Epilogue
Tennessee
“You almost done for the day?” I asked, as Dominic broke from the little huddle of stunt-people he’d been working with to come and steal a quick kiss from me.
“Nearly, I promise,” he replied, but I knew he’d be here all night if I let him. That was how dedicated he was to getting this right, to proving that he was the man for the job. It didn’t matter how many movies he coordinated for, he always put his all in, spending long days and nights making sure everyone was safe, in control, and totally nailing everything they were meant to be doing.
But we had plans tonight – we were going out on an actual, no-fooling date for once, and I couldn’t wait to see what he had planned for me. Dominic always put together the best dates for us, even living in a smaller city like this one. He always made the effort.
As I watched him return to his group and round things up, I couldn’t help but smile. I had taken such a big gamble on getting back together with him, even I knew that – everyone around me seemed so totally set against the idea that I wound up having to defend myself at pretty much every turn. My family, my friends – they’d either been there through the first break-up or had heard enough about him that they knew for sure that they didn’t want me back with him. I made that very clear to him, that everyone around me was deeply skeptical of everything he’d done to me the first time and that he would have to work his butt off to prove that he wasn’t about to pull the same thing all over again.
“You think I don’t know that?” he assured me. “I know where I’m starting from, trust me.”
It had been six months since we’d gotten back together, since I’d moved across the country to take that job on the TV show not far from where he was working at Tamblyn. It didn’t take long for us to get an apartment together, finding somewhere halfway between our two workplaces and reconciling there at the end of every day. It was a lot bigger than the place we’d had back when we were training, but I still felt just as crazy in-love with him as I had back then.
How could I not? All the time that I had spent fighting my attraction to him back on set wasn’t because I didn’t adore him, didn’t feel something deep and profound inside me drawing me towards him. It was because I truly thought he was the same man he had been when the two of us had been kids, that he hadn’t grown up and that he was only interested in me because he couldn’t have me. I had never really believed that he was a grown-ass adult now, the kind who wanted commitment and a girlfriend and an apartment and… all of it.
But he was, and he did. He proved that every time he came through the door and asked me about my day first, every time he got off work early so he could pick me up from my job and the two of us could take a drive together in the late afternoon sunshine, before the sun went down. Every time he rolled over in bed first thing in the morning and pulled me against his chest and pressed a kiss to my forehead and told me he loved me. Sometimes, I looked over at him and felt as though I was going to tear up with the depth of how much I loved him. Even my parents, who’d traveled up for a visit a month or so before, had giving given their approval to both Dominic and the relationship in general. Which was good, because in a few months time I imagined they’d be spending a lot more time in the city with us. Judging by how excited they’d been when I’d broken the news, at least.
“You ready?” Dominic was suddenly at my side, pulling me out of my little reverie.
“Yeah, yeah,” I nodded, blinking. “Sorry, off in my own little world there.”
“Mind if I join you?” he asked, and leaned in to plant a kiss against my lips. I kissed him back, smiling against his mouth; I had finished up my last job a few weeks before and was thoroughly enjoying being able to spend more time being around Dominic at his own work.
He pulled back and clapped his hands together, suddenly businesslike.
“So, where are we going?” I asked, and he tapped his nose playfully.
“It’ll be more fun if it’s a surprise,” he countered. “You ready?”
He slipped his arm around my waist and took my elbow, and briefly leaned forward to brush his fingers across my stomach.
“And are you ready too?” he crooned to my belly, and I rolled my eyes.
“They can’t even hear you yet,” I reminded him, and he shrugged.
“I still like talking to them,” he replied with a smile, and we headed to the studio lot exit. I was already looking forward to getting off my feet – fuck, this was only after a few weeks, I wondered how tired I’d be after a few more months of this?
We arrived at the car, and Dominic inhaled a big lungful of air as he took hold of the wheel.
“Good to be done?” I asked, and he nodded, reaching over to squeeze my leg.
“Good to be with you,” he replied softly, and leaned over to steal another brief kiss before the two of us pulled out of the lot, hit the road, and turned to drive off into the glowing orange sunset.
The End