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“I’m sorry I didn’t make you feel like you couldn’t speak up. It’s okay if you don’t want a career. I just wish we could have been a part of that conversation,” he says to his daughter.
Dakota’s lip quivers, and she nods. “I’m sorry too, Dad.”
“And now,” Avery says, glancing pointedly between Dakota and me, “your father and I need a moment to absorb all of this, if you don’t mind.”
We leave my future in-laws in my office and close the door.
Rhys and Rebel are standing at the counter along the front of the store when we come out of my office, and it looks like we’ve interrupted a whole other awkward conversation.
Just as I’m about to ask where Forrest went, the big guy himself opens the front door. Though his arms are loaded down with large paper bags labeledRuby’s, he holds the door for Lore.
“We had to take a guess on what you all wanted for breakfast,” Forrest says as Rhys helps him unpack.
The room is finally full of smiles again as the aroma of sausage, cheese, and egg biscuits hits our noses. There’s plenty for everyone, including Beast and Avery, whenever they decide to join us. Rhys has my back, and I’m glad we’re friends.
“Thanks, guys,” Dakota says, giving Lore a friendly smile. Lore’s new in town, just like Dakota, and I have a feeling they’re going to end up being great friends.
Rhys and Rebel eye each other, but it’s tough to tell what’s going on between those two.
“Good job, Game Master,” Rebel says, picking the cheese off her biscuit. “You tried to kill me three times in a pre-packaged game that had two cleric healer non-player characters. Rookie GM move.”
She lets out a small cackle before biting into her biscuit.
Rhys glowers, but I detect a glint of mischief in his eyes.
Dakota catches my eye and winks. She leans in and whispers for only me to hear, “It’s good that she’s giving him shit. It’s a sign she really, really likes him.”
I lean down and whisper even quieter in her ear, “Is it a race to the altar?”
She says aloud, “I’ll take the mace. You take the cudgel.”
“I don’t care who gets there first as long as you’re wearing the fur bra, baby,” I say, taking an overdramatic feral bite of my egg biscuit.
“Gross,” Rebel snorts, covering her eyes. “Dude, that’s my sister.”
Dakota laughs. “Don’t worry, sis. He’ll have to figure out how to take it off of the mannequin first.”
“I don’t have a clue what any of y’all are talking about, and I’d like to keep it that way,” Forrest says. Having already scarfed down his breakfast, he is now doting on Lore by bringing her a coffee from Rhys’s special machine.
A strange feeling of warmth seeps into my belly, and it feels a lot like the moment I first saw Dakota. Only this time, it’s bigger and broader and even more sustaining. And there’s no moment of panic and fear attached to it.
An all-night game ofTime Machine Treasurereally works to make strangers into friends. The jokes are not just funny but hilarious. The stories are not just amusing but enthralling.
Maybe we’re all tired and punch drunk, or maybe this is the start of a real family.
Either way, we’re walking together toward something big and wonderful.
And that sounds like the perfect beginning to me.
Epilogue
Five years later
Dakota
Walking into Dean’s life meant taking up space in the lives of lots more people, too.
Rhys, Forrest, Lore, and all the other characters who I’ve met in Fate have made the last five years seem like less of a transition and more like as if I’ve always been here.
