Third Person POV (because let's face it, this needed to include both view points)
"Did you enjoy yourself?" Chris asks Opal on the ride back to the hotel.
She breathes a sigh of relief as she nods. "I did. I don't think I truly realized how much I missed it," she pauses shifting a quick glance to him before looking outside her window, "all of it."
Chris, still unsure of what all of this means, swallows thickly as he watches the road ahead of him. He's been holding back about a hundred questions that keep rolling around in his head, wanting to grant her time to answer them without him coming across as interfering. But his resolve is waning thin as he parks his car in a space.
He unbuckles, turning towards her. "Opal," he starts.
"Do you want to come up?" she asks, seemingly unwilling to meet his gaze as she clutches her purse in her lap.
Unsure of it himself, he agrees. "Uh, okay, yeah, sure," he stutters.
"You don't have to if you don't want. I just figured we could talk, ya know, about everything," she says quietly, barely lifting her eyes.
"I'd like that actually."
Opal leads the way through the lobby, walking straight onto the elevator that a man just stepped out of. The quiet on the ride up is the first bit of silence between them since Chris picked her up.
There's a sense of tension between the two. It's not anger or frustration though. Maybe a sense of uncertainty where each other stands, although they both believe if the other did just one thing it would all release and fall away.
Chris follows behind Opal down the hall, again fighting the urge to touch her in some way. Stopping at a door, Opal pulls the key from her bag, Chris quickly plucking it from her fingers. She looks at him confused. He gives her a soft smile, placing the key against the lock box, turning the handle and holding the door open for her.
A small visible look of relief comes over her as she steps into the room. "Do you want anything to drink? Or eat? I think I've got a few things left over on the coffee table from the trip up."
Chris walks over to the opposite side of the room, taking a seat on one side of the couch. "I'm alright. Thanks though."
Opal slips her flats off before curling her legs up under her as she takes the other side of the couch, pulling her skirt out over her feet. "So."
"So," he mimics her.
They'd manage to keep the conversation light and breezy with Laura and Spencer, but Chris noticed anytime someone asked her a detailed question as to why she was here, she'd flip the script and ask about the baby.
"There's a lot to talk about. I'd rather you tell me where to start, Chris."
He lays his right arm across the back of the couch, his other elbow resting on the arm. His hand runs over his mouth before answering. "Why are you here, Opal? Why Atlanta?"
"That should be a simple answer, but much like the last few months it's all been anything but simple," she says quietly. "Do you want the short or long of it?"
He squints a little, watching her. She's fidgeting with the pleats of her navy skirt, chewing the corner of her lip. "Let's start small," he answers, giving her a bit of reprieve knowing that eventually everything will come to light.
"Pops."
He chuckles. "Normally, I'd say that's an acceptable answer. But, I think, no, I know, I'm gonna need more than that."
"His Will. He left everything to me, but requested that I sell his house. But, the paperwork said I had to open up another Inn with the money."
He nods a bit in understanding. "Why Atlanta?" Obviously he's hoping that it has to do with him, but he needs to hear it from her.
Opal smiles warmly, meeting his gaze. "That's where the old man's meddling became a little extra. I have to open it here, in Atlanta."
Chris' small look of light appreciation doesn't go unnoticed by Opal. "Meddling from the Great Beyond like the loving man he was," he smiles into his words.
"He was always on the side of Atlanta," she admits, looking back at her fingers. She wonders if he will catch the true meaning behind those words.
Chris moves slightly closer to Opal, still keeping a distance between them. "Were you going to tell me? Or just go about it and hope I never found out?"
She shakes her head, confusing him for a moment until she speaks. "I was going to let you know, eventually. I wanted to find the place, see if an offer would even be accepted before I gave myself any real hope."
He lifts his head slightly, watching her. "Hope?" he asks.
Opal pauses, needing to gain confidence for the next part of this conversation. She exhales a shaky breath, "Hope that you would still speak to me." She shakes her head, her eyes looking up towards the ceiling as Chris notices a small pool of tears beginning to form in her eyes. "Hope that you wouldn't have moved on before I could tell you," she mumbles through quivering lips.
Chris stays in place, giving her space, but also not wanting to push his own thoughts onto her. "Tell me what, Ope?"
She closes her eyes, the tears falling, caressing her cheeks quickly as they fall to her lap. "To tell you how wrong I was to push you away. To tell you how much I appreciate all the efforts you made to help me."
Chris leans up on his elbows, his hands clasped together. "Is that all?"
Silently, she shakes her head again. "But, I can't tell you the rest if you really are dating someone else. It wouldn't be fair to anyone at this point."
"I'm not seeing anyone."
"But, Spencer's sister?" she questions.
"That wasn't anything. Well, tonight was actually suppose to be a first date, but I kind of put a halt to that without thinking about it."
"Huh?"
He slides over another couple of inches, now sitting in the middle of the couch. "I had forgotten she was going to be there tonight. When I saw you, everything else kind of fell right out of my brain I suppose."
She giggles at the imagery he created for her. "She did seem pretty confused, I just wasn't sure why," she said. "But I noticed something."
"What's that?" he asks, placing his right hand over her own.
Opal feels a shudder through her body at his touch. "You um, you didn't correct Laura when she, when she-"
"Called you my girlfriend?" She lets her eyes meet his again as she nods. "I didn't hear you correct her either, Ope."
Opal blushes at the sentiment, realizing now that she also hadn't mentioned anything to the group. "I think you not speaking up gave me hope," she whispered softly, keeping his gaze. "I know I owe you about a thousand explanations for my behavior." She stands up and begins pacing the room. "And it's simple and yet so messy all at the same time. I've been seeing a therapist, which by the way was forced into, but I'll forever be grateful to Rae for it. And he's helped me through somethings in my past, mainly with Phillip. But he also helped me see what it is that I actually want without having to worry about all the things from my past," she rambles on and on.
Chris sits on the edge of the couch now, watching her move around the room, rambling on and on with short, quick explanations of the insanity that has been the last few months.
"He had me write this letter and then read it aloud to him, but then we symbolically burned it so that it's effectively in the past and out of my life. And then there was question three that really made me come face to face with you," she tells him, finally stopping her back and forth, standing in the middle of the room.
"What about me, Opal?" he asks, believing he knows where she's going, but needs her to speak the words if not for his benefit but for her own. "What question did you answer about me?"
Her lower lip begins to quiver again as Chris stands to go to her. She holds her hand out, stopping him in his tracks. Maybe this isn't going the way he thought it was.
"What do I want most in my life?" she said. Chris cocks his head, silently asking what she means. "That was question three."
A loud silence falls between them as Chris waits for her to continue. He feels his own body begin to shake, scared of her response. "What is it, Opal? What is it that you want most in your life?" he asks, his voice faltering.
With a headstrong gaze she takes a deep breath. "You, Chris. You are what I want most in my life," she sighs, her heart racing as she watches for his reaction.
Chris loses all resolve, stalking towards her quickly. In an instant he crashes his lips to hers, both of their bodies relaxing into one another as their lips mold against one another in pure perfection. The grip he has against her cheek is strong, reaffirming the passion both hold for one another. "I love you, Chris," Opal mutters against his lips between each brush of his lips against hers.
He pulls back slightly, his forehead touching hers as his thumb caresses her jaw. "I could never stop loving you, Ope."
"I'm so sorry, for everything. Please forgive me," she whispers, her eyes closed allowing her fear to creep in.
"Open your eyes, baby. I need you to look at me when I say this." He waits for her to open her tear filled eyes again. Peering into the eyes that keep him grounded he knows he's still seeing his forever. "You never needed to apologize to me, sweetheart. I forgave you without ever needing to hear the words."
His words fill her heart to the brim, every former pain becoming fleeting as she sees him return her own wide smile. "Stay with me?"
He nods slowly, still cupping her face in his hands, "Always."