Epilogue

Reid

“What was wrong with that place?” Sophie asked me as we left the third apartment we’d seen today.

“I can’t explain it. I don’t like it,” I said. “There was an off vibe.”

Sophie snorted and squeezed my hand. “Okay. Then we’ll look somewhere else.”

Both of our leases were up soon, so we’d been trying to look for a place together, but I was having a hard time seeing us in any of the apartments we’d looked at. None of them felt right to me and I couldn’t explain it.

“Sorry I don’t have a trust fund or else we could get a place in Hunter’s building.” Although, Hunter and Stace had been talking about maybe getting a house, so that apartment might be available at some point.

“Hey,” Sophie said, pulling me to a stop on the sidewalk. “It’s you and me. Good or bad. Thick and thin. Rain or shine. We’ll find the right place. I have faith.” She kissed me and started to pull away, but I dragged her back.

“You have enough optimism for both of us,” I said, and she laughed.

“That’s the truth.”

She was graduating school soon and already had an internship with Eloise Roth’s literary agent. At first, she hadn’t wanted to take it, but I’d told her that she’d regret it if she didn’t. So far, she was absolutely killing it and I was so proud.

I was still working at Sapph for the time being, but I was looking at my options for jobs. I wasn’t in a rush. Knowing that I didn’t have to make a decision right away gave me the space I needed to figure things out.

My therapist and I saw each other once a week and digging through my past trauma and issues hadn’t been a good time, but I was glad that I’d done it. I still working on forgiving myself and dealing with my childhood. That was going to be a lifelong process. Thankfully, my mom hadn’t tried to contact me again, but if she did, I had the tools and scripts ready to deal with her if she violated my boundaries.

Kaylee and I hadn’t talked again, but we would eventually. Sophie and I decided we’d cross that bridge when we came to it. Right now, we were enjoying being together and not letting anything get in the way of that.

“Hey,” Sophie said, grounding me in the present with her voice. “Wanna go get chocolate cupcakes?”

I clasped both her hands and kissed her again, sweeping my tongue into her mouth.

“Always. I will always want to get chocolate cupcakes with you. I’d do anything with you, Soph.”

“Right back at you,” she said, tugging me down the street toward the closest bakery.

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