Epilogue

Almost Nine Months Later

“They totally cheated,” Thalia declared as we walked across the campus towards the amphitheater. “I swear, they travel all day long and there’s no penalty but I double-dribble one time and the world is ending.”

I laughed and squeezed her shoulder gently. “Rise above, Thalia. We’re still ahead in Cabin Wars. If you guys keep up the good work, we’re looking at repeat champions.”

That summer was bittersweet for the girls. I’d returned to Camp Holcomb seven weeks before and we were already on week six. Hannah had returned, too, and we’d both been assigned to Cabin Sixteen, working with the tenth grade girls. Not all of the teenagers we’d come to love the year before had returned but eight out of the ten wasn’t bad and the two new girls had fit into our little group perfectly.

Jordan and Drew had returned as well. Jordan was a Cabin Eight counselor and our enemy again for the year. Drew, however, didn’t return as a camp counselor on college credit. He’d been hired on as the camp Psychologist and Family Counselor, a position that had been vacated the year before. He worked closely with the campers who were having a hard time adjusting and made sure their mental health was a priority during the summers they spent with us. He was putting that brand new master’s degree to use and I was incredibly proud of him. He loved it, too, and I was almost sure it would inspire him to apply for his doctorate next.

Both of us had graduated just two months before. His ceremony had been the Friday before mine and I’d flown out to California to cheer for him from the crowd with those who loved him, too. He’d then driven back to Arizona with me, all of his possessions packed into a trailer that we towed behind his truck. We unpacked everything into the apartment I had shared with Briana for more than three years. My best friend had vacated the same place just weeks before that and was now living with her husband in his condo not too far from the apartment.

Her wedding had been beautiful. While Briana and Marco had become husband and wife, I had stood by her side as her maid of honor. Drew and Hannah had both sat in the audience to show their support, too. The two of them had conquered their own obstacles to get where they were and I was so proud of them.

Hannah and I had sent Bri off in style, though, giving her a bachelorette party that I had a three-day hangover from. It had been interrupted by Drew and Marco, who had become close friends, and a couple of Marco’s friends, but that had only made it better. Hannah had even found a guy to cozy up to for the night.

She and Jordan discovered they couldn’t make it work with a thousand miles between them. They broke up shortly before spring break, a decision that was made mutually according to Hannah. Since we’d been back to Camp Holcomb, though, they had seemed to fall back into their old habits and were just as close as they had been the summer before.

Having a long distance relationship for those six months hadn’t been easy for Drew and me either but we made it work. We spent a lot of weekends visiting one another and racked up plenty of minutes on our cell phones, talking every chance we got. I had spent quite a bit of time with his foster parents, who were genuinely good people, as well as both Kyle and Taylor. Taylor had apologized profusely for answering the door half-naked that day in August. When I asked her why she had answered the door without her clothes, she had just shrugged and told me that she was hungry and thought I was the pizza guy.

My own parents absolutely adored Drew, as did the Gibson family. He had charmed them easily and they all accepted him into the fold without a second thought. My parents loved him already just based off of the kind of friend he was to my sister, but my father was the first to say that he approved of Drew for me. His approval wasn’t easy to earn, either.

I was starting my own graduate degree as soon as we got back home. I decided to pursue an education degree because I knew I wanted to do something with children. I was still working at the elementary school and Drew had his own interview when we got back for a position within the school district as a guidance counselor.

All of the pieces were falling into place.

“I have an idea for a prank,” Jenny told me, her hand in mine as we walked down the bleacher to find our spot. “I want to run it by everyone when we get back to the cabin.”

The girls had come armed with brand new pranks, most of which they’d brought their own supplies for. We had the jump on the boys so far but they had still managed a few pretty good ones. The most recent had been spiking our shampoos and dying all of our hair random colors. We didn’t realize what had happened until the seventh person was showering. Since my hair was already so dark, the red had barely shown in it but it had hit the blondes hard.

It took Hannah almost a week to get the green tint out of hers. She was just a tiny bit pissed.

“I can’t wait to hear it. I still think trying to swap out the shaving cream for whipped cream would be funny. Everything would be nice and sticky.”

“Sounds kinky,” Nicole quipped, causing us all to laugh as we walked along the bleachers and took our seats. A few of our girls ran up to sign up for karaoke and I nodded when Hannah gave me a look. She stood and headed towards the sign-up, too.

Howard gave his opening remarks and the list was randomized to see who would go first. Different names were called as people of all age stood under the spotlight. Some were actually really good and others went up there strictly for fun.

Near the end, Hannah and I stood on the stage like we had exactly a year before, and belted out the words to Taylor Swift’s “Look What You Made Me Do” like we were in some sort of sing-off, eliciting both laughs and cheers during our performance.

Bowing dramatically, we stepped off the stage and I caught sight of my gorgeous boyfriend smiling from a side entrance to the amphitheater.

With him not being a cabin counselor, I didn’t get to see him as much as I had the year before. It was hard because I had four weeks of spending every night with him before we came to Maine and I still wasn’t adjusted to sleeping without him again.

We spent all of my days off together and he met me to run every single night. Our runs usually turned into leisurely strolls near the end just so we could talk and be together. He was at all of the camp events, though, and usually came to sit with our girls for a few meals throughout the week.

I reached up to touch my necklace while grinning at him and he nodded in response, understanding my wordless gesture of love.

Many songs later, Howard climbed to the stage, not a bit slower than he has been before his heart attack, and smiled broadly.

“This is usually the moment when May and I get on the stage to serenade you all, but my beautiful wife is recovering from a cold and can’t sing.” People murmured sadly, and Howard nodded twice. “I know, I know. She’s okay, though, and I was able to find an even better performance for you. Let’s welcome one of our favorites, Drew Moore to the stage!”

My eyes found the smiling man immediately as he jogged to where Howard was. He took the microphone instantly and glanced out to the audience, finally stopping on me. The sight of him made me grin and still took my breath away. In his blue t-shirt, khaki shorts, and the Diamondbacks hat he always wore, he was the most handsome man I’d ever seen.

“This song is for the love of my life. My very own beauty queen.”

I held my breath as the first few notes played and couldn’t help laughing.

Another Maroon 5 song.

“Moves Like Jagger” played and Drew did some fancy footwork before holding the microphone to his lips and singing the words perfectly. Every dance move he used last year made a reappearance and I found myself laughing while in complete awe that he was mine.

He jumped off the stage and started to make his way through the crowd, still singing, and he held his hand out when he got to me. I hesitated slightly but his grin had me reaching up to clasp it with my own.

Slowly and while not missing a single word, Drew led me to the stage. When we got to the middle, he handed me a microphone. That’s when I realized what he was doing. I backed away, shaking my head, but he just thrust the microphone at me again. His eyes plead with me while his lips continued moving and I groaned before taking it from his hand.

Seconds later, I was singing Christina Aguilera’s part poorly but the crowd cheered anyway, causing me to smile. I got into it, wagging my finger at him while I sang about keeping my secret. Drew twirled me twice and we danced next to each other while finishing the song. When it was over, he swept me up in a dramatic kiss that made the cheers even louder.

He pulled away but didn’t let me go. Instead, he lifted the microphone to his lips and spoke.

“Isn’t she fantastic, guys?” He grinned out at the crowd and they cheered again while I rolled my eyes at him. He didn’t stop talking, though. “I met Shaylee Butler fourteen years ago right in this very camp. Even though we lost touch for a few years, Camp Holcomb brought us back together last summer and again a few months later. That summer by the lake, I fell in love and now… I don’t ever want to be without her again.”

His words were beautiful but understanding didn’t wash over me until the handsome man before me sank down to one knee. I always thought it was stupid that women cried in movies when they were proposed to, but I totally got it now. Tears gathered in the corners of my eyes and I looked out to the crowd to make sure I wasn’t dreaming this.

Hannah gave me a thumb’s up and the girls from my cabin were all grinning. I glanced around again and found Howard standing with his hand clasped in May’s, both of them overjoyed. I was also surprised to see my parents standing in the wing with the proprietors. Mom had her hand over her heart, tears streaming down her face, and my dad had his arm draped across her shoulder with a look of pride on his face.

When I finally brought my eyes back to Drew, he just smiled below me, the microphone still in his hands.

“So, Shaylee, my beauty queen… Will you do me the honor of being my wife?” He held up his free hand and opened his fist, revealing a ring. “Will you marry me?”

I nodded frantically, dropping my microphone when he stood abruptly and swept me into his arms. Our lips met in a hard, PG-rated kiss and when we pulled back, I felt like my face was going to break from smiling so wide.

After tucking the microphone in his back pocket, Drew used his thumbs to dry my cheeks and then grabbed my left hand. He revealed the ring again and it was all I could do to keep from sobbing when I realized that the band under the gorgeous diamond was twisted into the shape of two infinity symbols. He slid the ring onto my finger and then locked those beautiful eyes on mine.

“I love you, Shay. For infinity, babe.”

“I love you, too, Drew,” I managed to choke out as I wrapped my arms around his neck. “For infinity.”

The End