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While she examines her feet, Fox’s sneer fades. He meets my eyes for a beat before driving off. Once the roar of his bike dwindles, Maisy sighs.
“Is he still bothering you?” I ask.
“No. Yes? I don’t know. It’s senior year, but he hasn’t grown up from his stupid feud. At least Holden graduated with you guys, so now Fox doesn’t seem to be around every corner as much, throwing what we don’t have in my face.” She shrugs, tucking her highlighted brown hair behind an ear. “I just wish things could be like before, when we were kids…when we were friends. This is so stupid.”
“Don’t let him get to you. And if he’s still bullying you, Connor and Devlin will kick his punk little ass.”
Maisy snorts at the fierce expression on my face. “Okay, come on, killer. It’s your day. My petty life dramas can wait.”
Hooking her arm over my shoulders, she steers me inside where the rest of our friends are elbowing Connor in congratulations. His gray eyes fall on me and his smile grows. He pulls me to his side as Lucas Saint’s girlfriend snaps photos with her camera.
Over the summer while they were on break from college, she helped me grow more comfortable with my body by modeling for her any chance she needed me. She has a real eye. When I see myself in her photos, it feels as if I’ve bared my soul to the lens, never worrying if there’s a difference between the mirror and the photo because I love myself, even on the days it’s hard and those dark thoughts creep up on me. When they do, I take myself through the affirmations my therapist had me write out to process those painful thoughts.
Blair slides up next to me and Maisy squeezes in on the other side.
Gemma hands her camera off to Lucas. “Group shot, babe. Girls first, then the guys.”
“You’ve got it.” He holds up the camera. “Work it, ladies.”
Connor elbows Devlin, grinning. “Damn. We are lucky bastards.”
“Fucking truth,” Devlin murmurs, with eyes only for Blair.
The door opens again and my parents come in. Mom gives me a tentative smile. I motion her over and show her the ring. As soon as Connor and I graduated, we moved out of our houses to live in the apartment he bought for us. Things have been somewhat bumpy and slow learning to be honest with each other, but they’re improving. We’re getting to a point we can be a mom and a daughter again. Dad is taking less regional jobs and they’ve started seeing the same therapist as Connor to work through her suppressed grief for her sister.
Someone plays music from a phone and we bring in take out and snacks from one of the nearby shops on the strip. Tucked against Connor’s side, I soak in the love our friends and family share with us.
“You and me,” I murmur to him, stealing his chip, then a kiss. “Always and forever.”
“Ends of the earth, to the moon, wherever doesn’t matter. I’ll love you.”
He takes my hand and pulls me from my seat on the counter he built, leading me to the middle of the room. Our friends cheer and hold up phones to record us as Connor sweeps me into a dance, twirling me in the middle of my future bakery.
Epilogue
CONNOR
Paris, Six Months Later
“Where do you think you’re going? Get back here, I’m not done with you yet.” Grabbing Thea by the ankle, I drag her across the bed and latch my mouth over her nipple while tracing her sun-shaped birthmark. She squeals, writhing in the sheets as I tease her. “I need to fuck my wife silly before we go anywhere.”
“Silly achieved,” she breathes, wrapping her legs around my waist and rolling her hips against me. “We reached it three rounds ago, you insatiable monster.”
“I can’t help it when it comes to you. Marrying you doesn’t change that.”
I reach across the bed to take another chocolate covered strawberry from the plate by the open window, the Eiffel Tower in view. Warm, breezy June air billows through the curtains, kissing over our sweaty skin. We’ve been in bed all morning, indulging in alone time. Chilled champagne sits in a bucket beside the strawberries. Eloping in Europe was a damn good idea.
Our friends are out exploring the city today, or shut away in their own hotel room in Blair and Devlin’s case, leaving us to enjoy our honeymoon. Devlin married us as our officiant and Gemma photographed the intimate ceremony. Thea has never looked more radiant than she did reading her handwritten vows from a yellow notebook with a rainbow print on it, her promises penned between the pages of her favorite recipes.
The official wedding isn’t until
September back home in Colorado, but Thea was going crazy planning a wedding and opening a bakery at the same time. It was time I made good on a promise I made over a year ago, when we first began. Even if the idea to whisk her to Paris was something I pulled out of the air, she’s been dying to visit real patisseries.
It was worth it for the look on her face. I love surprising her. I’ll never stop doing it.
We might be young, but we both know what we want. What’s the point in waiting around?
Feeding the strawberry to Thea, I say, “Well, then I’ll just have to do my daily worship with my tongue at the altar between your thighs.”
