AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Epilogue
“If it’s notan engagement party or a wedding, it’s a housewarming,” I said to Alivia as we drove to Natalie and Em’s new house. It was just on the edge of Castleton, but absolutely perfect, and part of a new development that was bringing in all kinds of new residents to Castleton.
“We’re at that age,” Alivia said. “And we have to show up, so they’ll come to ours.”
I glanced at her. “Our what?”
We’d only been dating officially for three months, and it seemed way too soon for anything else. I mean, I did spend pretty much every night at Alivia’s sweet little house, but I still had my apartment.
“Well, your lease is going to be due in a few months, so you might as well just move in with me.” She said it so casually, I almost swerved into the oncoming lane.
“Is this you asking me to move in with you?” From the beginning, I had asked Alivia to take things slow. I didn’t want to do anything until I was absolutely sure. I was determined to not make another mistake.
But from the beginning, everything about Alivia felt right.
“It makes sense, right?” she said.
I sat with the idea for a moment, to make sure. “Yeah, it does. Okay fine, you’ve talked me into it.”
She laughed. “That was easy.”
“To be fair, I didn’t need much convincing,” I said.
We arrived at the newly paved road and turned down a long a row of houses with cute little lawns.
“This is it,” I said, parking on the street outside along with several other cars.
Alivia got our present out of the back and we walked up the front steps to knock on the door. There was a shell wreath with the words WELCOME in the center in wood, probably carved by Gray.
“It’s open!” a voice yelled, and we went in to take off our shoes and coats. We’d recently had a bit of a warm front, so all the snow that had been on the ground had melted, but the forecast in the future was for a big snowstorm.Winter was here, and it wasn’t going anywhere.
“Hey!” Natalie yelled, coming through the group of people to give us hugs.
“Where should I put this?” Alivia asked. Natalie motioned to an extra table that had been set up in the living room for presents. The couch was taken, as were the extra chairs.
“There’s a lot of people here,” I said, following her into the kitchen where Em was taking the top off a charcuterie tray. I gave her a hug, as did Alivia.
“The place looks great,” I said, even though I’d seen it before. They’d added a little more decoration, and the chair that matched the dark blue velvet couch had come in. Natalie’s shell art was everywhere, but it wasn’t too much. Just right.
“Yeah, half of Castleton is here,” Em said, rolling her eyes. “Wyatt’s off on some trip to Vegas, but Gretchen and Kennsleigh are here somewhere. She and Wyatt are back off again.”
I’d seen Gretchen in the living room, chatting with a few people and bouncing the squirming little girl on her hip. Even though her father was the worst, she was absolutely one of the cutest babies I’d ever seen.
“Oh, I need details later,” I said.
Em let out a frustrated breath.
Just as I was about to ask where Paige and Esme were, they arrived, with Linley and Gray right behind them.
“The gangs all here!” Linley said.
“Wait, where’s Sasha?” I asked.
“She’s on her way. You know how she is,” Paige said, rolling her eyes.
I’d gotten close with Sasha recently, and it was true, she was a bit of a mess. I’d never seen her show up on time anywhere, but she was always so apologetic about it, you forgave her instantly. Plus, she was the kind of friend you could call in the middle of the night to help you bury a body.
“Let’s get this out,” Em said, taking one of the trays.
