Epilogue

One Year Later

Peyton

"Wow, this place is pretty busy for a Thursday night."

I glanced over my shoulder at Nash, who was close behind me, one hand on the small of my back as he guided me toward a table.

"Yeah, well, you know, the Road Block is a popular spot any night of the week." He flashed me a smile, but I didn't miss the hint of distracted nerves.

Something was going on. I didn't have a clue exactly what, but Nash had been acting a little weird all week, and his spur-of-the-moment suggestion that we eat dinner at the Road Block tonight only puzzled me more.

In the past year, we'd manage to establish a routine that might have seemed odd to some—but it worked for us. During the week, Nash stayed with me in Savannah and commuted to his office in Burton, while on the weekends, I stayed in his house. Things would be changing soon, though, since the second location of Scents of Serenity was scheduled to open in Burton later this year, in the autumn—just in time for the holiday season.

It had been Peg's idea to expand our business; she was more than happy to take over running our original Savannah store, and after she'd visited Burton with me a few times, she was positive there was a market for our products there, too. It hadn't taken too much convincing to get me on board.

Once the new store was open, I planned to move full-time into Nash's home, although we were going to keep the Savannah house as well. We were toying with the idea of offering it for short-term rentals, but as Nash had pointed out, it would be nice for us to have someplace to stay whenever we were in the city—and between the two of us, we could afford to maintain both properties.

We could thank the overwhelming success of the Penderfield project for some of that financial stability. The sustainable housing development had attracted interested parties from all over the world. While some people had immediately snatched up the houses there, others looked at the project as a prototype for what could be duplicated in other places. Reggie was insanely busy now, traveling the world to consult on new developments, while Nash kept the business running at home.

So I was a little surprised to see Reggie and Max already sitting at a table near the stage. I'd come to know and love both of the men who, along with Nash's parents, made up his family. Max jumped up to pull out my chair, bending to kiss my cheek as he did. Reggie opened his arms for one of his trademark bear hugs.

"Well, this is a lovely surprise!" I declared. "Nash didn't tell me you were joining us tonight."

Reggie waved his hand. "It was very last-minute. I came home a bit earlier than I expected, and I thought it would be fun to enjoy an evening out with my favorite people." He glanced behind me, his smile growing broader. "Ah! And look at this. Some more of my favorite people are just arriving."

I turned around, my mouth dropping open when I saw Peg and Charlie approaching us, accompanied by Nash's parents.

"What's going on?" I wheeled on Nash, suspiciously. "Why didn't you tell me you'd invited everyone to the Road Block?"

Nash widened his eyes in feigned innocence. "What makes you think I invited them? Maybe everyone just decided to be here. Maybe it's a huge coincidence."

"And maybe you're a big fat liar." I pointed at him. "You don't have a poker face, my love. I can always tell when you're up to something."

"Oh, leave the boy alone." Peg leaned down to kiss Nash's cheek before taking a seat next to Reggie. "Isn't it wonderful that we're all together?"

"Of course, it is." I hugged my daughter before she greeted everyone else, leaving Max for the last as she sat down next to him. The two of them had met a couple of times, but only briefly. Charlie had told me privately that Max's laid-back attitude toward life drove her crazy, especially when he teased her about being an uptight Type A overachiever. Max, for his part, seemed to develop an extra gleam in his eye whenever my daughter was around.

With all of the tables pushed together, we were taking up the entire space in front of the small stage. I leaned over to Nash.

"Good thing Mason doesn't have a musical guest tonight. We're hogging all of the good seats."

He grinned. "Nope, no special appearances tonight . . . except, you know, I might have forgotten to let you know that he's started a Thursday Night Karaoke Party."

I blinked. "Karaoke? Tonight? And you wanted to come?"

Nash shrugged. "Eh, I've been trying to expand my horizons. And maybe I got hooked on it back in the Cove. After all, I do have some very happy memories connected with that night."

I quirked an eyebrow. "And you think a repeat performance might win you a repeat reward?"

"Sweetheart, I'm counting on it." He winked at me.

Now I was really intrigued. Here we were at karaoke with all of our loved ones around us—well, most of them, anyway. Over the past year, I'd begun to rebuild a relationship with my mom, whom I visited once a month at the assisted living facility just outside the Cove—and when I drove down, I always stayed with Jude and Logan, which had deepened my bond with my favorite cousin as well. I'd gotten to know Logan better and had become acquainted with the rest of the posse, their group of lifelong friends.

I'd also met Jude's daughter Meghan, her husband Sam, and their twins. While Meghan had been a little reserved at first—after all, I'd spent years declining every invitation that she and her mother had extended—we'd slowly become friends. And she and Charlie had hit it off right away, even though Meghan teased her cousin about trying to set her up with eligible Burton bachelors.

Down at the other end of the table, Reggie and Peg had their heads together, whispering as they snuck peeks at Nash and me. I cocked my head, shooting a questioning glance toward Peg, but she only smiled and blew me a kiss.

"Is there some special occasion I've forgotten?" I asked Nash, sliding my hand into his. "I feel like everyone here is in on a secret but me."

"Well . . ." Nash lifted our joined hands and brushed his lips over my knuckles. "Now that you mention it, one year ago today, I was sitting in a ballroom at a hotel in Crystal Cove, and the woman of my dreams walked back into my life."

"Oh, my gosh!" My eyes went wide. "Was it really a year ago today? Oh, Nash, I'm so sorry I didn't realize it."

He chuckled. "That's okay, sweetheart—you've had your hands full with so much over the last few months, I'd be more surprised if you did remember."

"We should have gone out for a romantic dinner, just the two of us." I looked around the table. "Although, on the other hand, considering the way you romance me every single day—and night—maybe it's kind of fun to have everyone we love with us here to celebrate. Do they all know that's why we're here? Am I the only one in the dark?"

Nash opened his mouth to reply, but before he could, the lights in the room went down, and Mason hopped up on the stage, grabbing the microphone in both hands.

"Welcome, everyone, to the Road Block and our very first Thursday Night Karaoke Party! In case you don't know me, I'm Mason Wallace, and I own this humble little establishment. If you're a regular, thanks for supporting us over the years, and if this is your first time at the Road Block, welcome! We're so glad you're here." Mason paused, his eyes scanning the room and then settling on our party in the front. "For anyone who wants to take a turn at the mic tonight, the song slips are on the bar, so just go on over and fill one out. But for our first song, we have a very special guest—someone who was the inspiration for this new event at the Road Block. Give it up for Burton's own . . . Nash Sampson!"

I looked around in surprise, but Nash was no longer sitting next to me. Instead, he was jumping onto the stage, taking the mic from Mason and then facing the crowd.

"Good evening." Nash grinned at the crowd. "Mason isn't lying—I did come up with the idea for karaoke on Thursday nights. And I did it for a purely selfish reason: I needed to sing a song to the woman I love, and I really didn't want to drag her down to Crystal Cove to make it happen."

There was a ripple of laughter over the crowd. Down the table, Charlie leaned forward and smiled at me, her eyes dancing.

"Thirty-six years ago, circumstance and just plain bad luck separated me from the girl I'd loved all through high school. For thirty-five years, the two of us navigated life's highs and lows without each other—which brought us both some incredible blessings and some hard times." Nash paused, his gaze sweeping over our group. "Then a year ago tonight, on the first night of the high school class reunion that we attended—separately—under duress, both of us?—"

Across from me, Reggie laughed.

"—the woman I'd been missing for most of my life walked in, and from that moment, my world has been brighter. Happier. Filled with the kind of love, laughter and joy that I had only dreamed could be possible."

Tears stung my eyes, and I blinked them back, unwilling to look away from Nash.

"We have a history with karaoke—if you want to know, ask either of us, and we may or may not tell you—but tonight, I wanted to take this unique opportunity to tell Peyton Rivers how much I love her."

Nash nodded to someone offstage, and music began to play. It took me a second to recognize the song as John Lennon's Woman, a tune that had been released early in the 1980s but had remained popular throughout the decade.

But as Nash started to sing, I realized he had altered the lyrics. Every place John would have sung the word woman, Nash replaced it with my name.

It was a sweet and goofy gesture, but he sang with such heartfelt earnestness that I melted all over again.

What had I done right in this life to deserve a second chance like this—with a man like Nash? I might never know, but I was going to be grateful forever.

The song ended, and I stood up, ready to reward Nash with a hug and kiss—down payment for what would come later—but he didn't set down the microphone or move from the stage. Instead, as the music faded, he looked out in the audience, his gaze focused on me and me alone.

"Peyton, over the last year, I've tried to show you and tell you every possible way that I can how much I love you. How much richer my life is because you're in it—that I never want to live another day without you by my side." He dropped down to one knee and held out his hand. A small box rested on his palm.

"Marry me, Peyton. Marry me not only because I love you now but because I loved you then. Marry me because our best days as still to come. Marry me because our lives are so much sweeter together.

"Marry me because I love you, and I always will."

I was stunned into paralysis, but then Charlie was next to me, pushing me toward the stage. Once I was within reach, Nash rose to his feet and offered his hand, which I took as he pulled me up to stand within his arms.

"So . . . how about it?" he murmured, the microphone dropped on the floor next to us. "Will you marry me, Peyton?"

Slowly, I nodded my head. "Of course, I'll marry you, Nash. I've only been waiting forever."

A beautiful smile broke over his handsome face just before he lowered his head to cover my lips with his.

I was vaguely aware of wild applause, of whistles from our family and friends. When we paused to come up for air, I glanced out into the crowd and saw with happy surprise that in the back, Jude and Logan were there with Meghan, Sam, and a bunch of other Burton folks whom I'd come to know over the past year. How incredible it was that after a life lived mostly alone, with only Charlie and Peg by my side, I was now surrounded by the family I'd tried so hard to push away and forget.

And it was all because of the man who held me in his arms, the man who once upon a time had offered me his future and his heart . . . and even though I'd broken that heart, tonight he'd had the courage to place it in my hands once again.

This time, I was never going to let him go.

This time, my future was twined with his.

This time, we were going to live happily ever after.