

"Sorry, I just wanted to double check that you really want me on this and not your lead designer. Is that the case?"

Miguel stayed silent, allowing Angie to respond.

"Yes, my dear," she confirmed. "Jean Paul is great but even I have to admit he didn't show the kind of leadership necessary for a disruptive innovation like this. I would like him to remain focused on the customer projects we've already booked, and meanwhile you can pore all your young energy and creativity into this new thing."

A smile came to my face, so big that my muscles could barely contain it. Or maybe that was all because of the sudden desire to burst into tears.

"Thank you, I will not let you down," I said.

We discussed terms and conditions after that, the timeline that they were both estimating as well as the budget they were allocating to the efforts. Miguel mentioned that his company was working on a different venture with an app designer that he thought could be interested in the project and he passed along the contact information so I could get a hold on the guy and interview him. I wanted to jump and holler, but I stayed composed for the rest of the call.

After hanging up Miguel said, "You look like you want to celebrate."

I bit my lips to hold back the squealing that wanted to come out. It made him laugh.

"Okay, okay. Let me take you out to celebrate then," Miguel surprised me by saying. "Would you like to go to dinner tonight?"

"Y-Wait." I was about to say yes, but at the last second I had a thought. I folded my arms and leveled a stare at him. "Shouldn't there be a separation between church and state? Wasn't that the reason why we had to be civilized at work?"

His lips opened but before he could give his answer, I had an even worse thought.

I raised the palm of my hand. "Don't tell me you had something to do with this, just because we're, you know."

The slow smirk of his irritated me. "We're what?"

I rolled my eyes. "You know what I mean."

"No, not really." When it was obvious I wouldn't fall for whatever trap he was trying to lay, Miguel sighed and rested his chin on his hand. "Addy, much as I want to keep getting under your skirt, I am a businessman and I won't let an important, possibly groundbreaking project like this be ran by an impostor like that weird guy."

"So I actually got this on my own merit?" I asked, my heart dancing with joy.

His smile was genuine this time. "One hundred percent."

That did it. I jumped and did a happy little dance and I didn't even care if anybody was watching. When I was done letting it out of my system, I took a deep breath and said, "In that case, yes to dinner. Pick me up at seven."

He saluted. "Yes, ma'am."

I pointed at his pretty face. "And don't you ma'am me, I'm younger than you."

I left him chuckling and of course, once I was outside like half of the office swarmed me to find out what had made me so happy. I took a look around and didn't see Mr. Diapers around, so I didn't cushion the blow as I told them all the news. It was extremely gratifying to see my coworkers react as joyfully as I had and quite a few of them started engaging immediately on what their roles would be for the project. It took me a while until I was able to make it back to my work bench, where I'd left my patterns in a heap next to my phone. I looked at the device and like magic, it started ringing again.

All I read was the (407) and I picked up.

"Hi, this is Adele Holt, who is speaking?"

"Oh my gosh, Addy!"

My brain short-circuited. The voice was familiar, but I couldn't pin point it at once. Who did I know that sounded so perky?

"Uh, yes?"

"It's Becca! Becca Masterson," the voice replied. I felt as though I were going through a warp hole to seven years ago when I first met her. Blonde, athletic, sweet and smiling up at Miguel like he was the next coming of Adonis. "Remember me?"

"Oh, yeah. I totally do." How could I forget? "How's it going? How uh, did you find this number?"

"Like, I saw the pictures of Page's wedding on Facebook."

I did some mental gymnastics to figure out how that was the case, and I remembered that after that weekend where Page and Jace visited, the two girls had got along very well. I vaguely recalled us taking a girls picture and putting it on Instagram, which sent both of them on a social media account sharing spree.

My brain hurt.

"And her dress was so incredible." As she spoke she enunciated each word like it was its own sentence. "Imagine my surprise when I read in the description that you were the designer. But then again, I always knew you were going to be amazing."

"Thank you so much," I said. Marisol was giving me a look, asking if I was okay and I shrugged. I wasn't sure I was.

Becca and I hadn't stayed roommates very long after Miguel left town, because shortly after I moved to NYC for an internship that extended into a part time job. I finished the rest of my college program online and although she'd stayed Ayrton's roommate for longer, that didn't give us a lot of reason to stay in touch. Still, despite my one sided reservations about her, she'd always been nice and supportive to me.

Keeping that in mind I added, "And also thanks for the praise, not everybody would do this."

"Don't thank me yet," she said. "How would you like to design my wedding dress?"

My jaw dropped.

For some reason I looked over at Miguel in his office, expecting I didn't know what. It wasn't like he was hearing this. He probably wouldn't even care. He also didn't notice me, busy as he was typing up on his computer. I shook my head at myself, I was being silly.

"You're getting married?"

I had to pull the phone away from my ear for a bit as she squealed.

"Yes! I met this wonderful guy a couple of years ago and—ugh. You should've seen the proposal. It was so perfect." With barely a breath for a pause she continued, "We're planning on getting married in Greece because he's from there, but I'd so love it if you could create something whimsical and feminine and breathtaking for me. I just so love your style."

I was so stunned that it took me a while to realize she'd kept talking, giving me a whole vision of what she wanted and I hadn't even said yes. Out of politeness I asked her about the timeline and once she said that the wedding would be in a year I started to seriously consider the offer. I gave her a ridiculously high price to gage if she was really that interested and she jumped at it.

So at the end of the call, I guessed I'd just got hired to make a second wedding dress. I saved her number and after that, I noticed that the earlier (407) number had been different. I didn't have time to dwell on that, though, since I had to rush home and get ready for a date. I changed into a cute shorts and blouse combo with some difficulty because Miguel did good on his promise of leaving me exhausted and sore in ways that reminded me of our weekend adventure.

After he picked me up and we were in his car, driving away from my apartment complex, I asked him where we were going and if no one we knew would be around.

Miguel had had the same idea and changed into something more casual. His hair was wet and had the whole car smelling like his clean skin. It was making my knees weak already, which was why I had to ask him to repeat his answer.

"I was just saying that this is a town with like six million people. It's going to be a miracle if someone we know finds us."

"Yeah, I suppose you're right," I said. He grabbed my hand and placed a quick kiss on it, smiling through the motion.

"Gee, no need to sound so happy about it."

But even as I laughed and teased him, something about the wording of his answer struck a chord. I was still trying to decipher it an hour later, when we were finishing our dinner of gourmet pizza by the shore of Miami Beach.

"Something bothering you, sunshine?" he asked as I took a sip of wine.

I didn't know what to say to that. Yes, but I don't know what. It would make me sound ridiculous, and if he hadn't caught on to the fact that I was, I didn't want him to start realizing it now that things were so wonderful between us, seven years after I'd deemed this impossible.

That was when I remembered Becca, she who had just hired me years after unknowingly taking my chance at being with the man who sat across from me. I told him about it—the wedding dress, not the other issue. But as I told him about what I'd learned and seeing his genuine happiness at Becca's impending nuptials, I wondered if I hadn't seen more between them in the past than there actually was.

"So, um, question," I said before I could lose my nerve. "Were you and Becca ever, you know?"

He blinked all slow and innocent. "What?"

I reached over the dishes to smack him. "Together, geez."

I figured he'd tease me and ask if I was jealous, but all Miguel did was stare at me for a long, long minute. It was starting to make me nervous but I didn't know how to break the silence.

Until finally he saved me by saying, "No, we were never together."

I frowned and tilted my head. "But she couldn't stop talking about you. I remember you guys were on the phone together all the time."

Miguel shrugged. "She'd just broken up with my roommate and for some reason I became her emotional support to get through the ordeal." He looked up into the distance as if remembering. "It might have been because both of them kept giving me their crap to return to each other."

I hadn't known about that.

"You guys went on a date, though."

I knew I should stop. I was definitely sounding like a jealous and accusing girlfriend, which I didn't have a right to be. Not just because Miguel and I weren't official, but also because this was history. And yet I hung on his every word.

"I just happened to find her crying in the middle of campus and offered her a coffee." He leaned forward and as if he knew how insecure the topic made me, but how much I wanted to understand what had really happened. He laced his fingers with mine and pulled me closer. "Listen, I knew she had a crush on me. It wasn't like she was being coy about it. But despite the fact that Bryce was a douchebag I wasn't just going to start dating his ex in front of his face. I just let him think I was, to get him off her case."

"Was that really why you didn't go out with her?" I shrugged. "I mean she was gorgeous and nice and fun and everything a girl should be."

His eyebrows dipped and a shadow passed over his eyes. "Sure, she was hot and I had eyes. But I never was interested in her."

I lifted one corner of my lips in the perfect expression of skepticism.

"You don't have to lie just because we've seen each other naked now."

"Addy." He huffed and rolled his eyes, but with a swift tug pulled me up to my feet. Quite a few eyes turned to us as Miguel drew me against him. It wasn't every time you saw a couple getting cozy in the middle of a restaurant, even for Miami standards. "You freaking idiot, I wasn't interested in her back then because all I had eyes for was you."

Very eloquently I asked, "What?"

Miguel looked up at the dark sky and said something in Spanish I hadn't learned with my Duolingo lessons yet.

"You drive me crazy, Adele Holt. In more ways than one."

Then he dipped and kissed me right then and there. I had to say, the sudden cheers exploding around us added a nice touch to the evening. It was like my entire surroundings were celebrating the fact that I was finally, after so long, living my best life. And I didn't know then that all of that was about to change.

what, you thought it was all happily ever after from here on out?