Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Davey

"Not again." Payne rushes to grab the four-year-old redhead off the bar top. She's wearing a Tinkerbell dress, combat boots, Barbie sunglasses, a bike helmet, and a dinosaur tail. I'm not sure what style it is she's channeling, but when she says, "But, Papa, I'm following the stars to Neverland!" I know exactly which parent she takes after.

The one sitting with his nose in a book at a party.

My husband would probably be the same if I let him. And that's husband, officially, as of last year. It feels different the second time around, like I have my eyes open, and it's easy to appreciate the little things. When we fight, we fight properly and actually come to a resolution instead of Mack having his worries build up and me shutting down to it all.

I love this new version of us .

Mom and Dad have the kids downstairs in the bar area of Killer Brew, leaving Davey and me to chat with our friends.

Almost everyone we know is here. Art's Fourth of July celebrations have turned Killer Brew into a headache of red, white, and blue. Families pack the bar around below, and Art invited a few of us upstairs to take a minute away from the mayhem.

I watch as Art pours out fourteen shot glasses while Joey hands them out. No one is talking much, the noise from downstairs more than enough to fill in the comfortable moment. Barney takes one each for him and Leif since Leif's busy hugging him from behind and doesn't look like he's in a hurry to stop. Once Payne has their daughter planted firmly between them, he and Beau take their glasses too. Heath takes his and Griff's from where he's perched on Griff's lap. Orson and Ford are next. Keller and Will. Me and Mack. The final two are taken by Art and Joey.

"Thanks for taking this moment," Art says, none of his usual fuckery detected in his voice. "I don't know what it is about this year, but I've been more sentimental than usual lately." He shrugs, and Joey rubs his back softly. "I'm sitting here, looking around at your ugly faces, and realizing, somehow, I love you guys more than just about anyone in the world."

"Me, more than the rest of you," Joey points out.

"Thank fuck for that," Payne mutters.

"So thank you for being here," Art continues like there was no interruption. "Truly. Barney and I had a mad little idea, and it warms my heart to see how far it's come. How many of you have found your person. Knowing I've been able to be there for every one of you … it really is …" He blinks quickly. "Thank you for giving me that. "

There's a stunned silence, and then Art cracks a smile.

"Now that I've officially freaked you all out …" He lifts his shot glass. "To us. Cheers."

"Cheers." We all throw back our drinks, and when I'm putting mine down, my gaze catches on where Mack is watching me.

"You okay?" I ask him.

"I think there's something in my eye."

Art roars with laughter. "I made Mack cry. Yes. I knew I'd get one of you."

Keller flicks a coaster at his head.

"Baby." I wrap my arm around him and squish him to my side. "I know … Art makes me cry as well."

Orson is still gaping at Art. "If this wasn't already a national holiday, I'd suggest it be made one. That was the most emotive he's been … ever. I think."

"There was also that time two years ago when he thought Joey was dying," Keller says.

Joey lights up. "Turns out he just forgot how many moles I have."

But no matter how much we tease him, Art holds this group together. He looked out for Mack when I couldn't, and he supported us both, separately through our divorce and now through our marriage. Art's emotional side might be rarely vocalized, but we all witness it. Every day.

I'll forever be grateful for his friendship. For all of theirs.

Over the last five years, our friends have gotten married, had kids, opened businesses, traveled, started whole new lives together. There's something about being in my forties that gives me a freedom in life that I've never had before. We all do .

The Divorced Men's Club might have been a way to stop us from feeling alone in the world, but I really have found a family with these guys, and I know if any of them needed me for anything, I'd be there.

Mack's lips press to the spot behind my ear. "I love you," he whispers, and it unleashes the kind of pure smile that our divorce took from me.

Life still isn't easy. It's a juggle with him managing the library full-time, with Van wanting to play every after-school sport under the sun and Kiera making a first-division basketball team, and me still having to travel for work.

But we're happy.

Genuinely happy.

Even five years later, that hasn't changed.

"The fireworks are about to start," Ford points out, and we all head downstairs into the parking lot of Killer Brew. We find Kiera and Van, hugging them between us while they still let us, and wait for the show to start.

From the first one that whistles out of Kil Pen and explodes with a crackle of color, contentment wraps around me.

No matter where in the world I've been, no matter the places I've seen and the people I've met, nothing beats this.

Family, friends, this tiny little town.

It's home.

And I wouldn't give it up for the world.

THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR READING THIS SERIES!