As the party buzzed around them, Jake quietly disappeared for a moment and returned with a bouquet of sunflowers, their bright yellow petals glowing like miniature suns in his hands. He held them out to Capri, his gaze soft and full of meaning. “I thought these might suit you,” he said, his voice low.
Capri’s breath hitched as she took the flowers, the symbol of resilience and warmth—much like her journey with Jake. “They’re perfect,” she whispered, her heart swelling, knowing that like these sunflowers, she was glad she decided to turn toward the light.
At one point, Capri found herself standing at the edge of the patio—her new patio, complete with the furniture Jake had so sweetly bought, despite the initial panic it had caused. She ran her hand over the smooth wood of the railing, admiring the view of the Grand Tetons in the distance. Her life had been chaotic, wild, and at times terrifying, but it was also beautiful. Like the mountains, it had endured countless storms and still stood tall.
Jake came up beside her, slipping his arm around her waist. They stood in comfortable silence, watching the sun now drop lower in the sky, painting the tops of the Teton peaks in hues of pink and orange.
“I guess this is it, huh?” Capri murmured. “The end of our project.”
Jake looked down at her, his eyes soft and full of that calm she’d come to depend on. “Not the end. Just the beginning.”
Capri smiled at that. She rested her head against his shoulder, finally allowing herself to relax fully into his embrace. “I think I like that,” she whispered.
Inside, she could hear her friends laughing, probably over some ridiculous thing Nicola had said, and her mom chatting with Reva about the latest town drama. The people she loved were all around her, in this house that now felt more like home than ever.
“I like what you did to the place,” Jake said softly, echoing her mom’s words from earlier.
Capri turned to him, eyes sparkling. “I couldn’t have done it without you.”
“You didn’t have to,” Jake replied, kissing the top of her head. “You just had to let me in.”
And for the first time, Capri was okay with that. Letting someone in didn’t mean losing control; it meant gaining something she hadn’t realized she’d needed all along.
As the sky darkened and the stars began to twinkle above, the sound of her friends’ laughter drifted through the open windows. Capri took another look around her new home—the walls sturdy, the floors solid, just like the foundation of the life she was finally ready to build with Jake.
And as Jake’s hand found hers, their fingers intertwining, she knew with absolute certainty that this was just the beginning of a new, beautiful journey.
