"Alright," Josh put his phone on his coffee table and plopped onto the couch next to Kjiersten. "You ready for this?"

She laughed and took another swig from her bottle of Bud. "I hate this part."

"Me, too," he agreed. The worst part of the crab season was when they got home and turned on their cell phones. It was especially hard now, knowing that there would be at least a dozen messages about the coffee business or the likes on Josh's phone and an equal amount about photo shoots and advertising work on hers. Neither one looked forward to this moment, so they had turned it into their own special pity party over the years.

"Okay," she slammed her beer unceremoniously on the table, "I think I'm just drunk enough to deal with this."

Josh laughed as she picked up his phone. He pried it out of her hands and replaced it with the right one. "I think you're a little too drunk for this, actually. It's all about finding just the right balance between sober and not sober. Like me."

"Oh, please," she elbowed him and he threw his arm out to keep himself from falling over. "Yeah, you're sobalanced right now, shit head. Okay, three…two…eeeh, okay, I can't!"

"No, no, c'mon!" he laughed, forcing her thumb onto the power button. "We do this right now." He laughed again and shifted so he could wrap his arm around her, practically pulling her into his lap in the process. "Fine, I'll do it myself." He forced his thumb on top of hers. "Three…two…one. Power on." Kjiersten squeezed her eyes shut as if that would keep her phone from joining Josh's in buzzing incessantly as it processed all the voicemails and text messages they had missed during the king crab season. "There. S'painless!" he slurred.

She pushed him again and started on her texts. Most were from Ani, wishing her luck, telling her she missed her, venting about fights with Vince, and the likes. Of course Ani knew she wouldn't get the texts promptly, but it made her feel good just to send them, and even inebriated, Kjiersten loved reading them. It made her feel connected, like she had been there all along. She immediately deleted the four texts from her ex, all spewing how much he missed her. Her cousins had texted, too; Mandy ordered her to come shopping, and Nina texted the funny quotes the family said. She smiled at those, glanced at Josh, saw him smiling, and craned to see why. He leaned to match her so she still couldn't see, and she hit his shoulder.

"No fair!" she whined. "I have texts from Ani and Mandy and Nina and Vince. What about yoooooou?"

"Just Gina. She texted a ton early in the season." He flashed his screen at her as if that would clear it all up. "You ready for voicemails?"

"No. But I'll don't touch me!" she squealed, instinctively recoiling from Josh's hand. "Ok, I promise, I'm ready. Let's do this."

"Three…two…one…" Josh and Kjiersten held their phones up to their ears. "I have 11."

"Fuckin-a," she swore, stomping her feet and shaking her head as if she was throwing a mini tantrum. "I have 7! No fair!"

Josh stuck his tongue out at her as they both listened. She skipped over the typical calls about appearances she wouldn't do and interviews she wouldn't give. Other than the Discovery events her family dragged her to, she hated public appearances and avoided them like the plague. Ani had called a few times, mostly to vent whenever Vince pissed her off. Her cousins had called, too, shouting "WELCOME HOME, COUNSIN K!" into the phone. It wasn't until the last three messages that she actually had something to take care of.

"What the fuck is going on up there? I'm on the internet, minding my own fucking business, and I see that the fucking police were called to the fucking Cornelia Marie for Jake? What the hell are you people doing? You call me back the second you get this!"

"Kjiersten. It's Ani. Again. Now I'm online, and I see Josh listed as single. What the hell is going on? You turn your damn phone and call me and tell me what you did! And what's going with Jake? I didn't forget about that in the two minutes since my last message."

"Uh…hey. 'S Vince. Ani's freaking out here. Something about police and Gina? Did Josh's girlfriend get arrested or something? Cuz I didn't think she was that cool. So, yeah, my house is chaos, and my wife is psychotic. Please fix that. Soon."

She laughed and tossed the phone on the coffee table, waiting for Josh to finish. His head rested in his hand so she couldn't see his face, but she could tell that his muscles were clenched. There were always messages about the businesses now that stressed him out. She brushed his arm with the back of his hand, but he didn't react.

"Gina left five messages since lunch," he grunted, tossing his phone next to hers and picking up his beer.

"Are you gonna call her back?"

Josh shot her a look. "You're fucking hysterical. I don't need to deal with that."

"You didn't need to break up with her today, you know. I overreacted a little. Apparently I do that sometimes."

Josh chuckled. "You do that a lot. I'm pretty sure it's genetic. And, for the record, I did have to break up with her at lunch. What she said was out of line, and you two would never be able to get along. In the end, I'm with you. Even if that means you make me break up with all of my girlfriends."

"I never make you break up with anyone!" she insisted, resting her head on his chest. "It's not my fault you date idiots."

"I do not," he rolled his eyes. "I don't know what your problem was with Gina. If today hadn't happened, she's not really that horrible, huh?"

"She's not me," Kjiersten shrugged, swinging her legs up onto the couch. Josh shook his head and wrapped an arm around her shoulders as she burrowed her head further into his chest to get comfortable.

"What's that supposed to mean?" he smirked.

"It always means you can better…wait…let me try that one again." He laughed. "It means you can always do better."

"So, I should just marry you and put us all out of our misery?" he challenged. She laughed.

"I never said that."

"You kind of implied it, though, didn't you?"

"Leave me alone. Drunk right now."

"You're more honest when you're drunk," he pointed out. "Just admit it. You like me."

"Josh," she rolled her eyes and sat up, "when you're drunk, which y'are right now, you're an idiot. Just shut up." She laughed and ruffled his hair, but he ducked out from under her hand and grabbed his beer. After finishing off the bottle, he pressed on.

"That might be true, but I still know you. You totally said that you were into me. Just admit it!"

"Josh," she turned her head away, not amused anymore, "stop it. Just go get the stupid movie." She reached for her phone, but he grabbed her wrist and made both of them freeze.

"Kjiersten. Come on." The joking disappeared from his face, too, as he scooted up to rest his forehead on hers. "There's no point in hiding it anymore."

"I'm not hiding anything. I'm drunk and saying weird shit, and you're drunk and reading too much into it. Tomorrow we're not even gonna remember this happened."

"I'll remember," he insisted. The intensity in his eyes made her blush and turn away, but he cupped her cheeks in his hands and forced her to look at him again. "So will you. We both want this too much to forget."

Before she could say anything or try to pull her face away, he let his lips gently brush hers, and she completely forgot that she was fighting him about this. He let the touch linger for a second before bringing his mouth to hers again in a gentle kiss that deepened almost immediately as she grabbed his forearms to pull him closer. He let one hand slide from her face to tangle in her hair as he ran his tongue along her lips until she allowed him entrance. Her hands shifted to explore his chest, the longing and desperation of the kiss filling her senses until she couldn't take it anymore.

She used her hands to push on his chest until he pulled away. It was only then that either one of them realized the tear slowly rolling down her cheek. Josh reached a hand out to wipe it away, but she batted at his arm and stood up so quickly that she hit the coffee table and nearly fell. Again, he reached a hand out to steady her, but she was just out of his reach and managed to find her own balance. She grabbed her phone before righting herself, a few more tears rolling down.

"What's wrong?" He stood up, but she took a quick step back that made it clear he shouldn't try to get closer. "I thought…"

"No!" she squeaked and immediately threw a hand over her mouth to try to calm her voice through the tears. After a moment, she tried again. "Why the fuck would you do that?"

"Kjiersten, come on. You're right. We're drunk. We'll forget this happened tomorrow. Sit down, finish your beer, I'll put the movie on. It'll be like nothing happened."

"Something did happen, Josh!" she insisted, waving her phone at him. "And we're not going to forget it! And I don't know why you would do that or why you would even go there because we're drunk and it's not fair and what the fuck am I supposed to do about this? You can't play with people like that!" He started to protest, but she cut him off. "You are! You always are! Either you're an idiot and just figured it out tonight or you've known for a while and have been messing with me this whole time. Either way…" she bit her lip to stop a sob escaping.

"I didn't kiss you because I'm drunk. Well, I did…but the alcohol just gave me the nerve to do it. I wanted to anyway." Kjiersten, true to form, stayed silent which made him even more uncomfortable. "I know I've dated a lot of girls, but you're right. None of them were you, and I'm tired of trying to find someone that can be you. You're the only person I want."

He waited, but she kept quiet as she slowly sat down again. "Kjiersten, could you please say something?"

"What do you want me to say?"

"Whatever you're thinking."

"I'm thinking that if you actually wanted to be with me so much, why didn't you do something until now? And don't say alcohol or I'll punch you, because we get wasted all the time."

"I don't know! I'm a coward and didn't want to face your family? What do you want me to say?"

"Why would my family scare you off? My family loves you," she frowned. He reached for her hand, and she let him take it.

"It doesn't matter. What matters is us, right now, and what we do next. I want to give this thing a shot, and I'm really hoping you feel the same way."

"Of course I feel the same way. Don't be a moron," she snorted, looking away to hide her blush. He half-smiled, glad to see some of her spunk coming back. "But I don't understand why this is all coming out now. I don't want to do this if you can't be honest with me about how you feel."

"I know," he nodded, "but not telling you how I felt earlier was my mistake because I'm an idiot. I'm pretty sure we both knew that already." She smirked. "I don't care what anyone says, I love you and I want to be with you."

She let him pull her hand to his lips as she ran the other through her hair. "I love you, too," she told him. "We'll give this a shot, because I think we can work. But I need you to be honest with me; you keep making these little comments that I don't understand. Like…you don't care what anyone says? Who's saying anything? Why were you afraid of my family?"

Josh shook his head. "My dad told me once that the right woman was staring me in the face, and I was a damn fool for not doing everything I could to make her mine. I wish he could be here to see that I'm actually doing something. I didn't understand him at the time, but I realized a long time ago what he meant. Do you remember when I took you to your senior prom?" She nodded. "You were taking pictures with Ani or something, and your uncles pulled me aside. That was right after my accident, you know?" he motioned to his shoulder, and she nodded slowly. "And your dad told me he didn't want you waiting around for someone that might not come back one day. They wanted you to have a better life than that. Said that they were glad you had me as a friend, but…"

"But it should stay that way," she finished. "We were still arguing about me going crabbing at the time. He probably figured that being with you would make me want to go out that much more, but I'd change my mind if you pulled away."

"Don't be too harsh on him. He was just trying to protect you."

"How was he protecting me?" she snapped. "How would my life be better if they actually had driven you away?"

"But you didn't lose me," he insisted, kissing the back of her hand again. "I'm right here. That was a long time ago, and we're all different people now."

She shook her head. "Josh, this is bigger than that. It's not just about me and you, you know that. My family has no right to force people out of my life like that. It's just like them, and I probably should have figured it out a long time ago, but that doesn't make it right." She paused to take a deep breath. "But I will deal with that another day. I love you, and this…us…I know this is right. We'll take it from there."