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“Good?” I laughed.
“I thought you might tell me I still had more forgiveness to earn. Or that you’d try to talk me out of it for some strange Kenzie reasons.”
I laughed. “Wow,” I said, looking down at the ring. “I’m so happy. But this ring is really ugly.”
His face fell.
I laughed. “I’m sorry. That was a bad joke. It’s perfect. This is perfect.”
“Check the damn book!” Trinity shouted through cupped hands. “I came here for a launch party, not a mushy kissy party. Boo.”
I glared over Sebastian’s shoulder at her, and just to piss her off, I gave him a long kiss. I let him slide the ring on my finger and tried to ignore the feeling of Astaire snapping pictures and video from beside us.
Once I’d thoroughly enjoyed my moment, I went to the computer. I took a look at the screen. It was my book pulled up on Amazon. There were several other tabs showing it on different retailers. The last tab was the dashboard showing how many copies had sold so far. I hit refresh and saw over forty reviews had already come in. They were almost all five stars, and the few I scanned were glowing.
I let out a breath it felt like I’d been holding my whole life. I sank back into the couch and couldn’t stop smiling. “People like it.”
“They don’t just like it,” Sebastian said. He was beside me and reached over to scroll through some of the reviews. “They love it. They’re already asking when the next book will be out.”
“Oh, well,” I said, putting the back of my hand to my forehead. “I can’t deal with the weight of their expectations.” I spoke in a deep voice, trying my best to impersonate Sebastian. “I think I won’t be able to write the next book unless a gorgeous woman with a great personality sweeps me off my feet.”
He gave me a level look. “That’s funny.”
“No,” Adrian said. “It’s not. If her book keeps this up, I’d rather she write as many as she can. These numbers are already incredibly strong.”
Nilla inched closer. “If you need any help, you have my number. I’m guessing you’re going to be doing book signings, tours, and speaking events.”
I snorted. “I doubt that.”
Sebastian put his arm around me again and pulled me into his shoulder. “I’m so fucking proud of you,” he whispered in my ear.
The words sent tingles across my skin. I smiled, closing my eyes. I hugged him back and couldn’t stop smiling. Even if things went downhill from here, I knew I was lucky, because people spent their whole lives dreaming about being this happy and never managed it.
43
Epilogue - Sebastian
One Year Later
I sat in the front row between Trinity and Lance at a writer’s convention. The room was already packed. There was a microphone on the stage, and I knew Kenzie was back there, probably nervous as hell.
Abigail was on my lap making cooing sounds. Trinity kept trying to reach over to tickle her and Abigail would grab her finger.
“Mom’s coming out soon,” I whispered in her ear.
The conversation in the room died out when Kenzie took the stage. She was dressed professionally, and the look was adorable on her. Kenzie was about as far from the professional type as I’d ever met, but she could fake it well enough for these things.
She had already written two more books to round out her three-book series since our launch party last year. In that time, I’d finally finished my next book. Adrian’s team was already well underway with the process of preparing it for launch. I still didn’t find it easy to write, but that didn’t seem like the end of the world anymore. Writing and my books weren’t the only thing in my life now. I had Kenzie and I had Abigail. If I had a bad week of writing, I could just remember my girls, and it never seemed to sting as badly.
“So,” Kenzie said. “I know this talk is supposed to be about writing blurbs, but I wanted to start with just one broad message. Because almost two years ago, this real asshole told me that writing was a nearly impossible dream. He said I should just give up, and I’m here to say that asshole was wrong. I don’t care if it’s writing a book or going to France to learn to cook. Everybody deserves to have dreams, and the hardest part is taking your dreams seriously. Maybe you won’t reach them, but everybody deserves to know they tried as hard as they could.”
Trinity nudged me hard in the arm. “You realize you’re the asshole she’s—”
“I got that,” I said dryly.
When Kenzie finished up her talk, I took Abigail up across the stage and backstage to find her. She was practically dripping with sweat. “How was that?”
