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We opened the door to find the porch crowded with people.
My sister handed me a lovely potted plant. “Don’t kill this one, okay?” she said as I put it on the table inside the foyer.
“I killed one plant, Whit. One,” I replied with a roll of the eyes.
“Hey, Whitney,” Kyle said, moving to stand close to my sister. She gave him a sweet smile in return. The way he looked at her, I knew that was a childhood crush that had never gone away.
I still hadn’t been able to find out what happened between them that week years ago, but I’d weasel it out of one of them eventually.
“I made you two a carrot cake. And Tom thought you could use an electric bottle opener. I told him that Adam had all the kitchen gadgets he needed. It’s not like you’re moving into a brand-new home. But he insisted.” Marion kissed my cheek, and Tom handed me a bag overflowing with tissue paper.
“Thanks, Dad. We appreciate it. My old one actually broke not long ago.” Adam hugged his dad.
Lena was the next to arrive, and I noticed she did so exactly five minutes before Jeremy Wyatt showed up. I wondered if that was planned so it didn’t look as if they were together. Though Adam was still oblivious, I was pretty certain something was going on between those two.
It seemed there was a lot of that going around.
Mrs. Hamilton arrived not long after that—with her son Daniel. It seemed he was, in fact, out of town for work and had held down a job for the last eight months. He had moved in with his mother and seemed to be taking care of her. Adam was still wary of his intentions, but it made her happy to have her son home, so he refrained from snarling every time we saw him.
Our house—it felt so good to say that—was filled with our friends and family. With every person that mattered. That we loved.
I didn’t miss New York. Not for one second. Except for Damien, the city held nothing that I wanted. My friend had laughed in delight when I told him I was staying in Southport.
“I knew it!” he had cried in delight and then promised to come to visit as soon as possible. And he had. He had come down at least six times since I decided to stay put in my hometown.
The mural was a huge hit. It was a surreal moment to be at the official unveiling on Bicentennial weekend. Everyone in town had been enthusiastic about the piece, and it resulted in multiple commissions. As a result of the uptick of work, I decided to rent out a gallery space on the same street as Adam’s office, where I could display my art. I wasn’t making a ton of cash…yet. But the interest in my work was encouraging.
Adam was my biggest fan. The painting I had done of us all those months ago hung in pride of place in the living room.
My mother was looking at it now, tears in her eyes. “Your dad would be so happy for you,” she said, and I put my arms around her slight frame, hugging her tightly.
“Are you happy, Mom?” I asked her.
“If my girls are happy, I’m happy,” she assured me. She looked over to where Adam was laughing with Robert and Skylar. “And he makes you happy, doesn’t he?” She didn’t ask it as a question. She knew the answer.
“More than anything,” I said.
Our eyes met across the room.
You and me, he mouthed.
My heart was near to bursting.
You and me, I mouthed back.
And that’s how it would always be.
Adam and me.
Always.
Forever.
The End
