Epilogue

Megs scanned the line graph in front of her and almost giggled. She cradled her laptop in her arms as she ran into the kitchen where Gideon stood at the counter. His headphones were slightly askew, which meant he was editing something.

He looked up from his screen. “Something good?” Megs set the computer on the counter and spun it toward him, then watched his face as he scanned. A slow smile spread across his face. “Have you been checking these?”

She nodded. “Haven’t you?” Gideon had released two tracks earlier that week, and his following was skyrocketing. She had to think her reels were helping, but she wouldn’t take all the credit–at least not out loud.

Gideon leaned over the counter and kissed her. Megs ran her hand over the stubble on his jaw and drank him in, then rounded the edge of the counter and pulled him close. “No over-the-counter nonsense.”

Gideon laughed and scooped her up, careful not to set her on his laptop as he set her down. “What about on-the-counter nonsense?”

Megs grinned. “That’s definitely more my style.”

He moved in, then stopped an inch from her mouth. “I thought you had to record.”

She ran her hands through his hair. It was longer now, and she wasn’t shy about telling him how much she loved it. “I could record later . . .”

Gideon kissed her cheek, then whispered, “Don’t let a shiny thing distract you.”

Megs groaned. She wanted Gideon to distract her, especially because the next two chapters she needed to narrate were almost entirely made up of arguments and tears.

“If you’re frustrated, your acting will be better.” Gideon waggled his eyebrows, and Megs laughed.

She hopped off the counter and smacked his hip. “You better be right here when I come out.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

Megs flashed him one last look, then grabbed her laptop and stalked across the room to their pop-up recording studio. Gideon still wouldn’t break college rules and allow her to use the recording studios at Champlain, so this was their workaround. After dating for a year while they recorded three books in Oscar’s Heartsong series, they’d driven past the courthouse, and Megs had screeched to the curb when that “lights-up” feeling had exploded through her.

That feeling still caused a pit of dread to open up in her midsection, but it had gotten smaller and smaller as she learned which questions to ask before going full steam ahead.

That day, she’d had no questions left as she’d turned to Gideon and said, “Let’s get married.” Gideon had stared at her a few seconds before stretching across the console and kissing her soundly.

Her mom and Frank were annoyed that they’d eloped, of course, but not surprised. Gideon’s family, on the other hand, was shocked. The two of them were already planning a backyard celebration in the spring to assure his parents of their sanity.

Megs sat down in the booth and opened her script, then took a drink of water and began. Within a few minutes, she’d dropped into the characters, and the rest of the world faded. That was why she’d always loved acting. No matter how fast her brain was spinning, when she sank into a new voice, the world went blissfully quiet.

She finished her two chapters, then ended with an easy one with mostly internal point-of-view as a reward. That was something she’d learned from Gideon. If she planned her reward in advance, she wouldn’t get desperate and drive ten miles for good doughnuts.

Megs stepped out of the booth, and Gideon slid a plate across the counter without looking up from his screen. He’d made her a sandwich. Because romance came second. Megs set her computer on the coffee table and blew him a kiss as she picked it up.

She’d just taken a bite of the sourdough BLT when her phone buzzed in her back pocket. Megs chewed and swallowed and picked it up.

“Hey, Mom, what’s up?”

“Megs, are you and Gideon free next weekend?”

“Which night?”

“Saturday. They’re doing the tree lighting, and Bobbi and Ben are coming into town for his dad’s retirement party. I thought we could make a night of it.”

Bobbi had already called, and they’d planned to go to dinner and a concert in Burlington earlier that week, but they hadn’t talked about the weekend. “I think we’re free, just a second.”

She motioned to Gideon, and he pulled off his headphones. “Hey, next weekend, how do you feel about going to the tree lighting in Sugar Creek on Saturday?”

Gideon picked up his phone. “I only have recording hours that evening. I could move them up and be done by five.”

“Is five-thirty okay for us to be there?” Megs asked.

Her mother’s grin was audible. “Of course. See you then.”

Megs hung up the phone and sighed. “Thank you for this.”

Gideon smirked as he pulled his headphones back over his ears. “You’re welcome.”

Megs gestured for him to wait. “Once I finish this sandwich, I’d like to be distracted.”

Gideon chuckled. “I have to finish grading.”

Megs took a bite. “How long?”

He held up his hands to show ten minutes.

“I’m going to hold you to that, Professor.”

Gideon rolled his eyes, and Megs watched him unabashedly as she ate. Gideon was still the most shiny thing in her life, and she was more than proud to have started and ended her short-lived second college career getting sidetracked by him.

It wasn’t like the last year had miraculously been filled with success. She was still failing regularly, though that didn’t feel as scary as it used to. Megs often wondered if all adults felt like this. If nobody knew what they were doing, even if their life looked like it sparkled from a distance.

Someone was surely looking from the outside and thinking Megs had it all together, which couldn’t be further from the truth. Though that idea of normalcy, of gliding through life, had never really been the goal anyway. Like the notions that adults can buy everything they want! or work is like school but more fun! that fallacy had faded with time. She’d been glad to watch it shrink in the rearview mirror.

“Done.” Gideon took off his headphones and snapped his computer closed.

Megs leaned over the counter and set her plate in the sink. “Perfect timing.” She stood as Gideon rounded the island and pulled her into his arms. She breathed him in. “I missed you.”

He chuckled. “You were only in the pop-up for an hour and a half.”

“Mmhmm. Too long.”

Gideon ran his hand through her curls, tugging her head back until their eyes met. “Far too long.”

This was life.

Together.

More grounded.

Still a bit of a mess.

This was whole happy.

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