Epilogue

Kyleigh

"Why can't you just move in here, Magic, and then I can take your place at The Nest now that the deal on my place has fallen through?" Conor asks, picking up a box off my kitchen counter.

"Because we love you so much, we want to be in the same building as you." Rowan slaps my brother's back.

I try not to make a big deal of them messing around with one another, but it's good to see.

"So, I'm stuck with Tweetie then." Conor grumbles, heading out the door.

"Hey, it's a gift that I'm allowing you to stay with me. Be grateful."

"You only like him staying because he brings girls back to your place." Rowan walks out of my apartment with another box.

Tweetie looks at me. "They act like I don't have game."

"Did you know Rowan doesn't like to share?" Bodhi asks next to me, helping me box up some of my books.

"He doesn't?" I ask.

"No. I told him I wanted Daddy to have a turn with you, and he said no." Bodhi puts the two books he's holding into the box.

Rowan steps back into my apartment, obviously overhearing our conversation.

"You'll understand it one day, Bodhi," Rowan says, picking up another box.

"Meany," Bodhi says and looks up at me. "But I'm glad you're living with us. We can chalk more."

"Definitely." I tap his nose with my finger.

He puts his arm around my neck and rests his head on my shoulder.

"Your kid is encroaching on my territory," Rowan says to Henry when he returns.

"He's kind of a chick magnet," Henry says.

"Well, he's ruining your game then." Tweetie laughs.

The four of them take another round of boxes down.

They're on a winning streak right now, and the locker room is free of tension. Conor and Rowan aren't where they were before, but we can all sit in a room together, so that's progress. With time, I know they'll get closer.

My parents' divorce is about to be finalized, and I've had a few meals with my mom since our brunch. I guess all of us Nilsens need time to get used to our new normal.

Once my apartment is all packed up and only the furniture I'm leaving behind remains, I take a moment for one final walk-through.

"Having second thoughts?" Rowan stands in the doorway of my bedroom, leaning against the doorframe with his arms crossed.

"No." I walk over to him and run my hands along his sides to behind his back, hugging him. "Just thinking of how different I feel now."

His hand runs down my back. "Different how?"

"I feel more at peace. Excited for my future…" I rest my chin on his chest and stare up at him. "Our future." I shrug. "I can't explain it. I think I'm mourning my old life because it feels like we're starting a new chapter. But then I'm anxious, because with a new chapter, there's uncertainty."

He nods. "We'll weather the storms together and appreciate the rainbows after."

I lightly push him in the stomach. "Okay, Mr. Inspiration."

"I like that a helluva lot better than Mr. Heartbreaker." He chuckles and holds me tighter, swaying us back and forth. "Let's go home."

I circle in his arms and take one last look at my old bedroom.

We walk out of my apartment, and I slide my key under the door for the landlord, who said the next tenant is new to the city and would love to have the furniture I'm not taking with me.

Once we're both in the vehicle, Rowan pulls the small moving truck away from the curb. I rest my arms on the window, staring at my apartment building until he turns a corner, and it disappears from view.

I straighten in my seat, and his hand lands on my thigh, squeezing it. "You okay?"

I nod, tears forming and slipping down my cheeks.

"I'm starting to feel I forced you into this."

"No." I shake my head, wiping my tears. "I'm so happy. Really. I think it's all just hitting me. I'm no longer that single girl who went from believing in happily-ever-afters to thinking they were bullshit, then back to knowing they exist."

"Definitely not single." He makes a right with the truck. "And we're proof they exist."

I place my hand over his on my thigh and interlock our fingers. "Okay, I'm not going to cry anymore."

He chuckles. "As long as they're happy tears, I won't pull this truck over."

"They're happy. I promise."

We share a smile at a red light before he has to continue driving.

We pull along the curb by The Nest, and I notice there's a new sign for Peeper's Alley, with a "Grand Re-Opening Tonight" banner under it.

"Oh, it looks so good." I step out of the truck as soon as it stops.

"And now I lost you to Ruby," he grumbles right before I shut the door.

I walk toward the bar.

"Don't worry, sis, we got all your shit!" Conor shouts.

I wave, opening the door to the bar that might have been mine at one point. There are new wooden floors, and the tables are now bar-height with new stools. Everything in here is shiny and new.

"It looks amazing," I say to the empty room.

Ruby comes out from the back. "Aren't you supposed to be driving into the sunset or some shit?"

I break the distance, my hand running along the new vinyl stools that no longer have any tears in them. "Are you excited?"

"To kick out girls trying to get to the guys? No."

I laugh and smile, knowing she really is happy. "Well, I can't wait to come down tonight."

"You live a sad life."

"I know."

That earns the tiniest rise at the corner of her lips. "Now go. I'm busy." She shoos me out with her hands.

I point at a neon sign for a seltzer company. "Serving seltzers now?"

"Mind your business." She walks toward me, still waving at me to leave.

"Okay. I'm going, but I'll see you tonight."

"Uh-huh," she says.

I walk out of the bar, and all the guys have a box in their hands, like a row of ants going toward the security gate that Bodhi is holding open.

After they move me in, Rowan's second bedroom is filled with my things. Everything but my clothes and toiletries.

"Happy?" Rowan asks me.

"So happy."

"Good." He kisses my forehead. "Now come to bed with me. We need to christen our new place."

"I think we've done that a couple times over already."

He falls down onto the bed, his body bouncing off the mattress. "Didn't you hear? We have to do it, like, five times on every surface for it to be considered christened."

I place my knee on the bed, and he grabs my hips, rolling me over onto my back.

"Well, in that case…"

"Sorry, such a chore, right?" He rolls his eyes.

I giggle. "What a drag, but if we must." I slide my hands under his shirt.

We christen the bed, the shower, and the kitchen counter before we have to stop and get ready for the Peeper Alley's grand re-opening.

"Could you keep it down?" Conor asks when he runs into us on the stairs. "I'm trying to deal with the fact that you two have sex with each other, but I don't need to hear my sister screaming your name." He puts his hands over his ears and makes a sound.

"You can't hear us." Rowan wraps his arm around me.

"Tweetie and I were walking up the stairs after lunch. Yes, I did."

Conor opens the security gate, and the three of us walk out onto the street, turning to head into Peeper's.

"I've tried to get her to quiet down. She's an animal."

I smack Rowan in the stomach.

Conor pretends he's going to throw up.

Rowan opens Peeper's door for us, and we head inside to an already crowded bar. The usual guys are lined up on the stools by the bar, but there's a younger crowd in here too. There's one table with four girls near the back, which grabs my brother's attention.

Rowan and I beeline it to the back room and find Henry and Tweetie playing darts.

Alara and Justin show up, and I talk to her about the progress I'm making with her wedding gown.

A few other players that the guys asked to join us arrive.

The room becomes pretty packed, so I'm sitting on Rowan's lap while he complains to my brother and Henry about not having any bathroom counter space anymore.

He secretly loves it.

My brother's eyes go to Rowan's hand running up and down my thigh a few times, but he doesn't say anything.

The night is going great until midway through when Tweetie walks back into the room with a woman. She's cute, her brown hair curled in waves. She's dressed in jeans and a sweater, nothing crazy. Not Tweetie's usual type, but maybe he's maturing. One can only hope.

"Hey, everyone! We have a guest," he announces, and I'm not sure why he has to introduce us to his woman for the night when he never has before. "This is Jade."

Henry's head whips so fast in their direction he could be a robot. He's on his feet immediately.

"Oh," I say, seeing a side of Henry I never have before.

"Jade?" Henry asks with disbelief.

"Get your ears cleaned. I just said that." Tweetie shakes his head.

"Hi, Henry," she says.

All the tension that dissipated after Rowan and my brother made up fills the room again.

"You guys know each other?" Tweetie asks, forehead wrinkled.

Conor shakes his head. "Yeah, Captain Obvious."

"Yeah," Jade echoes.

"That's her," Rowan whispers in my ear.

"Who?"

He smiles at Henry. "The one he let go so she could find herself. Seems like she's found him now."

Is the saying, "If you love something let it go…" true for Henry and Jade? Is Jade back for Henry? So many questions to be answered in the childhood friends to lovers, second chance and single dad hockey romance coming next!

CLICK HERE if you love a hero who never stopped loving his first love.

Who is more protective, Rowan or Conor when the gang plays pickleball and Kyleigh gets hit on? Plus, Bodhi has a concert at school, and wait until you see who they run into. CLICK HERE for the bonus scene!

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