Epilogue – Samantha

The new Lakeview Fitness Complex, as people are unofficially calling the partnership between Invigoration Club Blue and my fitness center, is a smashing success. I’ve never been so busy, and the third location is the most popular of all Lucas’s gyms.

My classes are so full that I’ve had to start offering more. Instead of having to lay off staff, it looks like I’m going to have to hire more people, and not just to cover Julia’s maternity leave. We can hardly keep up with the demand, and it doesn’t seem to be slowing down anytime soon. My rent went up a few months ago, but I haven’t even noticed the difference. We are offering extra services like we’d planned to. Lucas’s clients are using those too. There have been birthday parties and corporate events. We’ve even hosted a few private dance lessons for people getting ready for their weddings. It’s been a lot of fun for both my staff and our customers.

It’s been such a huge success that I’m considering hiring a part-time event coordinator in addition to another teacher or two. We’ve been written up in all the local newspapers and magazines. People are calling the partnership the most exciting and innovative thing to hit the city this year. One column called it the ideal marriage of old and new. It’s exciting to be a part of, and I’m incredibly proud of the work we’ve done.

I can’t get over how well everything is going in every area of my life. Tonight is my six-month anniversary with Lucas. I’ve never been so happy in a relationship. I’ve never been so in love. We still jog together several nights a week. We still can’t seem to get enough of each other, even with how much time we spend together on our businesses. I’m thrilled to have him in my life and that everything has worked out the way it has.

I’ve met his friends – we’ve even had a few double dates with his best friend Paul and his wife, Molly. They’re wonderful people and I’ve enjoyed getting to know them, too. I’ve taken Lucas to meet my parents, and they seem to really like him. It feels like everything has come together.

Lucas and I are going out for dinner for our anniversary, to the restaurant we went to on our first real date. I take my time getting ready because I want everything to be special. I want him to look at me the way he had on that first date six months ago. So, I’ve bought a new dress just for the occasion, and I feel confident and sexy in it. Lucas and I have talked about going dancing after dinner, and I wanted something I could move in. I wanted something that would make me feel wonderful in his arms as we danced.

He rings my doorbell right on time, just like on our first date. I head to the door, and when I open it, he’s standing there looking strikingly handsome in a suit tailored perfectly to him. He’s holding a bouquet of flowers, and he holds it out to me, smiling.

“Happy anniversary, beautiful,” he says. I lean up to kiss him softly, taking the flowers out of his hand.

“Thank you,” I say. I put the flowers in a vase quickly before we head out. The arrangement is beautiful, a mix of roses and lilies. My favorites.

The restaurant is just as gorgeous and romantic as I remember it. We head to the same corner booth we had on our first date. I smile, knowing Lucas must have reserved it for us especially. I see that there are more flowers on the table and more candlelight than last time. I sit down as Lucas pauses and then nods to the waiter, who takes a step back.

Then, Lucas gets down on one knee. I gasp, feeling everything in the room slow down all of a sudden. He pulls a small box out of his jacket pocket and opens it to reveal a sparkling, beautiful ring.

“Samantha,” he says, “I was going to wait until dessert to do this, but fuck it. I don’t want to wait one more second. I love you, and I want to spend the rest of my life with you. Will you marry me?”

I feel tears start to well up in my eyes. I’ve been thinking a lot lately about spending the rest of my life with Lucas. I’ve been thinking about moving in with him and marrying him. I’ve been picturing our life together, building off everything we already have. We’ve talked about it a little from time to time, danced around the subject in a vague way like we were both testing the waters. I knew Lucas wanted to be married to someone one day and he knew the same about me. We’ve talked about how amazing our relationship is going and how we both see it as lasting. I’d thought this was the road we were headed down, but I didn’t expect him to ask me tonight.

Lucas never stops surprising me.

“Yes,” I say, shaking, not quite believing this is really happening but thrilled beyond words that it is. “I love you, Lucas. Yes.”

Lucas leans in and puts the ring on my finger, and I can see him blinking back a tear as he does.

“I love you,” he says again, almost a whisper just for the two of us, emotion clear in his voice. He then leans in to kiss me. Around us, I can hear applause. The waiter comes back with a huge bottle of champagne, but I don’t want to stop kissing Lucas. Not yet.

These past six months have been the best of my life so far, and I can’t wait to spend every month for the rest of my life with him. I can’t wait to see what the future holds – for our businesses, for us, for the start of our new lives together.

*****

THE END