Epilogue

Morgan

I stared up at the twinkling lights from the banquet hall at the Overton where Steph and Thomas had just said their vows. Patrick pulled me closer as we danced in the center of the room to a song that Steph had written. It was special. She’d written the wedding song just for Thomas. I already loved it.

And this place and the vibe and everything about it.

The wedding had been perfect. Me in my gold sequined dress, and Patrick in a tuxedo that I wanted to rip off him. Steph and Thomas had written their own vows, and a friend had played piano. Now, we were all happily getting drunk on the kegs they’d procured from a local microbrewery in town and waiting for the clock to strike midnight.

The room was full of local friends and family. Only a few people had come in from out of town on Thomas’s side.

Patrick and I were in the midst of my family as they all tried to cajole me out onto the dance floor for Steph’s bouquet toss. There were plenty of eligible young women, and I didn’t particularly want to go. But Patrick all but shoved me, and after dragging Julia out beside me, I ended up on the dance floor with a huge group of girls.

Steph glanced over her shoulder and pointed her finger right at me.

I shook my head. “You’d better not.”

She winked at me before turning back around.

The bitch. She’d better not.

“Oh, she is so aiming for you,” Julia said next to me.

“Ugh!” I groaned.

Julia just laughed.

There were a million other girls who wanted that bouquet. Just because I was her only bridesmaid didn’t mean that I wanted what that bouquet of flowers meant.

Still, I felt the energy all around me. I couldn’t help but get swept up in it. The excitement was contagious. Even Julia raised her arms over her head and cried out with all of us. It was tradition. Us cynics couldn’t even escape it.

Then, came the toss.

Steph threw the bouquet over her head. I watched it happen in slow motion. The perfect arc. The flowers in their arrangement tumbling in circles. The scream as all the girls extended their hands in earnest. And then the catch.

My mouth gaped open as Julia came down with the flowers.

“Oh my God!” I screamed.

“Oh my God!” she screamed back.

“You caught it!”

“I didn’t mean to!” she yelled and then threw it to me.

I tossed it back like we were playing a round of hot potato. “You can’t give that to me.”

“Well, I don’t want it.”

She handed it back to me, and I pushed it away.

I couldn’t stop myself. I burst into laughter. Here we were, arguing over who got the bouquet from the toss but in reverse. Every other girl was eyeing us like we had totally lost our minds as we both tried to get rid of the damn thing.

“You caught it, fair and square,” I told her with a merciless laugh.

“I am never going to hear the end of this from Austin.”

“Don’t look now, but I think he’s gone pale.”

“Why couldn’t you have just caught it?” she grumbled.

I laughed again and then pulled her into a hug. Steph ran over then and hugged us both.

“Ah…I’m so happy for you,” she said. “Someone finally needs to lock down Austin.”

“That’s me,” Julia droned. “Locking him down.”

Steph kissed my cheek. “I was silently hoping it was you.”

“Uh, not so subtle there, Steph.”

“What can I say? I want you as a sister!”

“Let’s think about that a little bit further down the road. We only just got back together.”

“Eh…I don’t care about that. Let me be the hopeless romantic.”

“Since it’s your wedding, then sure.”

Steph hugged me again before being carted off to talk to more family, and I returned to my own family. Julia and Austin were talking animatedly. I could see that she was giving him a hard time and making him paler and paler. It was pretty hilarious, knowing that Julia hadn’t even wanted the damn thing.

It was nice to see my whole family together like this. Jensen and Emery relaxed and happy. Heidi forcing Landon to dance to the upbeat tempos the DJ was playing. Sutton had left Jason with Emery’s sister for the evening, so she could be in attendance. She and David had spent most of the night together, but when I’d asked her, she had insisted that he wasn’t her date.

As the night wore on, Patrick extracted me from the rest of my family while the slow music drifted through the speakers. Finally, I could melt into Patrick’s arms and forget the rest of the world. His hands on my waist. His eyes admiring me. His smile lighting up the room.

“When I agreed to be in Steph’s wedding, I never imagined this would happen,” I told him.

“Did you actually agree? Or did she force you to be in it?”

“Probably both.”

“Well, wouldn’t you rather that it turned out this way?”

I shrugged and tried to hide my teasing smile. “Eh.”

“Liar.”

“You already know that I want you and only you. I have since I was fifteen years old in a dumb high school cheerleading outfit, and I do now that I’m CEO. You’re still the one that I want.”

“I just like to hear you say it,” he said, brushing his nose against mine.

“Well, it’s the truth.”

“You know something?”

I shook my head, dizzy with happiness. “What?”

“I love you.”

“You told me that once.” I smiled brilliantly up at him.

He laughed. “I did, but it was in desperation. I should have told you again.”

“I think this is perfect.”

“Also, I told Austin before I told you.”

My eyebrows rose. “You told Austin that you loved him? Well, this explains everything.”

He rolled his eyes at me. “I told him that I loved you. The night of the Christmas party, he asked me if I loved you, and I told him yes. I think it’s why he calmed down.”

“How did you know?”

“It was that feeling, like I couldn’t live without you. I was afraid when everyone found out, but I also knew I had to step up. That I couldn’t lose you.”

I ducked my head under his chin and held him close. “You know something?”

He shook his head and squeezed me tighter.

“I love you, too.”

“I know.”

I laughed. “What are you? Han Solo?”

“Well, I do know. You screamed it at me once.”

“I’m probably going to scream it a lot more,” I said, pulling back to wink at him.

He snorted and twirled me further away from the crowd. We were only minutes from midnight. This was the most perfect New Year’s Eve. I’d always dreamed that, one day, I would get my midnight kiss from Patrick, and this year, it would be a reality.

Steph and Thomas danced in the center of the room, looking radiant and unbelievably happy.

“One day, that’s going to be us,” Patrick said.

“Dancing? We’re dancing right now.”

“Walking down the aisle.”

“Probably,” I agreed. “Like at Jensen and Emery’s wedding.”

He groaned against me. “You’re so difficult.”

“You should probably get used to it.”

“First, you steal all the mashed potatoes and sometimes all the covers, and now—”

“Wait, wait, wait,” I said, holding a finger up. “I do not steal the covers. I wake up every morning naked.”

He smirked. “Well…yeah!”

I rolled my eyes. “You’re such a dude.”

“You should probably get used to that.”

“Throwing my own words back at me.”

“What I was trying to say before I was rudely interrupted,” he said.

“I’ll show you rudely interrupted,” I muttered under my breath.

“Is that you’re being purposefully difficult when I’m trying to have a serious conversation with you.”

I fluttered my eyelashes up at him. “What were you being serious about?”

“I want you to know that I’m not going anywhere. That this is real. That we’re real.”

“I can’t wait to spend the rest of my life with you.”

He grinned and tugged me closer as the crowd started counting down to midnight. I could hear their calls all around us as Patrick’s gaze stayed locked on mine.

“I’m going to love you from now until forever, Morgan. I already know that one day you’ll walk down that aisle toward me,” he told me, his eyes shining. “I am yours, and you are mine. All the good and all the bad. From this day forward.”

“I love you.” My throat was tight, and tears pricked at my eyes at his words.

“I love you, too.”

“Happy New Year!” the crowd cheered all around us.

Gold balloons dropped from the ceiling, and glitter was thrown in the air. We were caught up in champagne toasts and the ball drop and people jumping up and down all around us.

Then, Patrick held my jaw in his hands and pressed his lips to mine. All else slipped away, and there was just us. Sealing our promise with a kiss and toasting to a brand-new year, a brand-new us.