Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Tripp

"Okay, fine, Fireballs Con was a good idea," I concede to Lila as I stretch out next to her in the front seat of the auditorium where we held a few thousand Fireballs fans captive all day.

Levi, Cash, and Beck all took turns playing master of ceremonies, though Cooper Rock tried to give them a run for their money every time he was handed a microphone, which is even better. The more attention the Fireballs can get, the more tickets we sell, and if it means we mic Cooper up in the dugout and leave him in charge of team spirit, then I'm game.

But everything's over now, and it feels damn good to know we're on the right path with the team. The carnage is slowly being swept off the stage, and our four mascot finalists—a firefly, an echidna, a duck, and a flaming meatball—are still running around, battling each other with pool noodle swords.

Mostly because three of them are Cash's siblings, and the fourth is Wyatt, and they're making the most of being able to act like kids for once.

Lila smirks at me from under her vintage Fireballs hat. "Of course this was a good idea. Duh."

"Duh," James mimics.

My whole family is in matching Fireballs hats and jerseys, all with our own names and favorite numbers on the back, and I had more fun with people today than I have since the band called it quits. We hung out with Fireballs fans and the players and introduced the coaching staff that we've argued over so much that my brain hurts, but that I know is going to do an amazing job for the team this year.

And now voting is officially open to replace Fiery.

"I'm still hiring a hacker to prevent the flaming meatballs from winning," I add.

She laughs and kisses my cheek. "You're adorable. And wrong. And if you interfere with my meatballs, I'm taking your duck down."

Truth?

I can't wait to get home and do something down on her.

She lays her head on my shoulder and her hand drifts to my thigh, and yep.

Time to go home.

I'm about to move when Emma pops up in front of me. "Dada, nake," she says, and she pulls a garter snake out of her pocket.

"Fuck!" I exclaim before I can stop myself.

Lila shrieks, but she also dives for it while dots dance in my vision and adrenaline paralyzes me.

I. Hate. Snakes.

Which hasn't been a problem in my adventures in parenting until today .

"Got it," Lila says, though her voice is shaky too, and only one of the security guards who's sprinted to us is willing to take it from her.

I hunch over, shove my head between my knees, and then grab my daughter in a hug. "Emma. No snakes. No snakes ."

She bursts into tears.

"What's all the-aaa aaah !" Levi adds as he, too, leaps away from the guard now carrying the snake.

"Do you have any other snakes in your pocket?" I ask Emma.

She wails.

James starts wailing, and I give him the eyeball of doom. "Or you?" I demand.

"I got a roly-poly," he sobs.

"Roly-polies are fine," Lila assures him while I keep gasping for breath.

He pulls seventeen of them out of his pocket.

Pretty sure most of them are dead.

My eye twitches.

And I realize there's a very distinct sound coming from behind me.

I look over my shoulder.

Lila's trying very hard not to laugh.

And she's failing. Miserably.

That sparkle in her eyes as she beams is impossible to not smile back at, even if I can't imagine my knees working again for the next hour.

"You're okay," she tells us, and then she scoops James into her lap as she sits, and manages to wrap all three of us up in her arms. "You're not in trouble. Just…no more snakes, okay?"

"I wike nakes," Emma wails.

"Then we'll get you a stuffed snake."

I give Lila the eyeball of I don't like this plan .

She gives me back the eyeball of don't be a baby and take the damn compromise before you find a snake in your cookie jar.

She's adapted remarkably well to domestic life with all of my chaos. In fact, I think she thrives on it.

"Daddy, why did Jupiter hafta stay home?" James asks. "Is it time for cookies? I want my twucks."

"We'll go see your trucks soon," Lila promises him. "We have to wait a whole year for the next Fireballs Con, and I'm sad that it's over. But you get to see your trucks within an hour. Promise."

He studies her with serious dark eyes. My kids love her best most days. Since she moved in with us, they're more likely to kick me out of bed for trying to snuggle her early in the morning than they are to snuggle me.

I'd be offended, but honestly, I'd rather snuggle her than me too.

Very soon, in fact.

Naked.

Huh. Look at that. I'm all recovered from the snake mishap.

"I wike the ducks," James says solemnly.

"It's okay to be wrong about that too," she replies equally solemnly. "I still love you."

I bark out a laugh that startles Emma out of her sobs. I never thought sharing ownership of my favorite team would be everything I always wanted, but since I insisted on selling Lila half of the team back—for fifty cents, because she refused a penny more—we've fallen into a very comfortable rhythm that we're optimistic will be excellent for the team.

She makes an executive decision, gives me a heart attack, we argue, I see the logic in her points, she concedes some of my points and tones down her original plans, and then we celebrate another day of making progress by having grown-up naked time after the kids are in bed.

I don't know how long she'll stay fully engaged in running the Fireballs—she's having fun now, but I also know she's started channeling some of her imagination and the lingering bits of her own paranoia into playing around with writing a novel, and every time I walk into her office and find her giggling, she slams her laptop shut and tells me she's making serious decisions about the team that should terrify me.

Pretty sure she's found her calling, but even if she never decides what she wants to do every day for a job—we've both acknowledged that running a baseball team might not be the challenge that drives her forever—I know she's staying here with us.

You're my purpose , she tells me and my kids almost daily.

I like being where she belongs.

Davis drops into the seat on my other side. He was here all day, though he stayed in the wings. "Heard a rumor you're in talks with New York to get Brooks Elliott."

Lila gasps. " No ."

"So it's not true?" Cooper joins us, squatting on the floor and offering Emma a Fireballs-themed bag of candy, which fully cures her of any lingering sobs.

"Change is inevitable," I tell Cooper. "And now that we have fans back, and a coaching staff that even Pakorski approves of…we need to work on the team."

"Work on the team, yes. But Elliott?—"

"Being here would mean double the firepower at the plate, and Parker would come visit," I interrupt.

"Dude, you can't trade for players just to get your girlfriend an excuse to visit her friends."

"When it's Brooks Elliott, he should," Davis replies.

"I thought you all wanted me to live," Lila wails.

I bust up laughing.

Emma laughs with me. James joins in. Davis cracks a grin, and eventually, even Lila can't resist. Mom wanders over with Levi and Cash while a few more of the players who are still milling around chatting aim curious glances at us.

Beck and Sarah have disappeared, along with Mackenzie, which gives me zero hope that he's going to finally pop the question today, but I'm okay with that.

Sarah's not going anywhere.

I, however, am.

"I very much want you to live," I assure Lila. "I want you to live a long, long life, where I get to torment you every day that you torment me while we argue over what's best for this team, and with whatever comes next."

Those sparkling green eyes are my very favorite, especially when they come with that bright smile.

I thought her smile was pretty the night we met.

Her smile now? The smile of a woman who's not hiding anything, who knows who she is, who knows what she wants, who lives in a house decorated with pictures of both of our pasts, who's falling almost as much in love with baseball as she has with me—that smile is blinding.

"We work well together, don't we?" she says with so much mischief, it's no wonder she's settled in well in my family.

"I need to wait until after the mascot poll closes to know for sure."

Her head tips back as she laughs again. Emma squeals and claps her hands. James giggles.

And I slide to one knee in front of her. "Want to risk it and promise to marry me today anyway?"

Her hand flies to her mouth as her laughter turns into a squeal, and then she's flying into my arms and knocking me back onto the ground. " Yes ."

I catch her easily, because we've done this a time or three before.

James piles on, and Emma too, and then Levi says, "Aw, hell, why not?" and sits on my leg too, hugging all of us. "We have the best family."

"I love you, Tripp Wilson," Lila whispers in my ear. "And I'm so glad that's your real name."

I hug them all tight and whisper back, "I'd love you no matter your name."

Life's a path.

And I wouldn't have mine any other way.

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