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Epilogue
Noah
One Year Later
“Is everything ready? It has to be perfect.”
Scarlett was looking over the table setting. She had moved platters around, plated things differently, folded the napkins in all kinds of ways. I thought every setting looked terrific, but it wasn’t enough. Not yet.
“It’s amazing. Your dad will love it.”
“Of course, my dad will love it. I’m worried about Gretchen. This is the first time we’re meeting her, and I want to make a good impression.”
Ever since Glen told Scarlett about his new girlfriend, Scarlett had been begging him to bring her over. He finally said yes, and now she was fretting over placemats.
I placed my hands on her shoulders, willing them to relax.
“Gretchen is going to look at this table and think it is the greatest looking spread she has ever seen. And if she doesn’t, fuck her.”
Scarlett giggled, grabbing my hand. “No, not fuck her. I want her to like me. My dad has been doing so well since he met her. I need her to like me.”
“I can’t imagine how she couldn’t.”
Scarlett took a deep breath. “I need to relax. Just relax.” She closed her eyes and took a deep breath. “You know what. I’m gonna check on Kylie.”
Scarlett left me outside to go to our daughter’s room. We both agreed Kylie was the best possible name. A way to honor someone who was important in our lives and, in a strange way, brought us together. This was our way of keeping her memory alive.
I was about to go inside when I saw a little hand sneaking onto the table, looking as if it was grabbing for a cookie.
“Is someone out here?” The hand quickly retreated, and I heard giggles coming from underneath the table. “I don’t see anyone. Maybe I’m seeing things.” The giggling continued, and I knelt down to find Bryant and Olivia hiding. “And what are you two doing here?” They looked down at the ground somewhat guiltily.
“We wanted a cookie,” Livvy whispered.
Darren and Hope were also coming for lunch, and we thought it would be nice to have Bryant spend the night. Livvy had started going to the same school, and she was making all kinds of friends, but Bryant was still her best one.
“Well, if you two can keep a secret, I’ll let the two of you split one.”
They nodded, and I grabbed a cookie from the platter. I broke it in two and placed a piece in each of their hands. I put my finger against my lips to remind them that it was a secret, and they both nodded while chewing. I stood up and did a final pass over to make sure everything was precisely how Scarlett wanted it.
“Everyone, may I have your attention.” Scarlett stood up during lunch and did a little clink on her glass. The table turned their eyes to her to see what she had to say. “I want to thank everyone for coming here today. I know except for Gretchen, you’ve all been to our new house at some point. We never got around to having a housewarming with the baby and Noah starting his new job, so this kind of feels like we’re doing just that, even though we have been here for quite a few months. I hope we get to do this again because it was so much fun.”
“Yes, we’d all love to come again,” Hope piped in.
“That would be lovely.”
Scarlett sat back down, and the conversation restarted. It was simply a pleasant day, and that was that.
***
It was nighttime, and Livvy had fallen asleep on the couch next to Bryant. Lunch had turned into light drinks, which turned into dinner. No one wanted to leave, and we didn’t want anyone to go. We got to show Kylie around, and they’d all met her, except for Gretchen. It was a beautiful day.
Once they had all left, I picked Livvy and Bryant up, and Scarlett and I took them upstairs to her room. Kylie was down for the night already. She was a strange baby, able to sleep through the night. It was nice, though.
Scarlett and I walked over to our room, hand and hand.
“Did you have a nice time today?”
“I did,” I answered.
“That’s good. I did, too.” We got to our bedroom and walked in. “Do you know how I’d like for the night to end?” Scarlett walked her fingers up my arm.
“How?” I had a pretty strong idea of what she was implying, but it was always lovely to hear her say it.
“With you underneath me.” She pushed my chest, so I fell onto the bed before climbing up and straddling me. She pushed her hand under my shirt, running her fingers over my abs. “Tonight I want to be in charge,” Scarlett smirked. I loved it when she got bold.
