Epilogue
Ava
Indiana winters can feel practically endless, but I stand by the fact that the summers make it all worth it. Summer is winding down and it’s a perfect seventy-eight degrees, not a cloud in the sky above our little backyard barbecue.
From the moment the realtor showed us this two-story blue house on the end of the cul-de-sac, with its updated kitchen and huge backyard, I knew Barrett and I had to have it. I could perfectly envision hosting parties on the red brick patio and roasting marshmallows over the stone fire pit on a fall night.
We signed the paperwork and closed on the place within a month of our first walk-through. The location is perfect, too, it's almost the exact midpoint between the factory and the office Barrett is renting for his new law firm, and with Mom and Dad’s place only a few miles down the road, we get plenty of opportunities to have the whole family over.
No Mom and Dad today, though. Just Nick and Dana for a double date to celebrate finally being moved in. The two of them have been practically inseparable since the day Nick ditched Barrett and me to go on a date with her, leaving us to cover party supply shopping on our own. With how things turned out, of course, I’m happy that he did.
Barrett has been manning the grill all afternoon. Meanwhile, I’ve taken on the hard labor of snacking on potato chips and dancing to the radio, so I've also been on beverage duty, as well. I pop the top off of two long neck bottles, one for him and one for me.
“Working awfully hard there. You ready for another?” I wander closer to Barrett, and he accepts the beverage, squeezing my backside with his other hand. I raise one brow at him in warning. “Behave.”
He shrugs, a smile on his full mouth. “Your ass looks nice in those shorts.”
As I take a swig, I can’t help but notice the way the sunlight hits my ring. It’s been about a month since Barrett and I said, “I do” but I think it would take several lifetimes for me to get over how beautiful this ring is.
I knew he could afford a nice-sized rock with how well business has gone at his practice, but this enormous princess cut diamond blew all of my expectations out of the water. Still, he could’ve proposed with the metal ring from a can of corn and I would’ve said yes.
“Staring again?” Barrett smiles coyly and squeezes my side with the hand that isn’t gripping the spatula. He wraps his arm around my waist and pulls me tight against him, kissing me and flipping a burger at the same time. The man is nothing if not talented.
“Get a room, you two,” Nick calls from the hammock, although he has Dana nuzzled up in the crook of his arm. I also happen to know that he’s got a ring in his pocket, as if today wasn’t already perfect enough.
“We’re married dude, remember? You’re going to have to be okay with it.” Barrett pulls me in close before dipping me back into a much longer, deeper kiss, making a show of it just to get on Nick’s nerves.
“Just because I’m okay with it doesn’t mean I’m ever gonna get used to it.” Nick sits up and grabs his beer off the ground, smiling while he takes a sip.
“Well, maybe keep throwing those beers back until you are used to it,” Barrett teases, turning off the grill. “Now come and grab some food while it's still hot.”
I survey the spread we’ve laid out across the picnic table—chicken, burgers, corn on the cob, potato salad, sliced watermelon, and a giant red cooler filled to the brim with icy cold drinks. It's the perfect summer picnic and it makes me fall in love with our little backyard even more. Once Dana and Nick have pulled themselves off of each other, I distribute paper plates, which everyone immediately starts piling high with food.
“Do the guys have off Labor Day this year?” Nick asks as he grabs a slice of watermelon.
“Of course. I’m not a monster. And with the way things have been going, they’ve earned it. They’re working so hard.”
We’ve all been working hard. Getting the factory up and running again after the safety violation fiasco was no easy task, but in the past eight months, the plant has completely turned around.
After the big meeting at Roland Enterprises, Barrett and I went back to his apartment in Chicago with every intention of spending the whole night hashing out a plan for company restructuring. Admittedly, we were up all night doing anything but working, but that Monday morning, we rolled out a new plan for the factory.
More weekly meetings with my staff, more checks and balances, and more direct involvement on my part instead of spending nine-to-five inside of my office. Mark dropped all charges against the plant with the understanding that he’d have more direct involvement in the plant’s design and safety, a role which I granted him immediately. The biggest difficulty was getting the factory up to working conditions again, but Barrett was generous enough to lend the factory the money for renovations.
I hesitated to take it until he reminded me he had a hand in shutting us down in the first place. Once we were back up and running, it hardly took any time before the factory hit its profit goal and I was able to pay back Barrett in full. Not that he was hurting for the money. Barrett Wilson and Associates took off the second he opened the doors of his practice. I guess small towns need sage legal advice too.
The four of us settle in at the picnic table with our plates, Barrett and me on one bench, Nick and Dana on the other.
“Looks great,” I say, sizing up my plate.
“Not as great as you.” Barrett places his hand on my thigh, and leans over and kisses me softly on the cheek, which Nick then mirrors with Dana. She giggles, tucking her hair behind her ear.
“I know I’ve said it again and again, but you two are beyond cute together,” I say, which makes Dana giggles even more. Nick wraps his arm around her waist and scooches a little closer to her on the picnic bench.
“And to think if I didn’t bail on you guys to go on a date with her, there may not be a Mr. and Mrs.”
I roll my eyes toward my hubby, who is smirking into his burger. Nick loves retelling this story, claiming that it proves that he is the reason Barrett and I got together.
Mom tries to take credit for setting us up, too, arguing that she’s the one who gave Barrett my number, but Dad says it was his doing since it was his retirement party. We stay quiet about it, letting them bicker and think whatever they want. Better not to tell them that it all started in our upstairs shower when I saw all of Barrett's…great qualities staring me in the face. And if I wanted to really analyze the hows and whys of our relationship, it really started decades ago when a girl fell in love with her brother’s best friend.
Barrett turns toward me then, seemingly thinking the same thing, and places a soft kiss on my lips. “I love you, Ava.”
“Loved you first.”