“By the way,” I said as I added butter to the griddle pan, “I took a picture of you drooling in your sleep the other night on the couch. I’m going to post it on Chatter today.”
We were back to lovingly roasting each other on the app.
“That’s fine,” she replied, unaffected. “I have a revenge post ready and drafted.”
I grinned. I planned on keeping this woman on her toes for the rest of our lives.
“Don’t forget, Mac Attack. We have our first planning meeting tonight when you get home.”
It was my day off, but Mac had to be at work in approximately one hour and fifteen minutes.
When she stayed quiet, I glanced over my shoulder to see her smiling.
“I remember,” she replied shyly.
Tonight, we were planning our first vacation together and getting Mac’s passport application in order. We would be narrowing down locations and picking from her extensive wish list. All those websites saved and bookmarked. The travel magazines with dog-eared pages, ready for the hypothetical to become reality.
She’d made me promise to give my input. She didn’t want it to be just a trip for her. But all I wanted was for her to be happy—to have the experience she’d always dreamed of. And to experience it with her, of course.
Our love was already an adventure. One that had been unexpected at almost every turn. I hoped our relationship would keep growing and keep changing andthat we’d do it all together. I felt unbelievably lucky to take these next steps with her. To see her dreams unfold and be by her side through it.
We’d travel, and we’d come home. We’d love, and we’d fight. We’d stay busy for apple season, and we’d welcome tourists to the town we loved.
Every step forward would be a step remembered. A girl with one pigtail and a boy with a death wish. Two people who’d been connected for so long they couldn’t recall a before and after.
I flipped another pancake and felt Mac’s arms come around my waist as she pressed a kiss to the center of my back. I didn’t try to hide my smile. It wouldn’t have worked anyway.
Mac was mine, and I was hers, and the good part was just getting started.
epilogue
MAC
Two Months Later
Grandpappy’s was closed on a Saturday afternoon in August for the first time in twenty years.
But today was an important day.
Chloe and Jordan were getting married. While the bride had asked to use the gazebo at the pond for a small ceremony during the week, Aunt Maggie had taken over and insisted on a Saturday wedding so that all the people who loved Jordan and Chloe could attend. Chloe was Maggie’s Bake Shop assistant, after all, and Maggie loved the woman like the daughter she’d never had.
It was hot as hell, even at six in the evening, but there was nowhere else I’d rather be.
I shook my head and fought a grin as Brady caught my eye and winked from his position under the gazebo roof. The guy had gotten himself ordained online and begged Jordan and Chloe to let him marry them. He was ridiculous.
But when, a few minutes later, he went slightly off script and spoke about second chances and how true love—like Jordan and Chloe’s—was worth waiting for toget the timing right, I had to fight the wobble in my chin as I reached over and squeezed Bonnie’s hand.
My sister was ... doing fine since the split with Danny. She’d become the hyper-efficient, best version of herself that I’d been worried about. She showed up to staff and committee meetings at the elementary school with homemade snacks for everyone. She was all smiles at family dinners. She nailed all the art history and pop culture trivia questions on Monday nights without missing a beat. And she didn’t do a single thing for herself.
Aside from that first horrible, frightening night, I hadn’t seen her shed a tear. It was only because I’d known her my whole damn life that I got the distinct impression she was trying to fake it until she made it.
Jordan drew my attention as he struggled through his vows. He wore suspenders, along with the rest of the wedding party, and I was sure Brady Judd was to blame. But the emotion was evident on Jordan’s face. His brother, Seth, and Will stood at his side, and those of us gathered gave a sweet chuckle when Will passed his best friend a handkerchief.
Chloe looked radiant in her cream wedding gown. It was strapless and sleek and wrapped around her thin frame beautifully. Her bright red hair was pulled into an elegant low bun. And she looked at Jordan like there was no one else in the world.
I was happy for them. They had a long history, too. Best friends through childhood and adolescence until Jordan’s best friend, Keaton, had swooped in and stolen Chloe away. They’d married too young, and Keaton spent the next ten years controlling her every move. He’d hoarded her time and isolated her until her friendship with Jordan—and nearly everyone else—faded away. But all that ended last spring when Chloe left her cheating husband and started working at the Bake Shop. She’d reclaimed her life and found love with the man who’d never really forgotten her. The one currently choking back tears under the August sky.
Finally, Brady announced the pair partners in life, and the groom dipped his bride low and kissed the hell out of her.
