Epilogue

EPILOGUE

Holden

Six Months Later

The sterile smell of the hospital waiting area hit me. I’d just walked out of Lala’s room when I spotted Colby approaching. He was wearing an infant carrier. And following him was his entire family.

I held my hand up. “Hey, Lennons. What’s up?”

I’d known Colby and the guys planned to visit tonight but was surprised to see Billie, Saylor, and the baby, too.

Billie reached out to hug me. “We didn’t have a sitter, but I had to come anyway.”

“I’m glad you did.” I kissed her on the cheek.

“How is Lala?” Colby asked.

“She’s good.” I looked behind me at the door to her room. “But they’re both sleeping.”

“Oh no.” Billie’s smile faded. “So this is a bad time?”

“Pretty sure they’ll wake up soon if you don’t mind hanging out for a little bit.”

“We can wait!” Saylor said as she hopped excitedly. “I want to see the baby!”

“Cool.” I ruffled her hair. “It seems like just yesterday you were the baby.”

We all moved to the seating area, and I filled them in on Lala’s long labor, which had lasted over twenty-four hours until she gave birth this morning.

Brayden showed up a few moments later.

I turned to him. “Hey.”

We clasped hands.

“How is everyone?” he asked.

“Great. They’re sleeping, though.”

I hadn’t gotten much sleep myself over the past couple of days. But it didn’t matter. I was on cloud nine and didn’t want to miss a moment of my life right now.

“Why don’t I grab coffee?” Brayden patted me on the shoulder. “You look like you could use it.”

“Thanks, man. I could definitely go for some.”

After Brayden left, Owen emerged from the elevator and headed toward me.

“Congratulations, Daddy!” He smiled. “Why is everyone sitting out here?”

“Lala and the baby are sleeping. I’ll check on them in a minute and see if they’re awake.”

Owen nodded and exhaled. His tie was undone, and his hair was unruly. He looked a bit frazzled. I wondered if it had anything to do with things back at the building. When Lala went into labor, I’d had no choice but to put him in charge of things.

“Thanks for covering for me, by the way,” I said.

“You neglected to tell me about the smokeshow in 410.”

“Smokeshow?” I laughed. “The middle-aged lady with the crazy kids who drive you nuts?”

“No.” He shook his head. “The woman who answered the door was in her twenties.”

I scratched my chin in confusion. We’d had a number of run-ins with the teenagers we’d dubbed Frick and Frack. I’d been meaning to go over there and issue a warning to them after yet another series of disturbances and another missing rent payment right before Lala started having contractions. Owen had offered to handle it for me when she and I headed to the hospital.

“No one in their twenties lives there, Owen. It’s just that lady, Maureen, and her kids. You sure you didn’t go to the wrong apartment?”

“No, because Frick and Frack were there.” He sighed. “She’s gorgeous and has quite the mouth on her, too—a bit of a firecracker. I haven’t been able to stop thinking about her.” He chuckled. “Especially after she slammed the door in my face.”

“Wow.” I laughed. “So she left an impression. I haven’t seen you react to a woman since… I can’t even remember.”

He shook his head. “You don’t understand. I didn’t think I’d ever see her again.”

I squinted. “Again?”

Owen looked behind his shoulder then lowered his voice. “A few nights ago, I’d had a hard day at work. I couldn’t relax, so I went to that bar down the street. I met her there. We both had too much to drink. I hadn’t wanted anyone like that in a long time. She wouldn’t tell me her name, which I thought was a little weird, but I went with it. We ended up at the hotel next door to the place and…” He sighed. “Best freaking sex of my life. But she snuck out before I could convince her to give me her name and number.”

My mouth fell open. “No shit?”

“So you can imagine my shock when she opened the door at 410 today.” He exhaled. “Anyway, she kicked me out before I had a chance to find out who she is or why she’s apparently living there.”

“What are you guys whispering about?” Brayden appeared, holding two coffees.

Owen glared at me. I assumed that meant Brayden didn’t know the story, and he was in no mood for our friend to bust his balls right now.

“The mystery woman in 410,” I simply answered.

He handed me a cup. “Oh…the hot chick?”

Owen’s eyes widened. “You know her?”

“No, but I’ve seen her.”

Owen leaned in with great interest. “Who is she?”

Brayden peeled back the corner of his plastic coffee lid. “I don’t know if she’s visiting or what. Or maybe she’s their babysitter. But I’ve seen her coming in and out of the building a few times.”

“Aren’t those kids too old for a babysitter?” I asked.

“Believe me, they need more than a babysitter. They’re tyrants,” Owen said.

“I’m sure they’re no worse than us when we were their age.” I chuckled.

“Anyway, I saw her carrying a bunch of groceries in the other day,” Brayden explained. “I offered to help her, but she wouldn’t let me.”

Owen arched a brow. “I bet you offered to help her.”

Brayden shrugged. “Can you freaking blame me?”

I looked between them. “I’m not gonna have to break up a fight between you two over this new girl in town, am I?”

“Mr. Catalano?” A nurse turned my attention away from the conversation.

I turned. “Yep?”

“I just went in to check your wife’s vitals. She’s awake and looking for you.”

My wife. Except she wasn’t my wife—yet.

“Thank you.” I nodded. “I’ll be right back,” I told the crew before walking away.

Lala’s voice was groggy when I entered the room. “Hey.”

She held the baby to her breast. Her curly hair was disheveled, but she’d never looked more beautiful than she did lying there breastfeeding our child.

“Everyone’s here to see you guys,” I said, putting my coffee down on the table.

“Really?” She scooched up. “Tell them to come in.”

“Well, you just woke up. I figured I’d give you a few.”

My beautiful daughter was perfectly latched onto Lala’s breast, sucking away. She’d gotten the hang of it so quickly. I ran my thumb along the peach fuzz on the side of her soft little cheek.

“She’s such a good girl,” I whispered.

“She loves to eat. I was so worried I’d have trouble.”

Her tiny hand curled into a fist on Lala’s chest. I gently slid my fingers along her hospital bracelet and smiled at the name written on it: Hope Ryann Catalano. We’d decided to keep Ryan as a first-name option if we ended up having a boy someday.

“The nurse called you my wife, by the way. We need to make that happen for real,” I told Lala.

She smiled. “I know. I feel left out. My two favorite people in the world are Catalanos. I want to be one, too.”

Lala and I had decided to have a massive wedding in the near future and would start planning it once everything calmed down and we became acclimated to our new life as parents. Everything was up in the air in the best way. Lala would be taking some time off in between research projects to stay home with Hope and wasn’t entirely sure what she’d be doing in a few months. As for me? My music career was still up in the air, too.

The band hadn’t gotten any offers out of California, which gave me a bit of a reprieve from having to worry about letting the guys down. But from the moment my daughter was born, I knew I wouldn’t be able to handle missing a single second of her growing up. That meant if the band ended up going on the road, they’d have to find another drummer, because I was more than likely going to quit. Personally, I didn’t look at that as a failure. It would be my choice. I knew Lala would never ask me to step away from the band, but it didn’t matter. There was only one place I wanted to be, and that was with my family. Music would always be a part of my life. It just would no longer be my life.

“Let me know if you’re ready for the storm of our friends to blow in,” I said.

She covered her breast a little. “I’m ready.”

A minute later, I went out to the hall and gave them the all clear.

Colby had taken his son out of the carrier. Little Maverick had a massive amount of black hair for a baby who was only a few months old. He looked like he was wearing a toupee.

“Look at the hair on Mav’s head!” I laughed.

Billie fluffed it. “I know, right? Where did it come from?”

The crew bustled into the room and spent the next several minutes oohing and ahhing over baby Hope. It was crazy to realize that there were now three children in the mix among us.

I looked down at my daughter and pointed to Colby’s son. “You know, these two are gonna grow up together. He’d better not get any ideas.”

“I think Ryan might find that pretty funny, actually.” Brayden laughed.

Owen nodded. “Yeah. He’d get a kick out of Holden having to protect his daughter from Colby’s son—since he couldn’t protect Lala from you. Sweet revenge, you know?”

Lala looked up. “Well, thankfully we have some time before we have to worry about that love story.”

“But you know what you don’t have all that much time for?” Colby asked.

I raised a brow. “What?”

“The minute baby Hope here can identify rodents, you’d better believe her uncle Colby is going to gift her with one. Maybe two or three.”

Billie chimed in. “Oh, you know it.”

“Fair enough,” I conceded.

Our friends didn’t stay long. I think they could tell how tired Lala and I were. I was looking forward to heading home to the apartment tomorrow. My mother and Lala’s mom were both staying in a spare apartment in the building and would be sticking around to help for a while. We certainly had no lack of love and support around us.

Lala turned on Jeopardy! as Hope lay sleeping in her arms. I sat at the bedside and alternated between looking at the TV and admiring my daughter’s little face. She looked so much like Lala. I wondered if she’d have the same crazy curls. I’d thought I loved Lala more than I could possibly love anyone. But then I met Hope. If I could cover her in bubblewrap forever to protect her, I would. I planned to drive ten miles per hour on the way out of here.

“Today was the best day of my life,” I said.

“Me, too,” Lala said as she turned to me. “Can you guess what the second-best day was?”

“Well, you once told me the best day of your life was when I proposed to you atop your parents’ roof.”

“Bingo.” She winked.

We’d been visiting our parents in Pennsylvania one weekend. Lala had gone to the grocery store, and I climbed up on the Ellisons’ roof so that when she pulled back into the driveway, she’d see me standing up there holding a gigantic Will You Marry Me? sign.

“You know…” I said. “I’d wanted you up there with me when I proposed, but I was too scared you’d slip and fall or something and hurt the baby.”

“If you had asked me to go up there, I would’ve suspected something. So it was perfect the way it was. I never saw it coming.”

“Some of the best things in life are those we don’t see coming, huh?” “I smiled down at Hope. “Yeah. I’m talking about you, little girl. The surprise of my life.”

Our daughter cooed and looked up at me.

“She has Ryan’s eyes,” I said.

“I know. Genetics is amazing, isn’t it?”

I frowned. “I really felt his absence when everyone was here today.”

“Me, too,” Lala murmured.

We turned our attention back to Jeopardy!. A few minutes in, one of the categories was Daytime TV.

The question was: ABC soap set in Washington Heights.

One of the contestants pressed the buzzer and answered, “What is Ryan’s Hope?”

Lala and I looked at each other.

He always made sure to let us know he washere.

GUESS WHAT’S COMING!

Owen’s Book

Dear Readers,

While we were writing The Rules of Dating My Best Friend’s Sister, we decided we adored this world so much that we needed to continue telling the guys’ stories. And you don’t have to wait long to find out what fate has in store for Owen!

The Rules of Dating My One-Night Stand is coming in November, 2023

and is available for pre-order now!