Epilogue

Zane

“ I ’ve never watched the ball drop in real life,” Autumn explains as we grab a glass of champagne. A pianist plays in the middle of the room and the lights are low.

“Not even when you lived in The City?” I ask, my eyes sliding over my wife.

“I avoided the area. Like a true New Yorker.”

I chuckle. As I take a sip of the bubbly, I see Nicolas move onto the balcony. He stayed to himself all night. It’s weird to coexist and not speak.

“Talk to him,” Autumn says. “You want to. I can see it in your expression.”

I sigh. “I know what it was like to be alone in that doom spiral. I believed everyone hated me when I hated myself. You saved me.”

Her eyes shine as she wraps her arms around my waist. “You needed a friend.”

“I needed you .” I steal a kiss. “Five minutes?”

“Billie and Harper are here. Fashionably late. I’ll come find you, okay?”

“Love you,” I whisper.

“Love you.” She smiles. When she approaches Harper, I refill my glass and make my way outside.

He turns and glances at me when the door snaps shut. I stand beside him and the frigid air brushes against my cheeks.

“A lot of people down there.” His eyes glide over the crowd. Across the way is the stage where Anderson Cooper is filming.

“Been snowboarding this season?” I ask.

“Not once,” he says. We used to be thick as thieves and would rule the slopes together. Nicolas was like my brother. Now that our parents are married, we’re not even friends.

Awkwardness streams between us.

“I don’t know what to say right now,” I admit. “But you don’t have to go through this shit alone. No one hates you.”

“You do.”

“I did.” I drink my champagne. “But there isn’t room in my life for that anymore. What you did to me was abhorrent, but we were pawns in a scheme that was bigger than both of us. I don’t have to remind you of that. It spins around in your mind constantly. I know it does because you have a fucking conscience.”

“You’re right,” he says, swigging back the rest of the amber liquid in his glass.

“I’ve forgiven you. It’s what my mom would want me to do.”

He sucks in a deep breath. “I miss her.”

“We all do.” I look at him. “Come to Cozy Creek and ride the slopes with me.”

“You mean that?” There is hope in his tone.

“Yeah,” I say with a nod. “The mountains can heal anything.”

We focus back to the crowd cheering below as someone walks on stage. I think it's Snoop Dogg.

“My mother hid letters around Hollow Manor for me to find—thirteen, to be exact.”

He studies me as I down the rest of my champagne.

“I found the third one recently in my old bedroom, and you were mentioned several times. I'm willing to give you a second chance.”

I meet his furrowed brows.

“Are you fucked up right now?” he asks, shaking his head.

Laughter roars out of me. “No. I'm in a really happy place in my life, and if it wasn't for all the bullshit, I'm not sure it would've happened. The dominos had to fall.”

“I wouldn't give you one if the roles were reversed.”

“You’ve always been a grudge holder. I’m not.”

A server steps onto the patio and takes my empty champagne glass, handing me another.

I continue. “However, if you touch my wife or even look at her the wrong way, I'll break your fucking fingers off, then shove them down your throat.” I smile sweetly.

Now, he laughs. “Almost thought you'd gotten soft.”

“You're not stupid enough to make the same mistake twice.”

I glance through the tall windows and watch Autumn laugh with Harper. My wife is so pretty in her elegant black dress. As if I summoned her attention, her eyes zero in on me and she lifts her champagne glass, grinning. I nod, ready to focus on her tonight.

“I can tell you're genuinely happy,” Nicolas says. “You give me hope and make me believe maybe love does exist for assholes.”

I chuckle. “You'll find someone. And when you do, you'll know. It won't be superficial, fake bullshit.”

“Thank you,” he mutters.

I hug him hard and pat his shoulder. “I won't let you drown.”

“I'm sorry for letting you sink,” he says.

“No more apologies from here on out. We move forward. Not backward.” I let go of him and turn toward the sliding door. “Oh yeah, and I didn't sink, Nick. I fucking soared .”

He grins, and it's the first time I've seen him smile in a long time. We exchange a nod.

I walk inside, moving directly to my wife. She studies me, her eyes asking a million silent questions.

“It went fine,” I whisper in her ear. “I'll tell you later.”

Harper laughs. “And when I bent over, my dress was tight, and it ripped the seam. Now there are pictures of my cute-as-fuck panties in the tabloids.”

Billie is practically crying from laughing. “You always said never leave home without them.”

“I knew there was a reason. The lingerie company called me today and offered to send me every color and cut. Their sales have tripled overnight because of my cute ass,” Harper continues.

I lift my brows. “What conversation have I walked in on?”

My sister is tipsy. “TLDR version? My ass can sell anything. Might start taking advertisements out of it.”

I wrap my arm around Autumn as Nick walks inside. My father stops him.

“You were hugging,” she says.

“I invited him to snowboard with me.”

Long lashes flutter closed. “Harper gave Julie a prophecy. She mentioned your brother.”

I look at her with the same alarmed expression and then laugh. “You think Nick and Jules will get together?”

She sighs. “I promised I'd play matchmaker if you welcomed him back into your life.”

I shake my head. “Autumn.”

“Before this all happened, he was a good guy, right?” She searches my face. “I don't believe you'd be best friends with someone who wasn't.”

“He was a great person,” I explain. “Respectful, caring, and fun. He has a good heart. Or at least he did. He’s not the same though.”

She smiles. “Based on what Harper has shared, you aren’t the same as you used to be either. You found your way and everything worked out.”

“Better than I ever could've predicted. Only because I found you.”

“Mr. Dreamy promised he would,” she whispers, her mouth sliding against mine. We move onto the balcony of my father's penthouse when there are two minutes left.

My dad has hosted a huge New Year’s party every year for the past decade, and I’ve skipped each one. Even if it’s not my usual crowd, I'll never miss another one. Having Autumn by my side is my new tradition. After news spread of what Celine did at the wedding, she was banned from all events that anyone in my family could attend.

“Ready?” I ask when the gigantic clock begins the countdown. Music and chatter roars from the street. When the clock strikes midnight and confetti falls from the sky, I pull her into my arms. We are teeth and tongue and want and need. A mixture of fire and passion so hot I nearly crumble to ash. When we break apart, we’re breathless.

“Happy New Year, wifey.”

“Happy New Year, hubby,” she says, grabbing my hand and leading me through the large living room as the pianist plays Auld Lang Syne .

“Where are we going?” I ask.

The party would last all night, and my father offered us a room.

“Sit on the bed,” she demands.

“Oh, it’s going to be like that?”

She shakes her head, then pulls a gift wrapped in silver paper from under the bed. It's heavy.

“I didn’t get the memo that we were exchanging gifts,” I mutter.

“Open it,” she urges.

I rip off the paper and lift the box. Inside is a stack of papers bound together with metal rings.

My eyes scan across the middle.

ALL I WANT

By Autumn Alexander

“This is what you’ve been working on?” I whisper, searching her eyes.

“For months,” she admits as I pull out the stack.

I flip to the second page and read the dedication.

To my loving husband.

Thank you for inspiring me every single day.

Then I see thousands of words that she's written. I gently return the previous stack to the thick box and eliminate the space between us. Our lips desperately crash together, and I sweep hair from her face.

“I’m so fucking proud of you, Autumn.” I pepper kisses on her mouth and her forehead. “So fucking proud. I knew you could do it. You finished your book.”

Happy tears stream down her cheeks, and I kiss them away.

“It’s our book.”