A/N: Today is a double update, so please be sure to read Chapter 25 first, or you will be very confused. ☺️

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Four months later...

Neil picked me up in his gray convertible wearing cool shades and hiking gear just like me. When he rang the doorbell, I opened the door and sprang into his arms.

We embraced, holding the passionate hug. Pressing me close, Neil slid his hand down to my mid-back.

A contented sigh fell from his lips. "Hey, my love..."

"Hey..." When Neil pulled back, I smiled, super excited to go on our first hike. "It's so good to finally hug you at last."

"Yes, it is." He offered to take my backpack. "All ready to climb up your first mountain?"

"I sure am."

"Let me put your bag in the boot."

Once we'd hit the open country roads, we drove through an avenue of beech trees. A slight detour, but totally worth it. They'd planted three hundred and sixty-five trees on each side, which went on for a glorious eternity.

Such beauty! Such freedom! 

Neither Emily nor I had left the house since the day I'd retrieved my things from my ex. It was annoying as hell, but it had kept all of us healthy so far. Neither one of us had gotten COVID.

Nor had Neil.

Our safety mattered above all else. But now that we'd realized COVID didn't spread well outdoors, we'd decided to take this opportunity to explore. To grow closer. To hold one another.

After all, we'd both self-isolated for months and they'd already lifted the severe restrictions. 

With a whoop of joy, I threw my hands up into the air. Relished the warmth of the summer sun and the cool breeze. Neil turned to me with that signature tender expression before chuckling under his breath. 

"Sure beats Skype, doesn't it?" he asked. 

"I thought lockdown would never end! It's so good to be here. With you. For real." I squeed with pure joy. "It's so good to be alive!"

Durdle Door attracted visitors from all over the world, causing traffic congestion and parking problems. But today the effects of COVID had made themselves all too clear. We found plenty of spaces. Lockdown might have lifted in England, but that hadn't made international travel any easier. 

"My suggestion is that we do the six-mile loop to start," suggested Neil. "There's a nine-mile version too, but it only adds a longer section on the flat."

"Good idea. Let's do that."

"We have plenty of daylight." He gazed up at the heavens. "Not a cloud in the sky. Funny how the lack of air traffic has changed the weather patterns."

"Yeah...probably don't need my waterproofs."

"Nope, you can leave them here," he agreed. "Take a fleece just in case. And plenty of water."

"Got it."

Neil grabbed the sunscreen. "I don't know about you, but I always put this on."

"With this fair skin?" I chuckled. "Yes, please."

"That's wise." He lathered some onto his arms, hands, face, and neck. "Can't ever be too careful. My sister had a health scare. Don't worry. It has a happy ending, but one of her moles turned malignant."

"Oh, my God!"

"They got it early," he said. "Stage one. It was five years ago, so it appears to have been a one-off. But as you can see, I have a fair number of moles myself."

"Holy moly!" 

"Indeed."

Neil wasn't wrong. His arms were dotted with dozens of them. More than I'd ever seen on a human being, and my family had originally come from Ireland. 

"Well, that's a cautionary tale if I've ever heard one," I said. 

He nodded. "Especially since she used tanning beds as a kid."

"Oof!"

After offering me one of his walking poles, we set off up the first big hill. It pulled no punches. Quite steep with uneven steps. Neil kept an eye on me, offering to stop halfway up the climb.

"Look at that view," he exclaimed, pointing into the far distance. 

The water had taken on a bluish-green hue, which contrasted beautifully against the golden sands on the shoreline and the chalk cliffs above it. Lush grass covered the rolling hills. 

"This is amazing!" I literally bounced up and down on the balls of my feet. "Well, if this isn't food for the soul, I don't know what is."

He pulled me close, wrapping an arm around my shoulders. I smiled up at him. 

"Ready to go forward?" he asked. 

"Lead the way."

We continued at a gentle guide's pace until we reached the famous Durdle Door. An archway made of stone, it jutted out into the open sea. 

The cool sea breeze whipped through my hair. 

"This is heaven." I pressed my hands to my heart. "Have you ever seen anything like it?"

"Only ever on my own." He chuckled. "And it's not quite the same."

This time when we embraced, Neil kissed my crown. I swore my heart would fly out of my body and take off like an excited unicorn over the hills and into the sea. With an excited squeak, I ran up the next little hill and waited for him at the top. 

"Are you having fun?"

"Fun doesn't even begin to describe it," I said, skipping backward and forward. "I love it! I feel so happy and free." I twirled with my arms extended. "I wish we could do it all the time."

Then came The Hill. And when I say The Hill, I mean The Hill. It was so dang steep that I wasn't sure my short-ass legs would carry me up it. But like Neil had said, I took it slowly. Step by step.

And reached the summit at the end. 

"Yay! I did it!" I exclaimed. 

He laughed. "Shall we christen this the 'I-Did-It' hill?'"

I did a little happy dance. "Yeah!"

Next came a steep but briefer ascent followed by quite a long slog up a gentler but arduous slope. Finally we reached the trig point that marked the final summit. 

"Well done you," said Neil with a friendly embrace. "Would you like to take a little break here? I have some Scotch eggs and snacks."

"Yes, please. Our own little picnic."

Sitting side by side on the grassy hill, we munched on our food and snacks. Every once in a while, I noticed Neil glancing at me out of my peripheral vision. I snuck a peek or two at him too. 

But the landscape had grabbed my attention most of all. A couple of boats had dotted the surface of the ocean, now a beautiful periwinkle blue. 

The next part of the hike was on mostly flat terrain. While we walked, we chatted about Neil's work. "We've been super busy with questions about the furlough scheme."

"Thank God for that program," I said. "Emily and I would have been toast without it."

Neil nodded. "The government did the right thing by giving people eighty percent of their salary during lockdown. It's a good incentive to keep people on the payroll. It probably stopped economic collapse."

"It kept me from getting fired," I admitted. "Not gonna lie."

"Did it come through all right in the end?"

"Sure did." I grinned. "First time anyone has ever paid me to play Animal Crossing. But man, am I ever grateful. With any luck, things will get back to normal soon."

Neil nodded. "Assuming there are no more variants."

After a couple of hours, we came to an odd wooden gate, the likes of which I'd never seen. It was a V-shaped enclosure that only allowed one person to pass at a time. 

"Have you ever seen a kissing gate?" asked Neil. 

"A what?"

"A kissing gate. It keeps livestock in an enclosure. It kisses--or touches--an enclosure on either side." After passing through, he kept the gate closed. "Ah-ah-ah, you need to pay the toll."

I chuckled. "A toll?"

"Mm-hmm."

"What kind of toll?"

"I'll leave that up to you," he said with a mischevious smile. "But it is called a kissing gate."

When I placed a soft kiss on his cheek, I allowed my lips to linger. Neil turned his head. His lips hovered a mere fraction from my own. His breath sweet from the minty chocolate we'd eaten. 

"Come through," he whispered.

Neil opened the gate for me and stepped back. When he reached for my hand, I walked toward him. 

Wrapping a hand around my waist, Neil pulled me close. His eyes darted down to my mouth and back up to meet my gaze. His lips parted. His breaths shallow. And not simply from exertion.

Neil dipped down until we almost touched. Slow and steady. "My love...?"

I closed the space between us. 

Soft, tender, warm. Wholesome. It felt as though his soul had nestled against mine inside the empty hollow of my heart. Two tiny pinpoints of golden light had found each other at last.

When I pulled back a fraction, Neil was still closing his eyes as though relishing pure bliss. But he didn't let me stay away for long. 

With a gentle nudge, Neil invited me closer until he kissed me back. Soft, gentle caresses at first. His bottom lip trailed against mine. A soft sigh of contentment slipped from my lips. 

Deeper he kissed me. More insistent. Like a man starved of affection for far too long. 

Once we broke apart, breathless, Neil wrapped his arm around me. The setting sun bathed us in a gentle golden light. We'd become the romantic silhouettes I'd admired on the day we'd met. 

"The golden hour." A wondrous gasp. "We can see it together at last."

"This is the moment I live for," he whispered.

All my life I'd been searching for the place I belonged. Standing on a mountaintop beside Neil--resting my head against his wildly beating heart--I'd finally found home.

THE END

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Word count: 1,592
Total word count: 28,786/40,000 (max)

Woo hoo! We did it! We did it! Two stories for ONC! 

OMG Thank you to all my wonderful readers for all your amazing support. I look forward to reading all of your ONC stories as well. Feel free to advertise here. --->