Epilogue

Clark

Two years later…

“IT’S FINALLY HAPPENING.”

“Hard to believe,” I say as I straighten my tie in the mirror.

River slides up behind me, eyeing up my reflection.

“It is,” he says, “but I’m glad.”

“I am too. They deserve this.”

Alex proposed to Henry what feels like ages ago, and they’re finally tying the knot. It’s taken forever to arrange the ceremony and all the fanfare, but at last, this is the day. Everyone is getting ready to head to Tripp Lake for the outdoor ceremony, including me and River.

It won’t be a long drive in our case. Our house sits on the edge of Tripp Lake, close enough that we could probably walk to the lake if we really wanted to. It’s a cute ranch house, like a lot of the homes around here, except this one is ours , ours together. It’s still a bit surreal to look at our large shared bedroom with generous windows looking out over bristling trees and realize this belongs to both of us.

Well, not just us.

Orange chirrups as he pads into the bedroom and hops onto the dresser beside the mirror. He cries for attention, and River reaches over to pet him. He’s gotten a lot bigger in the two years since we adopted him, but he hasn’t lost any of his attitude. He dances across the dresser, tail high as he swerves back and forth looking for pets. River scoops him up and hugs him against his chest.

“You’re going to get fur all over your suit,” I remark.

“That’s okay. I don’t think Henry and Alex will mind a little cat fur. We’re all covered in it all the time.”

“Well, except Cameron.”

He hasn’t been at the café as much in the past year. He’s started to transition away from his life as a barista and into life as a rock star. His band, The Ten Hours, has skyrocketed in popularity.

“Yeah, except Cameron.” River sets Orange down, his jubilant tone wilting. “It’ll be nice getting to see him and Julian again. They’re gone so much.”

I turn away from the mirror to rub my hands along his arms. The past two years have been incredible, but they’ve also come with a lot of changes. We see Cameron and Julian less because of Cameron’s touring schedule. Megan still works in Seattle, so our lunch meetings are scheduled affairs instead of spontaneous escapades. I don’t regret a second of it, though.

“It’s just part of life, right?” I say. “Change happens, and sometimes that’s happy change and sometimes it’s less happy change. We’re all here together today at least, and that’s going to be amazing.”

River perks up. “You’re right.” He kisses me. “Isn’t it funny? A couple years ago I would have been the one giving you that speech.”

“Well, maybe all those yoga and meditation practices are having an effect after all.”

His smile shifts into a playful smirk. “Maybe they are. I guess we’ll have to do some more private lessons later.”

He leans forward to kiss me again, hands on my hips, lips lingering against mine a bit longer than would be wise. I set my hands on his chest, but instead of pushing him away, I find myself clinging to him, holding him there against me. No matter how often I taste these lips, every kiss sets me ablaze like it did when we met, River’s undeniable allure every bit as potent as two years ago.

It takes an effort to push him away before we mess up our nice suits.

“Come on,” I say. “We shouldn’t play around. We’ll be late.”

“They’ll forgive us,” River says in a low tone that goes right to my gut.

I have to bite my lip hard to force myself to make the smart rather than indulgent decision. “No. Later. I’d never forgive us if we missed or ruined Henry and Alex’s wedding. They wouldn’t forgive us either.”

“Henry would.”

“Probably, but he shouldn’t. Come on, we’re going.”

I step away and take River’s hand, pulling him out of our bedroom and toward the front door. We have a long, joyful day ahead of us, a day full of celebration and friends and new beginnings, and I can’t wait to dive into this new experience with him. All the fear I clung to for so long has crumbled these past two years. River has done everything in his power to show me a different sort of life and earn my complete and total trust. So when we step out of our home in Tripp Lake, we both do so with joy in our hearts.

River might say my aura is shining today. I still don’t know if I believe in that kind of thing, but I do know one thing for sure: If I’m shining, it’s all because of him.