DREW
Duly noted. It won’t ever happen again. I promise.
I slid the phone into my pocket and tightened my arm around her. “Let’s go home.”
“I like the sound of that,” Ellie replied, happiness in her words and her tone.
For the first time in twelve years, I felt free.
I was ready to build a new life.
With Ellie.
Epilogue
ELLIE
Sunlight filtered through Drew’s bedroom curtains, casting golden stripes across the rumpled sheets. I stretched, loving that my body was deliciously sore in all the right places. I turned to find Drew on his side, watching me with an expression that made my heart skip.
“Morning,” he said, his voice still rough from sleep.
“Good morning.” I stretched to trace the line of his bearded jaw, still marveling that this was all real. Thathewas real. That last night—the bridge, his declarations, his choice to restructure his entire life—hadn’t been some weird fever dream.
He caught my hand and pressed a kiss to my palm. “Sleep okay?”
“Better than okay.” I’d slept deeply, dreamlessly, wrapped in his arms without the pressing weight of uncertainty crushing my chest. “Best sleep I’ve had in weeks.” Probably because after the insanity that was my sister’s rehearsal dinner, I’d already decided I wasn’t going to the wedding.
“Same.” He pulled me closer, and I let myself sink into his warmth, into the solid reality of his chest against my cheek. His heart beat steadily beneath my ear—reliable, constant, mine.
We stayed like that for a while, just breathing together as morning sounds drifted through the window. Birds chirped. A car passed on the street below. The world continued on while we existed in this perfect, quiet bubble.
Eventually, the real world intruded as his phone buzzed on the nightstand.
He groaned. “If that’s work?—”
“It’s Saturday,” I reminded him, smiling against his skin. “And you have boundaries now, remember?”
“Right.” He relaxed back into the pillows, a sheepish grin on his face. “I still need to get used to that.”
My phone lit up a moment later, vibrating incessantly. I untangled myself reluctantly, sat up. and reached for it, expecting a text from Grace or maybe Martha checking in.
Instead, I found three missed calls and a jillion texts from Auntie Betty.
AUNTIE BETTY
OMG! You won’t believe this.
AUNTIE BETTY
Actually, never mind. You probably will. Celia and Kyle just canceled the wedding!
AUNTIE BETTY
The whole B&B can hear them arguing, but I have the room next to them. I can hear EVERYTHING.
AUNTIE BETTY
Did you know Kyle only proposed to Celia to be on the show Wedding Bells? Now Kyle’s saying he only stayed for her followers.
