Epilogue

TANNER

(TWO YEARS AND TWO WEEKS LATER)

“But what if you get soup stains all over your sweater?” I ask.

Kovi waves me off while focusing on the pot like it’s no big deal. “That’s what aprons are for.” He continues to stir his culinary concoction and I try not to be frustrated. I remind myself that it’s Christmas, and that I love Kovi to bits and pieces. The aroma of his signature chicken noodle soup calms me down.

I’m not usually a nervous wreck, but I’ve never hosted Christmas before. This is our first holiday season post-college, so it’s kind of a big deal. I’m not trying to impress our guests, but I want the party to be a good time.

When Aunt Hannah approaches Kovi and takes over at the stove, warmth spreads across my chest. The two most important people in my life are standing in my childhood kitchen. They’re chatting animatedly about recipes, and I thank the monster god that Aunt Hannah’s been in tip-top health these past two years. I also thank the heavens that I decided to enroll at the infamous Creepin U.

Kovi and I moved back here after we graduated. While most wouldn’t be thrilled to be back in their childhood home, I was more than happy that Aunt Hannah invited us. Truthfully, I wanted to continue to look out for her, but I didn’t want Kovi to be away. I was nervous he’d feel weird about living with his boyfriend’s family, but after I asked him to move in with us on graduation day, his chest sagged in relief.

He actually wanted to move in with me. And now here we are, seven months later. I love this monster with every fiber of my being, and this is my family.

“Please?” Aunt Hannah asks.

Kovi grins at her with fondness. “For you, anything.” She takes over stirring duties and he ties his apron around her waist. It’s so domestic that I want to snapshot it forever. “Come on,” Kovi says, turning to me. “We’ve got a job to do.”

“What job?” I ask with a smile.

“Well, I have a job.” We get to the front door and pull on our coats “Your aunt just asked me.”

“To do what?” I hold open the door for my boyfriend.

“The trees are uneven.” He points to our front yard. While we don’t have a white Christmas, Kovi took the initiative to get six massive evergreens and plant them here for the season—with their permission, of course. They’re all decked out in red-and-gold garlands with various multicolored ornaments, but each tree is a different size. I guess they didn’t grow equally in the weeks since he’s planted them. “It’s no problem for super dryad ,” he says in a radio announcer voice.

He walks backward and flexes his arms, and it’s too damn corny and attractive. I giggle at him and he winks at me, knowing how turned-on I am. When he turns around, he shifts in the blink of an eye. The therapy appointments have long since quelled my fears of tree monsters and forests. It’s a relief to say there haven’t been any more panic attacks. Now, when I see Kovi, my Kovi, I only see the guy I love. Tree monster or human, he’s all I could ever want.

When he waves his branch arm, all the trees quiver. It’s a spectacle to behold, and I’m in awe of his supernatural powers. He truly is my own personal superhero. After a beat, the evergreens morph and end up in identical sizes.

I hold my hands together as I gaze in wonder at the flora in my front yard. When Kovi shifts down, he crowds my space. “Your aunt wanted everything to be perfect,” he murmurs. “You like?”

“I love.” I peck his lips. He’s just as perfect on my mouth in his human form as in his dryad form. I chuckle against his face. “Did Aunt Hannah really want this? Or was this for me?”

He coyly looks up in thought. “She may have mentioned you’d like it…”

“Cocky monster,” I mutter.

He holds my hips and we laugh. “I know you want everything pristine because we’re hosting our first Christmas after college.”

“I’ve never done this before…” I bury my face in his chest. “I finally have friends, a degree, a kickass boyfriend. Childhood sucked, but I don’t want to mess up adulthood.”

“You won’t.” He rubs my back and I melt as I embrace him. “I’ll be with you every step of the way.”

“You mean that?” I ask, looking up.

“Yeah. Besides, the only people we’re inviting are—”

“What’s up, party monsters?!” We turn to see a familiar face hop out of the car. Seth strides up to us with multicolored party bags in hand. “Who’s ready to celebrate Christmas, sponsored by the face of Mummy Mocha?”

“More like the ego!” Kovi laughs and runs up to his best friend. He shifts when he grabs him and spins him around several feet in the air.

“What, no love for me? I brought the lasagnas!” Blake walks out from behind the car armed with aluminum trays.

“Blake!” Kovi rushes up to him while I go to greet Seth.

“My mummy!” I exclaim.

“My human!” He laughs and hugs me, and all feels right in the world. Our friends still live in the greater Creelin area, but despite the closeness, every get-together with this trio is an event.

“Tell me all about work!” Blake says. “You just got back from the Philippines?”

“Yup,” Kovi replies. His job at the OME as a liaison for other dryads requires a significant amount of travel. But my monster is helping ecosystems around the world, and if he’s happy, I’m happy. “It was blazing hot.”

“Say, you think you could get my billboards in there?” Seth asks as I open the front door. His Mummy Mocha franchise is expanding every day, and it’s sure to be a worldwide coffee empire by next year.

“I’m a dryad, not a celebrity,” Kovi remarks, and we all laugh.

Minutes later, Shonda, Rachel, and Owen, each with their significant-other monsters, arrive with food and gifts. We gorge on the feast of turkey, ham, monster mashed potatoes, collared screams, and a tuna spellcaster-ole. We take dozens of group selfies. My friends are a delight, and I don’t stop smiling all day. I can tell Aunt Hannah is overjoyed to spend the holiday with so many people.

After the meal, we’re sitting around the living room, each taking turns grabbing gifts from underneath the tree—plastic tree, of course. Everyone has started to dig into their presents, and wrapping paper is strewn about the carpet. Owen is playing Christmas jingles on his phone, adding to the happy ambiance of my home. It’s a frenzy of activity, and I couldn’t be happier—for the first time in years, we have a true, family-filled Christmas day.

I get Aunt Hannah a fancy teapot with matching cups. Owen’s boyfriend gets him a textbook about monster anatomy. Seth gets Blake a blazer, then teases him, saying he should use it to impress his latest crush, and everyone howls in laughter.

While Rachel opens up her present from her girlfriend and Shonda bickers with Owen about reindeer names, Kovi studies me. He’s sitting on the couch, and no one seems to be paying attention when he hands me a small, wrapped giftbox.

His eyebrows bounce, letting me know it’s from him.

I grin then start to rip off the gift wrap. “Is this another cock sleeve?” I whisper. “Because I don’t mind, but I don’t want to show Aunt Hannah what we—”

“No, you blockhead,” he says through a giggle. “Open it.”

Without wrapping paper, the box is nondescript. Opening, I spy a metal…picture frame?

“What’s this?” I mutter.

“It’s a…flower…” Kovi says with nervous eyes.

Scrutinizing the gift, it is indeed a flower perfectly preserved in the glass. Behind the flower is a map.

“Is that…?”

“It’s a map of Independence Park. I picked that flower from one of the trees there.”

My breath hitches. “Kovi, this—”

“It’s like a reminder of where you and I started. I know I fucked up and hurt you as kids. But I’d like to think it wasn’t all bad. The day we met, it…” He scratches his eyebrow and turns away. “It led me to you.”

I gently pull his chin so he’s facing me. “I love it. And I love you.”

I kiss him slowly. For a moment, we’re both little kids again, discovering the joys of attraction between two beings that were always meant to forge a connection.

“Oh my monster god, it’s snowing!” Seth shouts. We turn around to see a white-out outside the window. Seth and Blake rush out the door as if they’ve never seen such wonder, and the others calmly file out behind them.

When Aunt Hannah and I make it outside, Kovi walks behind me and holds my shoulders.

“These are…flower petals,” Aunt Hannah murmurs, grabbing one from the sky.

She’s right—it seems the evergreens somehow bloomed into flowers despite the fact that they shouldn’t have buds at all. I turn back to my boyfriend who gives me a sheepish yet aroused grin. We both chuckle, knowing our love has, as usual, altered the flora through supernatural powers.

But our friends don’t seem to care. Seth and Blake shift into their monster forms and proceed to make snow angels, er, flower petal angels on the lawn. The others laugh and toss petals in the air. It’s the perfect Christmas scene, even without real snow. Aunt Hannah walks up to Rachel, and I turn to hold Kovi’s hips.

“I love you, Kovi Sampath. Thank you…for making life worth it, again.”

“Thank you , Tanner McGregor. For letting this dryad try again to be the monster for you.” We kiss and kiss, and I relish the taste of his mouth in front of the whole world to see.

When we break apart for air, I give a coy grin. “Since I’m building my life with a dryad, I’m going to have to get used to unexpected forest magic, aren’t I?”

He laughs and rests his forehead on mine. “I’m afraid so.”

THE END