Epilogue

Nathan

Seven Months Later

Fourth of July

“You’re going down, Kingsley,” I said, rubbing my hands together as Avery finished putting on her uniform for the Fourth of July Pierce baseball game.

Everyone from our small town was invited to the family farm to celebrate the holiday, including Avery’s family and the Honey Creek Hornets. Evan and Easton were doing what they’d done best, grilling up some meat as Mom, Tatiana, and Matthew made sure everyone had a drink in their hands for the afternoon game.

I couldn’t think of a better way to spend the holiday—baseball and family.

Avery smirked my way as she headed toward the front door. “Don’t get your hopes up, Nathan. I get Jackson on my team, and you have Willow.”

I narrowed my eyes. “What’s wrong with having Willow on my team?”

“I’m pretty sure the girl has never held a baseball bat in her whole life.” She smiled my way. “But don’t you worry, I know you’re not a sore loser.”

“I am a sore loser. I am the sorest of losers,” I pouted. “Maybe I should get out there and give Willow some pointers before we get started.”

As we headed out the front door, I saw Yara, Alex, and Willow pulling up to the property. Little Teresa was in the back seat with Willow.

Willow hopped out and rubbed her hands together. “Are you ready for some football?!” she shouted.

Oh, hell.

We were going to lose.

Everyone began to arrive, and the size of the crowd was outstanding. We had easily over sixty people laughing and joking around with one another. Cameron brought his father along with him, who seemed to be doing much better than he had been a few months ago. The other day, Cameron told me that Adam landed a new job at a construction company—Matthew’s company, to be exact. Leave it to Avery’s father to offer a hand toward a guy who needed help.

“Is it just me, or does your brother have a stick up his butt?” Willow asked me at one point as she walked over to me with a smile on her face.

“Let me guess, Evan?”

“Yeah! I asked him if he had any vegan hot dogs to toss on the grill, and he said that wasn’t a thing. To which I told him it was indeed a thing. To which he said not on his grill. To which I told him he should expand his mind a little. To which he told me that he didn’t need to expand his mind because it was expanded enough. To which I said ‘I bet you’re a Aries.’ To which he said ‘I don’t believe in astrology.’ To which I said ‘that’s a very Aries thing for you to say.’ To which he said ‘go away.’ So here I am now.”

I laughed. “That sounds about right. Evan’s a bit hard around the edges.”

“He’s grumpy.”

“Yeah.”

Willow glanced over at him, a small smile still on her face. “And he frowns a lot.”

“It’s his signature expression. He’s not much of a people person.”

“But he’s a good person?”

“One of the best.”

She paused for a moment and shrugged with a hopeful expression. “Anyway, I’m looking forward to kicking the ball with you later, teammate. We are so going to win!” she said before she danced off. I wasn’t being dramatic, either—she danced away. Willow always seemed to be floating off in a dancing manner. As she pranced away, I looked over at the grill, where I found Evan watching Willow dance away. His grimace was still apparent, but curiosity was there, too. I hadn’t seen my brother appear curious about a person in a long time.

Wait a second.

Did Willow just say kick a ball around?

Cameron came rushing over to me before I could comprehend what she said.

“Hey, Coach P? I have a question for ya. I was just wondering…” He grew bashful and shrugged his shoulders as he wore his catching glove on his right hand. “Is Priya single?”

My eyes moved from him to my niece, who was tossing a ball up and down on the field, laughing with Yara and Alex.

I gave him a stern look. “Yes. She’s single until she’s in her nineties. Don’t get any ideas.”

“I don’t know, Coach,” Avery said, walking up behind me. “Rumor has it, Priya was asking about Cameron, too.”

Cameron’s eyes lit up. “Seriously?”

“Yup. You should go see if you can give her some tips on throwing. I bet she’d love that,” Avery stated.

“Gee! Thanks, Coach K! I’ll do that.”

I turned and gave Avery a stern look. “Why would you do that?!” I whisper-shouted. “Now he’s going to think she likes him.”

“She does like him. I think it’s cute.”

“It’s awful. My sweet niece…liking boys.” I shivered. “That’s traumatizing.”

She laughed. “Don’t be so dramatic. But speaking of…I think it’s time we tell everyone about us.”

I arched an eyebrow. “Really?”

“Yeah. I think so.”

We’d spent the past seven months secretly dating one another. We wanted the privacy of getting back together without too many outside voices getting involved. She still had her apartment, but I figured that was good. It gave us time to grow closer to one another. One day, she’d be living with me for the rest of her life, but I wasn’t in a rush to get us there.

Okay, I was in a rush. If it were up to me, we’d be married tomorrow.

We’d kept our relationship pretty much on the hush-hush, just to make sure we were moving in the right direction.

Now, we were ready to share the news with everyone else.

We headed out to the pitching mound before the game, and I got everyone’s attention.

“Hey, everyone. I just wanted to thank you all for coming out to Honey Farms to celebrate the holiday with us. It’s been a damn good time so far, and I’m really looking forward to smoking Avery’s team during this game. But before we start, I thought it was a good time to announce that Avery and I are dating.”

The space stayed quiet as everyone stared blankly at us.

Avery swallowed hard and gestured back and forth between the two of us. “Each other,” she added. “We are dating each other.”

Someone in the stands shouted, “Well, no shit, Sherlock. We all knew that.”

Everyone agreed, shouting out the same kind of comments, leaving me a bit stunned.

“No, I mean, like, we’re in love,” I explained.

“Yup.” River nodded. “We picked up on that fact.”

“What? You all knew?” I asked.

“Yup, sweetheart,” Mom said, shrugging her shoulders. “Just like we all knew you two had a thing all those years ago.”

Avery’s eyes widened in shock. “What? You all knew about that, too?”

Everyone who knew us back then nodded in agreement. Grant announced, “We weren’t idiots. Now are we gonna play ball or what?”

I turned to Avery. “They knew about us.”

Avery snickered, shaking her head in disbelief. “I thought we were sneaking around.”

“You’re terrible at sneaking,” Matthew added. “But we’re happy for you both.”

“Right, okay, well, all right then.” I placed my hands against my hips. “So does anyone have any questions about the two of us being together or…?”

The guys from the Honey Creek Hornets all shot their hands up.

Avery pointed a stern finger toward them. “Any questions that aren’t inappropriate in any nature, which would lead to you all running extra laps during our summer practices?”

All their hands slowly recoiled.

I smirked. “Well, that was anticlimactic.”

“I kind of like it that way.” Avery leaned into me and kissed me. “This is all amazing, but we still have a game to play, and I’m not going to take it easy on you just because you’re officially my boyfriend now.”

I snickered, shaking my head. “I wouldn’t expect you to take it easy on me, Coach. You never have.”

“And I never will. Now, come on,” she confidently said before smacking my butt. “Let’s play ball.”

As she jogged away, I couldn’t help but smile. I shook my head in disbelief that, somehow, I’d become lucky enough to call her mine once more.

Avery Kingsley was my best friend. My partner. My greatest grand slam.

With her around, my world would never again become too dark.

She was, and always would be, my very favorite sunbeam.

The End.