Epilogue

 

Anna

 

“I’ll be there by five, I promise,” I said as I put the car into gear and prepared to pull out of the school parking lot.

“Hmm, you’re going to visit Summer… I don’t believe you two girls are going to be done in an hour. How about I just have the pizza delivered in two hours?” Jason said as he laughed at my plan to be there so quickly.

“Okay, I’m not going to argue with two hours. But I could have been there in one, I promise.”

It was Friday night, and we always had our date night on Fridays. This week, Clyde had picked the movie, and we were having a little family time. But Summer was in the midst of a total meltdown, and I couldn’t leave her hanging, especially considering Jason, Clyde, and I were about to leave for a vacation next week.

“I’ll take you for your word. See you in two and a half hours,” Jason teased.

“Oh stop.”

“Drive safely.”

“I will. Love you.”

“You too darling, see you soon,” Jason said as he hung up.

I hurried straight over to Summer’s house where I did indeed find her crying on the lawn like she had said she was. It was a bit surprising since I had been totally convinced that she was being dramatic about the whole thing.

Her parents had been threatening to cut her off for years. I couldn’t believe they’d finally done it. Even though Summer should have been out on her own by then, I just didn’t imagine her family would ever actually stop supporting her.

“They did it, Anna,” she said through her tears. “They actually changed the locks and put my stuff out here.”

Behind Summer was a huge pile of very expensive clothes, jewelry, shoes, and purses. If she wanted to, she could have sold those things off and lived pretty well for several years. But I knew Summer well enough to know she wouldn’t be doing that.

“Okay, let’s take one thing at a time. You can stay in my room at Patrick’s apartment. I’m hardly ever staying there anymore.”

“Eww, I can’t live with Patrick.”

“Okay, who else could you ask?” I said calmly, although I really wanted to slap her. She was literally sitting on her lawn crying, yet she didn’t want to live with our close friend Patrick? It was ridiculous.

“Um, I could just get my dad to pay for an apartment, I guess.”

“Summer, the whole idea behind cutting you off is that they aren’t going to pay for anything anymore. That means they probably canceled your credit cards and closed your bank account.”

“What?” she screamed as if I was the one who had stopped her constant money flow. “I’ll starve to death.”

“No, that purse you’re holding is worth ten thousand dollars. I’m pretty sure you aren’t going to starve to death anytime soon. So, who else can you go stay with?”

Summer took impossibly long to think of someone who she was willing to stay with, and when we called her, the girl practically hung up on us. Summer’s group of friends was pretty small, and most of the people who actually cared about her didn’t have money like she did. After nearly an hour on the lawn, I finally convinced her to go to Patrick’s house for the time being.

“You can always move when you find something that works better.”

“My life is ruined,” she cried as I helped her to my car, and we grabbed as much of her things as we could. “What will happen to the rest of this stuff?”

“I’m sure they will move it into the garage after we leave,” I said as I saw her mother in the window crying and her father comforting her.

It was a tough-love move that probably should have happened gradually over the years. But it was what it was, and Summer needed the wake-up call. She hadn’t worked a day in her life or finished college, yet she was spending over $30,000 some months. It was insane, and her parents couldn’t keep up with her spending. They had been threatening her for at least a year and finally followed through with it.

When we arrived at Patrick’s apartment, Summer complained all the way up the stairs, and neither Patrick or I could listen to it anymore, so we brought the rest of her things up to my room.

Patrick didn’t look happy at all that I was leaving her there. “You’re going on a weeklong vacation and leaving her with me. You owe me so big for this. I mean huge.”

“I know Patrick, I’m sorry. But we have been planning this trip for months.”

“I’m just messing with you. I hope you guys have a great time. I’ll be here thinking of you and soaking up the cloudy skies and rain.”

“At least we have rain,” I said with a shrug of my shoulders.

“Yeah, yeah, yeah, just bring me some of the cheap Bahaman liquor when you come home.”

“Deal.”

By the time I climbed back in my car to head over to Jason’s house, it was already eight o’clock. I was officially late.

ANNA: I’m on my way. Save me some pizza.

JASON: The pizza just got here. Hurry, or we will eat it all.

He included a picture of him and Clyde with all the pizza piled up on their plates. They were so adorable that I couldn’t stop smiling on the drive over there. My life was truly blessed with these two guys in it.

“Oh, look who decided to join us,” Clyde said playfully as he hid a plate full of pizza behind his back. “Sorry, we ate all the pizza.”

“Really, gosh darn it,” I said and went into the fridge to pull out the last cupcake that I had saved in there for Clyde. “I guess I’ll just have to eat this cupcake I saved for you,” I teased.

“No, I was kidding. Here, we saved you lots,” he said as he thrust the plate in front of me, and I gave him the cupcake.

“Sorry, I’m late,” I said as I wrapped my arms around Jason and kissed him softly. “They actually kicked her out.”

“Is she alright?”

“Yep, I got her to Patrick’s house. I do feel really bad about leaving for our trip, though.”

Jason didn’t offer to cancel the trip. He had been planning it for months and waiting until I had a break at school that coincided with when Clyde had his break at school. This trip was really important to Jason, and I wouldn’t have asked him to cancel it anyways.

“Well, should we start the movie? We do need to get to bed so we can make our flight tomorrow.”

“I’m so glad I packed yesterday,” I said as relief washed over me.

“I’m glad you did too,” Jason teased as he grabbed me and kissed me again. “I remember how long it took you to pack for our New York trip.”

“Whatever. You surprised me. I wasn’t prepared.”

“I know, that’s why I gave you lots of notice for this trip.”

We all climbed onto the couch with Jason and me sitting next to each other, and Clyde curled up next to me. Jason had flipped the lights off and then pressed play on the movie that they already had cued up.

Clyde fell asleep before the first half of the movie had finished, and Jason paused the show to take him to bed. I was tired too and had no urge to watch the end of the show at all. Instead, I really had to tell him about my day.

“Just turn it off. We can head to bed too,” I said as I grabbed his hand and pulled Jason down the hall toward the bedroom. “I have to tell you about my business idea. I shared it with my class, and they really liked it.”

“You still have a long way to go to finish your MBA, so don’t go giving away your awesome business ideas to others,” Jason said as he closed the door behind us and pulled my shirt up over my head. “But tell me what the idea was.”

“No, I’m not supposed to tell others,” I teased him.

“You can tell me. I’m not going to steal your idea.”

“How do I know? You are pretty sneaky with your business deals, or so I’ve heard through the gossip in town,” I said as I let my hands unbutton his pants and press them to the ground.

“You’re distracting me instead of telling me your idea.”

“I’m not doing any such thing,” I replied as I unhooked my bra and let my breasts get a little fresh air before bedtime. “I’m just a little hot. I don’t need all these clothes on.”

“Nope, you don’t need them,” Jason said as he grabbed me and tackled me onto the bed. “I’ll take care of the rest.”

His lips moved up my thigh and quickly he was licking me as I lay back on the bed. My eyes closed, and I let my fingers glide through his hair as he delivered glorious pleasure to me. After being together for a year, we knew exactly what each other liked, and Jason went right for it as he slid two fingers inside of me and ran them over my g-spot.

I moaned out in pleasure and then grabbed the pillow to bite on so I wasn’t making so much noise. Over and over his fingers pressed against me, and soon I couldn’t take it any longer. My thighs tightened around his head, and I thrust my pelvis up in pleasure as a wave of ecstasy washed over me.

Not to be outdone by his quick orgasm delivery, I push him back onto the bed and held him down as I climbed on top of him. Not only was this my favorite move, I knew it was his as well. Jason’s face lit up as he watched me slide on top of him.

He let out a deep primal groan when I pressed fully against him and started to move my hips. Slowly, I moved as he held onto me and thrust with me. Our movements were so perfectly timed that I felt my body building up to another orgasm as I leaned over and tucked my face into Jason’s shoulder.

“Yes,” I moaned as he held my hips and quickened his thrusting. “God, yes.”

“Cum for me, Anna,” his deep husky voice commanded.

I did as he asked and felt the wash of pleasure taking over. But this time, Jason quickened his thrusts so he was ready when I was. Harder and harder we moved until I finally let out a loud scream when the final pulse of pleasure shot through my core.

Jason also released his pleasure as his hips pressed hard into me, and he grabbed me and held me tight against him. Together, our bodies twitched and tingled from the pleasure we’d just delivered to each other.

We didn’t need to reaffirm how we felt about each other, and we didn’t need to pretend like we were going to cuddle all night long. Our relationship was well beyond that point. Instead, I hopped in the shower quickly and then came back to bed to find Jason sound asleep. He was just as handsome as the first time I had tried to flirt with him. I still remember buying that tiny pink bikini and hoping that Jason would see me in it. I was so naive back then, but then again, things had turned out just as I’d hoped they would. And I was crawling into bed with the man of my dreams.

When our alarms went off in the morning, we hurried and managed to get ourselves to the airport on time. But unfortunately, our direct flight to the Bahamas had been changed by the airline, and we now had a layover in New York.

It wasn’t enough to dampen our moods, though. We took the delay in stride and even had a really fun time exploring the airport while the three of us were in New York. Clyde was having the best time of all of us. He barely fit in the first-class seats and looked so adorable as we got settled into our second flight that would bring us to our final destination.

Originally, we had Clyde sitting between the two of us, but he wanted to watch out the window, so Jason moved to the middle seat. He was so good with Clyde, just like a dream father. It still surprised me just how awesome of a father he was considering he had been raising Clyde by himself for so long.

When Clyde finally fell asleep, I took the opportunity to cuddle up with Jason and take a nap myself. The final week of classes had been crazy hectic, and I’d barely slept a full night at all. I must have been truly exhausted though because I didn’t even wake up a little until the plane came to a quick stop as we landed in the Bahamas.

“The air smells different,” Clyde said as we debarked the plane and waited for our luggage.

“You’re right. I like it, though,” I replied as I held onto his hand while we navigated the busy airport. “What do you think we should do first?” I asked.

Clyde looked at his father before he answered me, and something seemed weird about the look the two of them had given each other. I couldn’t quite figure out what it was, and all I knew was it wasn’t the normal look the two of them had.

“I’d like to go to the beach,” Clyde announced proudly.

“Right now? The sun is setting, and it will get dark soon,” Jason added.

“Yep, right now.”

“Okay, you heard the man,” Jason said as we grabbed our luggage and then loaded into our rental jeep.

The sun was already starting to set as we drove down the small road on our way to the hotel. I hadn’t imagined that Jason would really stop at the beach and instead thought he might have just hoped that Clyde would have forgotten by the time we arrived at the hotel.

But neither Clyde nor Jason had forgotten, and Jason soon pulled into a parking lot that was near a large sand dune. From where we were parked, we couldn’t see the water or the sunset very well though, so we were going to have to climb over the sand dune and get a little closer.

“This is exactly where I wanted to go,” Clyde exclaimed as he looked around at all the sand.

There were a surprising number of cars in the lot as we climbed out of our jeep and started up the path to the water. But I had never been to the Bahamas before, so I really didn’t know how many people liked to hang out at the beach at sunset.

Clyde ran off ahead of us as Jason grabbed my hand and held onto it. The sand was extremely soft, and that made it difficult to move too quickly.

“I can’t wait to see the sunset,” I said and squeezed his hand. “Thanks for bringing me.”

“Yeah, I have a feeling it’s going to be pretty surprising,” Jason said as we got to the top of the sand dune, and I looked down to see a group of people standing in a heart that appeared to have been made with hundreds of roses.

It took me a minute to figure out what was going on, but when Clyde ran up to his grandparents and hugged them, it all started to make sense. I looked around the group of people, and everyone was there, though. My parents, my brothers, their families, my friends, and even Summer was here.

“You all kept this a secret?” I yelled at them as I shook my head in total disbelief.

Jason and I finished walking down the middle of the heart, and he quickly got down on one knee. There was someone taking pictures, and I could hear the clicking of the camera but didn’t want to look away from Jason to see who it was.

“Anna Marie Cook, I have wanted you from the day I laid eyes on you in that teeny tiny pink bikini. You are one of the funniest women I’ve ever met. You’re kind and smart and just a pretty awesome person. I would be so honored if you’d agree to be my wife,” Jason said and opened a light blue Tiffany’s box with a beautiful emerald-cut diamond in it.

“I have one condition,” I said as everyone around us looked on in shock. I hadn’t just said yes, I wasn’t about to just say yes without him knowing my condition.

“Anything,” he said as he held onto my hand and pulled the ring out of the box so he could prepare to put it on my finger.

“We can’t get married until after I get my MBA,” I said with a smile. Getting my MBA and finishing college had become a passion for me and a requirement for the goals I was setting in my own life. No matter how much I loved Jason, I just couldn’t risk putting my own goals on hold to get married right away.

“That’s my girl,” I heard my dad say in the background.

“That is a deal. You drive a hard bargain, Miss Cook,” Jason said and slipped the ring onto my finger. “But I couldn’t imagine negotiating life with anyone else.”

 

THE END