Epilogue

EPILOGUE

COLTON

I t took a real man to sit still while his daughters covered his face in makeup. That was what I told myself as my wife entered the kitchen to find our nine-year-old spreading blush over my entire face with the biggest brush in her mom’s makeup kit.

“What on earth?” Olivia asked as she stopped in the doorway. She looked from Tate to me and back again. “Did you get into Mommy’s supplies?”

“Yep,” Tate said, not embarrassed about it for a second. “I gave Daddy a makeover.”

The look I shot Olivia was a plea for help. It was done with pure humor, though. As goofy as I no doubt looked, it brought a smile to my daughter’s face, and I’d do just about anything to get that response.

“You go get your sister,” Olivia said to Tate. “We’re going out for dinner.”

“Can we have tacos? Pretty, pretty please.”

The Mexican restaurant was Tate’s favorite, and Olivia’s too. I preferred the steakhouse or a cheeseburger at the diner downtown, but whatever my girls wanted, they got.

“We sure can, if it’s okay with your dad,” Olivia said, looking over at me, her eyebrows arched.

As if I could say no. But there were worse fates to be resigned to than steak fajitas from the town’s only Mexican restaurant.

With a big “Yay,” Tate tossed the brush on the table and rushed from the room to do exactly as her mom had asked.

I picked up the brush and slipped it into the container with all the other brushes. We’d set up a full makeup station on the kitchen table after Tate begged me all afternoon to do my makeup.

“I guess I need to wash my face,” I said, pushing away from the table and standing. “Can’t go out in public looking like this.”

“Not if you want to be seen with me,” Olivia said.

“Or the kids.”

She laughed. Our kids were embarrassed to be seen with us in the best of conditions.

“I guess going out in public with makeup on would probably cure Tate of ever wanting to do something like that again,” I said.

Olivia winced. “Sorry about that.”

I shook my head and walked toward her, putting my arms around her. “I don’t mind at all. It was a fun afternoon.”

She smiled up at me, wrapping her arms around my shoulders. I noticed she didn’t move to kiss me, though, and I had a feeling the lipstick was the reason for that.

“So, what are we celebrating?” I asked.

She tilted her head slightly, her smile fading. “How did you know we’re celebrating?”

I shrugged. “Just a feeling.”

Normally, I’d be the one to suggest going out for dinner. Olivia was more of a homebody, especially when she’d been working all day. The annual Glamour Diva conference was coming to town in a couple of days, and she was on the planning board, so she’d been working long hours lately.

“How do you feel about Aruba?” she asked. “Just the two of us.”

I leaned back a little, scrutinizing her features. “What do you mean, exactly? As in taking a trip?”

We were making good money, but getaways were rare these days. Unless the beach vacation we took every June with the kids counted. It counted for different reasons, but I was aching for a weekend away with my wife.

“Apparently, the top salesperson gets an all-expense-paid trip for two to Aruba,” she said. “And guess who’s the top salesperson this year?”

“The same person who’s the top salesperson every year,” I teased.

She hadn’t gotten the big award every year, but she always got a plaque for coming in second, third, or fourth place.

Either way, she was happy. And I was happy too. All that mattered to me was that she enjoyed her work.

“My mom offered to come up and watch the kids for the week,” she said.

We’d helped out her mom and sister a little over the years, but these days, they were doing just fine on their own. Her mom loved spending time with her grandkids and volunteered to babysit any time we needed it.

“A week?” I couldn’t be more impressed. Now my smile really spread. “We’re going away for a week, just the two of us?”

“Told you we had reason to celebrate.”

I agreed, but what we were really celebrating was Olivia’s continued success. People doubted her when we first met because she was young, but she consistently blew everyone out of the water.

My career was going well too. I’d started my own contracting business, mostly doing renovation work. Business was good up here in Rosewood Ridge. Everything was good—perfect, in fact.

“Tate said I can’t have a burrito,” our daughter Amaya whined as she entered the kitchen.

Amaya was only six, but sometimes she acted like a full-blown teenager. Having an older sister seemed to make her wise beyond her years. The only problem was the two of them were always competing with each other.

“You can have anything you want, sweetie,” I said.

Olivia was quick to add, “From the kids’ menu.”

A necessary addition. If she didn’t make that stipulation, both kids would order adult plates and leave half their food behind.

“I get to ride behind Mommy in the car,” Tate said as she entered the kitchen. “I called it.”

“No, you don’t! I want to sit behind Mommy.”

Olivia and I exchanged a look. “What’s wrong with sitting behind me?” I asked.

“Okay, I’ll sit behind you,” Tate said.

That led Amaya to say, “No, I want to sit behind Daddy.”

Again, Olivia and I exchanged a look, but this time we were on board with what we needed to do. Olivia led the way, and the three of us followed.

I grabbed the keys from the hook by the door on my way out, but I smiled as I looked back at the interior of the cabin I bought so long ago. I’d imagined someday sharing it with a wife and kids, but it seemed so far-fetched, I never expected it to actually happen. Now here I was, living my best life in Rosewood Ridge.

I had no idea what I’d done to deserve such a great life, but I thanked my lucky stars every single day.