Epilogue

NOAH

Ten years later

“ I ’d like to propose a toast.” Adam clinks a knife against his glass, drawing everyone’s attention to the front of the room.

“Oh, here we go,” Nolan murmurs. Adam frowns at him, his annoyance clear. Even after all this time, Uncle Nolan still drives Adam crazy.

Instead of acknowledging him, Uncle Adam continues. “Here’s to Noah. Valedictorian of his class, a budding firefighter, and a man we are all very proud of. Congratulations, Noah.”

The whole room lifts their glasses in cheers, and I swear, my face couldn’t get any redder. I mouth a “ Thank you” to him. He winks at me. His smirk tells me he embarrassed me on purpose—the jerk.

“It’s too bad you decided to go be a hero. We could’ve had a blast together at UNC.” Cody grins at me from the seat next to mine. He just finished his second year at UNC and tried his hardest to convince me to join him there. I’ll never tell him how tempted I was. He’d use that knowledge against me.

“I can’t decide which one worries me more. Don’t think I don’t know what you get up to on that campus, Cody Ellis.” Mom widens her eyes at Cody.

His jaw drops in mock shock. “I am an angel, Aunt Natalie. I can’t believe you’d say something so ridiculous.”

Aunt Katie throws a napkin at her son. “A fallen one, maybe.”

He gasps the same way Uncle Nolan does when he’s being dramatic. “Ouch, Ma.” She winks at Cody and blows him a kiss. He catches it and presses it to his chest.

Mom might be joking around right now, but I know she worries about me following in Dad’s footsteps. I grin at her while Dad squeezes her neck in support.

“I’m gonna be a firefighter, too,” Cody’s little sister, Nora, says. At nine, her interests have varied over a multitude of subjects. Her favorite is anything her big brother does right now. Cursing seems to be her go-to at the moment, much to Aunt Katie’s annoyance.

“I thought you were going to be a ballerina?” Cody asks.

“Nope. I’m done with ballet. Another girl in my class tripped me on purpose, and I don’t wanna have anything to do with that kind of drama.” She crosses her arms over her chest, mean-mugging the rest of the group, daring them to go against her wishes. Uncle Nolan grins down at her. Nora has him wrapped around her little finger, and she is well aware of it. Given how identical she is to her mom, it’s not a surprise.

“You have three more weeks of classes to attend, and then you can be done,” Katie tells her. Nora scrunches her face in annoyance but acquiesces.

Other conversations begin to flow around my grandparents’ dining room. Even though Grandma bought a bigger table, it’s still not big enough to hold the entire family. Some of the younger grandkids are at a smaller table in the living room, happily chowing down on their food. There are ten of us in total now. Cody and I are the oldest and the ones the littles look up to the most. We’re a little like extra uncles to them.

Uncle Adam and Aunt Ellie have Christopher, who’s nine now and just as serious as his dad. At least until he gets that same mischievous look in his eye that Aunt Ellie gets. Then he not only looks like her but acts like her, too. He also has Ellie’s artistic abilities and will help her with designs for clients sometimes. She runs a very successful graphic design business. Most of her work is for authors now, but she still helps out the occasional company.

Aunt Tilly takes full advantage of having a designer in the family now that she’s a best-selling author. She’s a pretty big name in the romance book world. No one knows this, but I’ve read every single one she’s published. They’re fantastic, even if I can only read them when I’m alone. I popped enough random boners in public because of her books that I finally learned my lesson.

Lena, Uncle Matthew and Aunt Tilly’s seven-year-old, is following in her mom’s footsteps and wants to be an author, too. She’s been writing children’s stories since she learned to write. Her spelling is atrocious, but her plots are decent. Daniel, her younger brother, has a knack for coloring on her stories. He says he’s drawing the pictures for the book, though he’s mostly just scribbling. He’s only four, so they don’t get too mad at him.

When everyone is finally done eating, Grandma passes out slices of red velvet cake with Aunt Sara’s help. I dig in immediately, knowing that if I don’t, there won’t be enough left to have seconds. Since it’s my graduation party, not to mention my favorite dessert, I feel like I’m entitled to an extra piece today. I glance at my phone for the millionth time this afternoon.

I’ve been waiting for a text from my girl, but she still hasn’t responded. We’re supposed to hang out today. I’m just not sure when she’ll be done spending time with her family.

“Still nothing from Lilly?” Cody asks from next to me. This isn’t the first time he’s caught me checking my phone for a message from her.

I shake my head. “I haven’t heard from her since graduation. It’s weird.”

Cody frowns. “That was, like, three days ago.”

I give him a look that says, I fucking know that. “We were supposed to hang out all this week since we likely won’t see each other much after she leaves for her internship this weekend. It’s been radio silence, though, so I have no idea what’s going on.”

“Just go over to her house.” Cody shrugs as if it’s no big deal.

I roll my eyes. “You know I can’t do that. Her parents hate me.”

“I’ve never understood that. Bunch of high-brow assholes.”

He’s not saying anything we haven’t already talked about. We’ve had this conversation a million times. I have no idea why Lilly’s parents don’t like me. I may not come from a family as wealthy as theirs, but we do all right. I mean, fuck, my uncles run the number one sporting goods store in the world. They went international about five years ago. They’re a worldwide name now. How is that not good enough for them?

What’s crazy is how big of a sweetheart Lilly is. I have no idea how she’s as kind as she is when her parents are as shitty as they are.

“Look, I know they don’t care much for you, but you might as well try. Maybe she got grounded or something and can’t talk to you.”

I tilt my head at his suggestion. “True. They tend to ground her at the drop of the hat. At least when we were in school, she could tell me in person.”

“Sucks they’re still as controlling as always, even though you’ve graduated.”

“Tell me about it.” With a plan in place to find my girl later, I’m able to focus back on my family. This is my second graduation party. My first was with Mom and Dad’s close friends. They’re not technically family, but they’ve acted like an extra set of aunts and uncles since I was adopted.

I don’t have many memories from before I came to live with Mom and Dad. The fire at the group home is about the only thing I remember. I’ll never forget the way Dad looked when he opened the closet door to save me. He was both terrifying and friendly at the same time. Going from having no one in my life to having the largest family I could imagine was a shock. I’m incredibly grateful Mom and Dad were willing to take in a kid who wasn’t theirs. Although, Mom has said she’s known I was her son from the moment she first saw me in the hospital.

“Hey, Noah, can you help me with something?” Walker asks, pulling me out of my thoughts. He slides his glasses up his nose the same way Uncle Carter does. He may not be Carter’s biological kid, but I swear they’re practically identical, even down to his dark hair and blue eyes. Uncle Carter and Uncle Sam adopted Walker about five years ago when he came to stay with them through the foster-to-adopt program they were a part of. They went through a lot of ups and downs while they were foster parents, but I know they’d say it was worth every moment.

Walker clutches a textbook to his chest, and dread settles in my stomach. I hope that whatever he needs help with is within my knowledge base. The kid’s only eleven, but I swear he’ll graduate high school at fifteen.

“I can sure try my best. ”

“That’s all anyone can do.” He tilts his head to the side, as if that is obvious.

I chuckle. “Too true. Show me what you’ve got.”

He sits beside me at the table, and we work together to solve his problem. At least this time, he’s asking questions about geometry. When he asks me things about philosophy, I’m never very helpful. By the time we’ve talked it out, he’s answered his own question. I just help him ask the right questions to work it out in his head.

When he runs off to the living room, Uncle Sam plops down in his vacated seat. “What the hell will we do when you go to the academy?”

I laugh. “You’ll FaceTime me until I can come home.”

“Thank fuck for modern technology.” Uncle Sam shakes his head in exasperation. He hasn’t changed a bit from the man I first met. The few laugh lines around his mouth are the only things that give away his age. “I can’t wait until you’re at the house with us. You know Paul is waiting for you to graduate before he retires.” Sam’s reference to one of the older firefighters at the house makes my stomach clench. Paul joined the house about seven years ago and has been one of my many mentors over the years.

“That’s a lot of pressure. What if I suck and get kicked out?”

Sam gives me an unamused look. “You’re practically a trained firefighter as it stands. You know more about what we do than some of the guys I worked with in Greensboro.”

“Doesn’t mean I’ll have what it takes to actually run into a burning building.”

He tilts his head in acknowledgment. “That’s true. But your passion for the job will carry you further than you think. Even if it doesn’t, you’ll find the place you’re meant to be. I have no doubt about that.”

“Thanks, Uncle Sam.”

He grabs my shoulder and squeezes it. “We’re proud of you, no matter what you do.” He stands and walks away, leaving those words hanging in the air.

“Noah, come play Mario Kart with us!” Carson yells across the room. It’s a little weird to see my little brother looking more like a teenager every day. I’m pretty sure he should still be the little turd of a four-year-old he used to be instead of the eleven-year-old looking at me with hope in his eyes. Charlie and Olivia add their pleas to Carson’s, and I have no hope of saying no to any of them. Charlie looks exactly like Uncle Ben, while Olivia is the spitting image of Aunt Sara. They’re fucking adorable, and they know it.

I move to the living room to play a few rounds of Mario Kart with them. It brings back a million memories of my uncles duking it out for first place. It always made me laugh when Uncle Nolan lost to Uncle Matthew. He would get so mad at Matthew. The kids play more than the adults do now, but every now and then, they’ll taunt each other until they’re playing like old times.

The rest of the afternoon goes by in a flash until I’m finally able to drive over to Lilly’s house to find out what’s going on. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her. Granted, it’s been that way since I met her the very first time.

As I pull into her driveway, memories of that moment hit me hard. She was sitting in that swing in their front yard, crying because they had just moved to town and she hated it. I did my best to make her smile, and I felt like I could’ve flown when she finally did.

When school started that next semester, we were stuck together like glue. For the last three years, she’s been my whole world. I know it’s ridiculous to think that a high school romance could turn into a forever kind of love, but I’ve never doubted us for a second. She’s the one for me. I’ve known it from the very beginning.

My Vans crunch over her gravel driveway as I walk to their front door. Nerves tighten in my stomach at the welcome I’m going to receive. It’s never good, but sometimes I’ll get a disdainful look, and then I’m allowed to enter. I’ll take that over their usual snide remarks.

It only takes a minute after I knock for Mrs. Gallagher to open their door. Her face pinches when she sees it’s me.

“Lilly isn’t here.”

My shoulders slump. “Oh, um… Can you tell me where she is? I’ve been trying to get ahold of her, but she hasn’t answered.”

“She likely won’t respond. She’s gone.”

I frown. “Gone? What do you mean?”

Mrs. Gallagher huffs as if it’s a huge imposition to explain herself. “She left for her internship. She’s gone and won’t be coming back. Ever. She’s moved on to more important things now.”

“She left? She didn’t even say goodbye.” My voice almost breaks at the end. Somehow, I manage to hold it together. I’d rather not let Mrs. Gallagher see me lose it.

“Probably for the best.” Mrs. Gallagher closes the door without another word.

I stand there for a moment, stunned. How could Lilly have just left without a single word? Why would she have done that?

I realize I’m still standing at her front door, so I turn to walk back to my car. With every step I take, my heart breaks a little more.

I can’t believe she’d leave me like this.

What will I do without her?

THE END