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“Who is it?”
He shows me his phone. There’s a message from Zach.
Just got to Liberty. The weather here is shit. Where’s the bachelor party? I can’t find anybody around. – Zach
“Oh my god.” A laugh escapes me. “Nobody told him we called it off.”
He’s going to kill me. The man hates coming to Liberty. He hates anything that takes him away from his art and his poker games. I’m going to owe him big time.
“To be fair,” West says, brushing a wet strand of hair from my cheek, “nobody knew until a couple of days ago. I’ll sort it out, don’t worry.”
The way he says it, calm and certain, like nothing could shake him, unravels me. He always does this. Somehow, he makes the chaos feel like it’s going to be okay. LikeI’mgoing to be okay.
He types something out, then turns his phone off.
“What did you do?” I ask him.
“I told him to join Autumn and Parker for dinner.”
A laugh burst out of me. “God, I’m so stupidly in love with you.”
His eyes close for a second, like he’s letting the words soak into his bones. And when he opens them, there’s such a look of love on his face that I’m not sure I’ll ever get over it.
“Not as much as I love you, Mrs. Abbott.”
And then he kisses me again and again and again. Until the storm passes.
epilogue
A few months later…
WEST
We’re already late for our own party when Eden’s phone lights up. She lets out an annoyed sigh, because she’s in the middle of fixing her tiara and has had to bat my hands away from her at least five times already.
She looks so damn hot. In a short white dress that barely skims her thighs. Autumn insists she wears it as the almost “bride–to-be”.
“What is it?” I murmur, leaning over her mostly as an excuse to kiss the dip of her neck again. She smells like roses in summertime.
“The family group chat.” She rolls her eyes. “Honestly, shouldn’t they all be at The Salty Dog by now waiting for our arrival?”
It’s taken us this long to reschedule the bachelor and bachelorette parties we promised everybody. Mostly because I had to fly to L.A. for meetings with Vin’s lawyers. Every pennyhas been repaid, every tentacle he has ever had wrapped around me has been cut.
And while I was there, I visited Leona’s grave. Told her about Eden. It felt good telling her I was going to be okay. That I was sorry.
This time, we decided to combine our celebrations. One big party. Which is fine by me, because I don’t want to spend the night without my wife.
Another message pops up.
Zach:So I flew back TWICE for this bachelor party and Wyatt still hasn’t bothered to show up? What an asshole.
Hudson:He’s busy. Running a business.
Asher:The ocean needs him. It gets “salty” when he’s gone.
Autumn:Good god, you’re all terrible. And why aren’t you all at The Salty Dog? Only Parker and I are here.
Zach:Ask Wyatt why he’s not here. He’s the one you should be complaining to.
