Epilogue
“So, wait. Let me get this right. You got married to get Lo’s inheritance, you weren’t in love, but then you realized you were in love and now you’re renewing your vows after three months of marriage?” Ansel asked.
I looked at Cara, and she grinned at me.
“Exactly,” I said.
“So you weren’t together when you got married,” Kell said. I knew it was going to take a while to explain this to everyone, but it finally felt like the right time. We’d called them all to our house and had promised Chinese food if they came.
“This is fucking wild,” Cedar said. Jamie and Alex were speechless, and Jason wouldn’t stop laughing.
“So you lied to us?” Anh said. I could tell she was hurt.
“We did, and we’re sorry. At the time, I was afraid to tell you because we both thought that you might judge us. In hindsight, I realize that was a bad decision, and I can’t do anything but tell you how sorry we both are, and that we will never, ever, do anything like this again.” I mean, what were the chances that this particular situation would happen a second time? I didn’t think they were high.
“Wow,” Lane said. “I feel like it’s going to take me a little bit to process this.” The doorbell rang and I went down to get the food.
“Well, you can process with food,” I said, holding up the bags. That broke the tension a little bit as everyone grabbed chopsticks and dug in.
“So what was the moment that you realized you loved each other?” Ansel asked. I set my lo mein on the coffee table.
“For me, I can’t pinpoint one moment, but I feel like it really hit me at the wedding. The look on her face the whole day was just...” I trailed off and shrugged. “I knew when I was saying my vows that I meant every single word. I guess that’s as close to a moment as you can get.” I locked eyes with Cara and a tear trailed down her cheek.
“Oh, you’re so cute I could die,” Cedar said. “I’m not even a little bit jealous.” Everyone laughed.
“And you, Cara?” Ansel asked.
“It was before that. It was when she had the idea in the first place. When she sat me down and said that she would do anything for me. And that was when I knew, and I spent the next few weeks lying to myself. Every other relationship had never felt like being with you. I always told myself that thinking about kissing you just meant we were super close friends.”
“The denial was strong with both of us,” I said and kissed her cheek.
“Does this mean that you’re having another party?” Jason said. “Because the last one was great, but I think we can top it.”
“Yes, we’re going to have another party. Much bigger. Lo’s mom is planning that one too.” My mom had screamed when we’d told her. And then filled us in that she’d known all along.
“I knew you’d find each other in the end,” she’d said. Dad had been all choked up as well, and offered to buy us a car for some reason. We turned him down.
Cara was due to start school in a month, and we wanted to do something to mark the change in our relationship, and what better than renewing our vows? They had been real the first time, but now we would both know that they were real, and so would everyone else. We were going to wear the same dresses, but do the ceremony somewhere else. We were still arguing about a venue. A honeymoon was also happening, at one of three locations. The list of potential destinations had gone down considerably, for which I was relieved.
Cara had moved her bed into my room, and a lot of her stuff. The spare room was currently a guest room, and Cara was going to set up a corner so she could do her homework and have some quiet time.
I didn’t know if I had ever been this fucking happy. I couldn’t believe my life right now. It was everything I’d ever wanted, but didn’t know was standing right there in front of me.
“To Cara and Lo,” Ansel said, raising his soda. Everyone else did the same.
“To Cara and Lo!”
I kissed her sweet and hard to the sounds of whistles and cheering.
“I love you in all the ways,” she said.
“I love you in every way you can love another person. You’re my everything, past, present, and future,” I said. “You’re my best friend, Care.”
She kissed me again.