Elliot frames my face with his hands, stroking his thumbs over my cheekbones. “I love having you here.”
I lean into his touch, feeling contentment right down to my bones. “I think this is my favorite place, meddling family and all.And once I have the office of my dreams right here in this room? Forget it, I’m never leaving.”
Elliot leans in and kisses me. It’s light and tender and sweet. A kiss between two people who know they have all the time in the world and all of life stretching ahead of them. “That’s my plan, Mystery Girl,” he murmurs against my lips.
We break apart, grinning at each other, and I fucking love him and this room and this day. All of it. Everything. “Cinnamon rolls?” I ask.
Elliot grins and swings an arm around my shoulder, pressing a kiss to my hair. “Cinnamon rolls, Ames.”
And with our arms wrapped around each other, we head out to join the chaos.
EPILOGUE
ELLIOT
THREE MONTHS LATER
The grill is smoking, the table on my parents’ deck is covered in food, and my family is scattered around the backyard for our regular summer Sunday barbeque, which is doubling this week as a little impromptu engagement party for Jordan and Jo.
Walking through the living room towards the yard with a bag of ice for the beer cooler, I pause at the picture of Henry and Clara on the beach that hangs on the wall, smiling as I take them in—the love on their faces, the contentment that radiates from the frame.
A few weeks after we told everyone Henry and Clara’s story, Bonnie and Jane came down to Boston to meet my family. Unsurprisingly, they hit it off with my mom and Cece immediately, and the four of them have become good friends. Bonnie and Jane blew this picture up and had it framed for us, and my mom hung it up immediately, saying that after all theseyears, Henry and Clara’s love deserved to be lived all the way out loud.
It's my favorite part of the house now.
“You know she won’t disappear if you look away from her for a second,” I say, stepping out of the sliding door and tossing the ice into the cooler, then coming up behind Jordan. He’s leaning up against the deck railing, beer in his hand, his eyes glued to the spot where Jo stands with Hannah and Amelia. The three of them have their heads together laughing about something, and my eyes find Amelia instantly.
The grin on her face has a smile spreading on my own, and the way her hair falls down her back in waves, the pretty summer dress she’s wearing, and the way her sandals have her legs looking miles long have me itching to touch her. To get my arms around her as soon as possible.
Even in all the months we’ve been living together—waking up and going to sleep together, having quiet, sleepy breakfasts before I go to school and she goes to her office to work on her latest project, dinners with my brothers and Jo when everyone is around and just the two of us when they’re not—I still can’t get enough of her. I don’t think I ever will.
“You’re one to talk,” Jordan snarks, taking a swig of his beer. “That dopey, lovesick expression is a permanent feature on your face these days.”
I shrug, my eyes still fixed on Amelia. “She’s here, and that means she’s all I see. You understand.”
Jordan nods, expression on his face turning soft as he glances at Jo again. “I do. More than you can possibly imagine. You should follow my example, little brother, and put a ring on it. There’s no way she won’t say yes. Amelia looks at you the same way you look at her. She was made for you, man. You’re like twin tech nerds, destined to be together forever and have lots of brilliant, computer loving babies.”
I laugh, shoving Jordan’s shoulder. “You literally proposed to Jo a week ago. You don’t want to enjoy the moment a little before I come in and steal your thunder?”
“You couldn’t possibly,” Jordan says quietly, his eyes fixed on Jo again. “There is nothing in the world that could take away even a little of the happy I feel being engaged to Jo, planning a life with her. And it’s not like we’re going to draw out the engagement. We just want to be married, and we don’t want to wait. Besides, Mom would be over the fucking moon for two of us to be engaged at the same time. She lives for this shit.”
“She most certainly does.” My mom comes up, pressing herself between Jordan and me and wrapping an arm around both of our waists. “Look at my boys,” she says, voice thick with her trademark Pam Wyles tears as she glances at both of us and then around the backyard at the rest of our family. “Both happy and in love and planning futures with amazing women. Celebrating as a family. I’m a happy mom today.”
I toss an arm around her shoulders and grin. “No criticism or suggestions about how we could do it better or should have done it differently? You’re really in rare form today, Mom.”
She looks up at me, eyes sly. “Well, like Jordan said, you could finally propose to Amelia and make it official. Two weddings are better than one wedding.”
I chuckle and give her a squeeze. “There she is. We’ll get there. But for now, we’re just enjoying where we are. We like it here.”
“Ten more minutes,” my dad says, joining us by the railing, spatula in hand, wearing an apron that saysHot Chef Alertthat my mom got him years ago and he wears every single time he turns on the grill.
“Thank god,” Noah says, jogging up to the deck with Cooper trailing behind, a football under his arm. “I’m fucking starving.”
My mom rolls her eyes. “Did I or did I not see you eating a sandwich the size of your head in my kitchen like an hour ago?”
Noah shrugs. “I’m a growing boy. Besides, I was on call last night and ended up in a nine-hour surgery. Gotta replace all the calories I burned.”
“The calories you burned by holding suction or whatever for the real surgeons?” Jordan asks.
